Kaitak From Ireland, joined Aug 1999, 11951 posts, RR: 37 Posted (12 years 2 weeks 4 days 21 hours ago) and read 776 times:
Well . . . maybe not.
I was just visiting a bookshop this morning and the cover of a new John Nance novel, Blackout, caught my eye. Looking at the back cover . . .
747-400, Hong Kong to LA . . . explosion outside the cockpit, one pilot killed . . . the other blinded . . .
HOLD ON A SEC! THE other - the ONE other? Where were the other two? On the picket line? Stuck in traffic? Fell off the Star Ferry? Hong Kong to LA on a single crew - do come on!
In fairness, JN has written some fairly good work over the years, so I don't want to nit pick too much. Still, since having only 2 pilots seems to form the basis of the crisis, it does leave a question mark over the entire plot. Must have a read, though!
Ikarus From United Kingdom, joined Jan 2001, 3524 posts, RR: 2 Reply 4, posted (12 years 2 weeks 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 661 times:
I really didn't like Blackout. The characters feel "forced", somehow unnatural, and utterly unsympathetic (especially Dallas). A large section of the plot is just playing with that well-known 12-year-old aviation enthusiasts dream of "What if I were the only one left to fly the plane?"
Then there's the crashes.... Completely unbelievable. Not their occurrances, but their outcomes.
And the goons. What I loved best about Pandora's Clock was Yuri and how he had a character of his own. Not just the faceless German bad guy we always get to see in the movies, and in Blackout.
Also, I don't see why the female FBI agent from The Last Hostage gets another novel. Last Hostage was already fairly average (mixing pedophilia and planes in a sensationalist mix, with some of the "action" totally unmotivated, eg the 360 degree roll)
I think it's time to look for a new author for this particular genre.... Any applicants?
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