Is flying really the safest form of transport? (Airframe - Michael Crichton)

Member Name: stayleyvegas

Product:	Airframe - Michael Crichton
Date:	04/02/08 (317 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great research, excellent story line, turns fact into fiction.

Disadvantages: lack of characterisation

Released in 1996 this is another of Michael Crichton's best selling novels. Airframe is however very different from many of the other books that Crichton has written either before or since (with the possible exception of Disclosure) but reminds me throughout the book of a Arthur Hailey novel. Ordinarily, his novels are based around a subject that is both highly controversial as well in emerging technologies (ie, Jurassic Park/Next). That way he can put his own spin on things to show how things can go awry if these technologies are not controlled properly.

Here, he concentrates on proven technology and still manages to pull off a fantastic, fast paced novel that again demonstrates on what can go wrong.

In Airframe, Crichton attempts to get in to the inner circle of the airline industry and once again writes a novel of great research & depth and succeeds in portraying a true to life slant in a fictional novel.

The story surrounds Norton Aircraft, an aircraft manufacturer whose N-22 model is the pride of their fleet with an unblemished safety record. Whilst on the verge of signing a contract to supply the Chinese government with eight billion dollars worth of N-22s, a transatlantic N-22 flight is forced to make an emergency landing in LA with 3 dead passengers and 56 injured. With a week left before the contracts are signed, Casey Singleton, a Vice President of Norton, is charged with the task of finding out what happened to protect the sale.

Of course, with a Crichton novel nothing is as simple as this and there are various sub plots running through the book which come together exquisitely at the end.

The characters in a way are superfluous to the book. They are just a means of stringing everything together so characterisation is kept to a minimum. This is not meant to be a book about the characters and it is therefore difficult to build up any empathy towards them but this comes close as any of Crichton's novels.

This is a trait that Crichton does often and very successfully. His books are about the underlying story and Airframe is no different but this time his efforts are concentrated on the airline industry and airline safety procedures form a central theme to the book. His use of facts and figures from actual accidents are very cleverly used to seamlessly flesh out the message. He cleverly uses a wide number of airline accidents all within the same incident to show where things can go wrong be it due to pilot error, bad luck or technical problems with the plane whilst at the same time stressing how safe airline travel usually is.

He covers numerous subjects within the book to do with the industry namely the involvement of the unions, politics, sensationalist journalism and cover ups and brings these together beautifully within the story. The research that has gone into it is astounding and Crichton writes with a real knowledge of the subject and in great detail. However, the technicalities are explained in a very easy to understand way. It would have been easy to be over technical at these points and lose the reader but Crichton is a master at doing this with the end result being the book is more believeable.

A thrilling book that keeps you gripped to the very end but keeps you in suspense from the very start. The book thunders along at an electric pace but never gets ahead of itself, has numerous twists and turns along the way and reads like a real life account, which is difficult to achieve. The subject is very well researched and well written. A fictional storyline based on factual information which the author pulls off seemingly at will.

I give this book four stars as I was hooked and have actually read it three times now. I wouldn't recommend reading it on a plane though because you will be having hot sweats.

Amazon £5.99/Marketplace £0.01
* Paperback: 448 pages
* Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd (3 Aug 1997)
* Language English
* ISBN-10: 0099556316
* ISBN-13: 978-0099556312

Summary: Review of Airframe by Michael Crichton