Due Preparations for the Plague

by Janette Turner Hospital

Lowell tries not to think about the past, about the hijacking that killed his mother. Samantha, on the other hand, cannot let the past go. As a child, she survives the hijacking of Air France 064, and as an adult she obsessively digs for answers.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Australia, Literary Fiction, Novels, Fantasy, Book Club

Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Born in 1942, Janette Turner Hospital grew up on the steamy sub-tropical coast of Australia in the north-eastern state of Queensland. She began her teaching career in remote Queensland high schools, but since her graduate studies she has taught in universities in Australia, Canada, England, France and the United States.

Her first published short story appeared in the Atlantic Monthly (USA) where it won an 'Atlantic First' citation in 1978. Her first novel, The Ivory Swing (set in the village in South India where she lived in l977) won Canada's $50,000 Seal Award in l982. She lived for many years in Canada and in 1986 she was listed as by the Toronto Globe & Mail as one of Canada's 'Ten Best Young Fiction Writers'. Since then she has won a number of prizes for her eight novels and four short story collections and her work has been published in multiple foreign language collections. Three of her short stories appeared in Britain's annual Best Short Stories in English in their year of publication and one of these, 'Unperformed Experiments Have No Results', was selected for The Best of the Best, an anthology of the decade in l995.

The Last Magician, her fifth novel, was listed by Publishers' Weekly as one of the 12 best novels published in 1992 in the USA and was a New York Times 'Notable Book of the Year'. Oyster, her sixth novel, was a finalist for Australia's Miles Franklin Prize Award and for Canada's Trillium Award, and in England it was listed in 'Best Books of the Year' by The Observer, which noted "Oyster is a tour de force… Turner Hospital is one of the best female novelists writing in English." In the USA, Oyster was a New York Times 'Notable Book of the Year'.

Due Preparations for the Plague won the Queensland Premier's Literary Award in 2003, the Davitt Award from Sisters in Crime for "best crime novel of the year by an Australian woman”, and was shortlisted for the Christina Stead Award. In 2003, Hospital received the Patrick White Award, as well as a Doctor of Letters honoris causa from the University of Queensland.

Orpheus Lost, her most recent novel, was one of five finalists for the $110,000 Australia-Asia Literary prize in 2008.

Orpheus Lost was also on Booklist's Top 30 novels of the year in 2008, along with novels by Booker Prize winner Anne Enright, National Book Award winner Denis Johnson, Philip Roth, Don DeLillo, Michael Ondaatje, Ian MacEwan, Ha Jin, and Michael Chabon.

The novel also made the list of Best 25 Books of the Year of Library Journal, and Hospital was invited to be a keynote speaker at the annual convention of the American Library Association in Los Angeles in June 2008.

The Italian edition, Orfeo Perduto, has been so well-received in Italy that it will be a featured title at the literary festival on Lake Maggiore in June 2010 where Hospital will be a featured author.

She holds an endowed chair as Carolina Distinguished Professor of English at the University of South Carolina and in 2003 received the Russell Research Award for Humanities and Social Sciences, conferred by the university for the most significant faculty contribution (research, publication, teaching and service) in a given year.

Reviews

[jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book plain blew me out of the water. i must say that i listened to it, and that i just discovered the pleasures of listening to audiobooks, something i previously considered anathema. i am a slow reader and i like savoring sentences and reading them over and over. so it was a while before i found the right book to listen to, and this one was great because the reader reads slowly and doesn't do too much silliness with the voices (though i had to wonder why they picked a male reader for a book written by a woman; not to be stickler about this, but when i read a book and i know that a woman wrote it, i sort of hear a female voice rather than a male voice, in my head).

the first thing that attracted me to this book is the awesomeness of the title. the title was first used in dead earnestness and literality by Daniel Defoe in his Due Preparations For The Plague, As Well For Soul As Body. published in 2003, hospital's book seems to me a deep, if off-center, analysis of 9/11, terror, and the implications and socio-political fabric of terrorism. i use "terror" here not as the current shorthand for "terrorist nefariousness" but as terror proper, that terrible feeling of overwhelming dread that makes us loose our bowels and go cold and dead with horror.

