The Airport is a 1968 bestselling novel by Arthur Haley. The fictional city where the largest airport is located is unexpectedly covered by a snowstorm, so all services are working in emergency mode.
"There was no surer way to lose the confidence of an audience, or a jury, than by letting them think faster than yourself, so that they became aware of what you were going to say before you said it." ― Arthur Hailey, Airport
One problem after another befalls the airport employees, ranging from the disappeared cars with food to a terrible accident aboard one of the planes. And to everything else, the aggravated personal problems of the heroes, their complex mental dramas are added - this is how the action of the novel will be tied into such a tangled tangle of plot lines, which fit into one Friday evening.
The author knows how to competently combine seemingly incongruous things .. Working at the airport is a constant stress, when there is no time to relax and solve your problems. A person works in unbearable conditions, this is a wild responsibility for the comfort, money and life of his clients. And about the dispatchers who are responsible for landing, course and takeoffs - this is generally something wild for me .. A colossal load on morale. The lives of hundreds of people depend on you ...
It is in this atmosphere that the characters of this novel live and work. In addition to their careers, they have a personal life, which for many is simply bursting at the seams, and for some, this abyss has already crossed the brink of no return. Here are broken families, love triangles and all the ensuing consequences.
With meticulous thought and a terrific cast, Hailey weaves a nail-biting thriller that captures the reality of what's happening inside the airport, far beyond check-in counters and departure lounges.
Of course, the amount of detail that Haley gives about the work of the airline industry is overwhelming, but the Airport is an example of how the abundance of technical information does not spoil the storyline, but on the contrary makes it richer and richer.
Another advantage of the novel is its characters. Hayley creates vivid, memorable images that are so real that you will feel like you can touch them. Each will have its pluses and minuses, and depending on the circumstances, you will either love them or not.
However, this book also has a paradox. It is cool to play with elements of everyday thriller (when those things that are too close to reality are scary), but these elements of creating tension perfectly cope with their mission in all parts of the work, except for the last one. Some lines at the end break off rapidly, and I want to know more about the fate of the heroes. So, the characters are not indifferent, it means they are hooked.
You can get «Airport» at AbeBooks.
This article was sponsored by Yitzchok Kaplan.
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