Sunday, June 9, 2013

INTO THE ABYSS : AN EXTRAORDINARY TRUE STORY
by Carol Shaben

On October 19, 1984, a Piper Navajo commuter airplane carrying nine passengers crashed in a remote area of Alberta, Canada. Four people survived: the pilot, Erik Vogel, a well-known politician, Larry Shaben (the author's father), a policeman, Scott Deschamps, and a criminal, Paul Archambault, who Scott was escorting. The weather was really bad but the pilot was under so much pressure, he thought that if he didn't fly the plane he would lose his job. For fifteen hours they huddled around a small campfire to await their rescue. Two of the men were in really bad shape and didn't think that they would make it out alive. It would be Archambault (the criminal) who would take care of them all.
Into the Abyss seemed like it was going to be a very exciting book. Nope. There's way too much information concerning the four men especially in the aftermath. (This is where I stopped reading.) Who cares? If you're an aviation aficionado and enjoy all the leaden details about small planes, you might actually think it's neat. I could have done without it. 
The author's writing is plodding. Of course, she has to use similes and they're ridiculous. I found a word not spelled correctly: she used "disorientated" instead of "disoriented." For a journalist, this is egregious.
So, don't be fooled by the cover.  It's not all it's cracked up to be.
Not recommended.

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