Nowhere to Land
Teretha Houston
Published August 16th, 2002
Yorkinton
337 pages
✈️✈️✈️
Nowhere to Land is a fast-paced horror/action thriller that reads like a 1980s monster movie, with an intriguing if nonsensical premise. It’s a quick read, but it failed to grip me completely, due to the predictability of the plot and stereotyped characters. However, if you’re after tense thrills, and a hint of romance, don’t miss this flight from hell…
A pair of mad scientists have created a terrifying new creature, and now want to transport it from the USA to a nefarious secret research base in South Africa. Quentin Kane is one of the air marshals charged with keeping the passengers safe, and Eden Stone is making her first flight as a commercial co-pilot after an accident derailed her navy career. They are midway across the Atlantic when things start to go very wrong – a fulminant disease starts killing people, a storm is brewing, and in the cargo hold, the beast has awoken…
I love action movies, but this tries to fit every single trope and cliche in – a grieving widower, a beautiful badass pilot, a cute but precocious child, a repugnant politician, even a dog – and pretty much everything that can go wrong on a plane does. It was all just a bit much, and it became apparent that the author was not willing to sacrifice any characters we might care about, which made it less scary. The monster was OTT ridiculous – why would anyone willingly create such an uncontrollably dangerous beast, and the medical aspects were equally silly. Overall it’s not a bad read if you’re after brain dead escapism – but I don’t recommend reading it on a long distance flight! Thanks to NetGalley and Yorkinton for the post-publication review copy.

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