what hospital does here, she follows a bunch of young-ish folks who were the kids who were let out of a (fictional) hijacked plane in the 80s. the story is set in the year 2000. islamist groups are involved, and their final ending up in afghanistan (this is not a spoiler) obviously hints at a world of meaning-making and signification.

these kids, let out of the plane in paris or another european city (i should remember but don't; copenhagen?) before the plane's final disastrous journey to destruction and universal death, were filmed by countless cameras as they slid, distressed, terrified, and tearful, down an emergency chute, so the book is intensely visual, and images of this or that kid return almost obsessively. the visuality of the book is haunting and speaks of a large system of surveillance and observation all too familiar to 2013 readers.

the story is the kids', now adults', obsessive reconstruction of what really happened. in this respect, this is an enormously gripping spy story. the details are engaging and engagingly told, the story is taut and expert, and the author keeps us guessing till the very end.

but what strikes most is the trauma of the children, whose lives are all by hanging by a thread. they have created a website for kid survivors of the hijacking and are constantly forming connections with people and pouring over heavily redacted documents obtained through FOIA (remember that?) to find the truth.

the novel moves back and forth in time, very effectively, and a lot of it takes place in paris, from which the ill-fated flight departed.

the pain of the children is visceral. two of them, samantha and jacob, are literally tortured by the events. another adult who was also a child at a time and lost his mother (though he himself was not on the plane), lowell, is the third protagonist and his life is in shambles. the memories won't leave these people alone. sam, in particular, is very angry at the aunt who adopted her after her parents and her little brother died on the flight, and the relationship between the two women is, well, fantastically described, a great portrayal of tortured but (surprisingly) steady, safe, and tender love.

as the process of discovery proceeds and the picture is assembled, there is a palpable emotional crescendo, which culminates in the final section. this final section is worth the whole book alone. god. it is amazing. and unfortunately there is nothing i can tell you without giving it all away. but let me say this: if this were the only literary description of the sheer awesomeness of people, of the lovingness that prevails in the face of the most ruthless evil, it would be enough to make us believe.

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't have a category for this one. Thriller? Oh, yes. Terrorists? Yes. CIA? Named, but not specified, though obviously yes, again. Survivors? Oh, yeah. Obsession? That, too. Denial? Yes, of course. All these elements are here, yet it isn't really about any of of these, per se. It's about people, relationships, and getting through/past a horrific event; some do, some don't. It's all very complicated. The characters are richly drawn. Be aware that once you begin, the book will not let you put it down.

[Kirsti · Rating 1 out of 5]

This won a bunch of awards. I hated it.

[Lori L (She Treads Softly) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Due Preparations for the Plague by Janette Turner Hospital focuses on characters that all have one thing in common: they all have some connection to a plane that was hijacked by terrorists thirteen years earlier. When he was sixteen, Lowell's mother was on the flight and killed during the hijacking. Lowell's life is still tormented by her death. Samantha is a survivor. She was a six year old child and allowed off the plane. She is searching declassified documents connected with the hijacking and trying to discover the identity of a shadowy agent called Salamander. Additionally, it seems that all those connected with the hijacking are dying mysterious deaths. After Lowell's father dies and leaves him a bag filled with documents and tapes about the hijacking, he and Samantha team up.

This is a psychological thriller that deals with terrorism and espionage. It will play on your emotions as it tells a tale of deceit and deception and how one man's duplicity affects the lives of many. The story switches narrators and points-of-view, drawing out surprising connections between the people involved and offering the reader more insight into the whole terrifying event.
Certainly recent events give Due Preparations for the Plague a poignancy and timelessness that bodes well for the lasting impact it has on the reader. It could be a real story. The paranoia running rampant through the characters could be a legitimate feeling that they should be paying attention to. Today we know there are terrorists, unethical political maneuvers, humans used as collateral, and chemical warfare.

Due Preparations for the Plague also deals with the psychological destruction of personal loss and death. As the overleaf quote, from Daniel Defoe's Due Preparations For the Plague says: "I have often asked myself what I mean by preparations for the plague... and I think that preparations for the plague are preparations for death. But what is it to make preparations for death? or what preparations are proper to be made for death?" Exactly what preparations can you make for your own death that are truly beneficial and not simply reactions to the obvious? What risks must be taken? What must we be willing to leave behind?

