Customer Reviews

Turbulence

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

While there are some excesses in this novel (half the passengers and crew seem to have taken a course in sadomasochism, they are THAT hellish and over the top), I still couldn't put this one down. Author John Nance clearly knows the world of aviation inside out, plus he has a knack for creating full-throttle suspense. The situation: a plane full of disgruntled passengers, mistreated by airline personnel and pushed to the brink. Combine this with a forced emergency landing in Nigeria and airline mutiny is all but certain. This scenario makes for a riveting tale but Nance doesn't stop there...the rest I won't reveal but I urge you to read this one, far superior to most thrillers out there.

I have finally faced the fact that a Nance novel can't be put down, and so I plan a special day for one. My "Turbulence" day was great - and, like the rest of his novels, I was captured. He taps that fear of being trapped five miles above the earth with no way out except a safe landing.

Most of his plots involve political intrigue or seriously disturbed crews. Turbulence, however, hits very close to home for anyone who has recently flown on "Cattle Chute Airways" (and there is a lot us). Customer neglect and now the stress of terrorist fears, pack airplanes with passengers on the dangerous edge of revolt. Nance crams his plane with believable characters and builds the story to a gripping peak.

Turbulence carries a definite message. It is like Blind Trust (Nance's nonfiction book about air safety) but in a very pleasant tasting pill. I hope that airline operators and passengers get the message. This experience is much more pleasant as a novel.

Interesting premise, but Nance unfortunately writes his characters as black or white - either poor victims or outrageously mean and nasty airline employees, and neither rings true. The novel almost reads like a parable masquerading as an act of fiction, but the dialog is so choppy and repeats so often (if you had a nickel for everytime a character says "Sorry?" in response to another character you'd probably equal Nance's royalties from this book) that this novel ultimately lands with a thud. If you don't mind overlooking such flaws then go ahead and enjoy yourself, but I really expected a lot more. I actually thought the first chapter was pretty well written, which is why I bought this in an airport, but as soon as I dug into it I realized the rest of the novel from a stylistic perspective quickly goes downhill. Plot is interesting though.

The reviewer who said that the only way this could be made into a movie was if it were a comedy featuring Leslie Nielsen hit the nail on the head.

This incredibly silly book goes from bad to worse with cartoon villains who are so over the top I busted out laughing during moments of what were supposed to be high tension.

I still can't decide who was funnier, the evil stewardess from hell or the looney doctor who tries to comandeer the airplane...but then again, if you appreciate high comedy, the moronic pilot was right up there.

"Turbulence" is not a subtle book - Nance hits on two themes over and over again with an enthusiasm akin to that of Animal from the Muppet Show pounding on a set of drums. Those two themes are: airlines often have poor customer service that needlessly aggravates the travelling public. Secondly, airline employees can be poorly trained and inadequate to the challenges of international travel.

However, he does make an interesting little novel here about an airplane full of people who have been pushed too far by rude employees, senseless delays on the runways and incompetent decision-making by the pilots. Throw in a violent misunderstanding and you've got the makings of a passenger mutiny and a sharp thriller.

This plot centers around a Meridian airlines flight with a crew and over 300 passengers that exhibits conduct pass my imagination to believe. But if you can pass that aside then the book is exciting and keeps you on alert to what in the hell is going to happen next. Nance's thrillers usually start with excitement in the first chapter but this book had to try and prepare you for the arcane conduct of everyone on board so it was a drag until things started happening at 37,000 feet in the air.

Turbulence shows the business world what devastating consequences will arise when you treat your customers as an annoyance rather than as valued clients. Many banks and multinational corporations today although not quite at the level of Meridian Airline are cutting back the number of and the training of their staff. Many are also seemingly doing nothing about removing Judy type personnel who treat their customers and colleagues like an annoyance while going on an ego trip and for them Turbulence is a great lesson on the future consequences of their actions. If I owned a company I'd make all my team leaders and upper management read Turbulence and give me a written report on what led to the customers behaving like they did.

Turbulence is an excellent read, the ending is a bit predictable and it's a shame to say the American and other governments' responses and actions are what I would predict they would do. A great read which is amusing and scary when you think about that there are people acting like this in the real world.

In Turbulence Meridian Airlines takes bad customer service to new heights. Helpful and friendly staff are told off by ego filled superiors who demand authority. Among those aboard a London flight to Cape Town are passengers such as a man gravely concerned if his mother is still alive who is not answering her phone and a surgeon whose wife died on a previous flight where a poor attitude from the pilot and crew did nothing about making an emergency landing which would have saved her life. The cabin crew is led by Judy who demands respect from the passengers and other flight attendants and sees nothing wrong with her creative announcements about flight delays rather than telling her passengers who should be grateful the actual truth. She also sees nothing wrong with threatening any passenger who dares question her. As well the Meridian flight is captained by an inexperienced pilot promoted from domestic to international routes with no training what so ever and sees nothing wrong with endangering the lives of his passengers or crew if it will keep them in line. Throw in engine trouble, a lot of delays, blatant lies from Judy, landing in the middle of a civil war in Nigeria and you've got one angry load of passengers and one hell of a story!

In the fashion of other John J. Nance novels, this one keeps you turning pages. "Turbulence" is an exciting adventure that takes place on an airplane of Meridian Airlines. The flight attendants are contemplating strike, the customer service agent hates passengers, Meridian, and his job, while the pilots seem to be lacking in sufficient training. There are many angry people within the pages.

In "Turbulence", both the action and the inaction of various characters in the story brings about bizarre and dangerous interpretations by other of the story's characters. Incredible danger aboard an already malfunctioning airline is the result of such far-fetched translations.

Not only is the cockpit crew lacking in qualities usually attributed to those flying passenger airplanes, but this flight has a "nurse Rachet"(from Ken Keysey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") as the head flight attendant. Add some terrorists, paranoia and undisciplined behavior from disgruntled passengers and you have "Turbulence".

Nance's novels are quick to read because you don't want to put them down and "Turbulence" follows suit in this respect.

Soon after 9/11, it seemed that novelists had done the best job of imagining such an apparently unimaginable event. We can only hope that, in this era of daily terrorist warnings, that another tragedy does not occur -- one imagined by the novelist John Nance in this, his most ambitious work to date.

As always, Nance spins a good yarn, although the opening chapters may not be as fast paced as usual. Hang in there, Nance fans, for the stage setting and character development leads to an edge of your seat conclusion.

Then, after you've read the book, enjoyed the story and come down off the concluding rush, reread the last few pages. There, you'll find Nance's other, more substantive purpose -- to essay error....to take us inside mistakes, large and small, as they're being made, real time.

In this sense, Turbulence surely is an extraordinarily provocative ride.

Long after Turbulence has served its initial purpose -- as a fun summer read preluding Clancy's door stop due out next month -- Nance's work will likely continue as required reading for anyone seeking to prevent error and enhance safety, especially in large organizations.

A lot of fiction. A lot of "last minute", hard to believe and unexplained events. Otherwise, good page turner. Could be a good movie, "Airport" style.