Terminal Event [Import] [Hardcover]

James Thayer (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition edition (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0333766156
• ISBN-13: 978-0333766156
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,067,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I served as a physician in the British Army during the Boer War. Wait. Sorry. That was Arthur Conan Doyle. I was raised in Spokane, and went to school in Pullman and Chicago. My wife Patti, our two daughters, and I live in Seattle. I'm trying to learn to play the tenor saxophone, but Coleman Hawkins needn't be looking over his shoulder. I teach novel writing at the University of Washington extension school, and maintain a blog about fiction writing (www.novelpro.net), where I discuss writing techniques each day.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The story is acceptable, but the typography is excruciating., October 27, 1999

By 

Larry Larason (Gallup, New Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Terminal Event: A Novel (Hardcover)

Most reviews concentrate on the plot and character development. I believe this has been adequately covered by other reviewers. I want to point out that the typography in this tome is excruciating. There are no spaces after periods so that the whole thing reads like one run-on sentence. My wife gave up reading it after only a dozen pages. I finished the book, but I couldn't read it straight through the way I usually read a suspense novel, because I was fighting to find the ends of sentences all the way. I find it hard to believe that a reputable publisher would inflict this on readers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good summer read, August 7, 1999

By 

Phelps Gates (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Terminal Event: A Novel (Hardcover)

A real page-turner! Believable characters, and a plot whose twists and turns held my interest throughout. Be warned though... it's pretty gory! The author is skillful enough to move things along so fast that you don't stop to notice the gaping holes in logic (reservation tapes on a 2-week backup cycle that are erased in less than 10 days, and an FBI-sponsored burglary that makes no sense if you stop to think about it). And the retired teacher in me was appalled at the errors in grammar and spelling: "pouring" over reports... clothes on "hangars" ... wounds full of "puss" ... computer tapes are "overridden". Sigh! Spellcheckers aren't enough, folks!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous page turner!, December 30, 2002

By 

History Buff "owen11" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Terminal Event: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was gripping from the start. Thayer does a great job at detailing crash sites and the remarkable actions of the NTSB. The relationship with the female FBI agent adds an interesting dimension, without the typical tacked on love story feel, and certainly without the expected happy ending.

It is an easy read, and I was also baffled by the nearly complete inaccuracy of the description on the back cover (there is never any suggestion of pilot error). However, if you can put aside the expectations of the story his publisher is advertising, this really is a great story.