In his latest novel, Nelson DeMille sorts through the possible causes of the crash of TWA Flight 800 that occurred off Long Island, N.Y., on July 17, 1996, and comes up with this conclusion:
It was a missile attack that brought the plane, carrying 230 people, to its fiery demise.
DeMille notes throughout “Night Fall,” based on published accounts as well as his own interviews with investigators and eyewitnesses, that more than 200 people described seeing a streak of light rising off the Atlantic Ocean as the Boeing 747 made its ascent into the night sky on a flight to Paris from New York’s Kennedy Airport.
Everyone aboard the plane perished minutes after takeoff.
As the story begins, former New York City homicide Detective John Corey, now a contract agent for a federal anti-terrorist task force, finds himself questioning the official explanation for the explosion – that of mechanical failure – after attending a memorial service with his wife, Kate Mayfield, an FBI lawyer who had interviewed eyewitnesses five years earlier.
A videotape made by a couple having extramarital sex on the beach might contain visual proof of a missile. Corey wonders: Did the government learn of their identity and if so, what happened to the tape?
Although warned by his FBI bosses to stay off the case, Corey doggedly pursues clues to the couple’s identity. As punishment for not obeying orders, he is shipped off to Yemen to investigate the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.
Corey – who brings to mind a middle-age Clint Eastwood starring in a cinematic version of the novel – resumes his investigation literally from the moment he returns to New York.
DeMille ratchets up the tension as the former cop tracks down the original tape and heads for a showdown with those responsible for covering up the evidence. The time and place: 8:30 a.m. at the Windows on the World restaurant, on the 107th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The date: Sept. 11, 2001.
In the novel’s heart-thumping conclusion, Corey and Kate are rushed by police escort to make the meeting on time, while readers hope against hope that they’ll be caught in traffic.
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