Crashers: A Thriller

Written by Dana Haynes

Narrated by David LeDoux

Whenever a plane goes down in the U.S., a "Go Team" made up of experts is assembled by the NTSB to investigate. Those people - each of them a leading expert in a specific area - are known as informally as "Crashers."

When a passenger plane, a Vermeer One Eleven, slams into the ground outside Portland, Oregon, a team is quickly assembled to investigate the cause. Under the leadership of the IIC (Investigator in Charge), Leonard "Tommy" Tomzak, a pathologist who recently quit the NTSB who also happened to be in the area when the Vermeer One Eleven went down, the team gets to work as fast as possible. Assembled by Susan Tanaka, the inter-governmental liason from the NTSB on this crash, the team includes: Kathryn "Kiki" Duvall (voice recorder specialist), known as a"sonar witch" who can hear things that others can't and can pinpoint an accent from anywhere in the world; John Roby (Mad Bomber), former cop and bomb expert, who can detect the use of an incendiary device simply by smelling the air; Walter Mulroney (Structures), looks more like a cowboy than an engineer but can rebuild just about any plane from the bolts up; along with Peter Kim (Power Plant) and Isaiah Grey (Operations). Usually the team has months to determine the cause of a crash. But this time it's different. This time, the plane was brought down deliberately, without leaving a trace, and this was only a trial run.

In LA, Daria Gibron - a former Shin Bet agent, now under the protection of the FBI- spots a group of suspicious-looking men. Missing her former life of action, she attaches herself to them only to learn that, somehow, they were responsible for the plane crash and are preparing for another action. While her FBI handler tries to find her and save her, Daria risks her life to try to get close enough to learn what's going on and thwart the coming terrorist action. But time is running out and her cover story is running thin.

A fresh and utterly compelling thriller, an original mix of action, investigation and a brilliant cast of characters that grabs the reader in the way few novels can and fewer do.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Jun 22, 2010
• ISBN: 9781427212160

Dana Haynes

Dana Haynes was, for more than twenty years, a journalist and editor at several newspapers in Oregon. He works for a local community college and lives in Portland, Oregon.  He is the author of the thrillers Crashers and Breaking Point.

Reviews for Crashers

[tigergladys · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was just what I wanted out of a thriller - fast paced, interesting, not boring at all. I could easily see this becoming a movie. The characters are interesting. They have relationships, but there is no harping on relationships, because the plot is front and center, which is great. A very fast read.

[mpolino_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was hoping this would be the kind of book that would be scary to read on a plane. It wasn't. Fortunately, that didn't take away from a good story. This who dunnit look into a jet crash gets more interesting when it's revealed that the crash was warm up for another yet to come. I had a few technical quibbles, a jet "about the size of a Boeing 737" wouldn't have 4 engines but generally those are minor and don't distract much from otherwise rivetting read. The character Kiki the "Sonar Witch" was an especially interesting addtion to the crash investigation team.

[cdnshopaholic · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. I am a sucker for most suspense/action type books and it was fun to read one with a bit of a different twist....the investigators after a plane crash. It was neat to get a 'behind-the-scenes' look at what goes on for these investigations along with some riveting action and suspense as we waited to see if they could figure out what happened in time to stop it from happening again.

[myckyee_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book unfolded just the way I like a thriller to do. It had the set up of characters (which I thought at first were too many to keep track of, but in the end that turned out not to be the case) and the plot and then other elements were introduced. The writing could be a bit more polished, but the story and action kept me interested.One minor thing that should (hopefully) be corrected in the final version (as the book I read was an ARC) is a consistency/logic issue. On page 159 and 160 two characters are in a hotel restaurant speaking and "then Kiki ran upstairs to shower." The other character then moves to another table and begins speaking to someone else. A bit into the conversation and a reference is made to the character who left: "He glanced back the way Tommy had come; where Kiki still sat and finished her juice." Must be magic - maybe something in the juice? Still I liked this book.

