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. No doubt Nance's popularity benefits greatly from his gig as ABC's commentator on real-world air disasters, and the publicity from that experience will far outweigh the literary merits (faint even within the formulaic thriller genre) of this particular tale. Robert McCabe, a reporter investigating a story of possible U.S. government involvement in a recent spate of air crashes, is attempting to elude the goons trying to snatch his info-laden laptop in Hong Kong. His flight out of town, after a brilliant flash blinds the pilots, continues the string of aerial disasters; he and a few others miraculously survive the crash in Vietnam. Then they weather a fusillade from a helicopter and are rescued by FBI agent Kat Bronsky, on the scene just in time, naturally. The harried band then wends its way back across the Pacific, affording them time to theorize about the mayhem to which they've been subjected, while intermittently being shot at by people with poor aim but plenty of perseverance. Undergoing more hairbreadth escapes, they proceed to Seattle, then to Sun Valley, locale of the climactic finale. This will be popular with the aviation-minded, if not with those who expect finesse in their thrillers. --Gilbert Taylor

Arguably the king of the modern-day aviation thriller, Nance is in top form in this white-knuckle adventure about terrorism and heroism in the air and on land. From the jungles of Vietnam to the forests around Seattle and on several harrowing plane trips in between, FBI Agent Kat Bronsky and Washington Post reporter Robert MacCabe investigate why American jumbo jets are falling out of the sky. All the crashes have striking similarities: pilots were either killed or left blind by bright flashes that exploded just in front of the cockpit while the planes were in midair. Equally confusing is the appearance, then disappearance, of a corporate jet in the vicinity of all the crashes. And whoever is orchestrating the fatal air campaign has neither taken credit nor made any demands. After weathering many attempts on their lives by a shadowy terrorist group, Bronsky and MacCabe finally figure out what's happening: the terrorists are using a special ray gun stolen from the government to disable airplanes in flight. Their intent is to cause so much panic in the travel industry that it will disable the U.S. airline fleet. But why? The author's seventh aviation thriller (Pandora's Clock; The Lost Hostage) features, as usual, a completely new cast of characters who mix like old friends and enemies amid the non-stop action, never-say-die theatrics and stealth conspiracies. While the silly romance between MacCabe and Bronsky should have been jettisoned on takeoff, 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. Author tour. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

When an explosion aboard a Boeing 747-400 flying between Hong Kong and Los Angeles kills one pilot and disables the other, FBI terrorism specialist Kat Bronsky ends up chasing after a Global Express plane that was seen lurking nearby. And what about the Boeing's passengers? From the man who has given us airplane thrillers like Pandora's Box. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

YA-Opening with a Boeing 747 rising from the Hong Kong airport, this gripping novel grabs readers from the first page. Within minutes, a flash of light illuminates the cockpit, blinds the pilot, and causes the jet to plummet, killing everyone onboard. Kat Bronsky, an FBI agent and terrorism specialist, is called in to investigate. Questions soon arise as to the involvement of outside forces. When another commercial jet suffers the same fate, Kat finds that other government agencies are asking questions as well as covering up information. Readers are taken on a spine-tingling adventure as passengers in yet another doomed jet struggle to save themselves and discover that someone does not want any witnesses. Thus, Agent Bronsky and the remaining survivors must go on the run. They cannot trust anyone except themselves as there appear to be governmental leaks, and several attempts are made on their lives. Bronsky tracks the mystery from the Orient, across the Pacific to the American Northwest where readers are treated to vivid descriptions of both the varying landscapes and cultural influences. A fast-paced adventure with many ups and downs ending in a surprise, edge-of-your-seat showdown.-Anita Short, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.