Night Fall by Nelson DeMille Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Night Fall
Book Review: Spectacular!
Summary: 5 Stars
Two words----
READ IT......
Okay, a few more... you won't regret it....
Book Review: Superior
Summary: 5 Stars
Using the real life crash of TWA flight 800 off the coast of Long Island in 1996 as the backbone of his story, Nelson's Demille's Night Fall is a blend of fiction, conspiracy theory and supposition wrapped up into a very compelling read. Although I could see the ending coming a mile away, crisply written characters and real world wit kept me turning pages impatiently. Some readers might feel a bit cheated at the end, and in a way, there's justification for that. Night Fall kind of reminds me of the story/joke that goes like this:
There was once a boy whose parents mysteriously disappeared, leaving him nothing but a letter in a sealed envelope with implicit instructions: he must never gaze upon the letter. But he must show it to his college professor after one year of university, he must show it to his wife after one year of marriage, and to his employer after one year of work, and to anyone who pulls a gun on him. If he does this great things will behold him.
So the boy grows up, goes to college, and after exactly one year he gives the sealed envelope to his professor and says, "Sir, my parents wished me to show you this letter." The professor opens the envelope, reads, and turns white. He puts the letter back in the envelope and says, "Son, never open this!"
Two days later the boy is expelled from school.
A few years go by, and the boy, now a man, gets married to a beautiful woman. On their wedding anniversary he gives his wife a stunning bracelet....and the sealed envelope.
The next day she files for divorce.
So upset with this turn of events, the young man takes a job on a cruise ship and sails the world.
A year passes.
Knowing that something bad would likely happen if he showed the captain the letter, he decides to go against his parents' wishes. He stuffs the envelope back into his jacket. But as he looks up he's shocked to see modern-day pirates taking command of the ship. At gunpoint passengers and crew are forced to empty out their pockets. Reluctantly, the young man hands over all his cash, and, because a gun is pointed at him, he turns over the envelope.
Of course nothing good happens from this.
The young man finds himself being lowered onto the ocean in a small life raft.
He spends the next few months drifting alone.
Thirsty, hungry, delirious, he thinks back on his life. He'd lost his education. His wife. His job. And now, probably, his life. All because of the damn letter he can never read! "To hell with that!" he cries. He pulls the envelope from his jacket, opens it, and begins to read, "Our dearest Jeffrey..." At that tumultuous moment, wouldn't you know it, a huge gust of wind rocks the boat and snatches the letter from his grasp.
And just like that it's gone!
What was on that letter? He'll never know, nor will you.
I think you'll get my point here. Sorry for being so long winded. This was my first venture into the realm of Mr. Demille. I will certainly be back for another dose. David Marsh Into the Abyss
Book Review: Unpleasant Memories Abound
Summary: 3 Stars
This book is a conspiracy theorist's wet dream.
The subject matter is TWA Flight 800, which suffered an explosion off the coast of New York. At the time, there were all sorts of theories and rumors, but the final analysis by the NTSB stated ACCIDENT.
DeMille weaves his, I assume, recurring character through the quagmire of speculation five years after the downing. Our Hero is now a counter-terrorism agent himself, and early on in the book, he his heavily warned by his superiors to stay out of the investigation.
I found the Private Dick point of view to be a challenge for me to read. What can I say? I'm a chick! That would have been fine, however, except...
DON'T READ IF YOU WANT TO BE SURPRISED BY THE ENDING
SPOILERS
I found the fact that the lead character never resolves anything extremely frustrating. I would have preferred a revisionist history.
Also, I found the book being sandwiched between two such famous and tragic events made the entire thing so dark. Yet, unlike something like "Rape of Nanking", where the darkness is somehow educational, I found this book to be depressing with no growth. I learned nothing new.
So, in the end, though it was a pretty good read, I'm only giving 3 out of 5.
(*)>
Book Review: Very good but a strange, not shocking, ending
Summary: 4 Stars
Nelson DeMille's book 'Night Fall' is a very readable and interesting book. DeMille has taken a real life event (TWA flight 800 which crashed inexplicably over the ocean) and put in fictional characters to try and figure out if it was a grand conspiracy or if it was a simple malfunction within the plane.
That is what made this book very readable and disturbing was that the main event did happen and a lot of the backup stories and explanations were true (eyewitness accounts, a couple of hundred of them, differed greatly from the government explanation of what happened). The story follows DeMille's fictional character, John Corey, and his reluctant interest initially in the plane's demise to a strong follower of determining what happend and who may have been involved in the coverup.
DeMille goes in depth on following Corey. Page after page of repeated interviews could get tiring but you can see the big picture and begin to understand that these details are necessary and at the same time, interesting. Corey is a good character and a character that I liked a bit more than other DeMille stories. He is sarcastic as ever but you see a little bit more of what makes him tick.
The tension rises and I can honestly say that the final third of the book is difficult to put down because you sense the urgency and you can see that Corey is getting close to uncovering what happened.
The ending was, to put it mildy, disappointing. It is an intersting tie together, but left me empty. This was a 5-star book for me up to the final 25 pages...and then it dropped significantly in my eyes. I probably would have given it 3.5 stars if it was possible here. Still a good effort and I understand the difficult position DeMille was in trying to wrap up the book...but that doesn't mean I have to like his ending though.
Book Review: What Really Happened?
Summary: 4 Stars
Two lovers are out on the sand of the south shore of Long Island, filming their unfaithful indiscretions with passion and lust. They see a light arc upward into the sky and then a huge explosion that interrupts their love-making.
This is a novel of TWA Flight 800 and how one investigator finds out what really happened to the Boeing 747 on that fateful summer night that took so many lives. He meets the lover and discovers the tape. With all the evidence he needs to prove it is a terrorist attack, he decides to reveal it to the world in downtown New York City.
"Night Fall" is a superb story of intrigue and drama in the finest tradition of a Frederick Forsythe novel where you are unsure where fiction leaves off and reality begins.
Begin the reality of enjoying this novel.