[bookson23rd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A thriller that will keep you turning the pages, CRASHERS, the new novel by Oregon author Dana Haynes, follows NTSB investigators as they try to solve the cause of an airplane crash just minutes after it leaves the Portland International Airport.
This book is great for the arm-chair detective as the FBI becomes involved in the investigation after it is determined that the plane was sabotaged, because one of them may be a mole. There is plenty of technical jargon for geeks and Haynes does a good job of building believable characters. Throw in an Irish radical group and a former Israeli intelligence agent and you have one who-do-you-trust classic.
A very minor flaw is that there are a couple of situations where you have to suspend your disbelief at the coincidences but otherwise there is so much excitement and surprises I’m willing to overlook this. My jaw actually dropped when I read the last sentences of the first chapter. There are other places where I had to wail, “Noooo!” You can never tell what is going to happen next.
If you like a fast-paced thriller, I highly recommend CRASHERS!

[librarymary09 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very very intense thriller. Hard to put down (I read almost the whole thing in one ginormous gulp this evening. Got a headache but it was worth it). Engaging characters with snappy dialogue. I look forward to his next books!

[daniexj · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Crashers apparently are the people, the team from the NTSB that get called in when a plane crashes in the US. Because of this there were quite a few characters in t his piece. But, the author was pretty good about distinguishing the characters, so, for the most part I didn't get the characters confused.It's categorized as a thriller and it's one of the purest I've read in a while. The author doesn't try to hide the antagonist or his motivations. It is just one long chase, though there is the question of how the plane went down, mechanically at least.I know nearly nothing about planes, piloting, etc., so I Don't know how accurate that stuff was, but it all at least seemed plausible to me.The only part that was weird and didn't seem to flow at all like the rest of the story was the relationship between Kiki and Tommy. Honestly there was more chemistry between Isaiah and Tommy or even Peter and Tommy than between Kiki and Tommy. But, that wasn't central to the plot and the rest of the book and how well it was paced made up for the bad love/like connection.

[coachtim30 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Crashers" is a strong novel with solid characters dealing with the mysterious crash of a jumbo jetliner. The main characters are the "crashers" from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). After the plane plummets into the soil of the Oregon countryside, the reps from the NTSB quickly gather to reconstruct the flight and reasons for the disaster. As the researchers dig deeper and deeper into the mystery, they soon begin to question whether the crash was due to pilot error or something they can't quite put their hands on.Author Dana Haynes does an outstanding job providing the reader with a terrific subplot and numerous plot twists. He masterfully melds three different plot lines into a thrilling ride all the way through to the satisfying conclusion of the novel. It's my first opportunity to appreciate Haynes' craft, but hopefully not my last.Readers who love a great political thriller filled with intrigue along the lines of those written by Nelson DeMille or Vince Flynn should love "Crashers".

[mtnmamma · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

air crash, NTSB investigates, good but not great

[ddracer7040 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very fast paced and a easy read. Had a hard time putting the book down. They were off a on few things about the NTSB. But for a fiction book it was very good.

[saramllr · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I picked up an advance copy of this at last year's PLA Conference in Portland. It's been sitting on my bookshelf ever since and I finally picked it up and gave it a shot. It reads like an action movie (but much better than Snakes on a Plane). The story is about a group of experts ("crashers") who are investigating a plane crash and uncover a rather unusual conspiracy. My only complaint would be that there are soooo many characters that it was sometimes a chore to keep them all straight. It's an easy, quick read that will keep your attention.

[magatha_6 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I gave this book three stars because it held my interest and provided a fascinating look inside plane crash investigations. In terms of recommending it, I do so cautiously. The style is uneven and the characters are fantastical. The bad guys are homely, plump and sweaty. The good guys are startlingly handsome or beautiful. There are product placement references in nearly every sentence. It's chock-full of unlikely coincidences. Before you open this book, you have to remove your disbelief and put it on a shelf somewhere.And yet, I read it from cover to cover and was entertained.

