Review: Airliner Down by John Etzel

Airliner Down by John Etzel

There’s something especially captivating about the damaged jet—filled with passengers—trying to make it safely to land again. It’s been the subject of several movies and of a number of excellent books and John Etzel has added a worthy story to that proud company. To make his novel even more exciting, roughly the first half of the book is told in a “countdown” mode working its way up to the “event” with the tension building all the way. In those pages, we meet the main characters, jump into Afghanistan where we learn that the entire motivation for the bombing (the murder of a village supposedly by Americans) is based on a lie, and watch events lead right up to the explosion of the bomb on the plane. Then we spend the rest of the novel watching the surviving passengers try and figure out how to land the aircraft.

 

This novel is brimming with tension helped along by two of the stupidest air marshals to ever be given a badge, a really crafty bomber, and a number of personal problems which greatly complicate the rescue of the airplane. We also get to see the people on the ground come to the realization that the bomb is on the plane and being unable to do anything because the jet is far out over the Pacific on its way to Hawaii. The technical aspects of the novel were also very credible (at least to a non-expert like myself) and helped build the excitement.

 

In the first few pages, however, I almost gave up on the book. The introduction of the hero as a guy having an affair with a married woman made me instantly dislike him, but Etzel coaxed me back onto the hero’s side and had me cheering for him through a flashback that greatly clarified what kind of man he was.

 

The ultimate solution to the crippled aircraft and its fuel problem also surprised and delighted me. It felt incredibly creative and also totally believable. There were also a number of touching scenes that just pushed this novel over the top for me.

 

If you enjoy cultivating your fear of flying, give Airliner Down a try.