Due Preparations For the Plague is a beautifully written literary novel with sharp characterizations. Every little detail is also well researched and woven seamlessly into the plot. The different narrators are fully formed and developed characters; each of them has a distinct and individual voice. While this is a political thriller that requires some effort and concentration to read, in the end you will feel your time was well spent. "To state quite simply what we learn in time of pestilence: that there are more things to admire in men than to despise." Albert Camus, The Plague

Very Highly Recommended; http://shetreadssoftly.blogspot.com/

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually started reading this book the first time just weeks after having a baby and decided to quit just a chapter in despite it being instantly gripping, because the characters and prose style were so edgy and intense, their anxiety so palpable, that it was tangibly fraying my overtired nerves. I picked it up again recently, having made up my sleep deficit, and saw it through to the end this time! It is gripping from the first page, beautifully written - a true ‘literary thriller’ - and the only reason I gave 4 not 5 stars is because, unlike other readers, I found that although the story itself ends in a satisfying way, I didn’t quite buy into the emotional finale - I found it a bit obvious and overwrought. But really, I’m nit-picking, because this is a tremendous book.

[Pauline · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Due Preparations for the Plague, Lowell is being pressured by Samantha to speak with her. She is a survivor of an airplane hijacking from thirteen years ago, the same one that took the life of Lowell’s mother. As the anniversary of the hijacking draws near, Lowell’s father passes away, entrusting Lowell with a locker key, its contents consisting of documents and videos from the past. As Lowell realizes what is in his possession, Samantha and Lowell attempt to uncover the truth behind the hijacking. Along the way, they undergo a process of self-discovery, enlightenment and encounter questions about responsibility.
This novel is recommended for teenagers and up because they will better understand the vocabulary and the hardships the hijacker victims had to go through psychologically and physically. Hospital`s writing style incorporates realistic situations with mystery and suspense, unravelling the mystery through flashbacks and narrations from different characters` points of views. At first, I found the constant change of point of views confusing and complicated. However, as you read further along, the confusion clears.
I found the first part of the novel interesting and it drew me in from the first page. Hospital`s use of rich imagery and symbolism are effective as I was able to understand the character`s state of mind. ``..he is floating loose in a nightmare, trapped in a dream in which masked men with machine guns appear but he cannot run, in which the world collapses in on him in slow motion and he knows he will be crushed, pulverised`` (Hospital, 156) Towards the middle of the book, I began to lose interest. However, it caught my attention once more as a series of significant events happened in vivid detail. The victims’ last actions before their death were shown on videotape and Hospital truly illuminates the admirable aspects of humankind. There were moments that were heartfelt and touching and the characters reached out to me. The ending was interesting because it allows the reader to question society`s justice system and wonder about the aftermath.

[Jeanette Grant-Thomson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite books, right up there with A Thousand Splendid Suns and others. It is by far my favourite Janette Turner Hospital book.

The story revolves around a hijacked plane, where most of the passengers are killed. The children are released safely. But children grow up - with trauma eating at them. And live in fear for their safety. Samantha, one of the main characters, is now nineteen and it is thirteen years since the crash. She is obsessed with finding other survivors, and this includes wanting to link with Lowell whose mother was on the plane. These two are the main players in the present (2000 I think). The story is told from each of their points of view.
We also have the heart-breaking story of lovers, Tristan and Genevieve, who were on the plane and taken hostage to use as bargaining power to get the government to release Islamic prisoners. We are never quite sure about the end of T and G - although it is fairly clear. Sad.

The ending has yet another twist - well, two really -and is very moving.

As with much of Hospital's work, the characters have strongly developed empathetic and intuitive faculties almost to occultism. At times, I feel she stretches this a bit.

A thriller it is - and yet the characters are absorbed with philosophical questions, especially when facing death. Typically JTH - and enjoyable for me.

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was so disappointed with Due Preparations for the Plague. The term lost the plot now has an origin for me.

I'm not sure if Janet Turner Hospital's other writing follows the same trends because this was far less literary than I was expecting. It was essentially a socio-ploitical thriller. The blurb led me to think it was something else entirely.

I enjoyed the beginning regardless, but once I got 3/4 of the way through it just got weird and overcrowded and full of tangents and like Hospital was trying to make her theory of the events fit the timeline that led to the hijacking of Air France flight 64 and the deaths of all of the passengers.