[dltj_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A team of airplane crash investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board are looking into why a large commercial jet crashed soon after takeoff in the pacific northwest. With a twist of potential terrorism thrown in, the case takes sudden, although as written predictable, turns until it is ultimately resolved. I picked up this book after going through the list of LibraryThing Early Reviewer requests that I wasn't selected to receive. The quick pace at the beginning of the book hooked me, but in the end I was left unsatisfied. I don't know how true-to-reality the crash investigation and aeronautical components of story are, but my inability to suspend disbelief on some of the computer technology components left me wondering. (Microsoft Access plus Geospatial Information System software plus a MacBook Air plus 24 hours leads to a full motion simulation of shrapnel patterns? I don't think so.) and when things start going right in the investigation, the plot line of an unsolved crash earlier in the career of the lead investigator is suddenly dropped. Recommended as a thriller for a quick beach read, but other than that feel free to pass.

[cmwilson101 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Crashers by Dana Haynes is a book about airplane crash inspectors, those who go to the site of an airplane crash to work out why the crash occurred based upon the crash debris, black box, etc. I was excited to read this book, as the job of crash inspector has always greatly interested me, and the book is set in my home state of Oregon. However, I found most of the characters to be unlikeable and cardboard-like, and felt that a number of the plot twists were implausible. It was good to read from the perspective of how the crash inspectors piece together the cause of the crash, but otherwise, I didn't much enjoy it.

[emlzcole_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not a book for those squeamish about flying (like me) but a good mystery nonetheless.

[kraaivrouw · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Totally entertaining in an action movie kind of way, Crashers takes as its storyline the world of the NTSB teams that investigate airplane crashes. I've always been fascinated with this kind of investigation - all the experts gathering together to perform a post-mortem on the event to the most minute of details in hopes of preventing future crashes. The only other book that I've read with this as its subject matter is my favorite of Kathy Reichs' books, Fatal Voyage so I was very excited to read this one and it did not disappoint.After the crash of an airline in a remote grassy field in Oregon, the NTSB gathers its crew of experts to find out what happened. The core team includes a pathologist, a "mad bomber," a "sonar witch," a pilot, several engineers, and a 16-year-old girl who is also a computer whiz (and who ultimately shows the whole team the truth of what's happened). The characters feel plausible as do their interactions. There's plenty of media wrangling and politics and fighting with corporate interests along with good old-fashioned terrorist fun as the team is joined by the FBI on behalf of an asset, an ex-Israeli agent who embeds herself into the group of terrorists.This is a fast-paced, competent thriller that looks to be the start of a new series with a new spin on the genre. Fun, readable, and page-turning.

[morrisonhimself · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's hard to believe Dana Haynes, the author of "Crashers," was a journalist.There are several reasons: 1) There are many violations of Associated Press style (for example, "air force" should be "Air Force"); 2) There is a marvelous attention to detail; 3) There are many interesting and likable characters; 4) It is very P. non-C: One of the bad guys belongs to two usually protected groups; 5) This is one heck of a well-written, engrossing, occasionally very emotional and touching, and sometimes even very funny, story."Crashers" are people who investigate airplane crashes.The individuals of this particular team are varied and well defined by Mr. Haynes.Their work is important to airline passengers, airline pilots and crews, and airlines, as well as to people who build the planes and sell the tickets and run the airports.Mr. Haynes provides details of the work most of us wouldn't have known of, and he tells us of the problems and dangers we might not have known. As he shows us, there are infinite details and problems in reconstructing an incident.Despite the urgency of such effort, as in everything else, politics can get in the way.Even though I read anywhere from five to 10 books a week, "Crashers" is one of the best books I have read in a long time.Highly recommended. Minotaur Books, New York, 2010

[acook_713547 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book. It was a well-paced thriller that was not too convoluted to follow, and also included some fascinating details about how air crashes are investigated. I found it hard to put down. Unique, also, a change of pace from many of the run of the mill thrillers out there.

