Vortex

by Jon Land

A Vietnam special-forces veteran investigates a government conspiracy to build a superweapon that could alter the very fabric of reality  In San Diego, a cadre of American scientists toils on a weapon with  the power to make things flit in and out of reality. If perfected, Project Vortex will make the atomic bomb look like a bow and arrow. They test it on a 727 on its way into Kennedy airport, and the experiment is successful, save for two dangerous aberrations. First is a passenger, a young man to whom Vortex gives strange powers over other people—powers he can control, but cannot understand. Second is an air traffic controller who calls in an old Vietnam buddy, Joshua Bane, to help investigate the plane that disappeared. When the controller vanishes, Bane is alone, staring down the barrel of government conspiracy that has the nation on the precipice of a third world war. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Jon Land including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.

Genres: Thriller, Science Fiction, Fiction, Adventure

446 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1984

About the author

Jon Land is an American author of thriller novels and a screenwriter. He graduated from Brown University in 1979 Phi Beta Kappa and Magna cum Laude. He often bases his novels and scripts on extensive travel and research as well as a twenty-five year career in martial arts. He is an associate member of the US Special Forces and is an emeritus board member the International Thriller Writers. John currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island.

Reviews

[Wenzel Roessler · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book started out with so much promise, very rich and interesting characters with a unique plot. But as the story went on the rest of the characters introduced were so cliche and the plot got to be so out of hand that the promise of a great story soon was diminished to an okay story. And about halfway through the writing became sloppy, dialogue was dumbed down, and the same phrases were repeated over and over again. All in all that's too bad because the main characters of the story were good enough to have a series based on them.

[Jelena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to pretend I'm deaf for a few times and remember this was written in the 80s because few slurs found their way in, but the story in general was pretty good, especially cosindering current situation in the USA and the world. The narrator did a great job, I was honestly surprised how much I enjoyed the book in general.

[Megan]

DNS 7/14/2021

[Frank Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time I read a book by Jon Land and I really did enjoy it. Thought the plot was good, characters were mostly believable, actual dialogue seemed fluid and made sense [with exception to one phrase CONSTANTLY being repeated by a character called Harry 'The Bat'" and am looking forward to reading Land further.
If I had to make a comparison with another writer.... He reminds me a lot of Michael Crichton and if I had any small complaints about the book, it is that the main 'killer weapon' was explained in some very hard to understand scientific explanations [which I don't know hold up or not], now I'm no expert, but I do read science blogs everyday and a lot of the explanation went over my head [!] and while the scientific explanations were a bit too complex, the author has the major subplot of the book, based around a young teenager with superpower like abilities! still good, but think author should make scientific explanations a bit easier to understand or lightly skip them [worked great for Crichton and his MANY sci-fi books] and maybe dial down a bit on the super power like plots.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A 727 jet liner preparing to land at JFK airport, New York, disappears from the radar screen. No one sees it but Jake Del Gennio, and afterwards, no one believes him, because the air liner reappears and lands forty minutes late. But Jake knows what he saw, so he calls in an old Vietnam War friend, Joshua Bane, to investigate. Joshua was a member of an elite team of government fixers/agents, so he starts to look for answers. Then, Jake disappears. Soon, Joshua is deeply involved with a project that will make the atomic bomb look puny, but it also could result in world wide destruction. Like many of Jon Land's later novels, this one never slows down. Nonstop action with chapter and chapter of doomsday crises. You come to really care about the characters as you wonder how they will escape the destruction of the world. Very satisfying ending.

[Harish P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had a promising start but plot fizzled out towards the middle. Plot is lacking in continuity. However, Jules Verne, Alexander Dumas, Captain Nemo as characters kept the proceedings quite interesting.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read worse.