by Ken Follett, 1991, Macmillan

This book had a lot more potential as the setting was a Pan Am Clipper flight which had a diverse set of passengers and crew, all of whom had their individual stories. The problem is that Follett kept repeating the same information about each one, over and over. With a little bit of editing and refinement, this book could have been another Murder on the Nile or Murder on the Orient Express. Follett clearly let the plot lag because of this repetition.

The end of the book was somewhat of a letdown. The plane, on it’s longest leg, was short on fuel and whether it would make it was a major concern. At the end of this leg, however, it apparently was no problem as the plane splashed down at it’s intended landing area and the fuel situation wasn’t even mentioned. So much for suspense!

As a former Navy C-130 navigator, I flew this route once with minimal navigation aids. Our loran wasn’t working and we were below clouds so celestial sightings were not available. This was in the days prior to GPS or inertial navigation systems. So, I was interested in how the navigation was performed on these flights and was disappointed that there was very little mention of the navigation on this Clipper flight.

The book was a quick read, even though it was over 640 pages, and the setting was interesting. I was disappointed, however, because it could have been a much better book.