Amazon.com: Skyhook (9780515137125): JOHN J. NANCE: 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.

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14 Reviews

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3.0 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Hook Gets Set Slowly, May 19, 2003

By

John W. Bates "jaydubyah" (Americus, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Skyhook (Hardcover)

John Nance has given us several lawyer/aviation stories, beginning with the excellent Pandora's Clock about disease spreading quickly worldwide through airline travel (SARS anyone?). Many of his books have been suspenseful and gripping. Some have not been as good as others. Skyhook, unfortunately, tends more to the latter than the former. The first half is a very slow read, and I came close several times to putting it down. I persevered, however, and was satisfied at the end.
This book is more lawyer than aviation, and the protagonist is neither. April Jensen is a cruise line executive based in Vancouver. Her best friend and almost-sister is a young, rising lawyer with a prestigious Seattle firm. Her father is an airline captain who owns a restored, made into a recreational vehicle, WWII flying boat. When her parents disappear while flying in Alaskan waters, April practically has to force authorities to make a search. When they find her parents afloat in a life raft nearly dead from exposure, her pressure appears to have been justified. Then a belligerent FAA inspector accuses her father of all sorts of violations, including drinking, and gets his license revoked. This is serious, because flying is not only his occupation, it is his life. The lawyer friend becomes involved to try to save his career.
Meanwhile, there is a secret Air Force research project going on, to create the computer software and links to enable a ground-based pilot to take control of a plane in flight, ostensibly so that a plane with incapacitated pilots can be landed safely. The civilian applications post 911 are obvious, but not stated until later. The project is in trouble, and the chief software developer is having real concerns about sabotage. These two plots just avoid a midair collision, and merge into a common trajectory, with a smooth three-point landing. You may have to buckle your seat belt to get to the ending, but on the whole, this is a good read.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Just "OK," I am afraid, December 18, 2003

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hang10web (Midwest, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skyhook (Hardcover)

This was very slow to start for me, and as the book progressed from the cockpit, to the Pentagon, to the ocean, to the courtroom, to the White House I kept thinking "So what?"

Its a little implausable that a pilot who "just happens" to be flying in a top secret military test zone gets wrapped up in the plot they way he does, and that it gets elevated to the level it does - just for the sake of reinstating his pilot's license?

Pretty far fetched in terms of the story, but I enjoyed the technical side of the plot - as flawed as it was.

A decent read, but I never really did buy in...

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Enticing Read, February 10, 2004

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C.A. Wiles (Austin, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Skyhook (Paperback)

Another enticing reader by aviation journeyman, John J. Nance, is scripted against the format of that ever-present military/industrial complex we are in the grip of wherein an improbable plane accident occurs. The establishment firmly resists an investigative intrusion into the unthinkable but the author uses deft characterization to sort myriad personal complexities into not only the probable but the possible.
The occasional use of a quirky feline personage, Schroedinger, who gets impatient with loss of priorities by the human clan, will foster recall of similar relationships by readers who are owned by a cat lends a now-and-then break from the mind-numbing attention this book of suspenseful travail demands. Another Keeper!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Not one of Nance's best books
Nance is one of my favorite authors and most of his books have been either four or five stars for me. Read more

Published on May 9, 2009 by Reads Thrillers

2.0 out of 5 stars "OK" might be too much
If I read a book and cannot remember what it's about a year later, it was a pretty bad book. For this one, I couldn't remember what was happening less than a week after I read... Read more

Published on July 7, 2007 by Adam

1.0 out of 5 stars Get back to basics, John!
John Nance's last few books have deviated from his orginal thrillers that were totally focused on commercial aviation. He should get back to what he did best ... Read more

Published on March 11, 2007 by J. Mahaffey

2.0 out of 5 stars Sky-Rooked!
During the top-secret testing of a new remote flight control box, something goes horribly wrong, and a Gulfstream nearly crashes. Read more

Published on August 11, 2005 by Kara J. Jorges

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent
Held my interest from cover to cover.

Published on February 7, 2004 by Carol L. Riegel

5.0 out of 5 stars a well written little gem
Nance, as in his other novels, creates credible scenarios with sufficient techno-whiz that he is not forced into plotting that relies solely on Hollywood special effects to carry... Read more

Published on July 27, 2003 by L. Brimm

1.0 out of 5 stars What a bore!
I loved John Nance's first few books, but his previous one, and now this one, have zero thrill! I still have a few chapters to read in Skyhook, and if I lost the book and never... Read more

Published on May 30, 2003

1.0 out of 5 stars Airline Not High Tech
First off, you should throw to my comments a bucket or 2 of salt since I have not read this book nor I intend to do so. Read more

Published on May 5, 2003 by bobb

2.0 out of 5 stars A real yawnfest
What could be more boring than a book about the minutiae of flying, or a legal argument? One combining both of them. Read more

Published on April 30, 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars One of his best
A top-secret computer program is on the verge of going live--but could wreak havoc on the nation's aviation routines--in this timely new thriller. Read more

Published on April 28, 2003 by Konrad Kern

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Inside This Book (learn more)
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First Sentence:
Whoa! What's this thing doing?" Captain Gene Hammond asked. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
renegade code, chief software engineer, radar tapes, nose hatch, remote pilot, test director, prop blade, black project, chief test pilot, equity jurisdiction

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Coast Guard, Captain Rosen, Ben Cole, Air Force, Arlie Rosen, Miss O'Brien, Joe Davis, Miss Rosen, United States, Dan Jerrod, Jim Dobler, Jim Riggs, Ben Janssen, Sage Ten, April Rosen, Gracie O'Brien, Will Martin, George Mikulsky, Jon Anderson, Prince William Sound, Rachel Rosen, Federal Aviation Administration, Bernie Ashad, Boeing Field, Boomerang Box

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