"Great action thriller"

A black ops operation is in effect called the Skyhook Project, a way for pilots on the ground to control military aircraft that won't or can't return to base. The system is being developed by Uniwave Industries but one of their final tests fails and the system locks in to place at fifty miles above ground. The pilots manage to regain control and another test is scheduled for Friday. When Ben Cole, the designer of the software for Skyhook, looks at the code, he sees several strings that don't belong.

While he is trying to figure out who put the extra code in, a seaplane goes down in the same area where the military operation takes place. After the coast guard rescues the pilot and his wife, a very prejudicial FAA examiner revokes the pilot's license. His daughter April and her lawyer friend Grace are prepared to use any means to expose this injustice. The American government knows Skyhook is responsible for the seaplane's mishap and will do what is necessary to keep the real goal of the project secret.

John J. Nance does for action thrillers what John Grisham has done for legal thrillers. The story line is fast paced with plenty of action scenes, but it is the characters who make this book a tremendous hit. April and Grace are two mid-twenties women willing to take a risk and fight the federal government to see justice prevail so their loved ones don't suffer. They make the novel though Ben is heroic in his own way.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted March 8, 2003

Summary

John Nance's reputation for nail-biting suspense has grown steadily with bestsellers like Headwind, Blackout, and Pandora's Clock. In Skyhook, Nance crafts another winner. The "boomerang box," a high-tech computer program designed to save a plane experiencing flight trouble, is Dr. Ben Coles's baby. After a test run over the Gulf of Alaska goes awry, he suspects someone has sabotaged the plane's computer systems. And mysteriously, and almost simultaneously, April Rosen is horrified to learn that her father's plane has narrowly escaped a midair collision over the same patch of sea. While Dr. Coles considers the uncomfortable notion that someone within his own company might wish him harm, Rosen begins her search for the cause of her father's hair- raising "near miss." But what both don't know is this: their fears have a common source. They are being watched by people in the Pentagon, who believe that the two might stumble upon the secret that will destroy them all before Skyhook has a chance to succeed. What is Skyhook's real purpose? Is it commercial or military? And will its early implementation compromise the safety of fliers everywhere? In the hands of the talented John Nance, the race for the answers will leave you hanging on to your seat.