Mayday

Scott Brick provides sizzling narration of this thriller about an amateur pilot trying to keep aloft a damaged jumbo passenger jet in the face of military ineptitude and corporate arrogance. Right from the start, Brick’s crisp, somber narration hints at trouble to come. Matching the novel’s plot, he increases the pace of his narration until an errant missile tears through the jet’s fuselage, leaving only a handful of passengers alive. And that’s when both novel and narration kick into high gear. Brick voices all of the book’s characters with skill, but takes special care in his rendition of the likable, well-drawn protagonist. His John Berry evolves from a faltering man unhappy with his present and confused about his future to a commanding hero determined to succeed against all odds. Brick is equally successful in capturing the malevolence of the book’s villains without falling back on stereotype. The voices he lends the gruff, bullying airline executive and the shady airline insurance representative are pitch-perfect. A Grand Central paperback. (July)