[meags222_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I got this as part of the Early Reviews program. I have to say I don't usually enjoy this type of book but I quite liked this novel. It is a thriller involving someone who is causing plane crashes to strategically kill people. I do not know a lot about aircrafts and I found that the author wrote her technical explanations in such a way that it is easy to understand. Haynes also creates vivid descriptions of a crash scene; I almost felt like I was there smelling, seeing, hearing and tasting everything. I wouldn't classify this novel as literary genius but it was an enjoyable read. I give this book 3.5 stars out of 5.

[juliec0802 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Flying soon? Scared of flying? Then I probably wouldn't recommend that you read Crashers by Dana Haynes. This book delves you into what it really takes to solve a plane crash and the people who dedicate their lives to it. To be on the Go-Team you have to be willing to be on call at any time and put your life on hold for how ever long it takes to solve the case.I enjoyed all the characters in the book and definitely would like to see them back for a series, which I think is the plan. Sure the ending was a bit unrealistic but the accounts of how they put a plane back together overshadowed the ending. Be ready for details, maybe more than you want but it means that the 2nd book won't be in the weeds.

[sivani_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A well-structured thriller with good bones, Crashers show that Dana Haynes has great promise. There were some quibbles with the book, some related to the fact that I had an Advanced Readers Edition: spelling errors, continuity issues and some fact checking problems (e.g. consistently referring to a Scotland Yard DCI as a "deputy" chief inspector instead of a detective chief inspector).The action is smooth, drawing the reader in, and while there is some initial disappointment at knowing the identity of the villain off-bat, the revelation of the mastermind behind the scheme comes as a real surprise. The action switches smoothly between characters and locations calling to mind TV actions series; this remains true to the end where the loose strands are all neatly tied up in such a way that next week's episode is already anticipated.Haynes might have the start of a series here with his setup of diverse, well-rounded characters with interpersonal tensions and relationships in place, ready for more action.

[romonko · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is not a great thriller because it didn't grab me right off the bat. In fact, I had to get about 2/3 of the way through before it got to feel like I was actually reading a thriller. The first 2/3 of the book had entirely too much descriptions of airplanes and what causes them to fail, and I didn't find that the characters were realistic enough. In the last third of the book though it did move along much quicker and the characters seemed to come to life. It was interesting to see how plane crashes are all put through a multi-disciplinary review in order to determine what caused them. But it got a little draggy as we went through all that with this particular plane crash. I was given this book as a pre-review book to read and review, so I persevered in order to finish it, but it was a bit difficult in places. I'm not sure that I would recommend it though to fellow thriller-lovers.

[jrr731 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A great book, this one had me up all night. It was great to get an understanding of how the NTSB crash teams work. Dana Haynes is on my list for authors to watch.

[icedtea_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fast-paced airplane CSI thriller, I liked it. My quibble would be with the writing at times – show, don’t tell, in particular with the characters’ ethnicities. I could see this working as a movie or tv adaptation. An enjoyable summer read.

[lissarbry · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Crashers is a fictionalized novel that follows an NTSB team after a plane has crashed. The goal of the NTSB is to figure out how and why a plane crashes and then make recommendations so that the same error does not occur again. I don't think the NTSB ever planned on being so deep in a conspiracy when they first reached the crash site!!I think the author did a great job intertwining the NTSB team and their process of researching the crash with the terrorists plot to take down another plane. The only complaint I had about the book was the author's insistence on overdescribing the clothes and hairstyles of the characters. I don't feel like this was necessary to pull in the reader and will turn off many male readers. The book has many twists and turns, some you will see coming-some you will not! I would definitely recommend the book to any mystery fan. The plot is different from many terrorist books out today and will not leave the reader disappointed. I don't recommend, however, taking the book to read on a plane trip! LOL

