Man of the Hour [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Peter Blauner (Author), Joe Montegna (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1999

From the bestselling author of "The Intruder" and "Slow Motion Riot" comes a new, provocative thriller about a schoolteacher who becomes a celebrated hero--and then has it all taken away.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

David Fitzgerald is a 40-year-old English teacher with the rare ability to reach at least some of his students at a poor high school in Coney Island. But one who he can't reach is Nasser Hamdy, a Palestinian boy so scarred by hate that he joins with terrorists to plant a bomb in a school bus. A combination of accident and courage turns Fitzgerald into a media hero when he keeps most of his class from boarding the bus and then risks his life to rescue a pregnant teenager who got on early. But circumstantial factors quickly turn the tide and make Fitzgerald a prime suspect in the bombing. He is savaged by the system but never officially accused.

Blauner does everything well, from creating compelling scenes of urban terror, to making us believe in Fitzgerald as a gifted teacher, loving father, and exhausted husband. Blauner's background as a journalist also makes the media reaction within the story instantly credible--humanizing at least one member of the ravening media rat pack.

Catch Blauner's two previous thrillers: Slow Motion Riot and The Intruder, both available in paperback. --Dick Adler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Thorough reportage and dead-on description make Blauner's latest city-streets novel (after 1997's paperback bestseller The Intruder) as impressive for its realism as for its suspense. David Fitzgerald is a slang-talking, highly literate 40-year-old English teacher who tolerates the frustrations of working at dilapidated Coney Island High School for the sake of students like bright, conflicted Palestinian Elizabeth Hamdy. Elizabeth's older brother, Nasser, was also once in Fitzgerald's class. Unreachable and full of hatred for America and Israel, he has joined a terrorist group that practices jihad, believing that even robbing a convenience store or killing a child is sanctioned by God's will. When Nasser and his fellow terrorists plant a bomb in a school bus, Fitzgerald becomes an accidental hero by preventing most of his class from entering the vehicle and then risking his life to rescue a pregnant teenager who is already on board. Circumstantial factors, however, soon reverse Fitzgerald's image and he becomes a prime suspect in the bombing, savaged by the system but never officially accused. Dysfunctional urban settings inhabited by uneasy, suspicious immigrants create a backdrop to Fitzgerald's personal drama: a marriage to a mentally unstable actress, and a deep fear that his contact with his son will be terminated. Blauner, a former journalist, writes about the media with the jaded authority of an insider. His novel looks unflinchingly at the aspects of contemporary American life that make morality a transient, relative principle. Agent, Richard Pine. 175,000 first printing; $250,000 ad/promo.
Copyright 1999 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
• Publisher: Warner Adult; Abridged edition (May 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570426821
• ISBN-13: 978-1570426827
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,321,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

When I was a kid, I quickly realized I didn't have much talent for throwing the baseball or playing a musical instrument or anything like that. What I had was a desire to write - which, of course, is not the same as having talent. That didn't stop me from focusing and honing in, practicing my writing the way other kids practiced free throws or 100-yard sprints.

Pretty early on, it occurred to me that I didn't want to run in the same race as everybody else anyway. A writer should have has her own slant on things. So I decided to go my own way. Even though I write what are classified as "crime novels," I don't have granite-jawed heroes or spunky heroines who always triumph over the bad guys. There are enough of those in the bookstores. I write about people with considerable flaws and consuming struggles, trying to make sense of their lives. I don't expect you to cuddle up to them or want to invite them to your Christmas dinner. But I think they have a lot of heart. Not in the sentimental sense. But in the raw, pulsing, heaving, still-beating-in-spite-of-everything sense.

I certainly don't mean to sound high-minded. After this many years in the game, I don't think a novel (particularly a "crime novel") can - or even should try to - cause great social change and upheaval. Most people just want a good story that can help pass the time on a plane. And that's my goal as well. But every once in a while, it can maybe also give you a slightly different way of looking at the world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Novel!!, February 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Man of the Hour (Hardcover)

In these jaded times it sounds corny and false to say that a writer just keeps getting better and better, but in Peter Blauner's case, it's the absolute truth. Although his novels have the pacing of thrillers, I consider them to be the very best urban fiction of our age. From "Slow Motion Riot" to "Man of the Hour", Blauner has brilliantly dramatized the perils and rewards of life in urban America in a way that makes the territory his alone. If you dig a great story...if characters you'll never forget are your thing, make "Man of the Hour" the next book you read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Page Turner, April 28, 2000

By 

Aaron Chenoweth (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Man of the Hour (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a book right out of today's headlines. Extremist Religious groups, Overzealous Media, Misguided youth, Violence, it's all in this book. Yet the plot brings this all together in one believable story. The author does a great job at showing each character and why they are performing such atrocities or why they have such courage to stand up for their believes. At some points you almost feel sorry for the bad guys because you know why they are in this predicament. This is a fast paced story with great characters and plot development, you will find yourself turning one page after another while you are engulfed in the story.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Man of the Hour, March 12, 2002

By 

Mitchell Morton (Monroe, CT USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Man of the Hour (Paperback)

Peter Blauner did a great job in writing MAN OF THE HOUR because he took a fictional story and mixed it with reality. Blauner sends the message that our lives are not set because you could be going on with your normal life and then one act can change your life forever. He shows us this through David Fitzgerald, a teacher, who begins by getting everything ready for a field trip before all of the kids get on the bus, but one girl who was pregnant. The next thing you know the bus is in flames and he is saving his student's lives.
The character that sticks in my mind is Dave Fitzgerald, because he is going through a troublesome time in his life and then the bus blows up and and makes everything worse. The way he handled the problems at first showed that he was a weak man and then later he starts to handle the situation like he has been through it before.
I expected this book to be about a building blowing up and Dave Fitzgerald saving someone. As I was reading, things that I thought wouldn't happen did happen. I believe that this book should be made into a movie because the plot was always changing and it was extremly vivid. I would recommend this book to people who like suspense, action, and thrillers book because MAN OF THE HOUR has it all.