Thomas H. Block

I received this audiobook for review from Hachette Audio. I did not receive any compensation for my review, and the views expressed herein are my own.

This is my first DeMille novel, and it won't be my last! This heart-pounding thriller will have you gripping the edge of your seat!

I had no idea that this book was actually originally written in the 1970s. In order to update aviation procedures and technology, it was updated and re-released in the 1990s.

A commercial airliner (Trans-United show more Airlines' Stratton 797) is accidentally struck by a missile launched by the Navy during a secret (illegal) testing operation. Instead of hitting a drone target, the missile blows through one side of the passenger jet and out the other. Some passengers are immediately swept away out the holes of the jet and others are injured in the immediate aftermath but what happens next is what is most frightening: The complete depressurization of the cabin at an altitude of 60,000 feet has left the majority of passengers and crew brain-damaged except for the few that were in pressure-stable areas.

The hero of Mayday, passenger John Berry, is a salesman and "weekend" pilot that has only flown small planes. He is the only person aboard that is capable of attempting to land the plane. Assisted by Flight Attendant Sharon Crandall, the two must defy the odds in order to survive aboard Flight #52.

**SPOILER WARNING

John Berry's only hope to land the Stratton is to have an expert pilot give him explicit landing instructions. John and Sharon manage to contact the airline's headquarters in San Francisco by data-link, which is a computer-messaging system. The vice-president of the company, Edward Johnson, and the company's insurance agent, Wayne Metz, intercept the SOS messages and concoct a plan to derail the Stratton's return to San Francisco, knowing that the payout to the families of nearly 300 brain-damaged individuals will put the company into financial ruin. They want to see the Stratton crash into the ocean, killing all survivors.

The Navy's Commander Sloan, wanting to hide the evidence of their illegal test operation, wants F-18 Pilot Peter Matos to sink the Stratton with the second missile which the Commander wants launched directly into the cockpit.

Not only does John Berry have to contend with government conspiracies, the brain-damaged passengers are "waking-up" due to the drop in altitude and their behaviour is becoming increasingly more violent.

Faults notwithstanding, you cannot help but root for John Berry. At every turn, obstacles are thrown his way but he keeps a clear head for the most part and perseveres. DeMille has created a flawed hero, but that is what makes him so likeable. Berry isn't perfect, which makes him easy to relate to.

But that's not the best part...where DeMille really shines is in his antagonists: Edward Johnson, Wayne Metz, and Commander Sloan are truly despicable. I can't recall when I last read a book containing antagonists who were more loathsome and vile. They are truly contemptible with total disregard for human life. Bravo, DeMille! I loved to hate these villains!

This is also my first experience with Scott Brick as narrator. I thought Brick did a fabulous job, and the urgency in his voice had my shoulders tensed. Brick softened his voice for the female voices, and his reading made it easy to distinguish between characters.

Fans of airline disasters and conspiracy theories will love this novel! If you have high blood pressure, listening to this audiobook is probably not a good idea because the action is pulse-pounding! Likewise, you wouldn't want to listen to this book while you are flying or if you plan to fly at any point in the near future or if you already have a fear of flying!

In the beginning of the audiobook, I had a little difficulty focusing on the extremely detailed aviation lingo. I think my eyes glazed over a bit, and that's the only reason why I'm not giving this 5/5 stars.

MY RATING: 4.5 stars!! I loved it!! Thank you, Hachette Audio! show less

As a big Nelson DeMille fan, I was happy when I finally snagged this library ebook, but I have to say it was a big disappointment. Excruciatingly slow at points, the basic plot is a Navy violation of an arms treaty causes a missle to inadvertently transect a supersonic jet at 62,000 feet, causing death or brain damage to all but five people, who are either in the lavatories or sub-deck flight attendant station. Meanwhile, nobody seems to want the jet to return safely as the Navy seeks to show more cover its mistake and the airline and insurance carrier fear for their respective futures. Simply ludicrous. show less

Mayday was originally written back in 1979 and was a pretty substantial hit, twenty odd years later it's now been updated to (more) modern standards giving it a contemporary feel which doesn't feel at all dated.

The essence of the story is that a supersonic aircraft is rerouted due to weather through a military testing area, the military commander on scene is pressed for time and chooses to press ahead with his missile test without checking for civilian aircraft conflicts. The end result is show more a kinetic missile punches through the side of the 302 passenger supersonic aircraft causing catastrophic depressurisation, the lack of oxygen disables the pilots and majority of the passengers except for a handful in positive pressure zones of the aircraft. From here it's a battle to save the plane, keep it aloft and somehow get home.

Complicating the issue is that the radios have been disabled, navigational systems have been disabled and the only contact they have to the outside world is a text based data link system with the airline headquarters dispatch office. A dispatch office that is soon to be manned by a executive and insurance officer who are both more interested in limiting exposure than they are in getting the plane home safely. The military commander on scene, after realising what has happened is also more interested in limiting exposure than saving lives.

It's quite a gripping tale and I would recommend for people interested in thriller, disaster, aircraft novels. show less

the general premise of this is interesting and should make a good thriller, and i guess it mostly does. i think reading about corruption and how people don't do the right thing if it in any way can harm themselves can be interesting. but i didn't care about any of these people and i wasn't really interested in what was happening most of the time. the oxygen deprived people in the airplane read like zombies to me, and i truly hate zombie stories. i don't know if it was an accurate depiction show more of how that kind of brain damage would manifest in people and in their behavior, but it didn't feel right to me for them to be so inclined to violence. it also didn't feel right that the mentally capable didn't try anything with those people - like telling them to stay seated and buckled or in a certain part of the aircraft. maybe it wouldn't have worked, but it seemed odd that they just went right to being scared of them and violent toward them. it just didn't read as realistic at all to me. also, i know this was first written in the 70's, but they updated it in the late 90's and i'm sure that by that time it wasn't acceptable to call people "oriental" like they do a few times in this book.

i don't know. it wasn't as annoying or macho as i sometimes find his books, so that's a positive. but it also wasn't anything particularly good or well done either. i mean, i was glad that it was more than just a plane-going-down-thriller - adding in the corruption and conniving of the military and airline executives was a good move. but it wasn't enough for me.

this was my first audiobook so i don't know how to evaluate that part of the experience, but i think it was generally well done. the reader communicated different emotions and characters with small changes in his voice. i really didn't like the fadeout music that played at the end as it was wrapped up all happily (way too wrapped up) and don't know if that's typical or not. it was a good first audiobook experience and i will try others. show less