Skyfall [Hardcover]

Thomas H. Block (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1987

Thomas Block has completely updated and edited for ebook format his bestselling International novel SKYFALL! Hidden aboard Flight 42 are terrorists who will force the aircraft to land in Communist China where a top-secret computer program will fall into Chinese hands. But the hijacking attempt is bungled and, with scores of passengers dead or wounded, the airliner's survivors desperately attempt to keep the airliner aloft. Meanwhile, a macabre deal is struck between the Chinese Ambassador and the US State Department to cover up all the mutually damaging evidence....


Reviewer in Europe have said:
"A nail-biting thriller of an aircraft hijack that goes wrong."
"Authoritative...engrossing."
"The conscientious attention to detail blends supremely with imagination."
"A master of high-flying suspense!"
"The flying stuff is spot-on, hair-raising and compelling!"


Reviewers in the United States have said:
"Cleverness...violence...realistic relationships and realistic dialogue...I was impressed."
"A first-rate thriller that entertains throughout, with a poignant conclusion."
"An exciting novel...suspense to the end!"

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 340 pages
• Publisher: New English Library (September 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0450406598
• ISBN-13: 978-0450406591
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,247,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Thomas Block has written seven aviation-oriented novels, many which have gone on to acquire best-seller status in numerous countries. His novel writing began with the publication of "Mayday" in 1979. That novel was rewritten with his boyhood friend, novelist Nelson DeMille in 1998 and remains on DeMille's extensive backlist. "Mayday" became a CBS Movie of the Week in October, 2005.

The other novels by Block include "Orbit", "Airship Nine", "Forced Landing", "Skyfall" and "Open Skies". Block is still actively writing, both fiction and non-fiction, and has edited and extensively updated all of his previous novels for ebook format. Block continues to work with Nelson DeMille and over the years has assisted with a number of DeMille novels in various ways. He has also worked with novelist Robert Gandt on several writing projects.

Block's magazine writing began in 1968 and over the past five decades he has appeared in numerous publications. He worked 20 years at FLYING Magazine as Contributing Editor, and as Contributing Editor to Plane & Pilot Magazine for 11 years. Block became Editor-at-Large for Piper Flyer Magazine and Cessna Flyer Magazine in 2001 and continues in that roll.

During his long career as an aviation writer he has written on a wide array of subjects that range from involvement with government officials to evaluation reports on most everything that flies. Block has piloted gliders, seaplanes, the Goodyear Blimp, warplanes and many large transport jets, to name just a few categories from his logbook. He has owned more than a dozen light airplanes.

An airline pilot for US Airways for over 36 years before his retirement in April, 2000, Captain Thomas Block has been a pilot since 1959. Born February 11, 1945, Block has accumulated 30,000+ hours of flight time since his first solo on his sixteenth birthday. He holds an Air Transport Pilot rating in numerous large aircraft. Block flew the Trans-Oceanic routes for US Airways in the Boeing 767 to a cross-section of European cities for the last decade of his airline career. Block is also rated for single and multi-engine land and sea aircraft, and gliders.

Since 2002, Thomas Block has lived on a ranch in Florida with his wife Sharon where they board and train horses.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good guys vs. bad in complex aviation thriller !, July 8, 2004

By 

Gerald M. Bull "Jerry Bull" (Fairview, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Skyfall (Paperback)

Thomas Block had a huge hit with his best seller "Mayday" co-authored with his (more famous) friend Nelson DeMille. Block, an long-time pilot by profession, then cranked out five more books of varying success on his own. We just completed the reading of his bibliography and were quite disappointed with his 1990 swan song "Open Skies", a weak detective story that only came alive toward the end when the principals are fighting head to head inside an airplane! "Skyfall" was his next to last effort published a few years earlier, but is a much better, exciting novel! An attempted hijacking of a jumbo jet flying from the U.S. to Japan goes really bad: a lot of people are killed by an onboard explosion -- but not everybody. A "nice guy" ex-pilot traveling with his wife and daughter, who happens to be the ex-flame of the first class flight attendant (for added sexual tension), winds up flying the disabled craft at low altitude. Trouble is, he has heart problems and the stresses are starting to render him helpless! Meanwhile, we readers get to enjoy the background of the disaster as the scenes alternate between the plane and the Chinese Embassy villains who are monitoring what is happening via computer link. Whether a second bomb on board will finish the job, and whether the bad guys will achieve a clever attempt to recoup their losses and twist the whole caper to a different political front, sustains suspense till right near the end.

Block is always most effective when writing about action in the cockpit and "Skyfall" is no exception. The intrigue created by what we learn as readers about the whole plot versus what the people on board are trying to figure out, plus belated efforts by airline HQ control room efforts to help, combine to create a first-rate thriller that entertains throughout. Following a poignant conclusion, a movie-style capsule summary of what happened to all the leading characters about a year after the incident was a neat way to tie up the whole story with ribbons. We commend this niche effort, but enjoyable novel, to your attention!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3 stars because of the cockpit action only!, January 31, 2007

By 

coachtim (Indiana, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skyfall (Paperback)

I went into this book with high hopes after reading Block's (and friend, Nelson DeMille's) outstanding novel, "Mayday". Sadly, this novel, "Skyfall", pales in comparison to the action found in the aforementioned book. "Skyfall" deals with a terrorist attempt to blow up a jetliner on its way from the US to Japan. The terrorists' motivation for blowing up the plane is sketchy and nebulous at best. It was rather hard for this reviewer to clearly see why the act of blowing up the plane would reach the desired global effect for the terrorists. Enough of that, though.

The book does have good moments after the crew is incapacitated by the terrorist's actions. To the rescue, comes a retired pilot with a heart condition who, while traveling with his wife and daughter, discovers that his former mistress, is a stewardess on the flight. And, he thought flying the plane was going to be tough! One of the best plot twists of the entire book occurs shortly after the plane's original pilot is nursed back to consciousness.

As the make shift crew consisting of the retired pilot, his wife, (still unknown at that time) mistress, and daughter try to keep the plane in the air, it is discovered that there may be yet another bomb on board. As mentioned earlier, Block does a nice job painting a clear picture of the cockpit of the ficticious (at that time anyway) 787 and the trials faced by the group in attempting to keep it aloft.

If you're new to the work of Thomas Block, I would suggest that you start with "Mayday" which is the better of the two novels and then move to another of his works entitled, "Orbit".

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Something to disappoint fans of plot, character, and technical accuracy, November 27, 2006

By 

James DeLaHunt "software engineer" (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Skyfall (Paperback)

I picked this book up when snowbound in a vacation home, and had to put it down several times when the cheesiness was too much to bear. The story of an airliner stricken by a bomb motivated by global politics, and the struggle of people in the air and on the ground to resolve the situation, is an intriguing premise. But the execution has something to disappoint fans of strong plots, of engaging characters, and of technical accuracy. The wreckage just happens to fall in a place to cut off a section of the plane from future involvement in the plot. One flight attendant after another takes centre stage, then disappears as the plot moves on. When the passengers with pilot training take over the damaged cockpit, neither thinks to set the transponder to the distress code (7700) or transmit over the international distress frequency (121.5 MHz). When the bomb blows a hole in the airplane, the oxygen masks don't drop. These goofs make one appreciate those writers who can score home runs in all three areas.

One touch that I did get a kick out of is the name of the fictitious twin-engined aircraft, made by a consortium of Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, and Airbus: the 787, a name now in use by today's Boeing company (which has taken over McDonnell Douglas, though not Airbus).