Angle of Impact [Mass Market Paperback]

Bonnie Macdougal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 26, 1998

Dana Svenssen, a brilliant, overworked Philadelphia lawyer, is on her way to a routine business meeting when her carefully ordered world detonates. The helicopter carrying her client collides with an airplane directly over the amusement park where Dana's two daughters are spending the day on a class trip. As fiery debris rains down on screaming families, Dana desperately races to the scene to find her children. Then, in the frantic aftermath, she discovers that the tragic accident isn't an accident.

Yet determining the probable cause of the collision is near impossible--until a kidnapping suddenly throws Dana into the maelstrom of a deadly, all-consuming conspiracy. . . .

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Angle of Impact is probably not the best book for legal thriller addicts to take on their next airplane flight, but for terra firma reading it is strong, fact-packed, and very gripping. Philadelphia lawyer Bonnie MacDougal takes a real-life collision between a light plane and a helicopter over a suburban park and turns it into a personal and professional challenge for her fictional counterpart, Philadelphia lawyer Dana Svenssen. As she did in her first novel, Breach of Trust, MacDougal sprinkles just the right amount of detail about civil liability and forensic evidence into her exciting stew. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

In this thriller by MacDougal (Breach of Trust, LJ 9/1/96), Dana Svenssen, a brilliant attorney at a Philadelphia law firm, witnesses the collision of a client's helicopter and a small plane over an amusement park. By the time Dana discovers that the exclusive photos she took of the disaster prove that it was sabotage, the perpetrators have kidnapped her estranged husband, Whit, in a bid to obtain the film. MacDougal's first novel worked because the story maintained a level of suspense throughout. This book, however, aims straight for the Judith Krantz/Danielle Steel crowd, with gorgeous people and turgid sex. The missing ingredient is danger. Indeed, Dana's husband, a college professor, feels so secure with his captors that he manages to finish his analysis of Wallace Stegner's Angle of Repose after a 20-year case of writer's block! The laughable climax has husband and wife embracing in a portable toilet. Recommended only for libraries where the author's first novel was popular (this is not a sequel).?Laurel A. Wilson, Alexandrian P.L., Mount Vernon, Ind.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 349 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (December 26, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345414462
• ISBN-13: 978-0345414465
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,761,900 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:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read, September 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Angle of Impact (Hardcover)

I read "Breach of Trust" and thought it was very good, but I enjoyed "Angle of Impact" even more. This book was exciting from the first chapter to the last. I liked that the main character, Dana, was more take charge than the lead female character in "Breach." I didn't find Whit's part as likeable and was a little disapointed he didn't get dumped at the end (he doesn't deserve Dana). MacDougal could have developed some of the characters better, such as the other lawyers Dana worked with. I had trouble putting this book down and would recommend it without reserve.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Splendid Technological Seminar, July 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Angle of Impact (Hardcover)

A Technological Seminar of the First Order. Philadelphia lawyer Dana Svenssen emerges as a brilliant, complex, driven lawyer, whose technical, legal, creative, tough girl skills seem to know no bounds. Facing a daunting challenge in defending clients during an aviation disaster, she brings in the experts - and from them we learn. The technical knowledge range is awesome and educational. But it is presented in such a way that the plot keeps moving and the suspense heightens.

As the author begins, "Certainty generally is illusion, and repose is not the destiny of man." (Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.)

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The story is clear, keeps moving at a good pace, detailed., November 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Angle of Impact (Bookcassette(r) Edition) (Audio Cassette)

Flowing storyline with well developed characters and scenes. Action keeps rolling with very few lulls. About as deep as a Grisham novel, with ample twists and turns. Very good narration with emphatic voice characterizations and distinct personalities. Hard to put down.