Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #29860 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-12
• Released on: 2009-05-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780312364311
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Bestseller Huston (Secret Justice) grabs the reader by the lapels with the opening sentence of the first chapter of this outstanding thriller: If my radio alarm had gone off, I would have known the president was dead. During a violent thunderstorm, President James Adams takes off in Marine One from the White House for a supersecret meeting at Camp David. A few miles out, the helicopter begins to disintegrate and plunges to the ground, killing everyone aboard. The helicopter's French company, WorldCopter, hires Annapolis attorney Mike Nolan to defend it against charges of criminal responsibility. Mike soon finds there are a number of possible culprits to pin the crash on, including the rabidly conservative Marine Corps pilot and the mysterious men who were awaiting the president at Camp David. Mike powers the case forward, even though the government warns him away and assassins attempt to kill him. This is nonstop legal suspense at its best. (May)
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From Booklist
This gripping thriller opens with a bang: Marine One, the official presidential helicopter, crashes, killing everyone aboard, including the president. Mike Nolan, an attorney who’s also a helicopter pilot, is hired by the manufacturer of Marine One to defend the company against a wrongful-death suit filed by the First Lady. Mike knows that he will have to find out what caused the crash, whether it really was a defective copter or if there is some other explanation. The problem is, the list of potential other explanations is very short, and all of them could put Mike’s own life in jeopardy. The author smoothly combines the political-conspiracy and courtroom-drama formats, and he nicely explores the story’s fundamental moral quandary: If Mike’s client made a defective product, is he defending the people who killed the president? The book has echoes of Michael Crichton’s Airframe, which was about the investigation of an incident involving a commercial jet, but this isn’t a technothriller so much as a political thriller with technological overtones. Either way, it works just fine. --David Pitt

Review

Customer Reviews

Marine One is Huston at His Very Best
Americans are fascinated by aircraft crashes, NTSB investigations and the high stakes litigation that follows the crash. But Jim Huston, an internationally prominent lawyer in this field, has really ramped up the excitement in Marine One. The aircraft that crashes is no ordinary plane. It's Marine One, the President's helicopter, and the President is killed when it crashes. But Huston doesn't stop there. There is international intrique, a Congressional inquiry, State Department meddling, a deadly conspiracy to thwart the efforts of anyone getting close to discovering the true cause of the crash of Marine One and, just for the heck of it, a few lawyers who may or may not be dishonest. The end product is a sensational novel!

Left dangling...
SPOILER ALERT:

There was a lot that I did enjoy about this book even if all the aviation/technical facts might not have been spot on. It kept my interest all the way through but....

I definitely agree with some of the other reviews - there was NO character development on most of the characters in the story. I have no idea what the main character (Nolan) looks like or what his personal interests are. Same goes for his legal associate, Rachel, who he spends the entire story with. (As I type this, I can just hear some of the rough and tumble guys out there 'who needs all that in a good old action book? Well, I am female. I love action, adventure stories. And guess what? I spend a ***LOT*** of money every year on books.) I noticed he dedicated this book to his own wife and family but if he treats them like he did the character wife in this story, it is a wonder he is still married. The wife's name is mentioned a few times and only ONCE in the whole book does he actually speak to her or have any interaction with her and it is towards the end of the book that you find out he has children. Now if my investigator (and best friend) had been ground up into hamburger I do believe I might be a little worried about my family and might be speaking to my spouse about it. Not our hero! No worries about anyone he works with, either, except one short blurb that they should be careful and check for car bombs. He just blithely goes blundering on, seemingly with no one's welfare being considered, despite having a multitude of alphabet agencies after him from around the world.

Also, another review mentioned all the dangling plot threads. Who DID kill Tinny Byrd? Did the First Lady and Collins have an affair or what was the explanation of their little tete a tetes? Why did Collins and his wife have separate bedrooms, repeatedly brought up in the book but never explained?

As I said at the beginning, I mostly enjoyed the book despite its faults. But there were enough negatives about it that I won't rush out to read another of James Huston's books soon.

Who Would Like Marine One? I'll tell you who!
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R14HL1RGOBAQTM Is Huston's Marine One for you or would it make a good gift for someone you know? In this short video, I'll tell you how well the author did in creating a great book for great guys and who would like the book. Please join me! -- Frank Derfler author of "A Glint in Time"