Airframe (Mass Market Paperback)

by Michael Crichton (Author) "Emily Jansen sighed in relief..." (more)
Key Phrases: slats deploy, slats disagree, slats lever, Hong Kong, John Marder, War Room (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Cruising 35,000 feet above the earth, a twin-engine commercial jet encounters an accident that leaves 3 dead, 56 wounded, and the cabin in shambles. What happened? With a multi-billion-dollar company-saving deal on the line, Casey Singleton is sent by her hard-driving boss to uncover the mysterious circumstances that led to the disaster before more people die. But someone doesn't want her to find the truth. Airframe bristles with authentic information, technical jargon, and the command of detail Crichton's readers have come to expect. Check out Amazon.com's Airframe feature and read an excerpt from the book! --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Like his role model, H.G. Wells, Crichton likes to moralize in his novels. In this slight, enjoyable thriller, the moral is the superficiality of TV, especially of its simplistic news coverage. Readers willing to overlook the irony of this message being broadcast by the man who created TV's top-rated drama (E.R.) will marvel again at Crichton's uncanny commercial instincts. The event that launches the story, conceived long before TWA Flight 800's last takeoff, is an airline disaster. Why did a passenger plane "porpoise"-pitch and dive repeatedly-enroute from Hong Kong to Denver, killing four and injuring 56? That's what Casey Singleton, v-p for quality assurance for Norton Aircraft, has to find out fast. If Norton's design is to blame, its imminent deal with China may collapse, and the huge company along with it. With Casey as his unsubtle focus-she's one of the few Crichton heroines, an all-American gal who's more plot device than character-Crichton works readers through a brisk course in airline mechanics and safety. The accretion of technical detail, though fascinating, makes for initially slow reading that speeds up only fitfully when Casey is menaced by what seem to be union men angry over the Chinese deal. But as she uncovers numerous anomalies about the accident, and as high corporate intrigue and a ratings-hungry TV news team enter the picture, the plot complicates and suspense rises, peaking high above the earth in an exciting re-creation of the flight. It's possible that Crichton has invented a new subgenre here-the industrial thriller-despite elements (video-generated clues, for one) recycled from his earlier work. It's certain that, while this is no Jurassic Park, he's concocted another slick, bestselling, cinema-ready entertainment. 2,000,000 first printing; Literary Guild main selection; film rights sold to Disney for a reported $8-$10 million; simultaneous large-print edition and Random House audio and CD editions.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; Some Pages Rough Cut edition (September 28, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345402871
• ISBN-13: 978-0345402875
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (539 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #119,064 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #23 in

  Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( C ) > Crichton, Michael

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars riveting and fast paced, April 29, 2003

By	Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I am constantly amazed by the breadth of Michael Crichton `s interests and by his remarkable skill in researching his subjects. I also find his indirectly expressed issues of more than passing significance. In Jurassic Park the issue is the arrogance of science in its manipulation of nature and the tendency of Western science to eschew accountability for the spillover costs to society when things go wrong. Airframe is another example of it. Here the issue of the freedom of speech and the lack of accountability of the media, particularly television news, is explored. In a society that has come to stress individual rights, little emphasis has been placed on individual responsibility. In order to be a functional culture, there has to be a balance of both rights and responsibilities. Airframe makes this abundantly clear.

As so often with Crichton's central characters, a uniquely placed individual must come to grips with the inherent difficulties of fighting an uphill battle against society's inertia. The heroine, Casey Singleton, is given the task of deciding how a disasterous air accident happened before a crucial business deal collapses and takes the company she works for and all of its employees down with it. It is by no means clear what is taking place, and ultimately she must come to trust her own personal interpretation of events to bring things to a head.

The detail is impressive. The characters are well developed and real. The story is riveting and fast paced. A thoroughly enjoyable book.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best Crichton's ever written, August 21, 1999

By A Customer

This is absolutely my favourite book by Michael Crichton. He may have a medical degree, but he writes about journalism, the media and politics with much more insight than the condescending attitudes of his scientist characters. This book is Crichton at his best--backed up, as ever, by extensive research into the topic, a cast of hugely realistic characters to love and love to hate, and, of course, an intriguing mystery thrown in to boot. Casey Singleton is a classic Crichton heroine--world-weary, wise, and an expert in her field, she reminds me of Sarah Harding from "The Lost World", except Casey has a REAL job. The realism of the plot is one of the main factors in making this one of Crichton's best books--all of this could really happen. I've seen other reviewers bellyache about the mundaneness of the final solution to the aircrash, but isn't that the most chilling note to the whole plot? Just how easily all this chaos was caused? Sleazy journalists, wise colleagues, a comical team of experts called in to exammine the aircraft, and at the centre of it all Casey Singleton, trying to save the company and at the same time trying to stop herself becoming the scapegoat to be sacrificed to the media: for me, this makes a brilliant novel. The final pages will blur by--and when you sit back with a sigh of relief, the underplayed conclusion to this book behind you, there is the final message: Don't believe everything you read in the papers. Well, I said it was realistically underplayed, didn't I?

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Just One More Page...", June 5, 2000

By	VoodooLord7 (Oklahoma, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I love this book! Michael Crichton writes his books in such a way that they are near impossible to put down. This is accomplished primarily by the fact that the story never gets boring, and he usually ends chapters on a cliffhanger note, thus nearly forcing you to turn the page. This applies not only to Airframe, but all of Crichton's book.

Also, his documentary approach to the novel of suspsense (complete with a very posh looking intro) will leaving you wondering whether or not the story really happened, such is the level of detail. It's a shame that this wasn't made into a movie as it seems more fit to be one than some of the other Crichton ones that they've made into movies (Rising Sun, Eaters of The Dead (13th Warrior).

I can gurantee one thing, after reading this book you'll either never worry about riding an airplane again, as the safety measures of them are recounted in this book so painstakingly detailed, or you'll never fly in one again!