All Fall Down [Audio Cassette]

Lee Gruenfeld (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1995

An extortionist nicknamed Captain Marvel can make airline navigational systems go haywire at will, holding hostage the entire U.S. air traffic system. FBI agent Jack Webster heads a team to stop this mad genius. 2 cassettes.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Gruenfeld's second novel (after Irreparable Harm ) explores the chilling prospect of an evil genius who demands $5 million to refrain from misdirecting the navigational systems of commercial airliners. While Captain Marvel, the extortionist, plays cross-country leapfrog to withdraw ransom payments from ATM machines, FBI agent Jack Webster and his former girl Friday, Dr. Amy Goldberg, head a team of bumbling bureaucrats and private sector techno-jocks intent on stopping the malevolent phantom. Sharply contrasted with the tense central narrative is a subtly drawn counterplot about Bo Kincaid, a black flying ace decorated in WW II and Vietnam who still pilots his restored P-51D. Fully imagined--though occasionally overwritten and over-moralized--Gruenfeld's plot is played out by well-defined characters and punctuated by painful reminders of racism and equality. This intriguing amalgam of thriller and psychodrama is distinguished by a high sense of realism as, inexorably, events draw Jack and Bo toward a fateful intersection with the terrorist.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Jack Webster, a retired investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, is asked to help with one last case. Webster and his team, aided by a computer expert, track a deranged genius who is bent on controlling the nation's airways by manipulating the navigational systems of large planes. Chased by demons in his past, Webster pursues the maniac to Los Angeles. With the help of a veteran fighter pilot haunted by his own past, he brings the killer to divine justice at the center of a huge fireball. Gruenfeld (Irreparable Harm, LJ 5/1/93) breathes life into his characters with detailed flashbacks ranging in setting from the skies over Germany during World War II to the napalm-riddled jungles of Vietnam. He spins a fine tale of suspense that even an aeronautical neophyte will enjoy. Recommended for all public libraries.
Grant A. Fredericksen, Illinois Prairie Dist. P.L., Metamora
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette: 3 pages
• Publisher: Publishing Mills (July 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1879371901
• ISBN-13: 978-1879371903
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,810,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This Book Rocks!!, December 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: All Fall Down (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one satisfying read. I really wanted to give it almost 4 1/2 stars. It's very well written, and maintains a steady, but intense pace. The character development is excellent, as are the twists and turns that kept me guessing. It's one book that leaves you feeling full, like you've just eaten a tremendously good meal, and when it's done, you won't feel cheated by some lame ending like many other books have.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slipping the surly bonds of earth sometimes not a good idea, October 10, 1998

By 

chuck lang (Santa Rosa, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Fall Down (Mass Market Paperback)

Lee Gruenfeld displays superb writing skills in All Fall Down. Two outstanding examples, one an action scene and one a quietly dynamic domestic spat, illustrate this point. The action scene, a literary gem, depicts Commander Jack Webster attempting to talk a crippled jet fighter back to a safe landing on the carrier during the season's worst storm. That one incident by itself would make a hit TV movie. The other scene portrays a bewildered Webster weathering a marital storm following a seemingly innocent remark. Who of us--married or single--cannot relate to that?

The two scenes are examples of what is meant by a character driven, rather than a plot driven, novel. Neither advances the plot line, yet both scenes give us insights into the character of the chief protagonist, thus making his decisions not merely understandable, but coldly logical.

The occasional flyer isadvised to read this novel AFTER his/her next planned flight. In All Fall Down a disgruntled psychopath, a genious in computer programming, extorts millions of dollars by threatening to blow passenger airliners out of the sky. This all-too-possible scenario brings in not only airline management, but the full force of the United States government: air traffic control, the FBI, and all other bureaus related to passenger safety. The climatic scene of the novel covers 15 minutes of real time. Gruenfeld uses some thirty pages to narrate it, not one paragraph of which is superfluous . Writing does not come much better than this.

Speed readers may be put off by the somewhat ;pedantic writing style of Gruenfeld. His low-key narration is somewhat remindful of erudite--though still interesting--professors in the lecture classroom. Speed readers in this case should slow down and smell the coffee.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Human characters, interwoven with a terrifying threat., May 24, 1998

By 

"[e-mail]" - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Fall Down (Mass Market Paperback)

Someone has decided to blackmail the government for $5 million. But the piddling size of the demand is only one of the side questions. Who it is, is another side question. The main question for the National Transportation Safety Board task group, is how the terrorist can cause the onboard instruments of a major airliner to lie to the pilots and aim the plane directly toward a mountain, when it is supposed to be on final approach to land at an airfield five miles away. Because that's what he has done once. Than allowing the crew to recover, before a crash occurred, as an example of his ability. The next time, the crew and passengers may never know that they're to die.