BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON - Book review

Nelson DeMille’s By the Rivers of Babylon was published in 1978. He’d had about eight books published before this, but this was his breakout novel. 

Although written and published over forty years ago, it has chilling relevance even today.

A UN conference in New York is on the cusp of bringing peace to the Middle East. Two brand-new Concorde planes (01 and 02) have just been delivered to Israel to take about fifty peace delegates in each aircraft to the conference.

Onboard the 02 aircraft is Miriam Bernstein, the Deputy Minister of transportation, who was a child-survivor of the Nazi death camps. Her lover is Air Force Brigadier Teddy Laskov; he is flying an escort F14 plane. Among others on 02 are El Al’s Security Chief Jacob Hausner, an ex-intelligence man; General Benjamin Dobkin; and the pilot Captain David Becker.

A Lear private jet contacts the two Concorde planes shortly after they take off, advising their pilots that there is a bomb in the tail of both aircraft which can be activated remotely. The terrorist in the Lear plane is Rish, a man Hausner has encountered before. The terrorists’ purpose is to wreck the peace conference.

The planes are ordered to land next to the River Euphrates – by the ruins of Babylon. Waiting for them are over 150 Palestinian terrorists – Ashbals – orphans of the wars with Israel. ‘They’ve been indoctrinated with hate since the day they could comprehend. They reject all normal standards of behaviour. Hatred of Israel is their tribal religion’ (p159).

The tension never lets up as the Israelis crash land and, with a handful of weapons, make a desperate stand. There are heroes, cowards, betrayers and villains aplenty, and both good and bad people die...

Unputdownable.

MAYDAY - Book review

Nelson DeMille and Thomas Block’s air-disaster thriller Mayday is a fast-paced page-turning relentless story of suspense.

It was first published in 1979, updated in 1997 and reprinted at least ten times.

Block had assisted DeMille with aviation scenes in his debut novel By the Rivers of Babylon (1977). They were old friends and, after that collaboration, they jointly decided to write a definitive novel about the sudden decompression of a supersonic aircraft, such as Concord, travelling effectively in subspace, and Mayday was the result.

The blurb says it all: ‘Twelve miles above the Pacific Ocean, a missile strikes the Trans Flight 52, a supersonic passenger jet bound for Japan. The flight crew is crippled or dead. Now, defying both nature and man, three survivors must achieve the impossible. Land the plane.’

The missile strike is a US navy test that went wrong. Fortunately, there was no warhead. But it blasted a hole into and out of the airliner, causing the massive decompression.

The disaster is complicated by the loss of radio contact, the arrogant naval Commander Sloan who is desperate to cover up the incident, and the chicanery of the boss of Trans-United Airlines. This has the potential to ruin the airline – just as PanAm was effectively ruined by the financial fallout of the Lockerbie bombing (1988) (it filed for bankruptcy in 1991).

If you’re afraid of flying, it’s probably best to give this book a miss. If you like a high-tension edge-of-seat read, then this will satisfy.

I’ve deliberately avoided giving much in the way of character names and events as the blurb suffices as a spoiler.

DeMille never disappoints. Block has written several aviation-oriented bestsellers.

A TV-film was released in 2005. 

FFB - Wild Fire

My Friday's forgotten book is Wild Fire by Nelson Demille is the fourth Detective John Corey thriller, following on from Night Fall (2004). I’ve read and enjoyed all Demille’s John Corey thrillers up to his 5^th (see breakdown below; I've got his 7th on order now). They’re great because Corey’s wisecracking persona is so believable. Yes, he’s a bit coarse, big-headed and pig-headed, but he also laughs at himself and the human condition. He has immense courage and is a friend for life. When he got married to FBI agent Kate Mayfield, they became a match made in heaven. This pair just bounce off each other and are clearly in love, despite Corey’s many faults. Sometimes, Kate is a stabilising influence on John; but not nearly so much since 9/11.

‘Wild Fire’ appears to be a secret codename for a government response to a terrorist nuclear attack. That’s devastating enough. Yet somebody outside government knows about it…

When Corey’s pal is sent on a routine task to investigate the Custer Hill Club – a secret society of powerful men, the guy ends up dead: an unfortunate shooting accident. But Corey takes the death personally. As he should, since he was the first choice for the job. Why did his pal die? Taking along his wife, Corey starts his own investigation. As it’s in the first person, we’re pretty sure Corey will survive, but we can’t help but be fearful for his wife, brave as she is. The ending is very tense indeed.

Along the way there are many laugh-aloud moments, which I’ve come to expect of a Corey book; however, there are plenty of chilling scenes, with the odd dose of pathos and compassion thrown in. If you haven’t read a John Corey book, the best place to start is with Plum Island, where he first meets Kate. But any of them are worth the price – and become addictive reading if you can get past the ripe language.

The John Corey thrillers in sequence:

1. Plum Island (1997)
2. The Lion's Game (2000)
3. Night Fall (2004)
4. Wild Fire (2006)
5. The Lion (2010), direct sequel to The Lion's Game
6. The Book Case (2011) – Kindle Single, 54pp short story
7. The Panther (2012)