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Mayday  By  cover art

Mayday

By: Nelson DeMille,Thomas Block
Narrated by: Scott Brick
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Publisher's summary

Twelve miles above the Pacific Ocean, a missile strikes a jumbo passenger jet and leaves the flight crew either crippled or dead. This is the story of how three survivors must achieve the impossible and land the plane. Master storyteller Nelson DeMille and veteran pilot Thomas Block collaborated on Mayday, the most terrifyingly realistic air disaster thriller of all time.
©1979, 1998 by Thomas H. Block and Nelson DeMille, All Rights Reserved (P)16 9; 1998 Time Warner AudioBooks, A Division of Time Warner Trade Publishing

Critic reviews

"Strong and electric!" (Washington Post)
"Truly horrific...delicious terror. Mayday is a novel for the true connoisseur of disaster novels." (The New York Times Book Review)

What listeners say about Mayday

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Story
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Great adventure! Hard to put down.

I wouldn't give many books five stars, but this one is well deserving. Although updated from the original written in the late 70's (which I haven't read), the story is by no means old. The characters are well defined, and the story line keeps you hooked and wanting more.

The author throws in enough twists to keep you on your toes and unable to predict the next move. Granted, not everything is 100% believable, but is entertainment after all. I have read other DeMille books and highly recommend him as an author.

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34 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Mayday

Not enough superlatives to describe this book.....gripping, most definately comes to mind. I found myself searching for things to do that did not require thought so I could continue listening to "Mayday"....I just didn't want to turn it off. As one who does not like to fly, I found myself even more convinced that staying on the ground is prudent. And, "Mayday" will make everyone think twice about the motives of corporate leaders when disasters strike.

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25 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Thrilling Listen--Hard to Put Down

This novel will make you think twice before getting on another airplane. I listened to it years ago, and recently listened to it again. Although written in 1979, the time before all our current technology-- makes no difference to the thrilling, edge of the seat experience you get here.

Imagine flying at 62,000 feet (where there is no oxygen to breathe) and having a hole torn into the plane by a missile. It doesn't disable the plane, but the resulting horrible effects on the passengers and crew is chilling. The few people left that were not affected, not only have to try and get control of the airplane - but face threats from the other passengers who have become brain damaged.

There were several different issues that came together simultaneously to cause the plane to be hit - and the resulting actions of some of the military, airplane executives and insurance company representatives will make you mad enough to scream. There was a movie made of the same name-but be assured, this novel is not like the movie at all-so don't let that keep you from this experience.

Nelson DeMille and Thomas Block did a great gob collaborating on this thriller. Scott Brick does a pretty decent job of narrating too. It is a good novel for a long car trip, or when you have several hours to listen, because you really won't want to stop.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Want sheer suspense? This is it!

I just wrote a review for DeMille's The General's Daughter, my favorite of his standalone novels despite it being a mystery thriller with little action or suspense. Mayday, written by DeMille with aircraft pilot Thomas Block, is all about suspense.

The novel is set inside a large passenger airliner that has been struck by a missile over the Pacific Ocean and is at great risk of going down. For sheer suspense that continues unrelenting for hours, I know of no book that matches Mayday.

Who is the best person to narrate an ongoing sheer suspense novel? Scott Brick, of course.

Very highly recommended!

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Silly fun...

Calling this book "the most terrifyingly realistic air disaster thriller of all time", as the Publisher's notes do, is misleading. The story is anything but realisitic! It would be more accurate to describe the book as a cross between Conspiracy Theory (for evil conspiracies), Gilligan's Island (for ridiculous plot threads) and Night of the Living Dead (for, what else, the "living dead" - a term even used in the book!). Given all that, I found it to be an enjoyable book that I wanted to keep listening to, if only to see what sillyness happens next. If you want a serious thriller, take a pass on this book. If you don't mind silly fun, however, then Mayday is an immersive yarn.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Some good some bad

Whilst the story idea is certainly riveting and would likely be a good read, the robotic narration accentuates the use of awkward metaphors and glaring cliches. A better narrator may have done this novel more justice, as it sounded like a computer was speaking at times. It was enjoyable nonetheless, but I don't think it is DeMille's best. I half wished that some of the painfully extended dialogue could have been replaced with a better conclusion better describing the aftermath and repurcussion of the events. I would recommend the book, but would warn again the audiobook unless you're willing to put up with the bad narrator (I suggest use the preview first).

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

You'll keep thinking about it long after finishing

Absolutely amazing, thought provoking and chillingly real. An updated version of a timeless novel by one of the great authors of this century! The book starts quickly and keeps going and going!

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Groan.

I tried hard to get past the stiff narration to give the story a chance. I tried really, really hard. Five unfortunates survive a high altitude disaster to suffer a plane full of brain-fried zombies with "arms outstretched" and libidinous desires. Oh, please. It gets worse. There's a man eating Golden Retriever, unrelenting references to vomit and other body excretions, gigantic holes in both sides of the fuselage but damage only to the voice radios, and plot developments that require impossible reader imagination. The book is formulaic, unsophisticated and completely indigestible.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Riveting, nail biting suspense

The book opens with the statement if you are on a plane do not read this book. Apparently it is a remake of a book from the 70's they updated it and it was also made into a TV movie. The story grabs you from the beginning and the story goes into one problem or disaster to another and there is just no good place to put the book down. A missile hits a super sonic passenger jet at 62,000 feet and the plane decompressed, some passenger die and some are have oxygen deprived brain disorder only 5 people are functioning and one is a civilian pilot. I won't give the story away but you will find you can not stop listening. There is enough real world situation to the story to make one think about flying but enough is far fetched to keep one going to the airport to catch a plane.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

First audiobook I just could not finish...

While the far-fetched storyline might have been mildly interesting and the interplay of the "ulterior motives" at work intriguing, the horrible narration caused me to turn this off about 3/4 of the way through--I just could not bear another minute!! When I first began, I actually had to check that I had the right download. I thought I was listening to some dull documentary. The flat, emotionless voice of the narrator detracted from the vivid depiction of the horror and tension being described. I finally gave up--I'll never know if they landed successfully or not!!

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5 people found this helpful