[sensory-376444 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book unfolded just the way I like a thriller to do. It had the set up of characters (which I thought at first were too many to keep track of, but in the end that turned out not to be the case) and the plot and then other elements were introduced. The writing could be a bit more polished, but the story and action kept me interested.One minor thing that should (hopefully) be corrected in the final version (as the book I read was an ARC) is a consistency/logic issue. On page 159 and 160 two characters are in a hotel restaurant speaking and "then Kiki ran upstairs to shower." The other character then moves to another table and begins speaking to someone else. A bit into the conversation and a reference is made to the character who left: "He glanced back the way Tommy had come; where Kiki still sat and finished her juice." Must be magic - maybe something in the juice? Still I liked this book.

[booksgaloreca · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. I am a sucker for most suspense/action type books and it was fun to read one with a bit of a different twist....the investigators after a plane crash. It was neat to get a 'behind-the-scenes' look at what goes on for these investigations along with some riveting action and suspense as we waited to see if they could figure out what happened in time to stop it from happening again.

[wcath · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Crashers met all of my criteria for a thriller. I particularly liked the fact that it gave you the feeling that you were getting "behind the scenes" knowledge of an airplane crash investigation. The plot was well written with no obvious gaps or lags in the book's forward motion. Even so, there was plenty of background material on the characters and they seemed well-rounded enough for a page-turner. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it. I think it would make an especially good beach book or a rainy day escape.

[scaryguy · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I was interrupted frequently while reading this book. While it should have taken me a few days, it ended up taking just over a week to finish. That said, I was able to get back into the story easy enough each pick-up.Haynes's writing style is enjoyable and descriptive and never floated into purple prose or metaphor/simile swamps. The story itself was engaging until ...**Spoiler alert**As I was reading, enrapt in the story, it progressed to a moment when Daria (former Mossad killer agent) does something completely out of character as a trained assassin: she nonchalantly tries to get away from her captives, even turning her back on them as she scoots by. My heart just plummeted at that unbelievably rookie action, making it harder to get back into the story because the "I'm disappointed in the writer" alarms were blaring in my head. (Of course, Daria gets beaned and is taken "even more" prisoner.)Another part that stretched my imagination past what I could accept was the Crashers 'crash' landing on a highway, then turning around and taking off again. I don't know of any pilot who would trust a plane that had just been 'downed' to take off again without a proper check-through -- on second thought, forget a check-through, who in the world would turn a passenger plane around on the highway and take off again ... Period!I rushed through the ending, just wanting to review it and move on. Those two gremlins toward the end of the book really evaporated my reading pleasure.

[thecrowdedleaf · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A good thriller is one that keeps you anticipating the outcome up until the very last page; it’s one where you don’t know who will live or die, and who the bad guy is until the author tells you. Dana Haynes’ first thriller is one of the good ones. The only problem I have with it is that I’m done reading.Crashers is about a group of investigators with the NTSB who are in charge of discovering why a plane has crashed every time one goes down. Fresh from quitting the group after an eighteen month investigation failed to find a solution, Tommy Tomzak is thrust into the lead when he’s the first person with experience to make it to a devastating plane crash in Oregon. Fearing this new crash will turn into another unsolvable mystery, Tommy is reluctant to take the lead. Things get worse for him when clues start to pop up that this plane crash may not have been an accident.Crashers is the great kind of thriller where we read from both sides of the coin; we know the plane was taken down by a geek with a laser and a laptop, but we don’t know who helped him or what his endgame is. We bite our nails as Tommy and the NTSB “crashers” try to investigate the cause of the crash, waiting for them to see what we see, to discover the bits and pieces we know. This is not to say Crashers doesn’t leave anything to mystery, because it certainly does; Haynes’ gives us just enough to keep us craving more.A great page-turner, an intense edge-of-your-seat thriller, that is Crashers. Haynes’ writing is so visual I could see everything in my mind. The best part is that I just read he’s working on a sequel!