Marine One [Hardcover]

James Huston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 2009

The president rushes across the South Lawn through a pounding thunderstorm to Marine One to fly to Camp David late at night. His advisers plead with him not to fly, but he insists. He has arranged a meeting that only three people in his administration know about. After fighting its way through the brutal thunderstorm on the way to Camp David, Marine One crashes into a ravine in Maryland, killing all aboard.

The government blames the European manufacturer of the helicopter and accuses them of killing the president. Senate Investigations and Justice Department accusations multiply as Mike Nolan, a Marine Corps reserve helicopter pilot and trial attorney in civilian life, is hired to defend the company from the criminal investigations, then from a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the most notorious lawyer in America on behalf of the First Lady. Nolan knows that to prevail in the firestorm against his client, he has to find out what really caused Marine One to crash, and why the president threw caution aside to go to a meeting no one seems to know about. To clear his client, Nolan must win the highest-profile trial of the last hundred years with very little working for him, and everything working against him.

Marine One expertly mixes political intrigue with courtroom drama and fast-paced action in the most exciting thriller of the year.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Bestseller Huston (Secret Justice) grabs the reader by the lapels with the opening sentence of the first chapter of this outstanding thriller: If my radio alarm had gone off, I would have known the president was dead. During a violent thunderstorm, President James Adams takes off in Marine One from the White House for a supersecret meeting at Camp David. A few miles out, the helicopter begins to disintegrate and plunges to the ground, killing everyone aboard. The helicopter's French company, WorldCopter, hires Annapolis attorney Mike Nolan to defend it against charges of criminal responsibility. Mike soon finds there are a number of possible culprits to pin the crash on, including the rabidly conservative Marine Corps pilot and the mysterious men who were awaiting the president at Camp David. Mike powers the case forward, even though the government warns him away and assassins attempt to kill him. This is nonstop legal suspense at its best. (May)
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From Booklist

This gripping thriller opens with a bang: Marine One, the official presidential helicopter, crashes, killing everyone aboard, including the president. Mike Nolan, an attorney who’s also a helicopter pilot, is hired by the manufacturer of Marine One to defend the company against a wrongful-death suit filed by the First Lady. Mike knows that he will have to find out what caused the crash, whether it really was a defective copter or if there is some other explanation. The problem is, the list of potential other explanations is very short, and all of them could put Mike’s own life in jeopardy. The author smoothly combines the political-conspiracy and courtroom-drama formats, and he nicely explores the story’s fundamental moral quandary: If Mike’s client made a defective product, is he defending the people who killed the president? The book has echoes of Michael Crichton’s Airframe, which was about the investigation of an incident involving a commercial jet, but this isn’t a technothriller so much as a political thriller with technological overtones. Either way, it works just fine. --David Pitt

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (May 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312364318
• ISBN-13: 978-0312364311
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #598,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James W. Huston grew up in West Lafayette, Indiana and attended the University of South Carolina on a Navy ROTC scholarship. He majored in History with a minor in English. During his senior summer he did an exchange cruise with the French Navy then attended the University of Warwick in England to study English Reformation history and English literature.

After college he received his Navy wings as a Naval Flight Officer and was assigned to VF-84, the Jolly Rogers on the USS Nimitz. With others in VF-84, he participated in making the movie, The Final Countdown, including flying in numerous scenes and filming and directing others. While with the Jolly Rogers he was selected to attend TOPGUN.

After leaving active duty he attended the University of Virginia School of Law. He moved to San Diego to join a firm and began flying in the Navy Reserves. After a few years he transferred his reserve duty to Naval Intelligence.

He started writing in the early 90s by writing op/ed pieces for the San Diego Union-Tribune. After a couple of years of writing for the paper, he decided to try fiction. Like many aspiring writers, neither his first novel nor his second was accepted for publication. But his third was different. It combined all his experience into a compelling story -- military action, political intrigue, and Constitutional Law. He found a clause in the U.S. Constitution that hadn't been used since 1812. He posed the simple question: "What if it was used today? What would happen?"

His other novels have built on the same themes. Politics. Law. Military action. Some have more of one area than the others, but they remain true to his style and ask compelling questions while providing a thrilling read. His eighth novel, FALCON SEVEN, is due to be released on May 11, 2010.

James W. Huston is a partner in the international law firm of Morrison & Foerster and works in the San Diego office. For additional information on his books visit his website: www.JamesWHuston.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Marine One is Huston at His Very Best, May 28, 2009

By 

S. Bell "sbell147" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Marine One (Hardcover)

Americans are fascinated by aircraft crashes, NTSB investigations and the high stakes litigation that follows the crash. But Jim Huston, an internationally prominent lawyer in this field, has really ramped up the excitement in Marine One. The aircraft that crashes is no ordinary plane. It's Marine One, the President's helicopter, and the President is killed when it crashes. But Huston doesn't stop there. There is international intrique, a Congressional inquiry, State Department meddling, a deadly conspiracy to thwart the efforts of anyone getting close to discovering the true cause of the crash of Marine One and, just for the heck of it, a few lawyers who may or may not be dishonest. The end product is a sensational novel!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who Would Like Marine One? I'll tell you who!, July 17, 2009

By 

Frank J. Derfler "http://GreatGuyBooks.com" (Islamorada, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Marine One (Hardcover)

Length:: 3:43 Mins

Is Huston's Marine One for you or would it make a good gift for someone you know? In this short video, I'll tell you how well the author did in creating a great book for great guys and who would like the book. Please join me! -- Frank Derfler author of "A Glint in Time"

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Five Star Rating for Marine One!, June 26, 2009

By 

John R. Linnell (New Gloucester, ME United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Marine One (Hardcover)

It has been a while since we were favored with a James W. Huston novel and the wait was more than worth it. As a pilot and retired trial lawyer, a book such as this goes down very easily for me. I have represented defendants in product liability cases and the litigation that Huston recounts in this book while a few decibels higher in sound and value than most, is very realistically set out.

This is a story that has you, right from the prologue. As events transpire and Mike Nolan gets drawn further and further into the mystery of the crash of Marine One with the president on board, it becomes more and more difficult to put down.

I read it in two days and for the last 100 pages, I turned OFF the Red Sox game I had been watching so as not to be distracted from the flow of events. I am a die hard Sox fan and if that isn't a measure of what a gripping story this is, I don't know what is.