Not a good book, would not recommend.

[Tien · Rating 3 out of 5]

A complex web of deceit and conspiracies which entangled those involved into a whirlpool of obsession (to either avoid all or uncover everything). There were many parts in the book and there were 2 main protagonists from the present time however there were parts by other characters from the past. The suspense was well built but I find the ending to be too anti-climatic and so a tad disappointed. However, the story was well & intricately plotted.

[Gavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A somewhat confusing & disappointing book. For the most part it read like a standard thriller & I felt that with a bit more work it could have developed into something more meaningful. And some violent sections were completely gratuitous (cannot describe them clearly without giving away the plot - but the bunker section just dragged unnecessarily). So I would allocate 4 stars for the first half, but probably only 2 stars for the second because it did not develop ...

[Rhianydd Cooke - Cambourne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uuuughhh 😩😩😫😖
How???? How?? How can a writer make a plot about a terrorist cell/hostile takeover of a plane and a government conspiracy to cover it up, plot and make it soooo goddam boring???!

Honestly 🙄🙄

I wouldn’t have minded if any of the characters, AT ALL!!!! Had any semblance of a personality. I found it incredibly hard to care about any of them or their insipid reasons for looking for revenge…. Like, how did this become so F*#CKING BORING 😭😭😭?

I finished it…. Painfully and slowly. Hoping. Praying…. Don’t do the same. Don’t even start this book 😂😭

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good "geopolitical thriller," as they like to say. should a book about an airplane hijacking be read while on an airplane? i don't know. on the one hand, it makes you suspicious of all your fellow passengers every time they get up, on the other hand, nothing happening to you on the plane---middle seat, crying baby, turbulence, flight delays---could be as bad as the condition endured by the passengers in the book, making you feel like the flight you're on is okay.

[Christina Houen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a powerful, deep exploration of the psychology and actions of a group of people, some connected, who face death, either their own or that of loved ones, in different ways. Lowell, whose mother died in the hijacking of France Air Flight 64 in 1987, when he was 16, is haunted by her death and by the recent death of his father, which he gets news of on the 13th anniversary of her death. Lowell is besieged by phone messages from Samantha, who tells him his father knew that Flight 64 was sabotaged. His father, Lowell recalls, used to tell him stories from Greek myth and had him reciting Homer in Greek at dinner parties when he was six. His father had been a polymath, a gold medalist, and worked in Intelligence. So he had a secret life and lived in parallel universes.
Samantha was six when she was released with other children from the hijacked plane before it was blown up. She was brought up by her aunt Lou, and spent her childhood and teen years acting out, rebelling against authority, punishing her aunt for not being her mother. Until, at age 19, she becomes a student of American history and government and sets out to map the moves of Lowell's father, code name Salamander, whose part in the hijacking she is determined to uncover. A salamander, she learns, is a mythical creature with the power to endure fire and harm, an amphibian.

Eventually, she and Lowell connect and begin a dreadful journey of discovery, of the dark secrets behind the hijacking, of Salamander's involvement and his losing battle with Siroco (the desert wind), the sinister Middle Eastern man with an Oxford degree and a polished British accent who masterminds the hijacking and subsequent terrible consequences.

