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HUMAN ERROR

Name: HUMAN ERROR
Author: Tom Casey
ISBN: 0-312-14622-1

by Tom Casey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 1, 1996

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Breakdowns in personal relationships and the possibility of lapses in judgment by those at the controls of high-tech jetliners provide some engrossing conflicts in a first-rate debut novel from pilot Casey, now a captain with American Airlines. Nation Air Lines Flight 555 is bound from New York to Paris on a stormy night when Captain Hugo Price, confronted with indications of an engine problem and reports of turbulent weather over the North Atlantic, makes a command decision to take the jetliner back to JFK. On its final approach, however, Flight 555 slams into the rain-swept runway from an altitude of 50 feet, and 45 of 192 passengers lose their lives. Seriously injured himself, Hugo has plenty of time to reflect on whether the fatal accident was at least partially his fault. He also ponders a failed marriage to the vindictive Lydia, and the agreeable romance he's having with Sarah McClure, who was serving as his first officer the night of the wreck. Meantime, federal investigators are delving into the causes of the crash while a host of interested parties—the carrier, its vendors, Hugo's union, regulators, and ground personnel—maneuver to limit their liabilities. Although absorbingly detailed testimony at a formal NTSB inquiry suggests that an unusual mechanical failure and wind shear were the principal reasons for the crackup, Hugo's private affairs are subjected to indecently close examination; in the wake of the hearing, the FAA grounds him for six months on a technicality. Shortly before his suspension is to end, though, he satisfies Nation's chief pilot that he's fit to fly again during a dramatic simulator session. Concurrently, he endures yet another proceeding, one that makes hateful Lydia the ex-Mrs. Price and allows Hugo to make a fresh start with Sarah. A smooth flight of fancy for Casey, who displays a real flair for portraying mistake-prone adults facing the consequences of their actions in the air and on the ground.

Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-312-14622-1

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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BETWEEN SISTERS

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2003

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...

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Sisters in and out of love.

Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?

Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.

Pub Date: May 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-345-45073-6

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOMEN
by Kristin Hannah

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THE FOUR WINDS
by Kristin Hannah

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THE GREAT ALONE
by Kristin Hannah

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THE ALCHEMIST

by Paulo Coelho & translated by Margaret Jull Costa ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1993

Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.

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Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.

The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.

Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.