MADreads

Grisham crossed with Clancy

June 20th, 2009 Jane J. - Central Library

James Huston has been writing political thrillers for about a decade, but he’s really hit his stride with his last few books.  Marine One starts off with a bang - the president and everyone else on board the Marine One helicopter are killed when it crashes in a thunderstorm - and builds momentum as the legal and political maneuverings get underway.

The helicopter crash is immediately blamed on WorldCopter, the French company that built it.  Politicians are grandstanding, the Justice Department has opened an investigation, the NTSB’s preliminary report determines the helicopter was defective, and the widowed former First Lady has hired a powerful attorney to represent her in a wrongful death suit.  Enter Mike Nolan.

Mike is a civil litigator who also flies helicopters for the Marine Reserves.  He is hired by WorldCopter and their insurers to defend against all comers.  When he begins his own investigation into the crash, Mike becomes convinced that it was not the result of defect.  Was it the highly skilled but rabidly anti-president marine pilot?  The 100 year storm?  A governmental agent who wants to keep the President’s intended plans for that night secret?  Or something else altogether?  While some of the possibilities seem far-fetched, the rush to judgment by all parties involved makes Mike very uneasy.  He knows that the only way to save his client is by figuring out what made Marine One crash.

I really liked the mix of legal, political and techno thrills.  Huston’s military and legal background make this a well-researched and fascinating ‘what if’ scenario.  Huston handles the myriad characters well and is able to meld plot and helicopter crash details without slowing the pace.  And if I thought the ultimate revelation about what caused the crash was a bit of a let down, I had a heckuva read along the way.

Entry Filed under: Recreational Fiction, Thriller