Airframe

A Novel

By: Michael Crichton

Narrated by: Frances Cassidy

Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Three passengers are dead. Fifty-six are injured. The interior cabin virtually destroyed. But the pilot manages to land the plane...

At a moment when the issue of safety and death in the skies in paramount in the public mind, a lethal mid-air disaster aboard a commercial twinjet airliner bound from Hong Kong to Denver triggers a pressured and frantic investigation.

Airframe is nonstop Crichton: the extraordinary mixture of super suspense and authentic information on a subject of compelling interest that has been a Crichton hallmark since The Andromeda Strain.

©1996 by Michael Crichton (P)1996 by Random House, Inc.

Crichton at his best

I confess to being a Micahel Crichton fan so I was pre-disposed to liking this, and it definitely lives up to expectations. I like the female reader, Frances Cassidy, - her voice could have been made for the lead character. I enjoyed Crichton's portrayal of television news media and their need to sensationalize and, as ever, Crichton is able to wrap up a good deal of technical detail in a compelling, can't stop listening plot.

Perfect blend of tech and drama

Airframe is a marvelous novel. With this book you will learn things about the aircraft manufacturing industry that most people never think of. Technically Crichton is dead on with his aviation research. His portrayal of the television news show, "Newsline" was slightly far fetched, but well within the realm possibility. Worse things then were portrayed occur in broadcast news.

This one is well worth the listen.

Better than abridged

I had gotten the abridged version on cd-rom as a gift and really liked it. I was hesitant to get a download audiobook as I prefer to have the media as a backup, so I was happy to see I could do that with audible and the unabridged version is quite funny, though rater R, the unabridged was I realize now had quite a bit removed though I still enjoyed it. I now much prefer the unabridged version.

An Air Disaster

This book was about an aircraft accident and the subsequent investigation. The accident begins the book, then the focus switches to Norton Aircraft, the plane's manufacturer and Casey Singleton, who is on the Quality Assurance Board. Casey must navigate a minefield: victim's lawyers, the Federal Aviation Administration and JAA, the foreign carrier who hides the crew from her, inhouse political posturing, news crews, union threats and more. This is a fast paced tale that takes a bit to get started. Once it does, it gets good. The ending makes the book. I listened to this on audio and Frances Cassidy does a great job. It was not what I expected, but still good. Being a fan of the show Air Disasters, I had been looking forward to this.

Fair

Good book but not great. There was no compelling story to keep you on the edge of your seat. Crichton is very thorough as usual. I would still recommend it because a fair book from Crichton is still better than most.

Great story some recording bugs

As an aviation nut I enjoyed the technically correct airplane jargon. The story walks you through very easily though if you aren't an aviation nut.

The story is like a crime thriller finding the cause of the incident.

The characters behave like real people trying to do their respective jobs.

Only hiccup is the chapters where very short and sometimes a couple sentences were copied from one chapter to the next. Not a big deal, but that's the most negative thing I can think of. Loved the rest of it.

"Disclosure" with female lead.

Audio has a few skips and "chapters" are absurdly short, so don't lose your place.

Couldn’t put it down!

A riveting story. Michael Crichton at his best. Cassity makes it come to life, and I absolutely could not put it down.

Incredible story

Amazing, captivating, and interesting imagination for the mid 90s. Crazy coincidence compared to now as day events.

Kept me listening!

This book was much different than Timeline, more along the lines of Disclosure. The book centers on one character who I found very engaging. I was rooting for her to overcome the conspiracy against her and solve the problem facing her!

Crichton again includes lots of background info--scientific in nature--and he explains it in terms I was able to understand. For Crichton fans this is a must-read!