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Medusa's Child [Hardcover]

John J. Nance (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)


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Book Description

January 20, 1997
Everything in America is about to stop... 10,000 feet over Washington, D.C.!

With the same breathtaking heroics that brought his bestselling Pandora's Clock international acclaim, John J. Nance once again spins today's headlines--this time about the threat of nuclear terrorism--into an all-too-realistic story of high-flying suspense.  

For thirty-year-old captain Scott McKay, the transport run from Miami to Denver will give him the money he desperately needs to keep his fledgling air cargo company flying.  When a mysterious crate is discovered on his plane, however, McKay is ordered to abandon his present course and fly the crate and its owner, Vivian Henry, to Washington, D.C., before going to Denver.  McKay takes the forced detour in stride--until a strange noise comes from deep inside the crate.  It is the voice of Vivian's husband, Dr. Rogers Henry, warning that the shipment they are carrying is actually a fully armed Medusa device, a thermonuclear bomb that can destroy every computer chip over an entire continent, and blast the Silicon Age back to the Stone Age.  And it is set to go off within hours.  

As panic spreads from the small community of nuclear scientists who used to work for Dr. Rogers Henry to the White House and eventually to the general public, a group of rogue military officers conspires to disobey the President's orders and secure the technology of the Medusa device, whatever the cost.  Will Captain McKay and his crew trust their own instincts to dispose of the bomb, or will they let a misguided government dictate their actions?

Using his inside knowledge of the airline industry, as well as his expertise as a pilot, John J.  Nance has once again turned our worst fears into a terrifyingly realistic story.  Medusa's Child will take readers into the center of a spine-tingling crisis.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If you miss the great airborne adventures of writers like the late Ernest K. Gann, John Nance might help take up some of the slack. His Pandora's Clock--it became a TV movie--featured a nasty virus rampant at 35,000 feet. His latest has the widow of a world-class scientist trying to deliver to the Pentagon an invention that could shut down computers everywhere, thus ending civilization (and online bookselling) as we know it. Lots of hairy, if somewhat implausible, action--sure to be exploited in another TV movie.

From School Library Journal

YA?From the intriguing jacket cover to the final page, suspense abounds in this thrilling novel. When Scott McKay, captain of his private cargo plane, takes on two passengers and their cargo crates, he and his crew discover that they are in for the flight of their lives. While over Washington, DC, a strange noise comes from deep inside the crate owned by Vivian Henry. It is the voice of her husband, a nuclear scientist who was believed dead. The people onboard are informed that the shipment that they are carrying is a fully armed Medusa device, a thermonuclear bomb that will not only kill millions of people, but can also destroy every computer chip on the continent, blasting the country back into the Stone Age. It is set to go off within hours. Panic erupts in the world of nuclear scientists who used to work for Dr. Henry, for they realize that this threat is a real possibility. Fear spreads through the White House and the general public, as a group of rogue military officers conspire to secure the bomb at any cost. Captain McKay and his crew soon discover that they are being deceived, and that everyone's life is in danger. Mistrust, deceit, and spine-chilling action flow from every page of this story.?Anita Short, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 388 pages
  • Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (January 20, 1997)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0385483430
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385483438
  • Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,930,524 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John J. Nance, aviation analyst for ABC News and a familiar face on Good Morning America, is the author of several bestselling novels including Fire Flight, Skyhook, Turbulence, and Orbit. Two of his novels, Pandora's Clock and Medusa's Child, have been made into highly successful television miniseries. A lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, Nance is a decorated pilot veteran of Vietnam and Operations Desert Storm/Desert Shield. He lives in Washington State.

 

Customer Reviews

25 Reviews
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 (17)
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3 star:
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2 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars MEDUSA'S CHILD - A thrilling nuclear countdown, November 29, 2000
By 
Dean Redfern (Indian River Shores, Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   
A former disgruntled U.S. nuclear scientist wills his ex-wife the unthinkable, a thermonuclear bomb. The scientist, before his death, con's his ex-wife into taking a so-called 'model' of a Medusa device to the Pentagon for analysis. A working Medusa bomb, the theory goes, would knock out all of the working computers in North America, while killing a few million people at the same time. For the purposes of national security, the former Machiavellian husband argues that this information belongs in the hands of our military to study and defend against. But in transit to the Nation's Capitol, the model comes alive in the belly of a Boeing 727 air cargo jet, and its inventor speaks from the grave.

MEDUSA's CHILD maybe author John Nance's finest aviation thriller. The heroes of this novel not only have to battle a bomb to survive, they have to battle horrendous weather, fuel limitations, a screwed up military, a paranoid FBI, and the limitations of their own aging 727. One adversarial situation after another, they just keep coming. And one after another, the pilots keep on flying.

Suspense thrillers just don't get much better than this.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Fast-paced story!!!, December 17, 2002
By 
John J. Nance knows how to keep a reader in suspense. This book goes up there with Pandora's Clock as enjoyable novels.

The story is about a mad scientist who creates a bomb in order to get even with government and torture his wife. This bomb is one-of-a-kind in that it can knock out all electronics and destroy the economy. That's one problem, but there's another. It is also a thermonuclear device that is being transported by a 727. On top of that the crew is flying in probably the worst hurricane storms in the country. Those are the major problems, but as known by Nance, he adds more complications for the 727 crew to handle and it will be their decision that decides the outcomes.

Medusa's Child is a page turner with on-going twists and turns. You don't know what will happen next. Unfortunately, the book loses a star from me to become the best because the ending seems so implausible, you are asking yourself, is that possible?

Anyhow, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book just because it is a exciting read and a great alternative to movies!!...

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Should have six stars, March 7, 2006
By 
The book was different from the movie but both were thrillers. I watched the movie eight times, then made a tape so I could watch it with all my friends. Then I bought the book and could not put it down until I had read the last page. It now ranks up there as the number one fiction book in my library. My first novel recently published. al-Qaeda Strikes Again I have ordered most of John Nance's books to pick up some of his techniques for making the pages come to life with drama and excitement. It is truly a fantastic and exciting book.

Author of al-Qaeda Strikes Again
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Inside This Book (learn more)
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First Sentence:
Vivian, it's your ex-husband." Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
cargo cabin, live nuke, system command center, cargo strap, deck angle, transmit button, chief master sergeant, cargo floor, cockpit door, cargo door, cargo pallet, lead pilot, nuclear triggers, seventy knots
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Air Force, Rogers Henry, Vivian Henry, Pax River, Medusa Wave, United States, Jerry Christian, New York, White House, Pete Cooke, Doc Hazzard, Situation Room, General Kinney, North Carolina, Hurricane Sigrid, Grand Strand, Medusa Effect, Medusa Project, Los Alamos, National Security Advisor, Colonel Peters, Chief of Staff, Washington Center, Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Myrtle Beach
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