The connection with the Plague? The hijacking operation, which was a collusion between American Intelligence and the terrorists, was codenamed Black Death. Quotes from Danie Defoe's eponymous 18th century book and from Albert Camus' The Plague are woven through the story. The terrible bubonic plague was spread by rats carrying bacterium-infected lice, whereas the hijacking was a human agent of death. The point of the title is, as Defoe says, that preparations for the plague are preparations for death, which is almost inevitable. Death is faced by the passengers on the plane; those who died when the plane was blown up had a shorter time to prepare for death, with the hope of release till the end, than did the ten adult passengers who were taken off the plane and held as hostages in the hijackers' bargaining with Salamander and co for an exchange of imprisoned terrorists.
The story is complex and densely woven, with many changes of point of view, although Samantha and Lowell are the central characters and their stories are interwoven. Among the many literary allusions of the novel is the Decameron by Boccaccio, a collection of short stories containing 100 tales told by a group of seven men and three women who take shelter inside a secluded villa outside Florence to escape the Plague. Hospital mimics this in a climactic section of the novel, where the hostages are held in a sealed bunker, clothed in protective gear, helmet and goggles, while poisonous gases are released. Siroco broadcasts to them, telling them they have six hours before the filters become useless. They can choose a slow and painful death by asphyxiation or a fast exit, where they remove the mask to speak for a few minutes before dying.
This, for me, is where my suspension of disbelief failed. Some of these characters are unknown till these moments, so it is hard to engage with their stories, some of which are lengthy, and I was tempted to say, 'just die, get it over with.' It reminded me of Hamlet's lengthy speeches after he'd been poisoned by Laertes' baited sword.
After this, Aftermath, the ending, which gives a positive resolution for the Samantha and Lowell stories, seems an anti-climax, an anodyne.
Much of the story I found gripping and moving. The Decameron stories, I feel,are mostly extraneous because they have no forestory, and the Aftermath is not cathartic.
So, despite this book's multiple awards and short listings and rave reviews, I have reservations. If I dare sum up such a complex, intelligent, deeply allusive novel, I think it is over-ambitious and has too many strands to the story to work in a unified way. Nevertheless, I recommend it.

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's interesting to me that this had some similarities to the Last Magician partly in the descriptions of things (although Hospital is nicely succinct with the more fanciful passages, but mainly in the loss and trauma understood through the camera's lens (there are cameras clicking from close to the beginning and of course the camera in the bunker later on). Bits of it dragged a bit like some of the Salamander teaching how to poison people and then the one by one long speech and death section (maybe that one also because I found it sad and traumatising and too similar to the climate catastrophe death we might all have).

The questions around culpability in international incidents, though frighteningly cynical I thought bear reflecting on, likewise the apathy of the masses at the end because we've all had too much trauma. I found that good. I did not like the terrorists mentioning "Allah the Merciful". It was not a needed flourish for the actually atheist "Sirocco", and Islamophobia is a big enough problem without fanning the flames, even if the irony seemed delicious when she was writing. As most of the book pointed out, these incidents actually have very little to do with religion and religions tend to be used by the powerful to promote their own interests (I am not sure it happens as deliberately as this book suggests). The extend to which the terrorism of the Middle East is funded by and at times even set up by US interests is probably not much of an exaggeration.

Unlike many reviewers, I am glad there was a blandly happy ending, I needed it after everything else. I would have HATED it to finish on a cliff hanger for example.

[Maureen · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I had reviewed this book three quarters through I'd have given it a 4, but the last section bordered on the ridiculous for me and spoiled the whole book.
As a former medieval scholar, the author makes lots of both direct mentions and allusions to literature of that time. She implies that terrorism is the new plague (rather droll considering the world situation with coronavirus as I write). She infers that the sense of fear and vulnerability felt by those ancient communities in times of plague is mirrored by the fear of the modern population threatened with hijackings, anthrax attacks and the rest.
All fine so far, a quite complex and engaging structure leading us to a big ending. But then we end up with 10 hostages from the plane, the rest having had an easy time of it by being blown up, in a chamber pumped full of sarin and mustard gas and supplied with masks and clothing sufficient to protect them for just 24 hours. Instead of waiting for a slow and agonising death, each of the hostages removes the mask and delivers a monologue in the few minutes before they die.
Really? So the terrorists managed to pick 10 hostages who do not panic as the bodies pile up one by one after each monologue, who are uniformly articulate and able to sum up their lives in a few minutes? Pull the other one.

[Josef Komensky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not an ordinary Spy novel. This book goed much deeper than that. The reader is reading and the story unvolve itself like anion. Layer upon layer upon layer. And that is alsof the moment when I begon to Lose interest in the whole story that is so complicated, that at a sudden moment I almost compleatly lost my interest in it and it's main characters and their fate at all.
Please dont get me wrong the story is very geniously written and alle the fates of the people around the unfurtunate flight 64 is very craftly interwoven But this is not a Spy story. At least to me it is not. The closest description of the book Will be survivors drama very close Will be in this case book IF that is as about same subject random terrorist attack and it's aftermath.

[Trisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another searingly stunning work by my most admired author. This is a deeply personal trawl through the dark, dark web of espionage, and the carnage it leaves behind. It’s an exposé of the conscienceless, and a delve into the lives of the innocent and how they cope with their experience of it. The language is, as always, beautifully crafted, and the storyline, as always, complex.

I will reread this book, as I had a big gap between starting and finishing due to other reading commitments. I know more will be revealed on a second reading, but I am savouring the way my mind is processing all of the twists and turns.

Brilliant.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part thriller, part psychological exploration, this story travels around a lot and I especially liked the Paris parts. Revolving around a terrorist airplane hijacking, it tells several people's stories, people who live in uneasiness, trying to track down all the secrets that elude them. Having children who are viscerally affected by the dark plot adds a particularly thick level of being very scared and wanting to know what's behind it all.

Although I felt it wandered, I realized it was actually being woven and knew from early on it would take attention and wasn't a good choice for a long airline flight. Awfully good picture of those affected by a terrorist act …

[Laraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had great expectations for this book, which had been recommended to me. But I'd rate it a 3 star read, all in all. Telling us the story of Lowell and Samantha, children of victims of a terrible hijacking situation, Hospital writes a spy thriller that really kind of fizzles along the way. We meet Salamander and Sirocco, spies/terrorists...who is working which side? At times interesting, the book was disappointing to me. It was an okay read but not one I'd recommend to anyone.

[Ishmael Soledad · Rating 2 out of 5]

An easy enough read with a promising start, the novel (for me) lost pace and engagement about half-way through. Although not without it's twists and engaging characters, in places the bounds of credulity are stretched too far and the ending is both twee and underdone. This one will not find a permanent place on my bookshelf.

[Fred · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I could I would give this 1/4 of a star. It made me think but I could not get past the writing style, many plot holes, and lack of character consistency. Overall it was hard to read and I regret reading it.

[barrieboy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book looked promising, but apart from one or two interesting sections, there was too much sentiment for me. Couldn't wait to finish it, in fact I almost gave up after the first few chapters, and although I kept putting the book down, I persevered to the end. Forgettable.

[Andrew Fielding · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book that uses a variety of times to build up a strong set of characters. A backdrop of pre 911 air travel and the impact of being a hostage. I enjoyed it and will look out for other books by the writer.

[Amelia Rockliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bolinda audiobook.

[Arlene Richards · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read but dragged out in places.

[Alexander Chetkovich · Rating 4 out of 5]

solid page-turner. tense, minimal fluff.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit of a head spinning tale for an early dementia loony like me, but writing great as ever

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some books that just haunt your memories long after you’ve finished them. This is one such book.
An unforgettable tale and infinity believable.
Loved the way all the dots joined up in the end.

[Oscar · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel by Turner Hopspital lies a riveting story about the tainted and entangled fates of the survivors and the relatives of those who passed away on an Air France Flight 64 to New York, hijacked by terrorists in 1987. The children on the flight are released from the hijacked plane although their parents meet a horrific death at the hands of the terrorists. The life of Lowell Hawthorne, a divorced father of two children, is tormented by his mother's death on that flight when he was a teenager carefully described by Hospital.
"Every year, as September approaches, he believes he has put it all behind him, he believes he has laid the ghosts, he believes he will feel nothing but a dull, almost pleasurable sort of pain, like a toothache. And then: shazam, he is a wreck again" (Hospital 4)
Lowell is also plagued by the fact that his separated father, an intelligence agent, may have information of the hijacking before it occurred. When Lowell’s father suspiciously dies and leaves him a mysterious package, Lowell and one of the children who survived the devastating flight, Samantha begin to unravel the truth about the events of the tragedy. Along with the subplot that includes Lowell’s father involvement in the CIA operative that led to the deaths of those who were on the flight and the cover up in its repercussion. Hospital uses highly descriptive scenarios and intricate and well researched details in the thriller from the CIA involvement to the terrorist tactics and the constantly changing point of view of the main characters and the victims from the present to the events of the hijacking to carry out the highly structured and suspenseful plot.
The novel having published two years after the results of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the World Trade Towers in New York, Hospital used the fast-moving novel to provoke an intensely realistic interpretation of a terrorist attack allowing readers to personally experience the terror of the real thing.

[John Keillor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thin but likeable.