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Summary and Reviews of Blackout by John Nance

Blackout by John J. Nance

Blackout

by John J. Nance
  • Critics' Consensus (4):
  • Readers' Rating (1):
  • First Published:
  • Feb 1, 2000, 400 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Jan 2001, 400 pages
  • Rate this book

About This Book

Book Summary

A Boeing 747 rises through a beautiful Hong Kong sunset, but within minutes, the plane is rocked by an explosion. The huge jet shudders through its descent while hundreds of passengers hold on for their lives.

Reviewers have called John J. Nance "a wonderful storyteller" (Chicago Tribune) who gives readers the kind of book they want: "so compelling it's tough to look away" (People), "more addictive than morphine" (The Dallas Morning News), "the non-stop read of your life" (Rocky Mountain News).

As his new thriller Blackout begins, a Boeing 747-400 rises through a beautiful Hong Kong sunset on its way to Los Angeles. But within minutes, the plane is rocked by an explosion outside the cockpit that leaves one pilot dead and another blinded. The huge jet shudders through its descent while hundreds of passengers hold on for their lives.

Kat Bronsky, an FBI agent and terrorism specialist, is assigned the hunt for a Global Express business jet seen nearby prior to the attack. Could the explosion have been a cruel twist of fate? Or could the phantom Global Express have employed some new kind of weapon? Bronsky tracks the Global Express crew across the Pacific to the American Northwest and a breathless, edge-of-the-seat showdown.

Prologue

Aboard SeaAir 122, in flight, over the Gulf of Mexico, 180 miles southwest of Tampa, Florida 11:43 A.M. local/1643 Zulu

Karen Briant suppressed a smile as she watched Jim Olson struggle. His athletic body was stretched to its six-foot limit, his jeans just inches from her face as he stood on tiptoe and yanked again at the door of the overhead compartment. It opened at last, and she heard him unzip his carry-on bag and rummage around. He grunted with satisfaction and reclosed the bag before looking down at her.

"Good. I feel better now," he said, snapping the compartment shut.

"And what, exactly," she began as he slid back into the window seat, "were you afraid you'd forgotten, Sir?" She ruffled her shoulder-length auburn hair and looked at him with mock suspicion. "Not another self-indulgent gift from Victoria's Secret, I hope?" Another bikini would be too much. She was already feeling overexposed in the revealing sundress that he'd bought for her. ...

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Reviews

Media Reviews

Booklist
In effect a glorified chase scene stretched from Hong Kong to Idaho, Nance's new airliner adventure rides on his stock-in-trade of plane crashes, pilot jargon, and airport protocol. ...This will be popular with the aviation-minded, if not with those who expect finesse in their thrillers.

Kirkus Reviews
Nances hand for crackling intensity remains peerless. Once on the ground, the standard figures of melodrama emerge in the forms of deep-dyed villains, law-enforcement fieldworkers, and the harassed US president. If this saga is ever filmed, the screenwriter should toss its second half.

Publishers Weekly
Nance continues to craft brilliantly hair-raising in-flight emergency scenes and brings this turbulent ride to a rousing, well-developed finale that comes together smoothly on final approach.

School Library Journal
A fast-paced adventure with many ups and downs ending in a surprise, edge-of-your-seat showdown.

Reader Reviews

Corrine JJ

Aviation facts add to the plot, brilliant book, unputdownable

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