NINE MINUTES, TWENTY SECONDS: Inside Asa Flight 529—A Revelation of the Human Spirit

The first tape of Pomerantz's account is almost unbearably dry: a detailed report of a young man's career decisions; a repair job on a stress-fractured propeller; groups of seemingly unrelated, meticulously recorded facts. And Gaines's objective, deadpan reading does not spice it up. But the story and narration pick up considerable speed. The title refers to the amount of time the 29 passengers and crew aboard flight 529 from Atlanta to Mississippi had to say their prayers, watch their lives flash before their eyes and prepare themselves for the inevitable crash after the airplane's left engine failed. The plane crashed in a Georgia hayfield and fire consumed the fuselage. Pomerantz's unnerving journalistic distance, iterated by the professional, subdued reading by Gaines (who starred in Contact and other Broadway shows), begins to seem appropriate as the nightmarish crash plays out. Pomerantz interviewed survivors (19 in total) and eyewitnesses, giving the account a stark, terrifying immediacy. Melting clothing (tip: always wear cotton clothing for flights), burning flesh, dead nerves and panic become all the more real (and grisly) for the flat prose and tone. Heroic accounts of men and women unselfishly working to save as many lives as possible make the story ultimately engaging and uplifting. Simultaneous release with the Crown hardcover (Forecasts, July 23). (Sept.)