Julie's Review: Crashers

Summary: Action-oriented readers will embrace this new thriller for its lively and fast-moving story, even as they may find the many familiar elements a little tiresome. The premise is simple: a crack team of National Transportation Safety Board experts investigate airplane crashes. Normally they take months to sift through wreckage and evidence, but this time they have mere days: if they can’t figure out what and who brought down CascadeAir Flight 818, more planes will fall from the sky. The lead characters, the Crashers, are cut from familiar molds: the hotshot engineer, the voice-recorder specialist, the veteran pathologist, and so on. They seem clearly designed as anchors for a series, but they need more fleshing out to make the transition from types to fully developed characters. The plot itself relies on familiar assembly-cast TV crime dramas, but it is well paced and generates plenty of tension. A solid debut that, with some fine-tuning, could become an engaging series.~amazon.com

Review: Are you flying soon? Are you afraid to fly? Then Crashers probably isn't for you because it'll just cause you to over-think about that plane you are on. Crashers was a very well written book, but it definitely gets into the weeds of an NTSB investigation. Frankly, I found that interesting and comforting. Comforting to know that plane crashes are thoroughly investigated. I have a feeling that if this becomes a series, the author will forgo a lot of the details since they were established here.

We are quickly introduced to the "Go-Team" of Kiki, Tommy, Susan, Walter, Peter and Jon, who are designated to drop everything when a plane crashes and get to the site. Each of these people have their own specialties which are intricate to an investigation. Tommy, is haunted by a crash that remains unsolved and had quit the NTSB but was quickly dragged in again.

As readers, we know what caused the crash but it's interesting to feel frustrated when it takes the team a bit to figure it out. Sometimes I find that it's better to reveal things as the characters find out so you don't think the characters are a bit slow on the uptake.

As interesting characters go, I would love a book on Daria. She's got a fantastic background and Mr. Haynes could definitely just write a book series on her.

There are a few twists and turns to the book and one that I wasn't expecting and actually a bit disappointed to find out but hey that's the nature of a thriller.

The ending of the book is a bit unrealistic but I suspend belief when reading fiction anyways.

Mr. Haynes novel is solid and a great read. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing if this will turn into a series.

I received the book through LibraryThing's Early Reviewers club.

Final Take: 3.75/5