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I liked a thriller! Seriously, folks, I picked up CRASHERS with a lot of skepticism, as I have a distinct dislike of the thriller formula. But wow! I can wholeheartedly recommend this book. It's full of fascinating technology, good characters and creepy story. A major draw for me in this novel is the opportunity to watch people who do things very well actually doing them. In CRASHERS, a NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board - the US agency responsible for these investigations) team is scrambled to determine why an airplane crashed, something that happens every time a plane goes down. Most team members are "stringers," experts on call for what they know and what they can do. They range from medical examiners to sound experts, to engineers who understand what a tiny piece of twisted metal can say, to the public relations staff who have to handle anxious reporters with deadlines, CRASHERS shows how they work. The author cleverly reveals history and backstory without bogging down; Dr. Leonard Tomzak, the man running the investigation, had quit the NTSB after failing to learn the cause of another crash some months back. He was, however, close by this crash site and ends up in charge. As with almost any situation like this, there's politics involved and some other members of the group resent Tomzak's participation. But he's dedicated (to the point of obsession, which seems common to these experts) and smart and knows how critical it is to get to a site quickly and find evidence and help people immediately after a disaster. Other fascinating characters in this drama are Kiki Duvall, a ex-submariner who can hear what you and I could never hear, and Isaiah Grey, who can fly anything he's given. Even the "lesser" players in the story are well described and plausible except maybe for one guy who's wholly annoying and a little too enthralled by his own genius. There are many other people involved in this story, from a former Israeli intelligence agent, who's working with the FBI, but on her own terms, and varied FBI agents who mirror the NTSB team: some politically ambitious, some intently focused on one thing. The investigations overlap, as we see, early on. A drawback for me in many thrillers is that I don't want to spend time in the mind of a bad guy and many thrillers want me to do that. Psychotic or not, genius or evil dude, it's not someplace I want to be. Dana Haynes does a really credible job here of showing this guy off, and makes it anything but the same ol', same ol'. It's a story that moves and highlights all sorts of technical details. I admit that toward the end, I started to lose patience: again, it's the style. Thrillers have a tendency to rely on the "just when you thought it was safe...BOO!" style, especially toward the denouement, and I find it exhausting in the last 50 pages or so to keep having to brace against yet another shocking development. That said, I read this book pretty much straight through, something I will not do unless I find the story totally engaging. I've known Dana Haynes' work for years and am delighted he's back. It was a leap of faith for me to review him in this new form (previously he'd written mysteries with a marvelously quirky protagonist and a tongue in cheek style). Having said that, if you, like me, are not a big fan of thrillers, try CRASHERS. You'll learn some really cool, well-researched stuff about aviation, avionics, biology and technology, and will be swept along in a fascinating story. I hope to see more of Tommy Tomzak. § Andi Shechter, who has twice has chaired mystery conventions, has an ancient MA in Criminal Justice and is proud to have appeared in a mystery as a New York runway model.
Reviewed by Andi Shechter, July 2010
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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