On a stormy night at Kansas City International Airport, Flight 170 waits for take-off to avoid the
thunderstorms rolling through. Flight 255 is landing on the same
runway. Due to wind-shear it misses the first approach and comes back
to try again resulting in a horrific crash involving both flights.
NTSB, National
Transportation Safety Board, investigator, Joe Wallingford, is
assigned to investigate the crash. He arrives in Kansas City with his
team to sift through the wreckage for clues to the accident, but in
this case it's no easy task, and the pressure on Joe, both political
and technical, is tremendous.
The first chapters
of “Final Approach” are the best. The crash scene keeps you on
the edge of your seat. The rest of the
novel is more mundane, understandably, because it involves the
technical investigation into the reason for the crash. I enjoyed the
detail of how an NTSB investigation is conducted, but it's slow going
at times.
Joe Wallingford is a
good character. He loves his job and responds to the pressure in a
very human way. Some of the other characters are good, but Joe is
clearly the standout. I found the women in the novel more
stereotypical than the men, and the love affairs, although they
aren't a major part of the action, seem forced.
If you enjoy books
with an aviation theme, this is a good one, but be prepared for technical detail and some repetition as the investigators work to
solve the mystery.
I received this book
from Open Road for this review.
No comments:
Post a Comment