Fall-Down

It amazes me that a book can have a storyline such as this one (mad man kidnaps a bus full of handicapped children and begins killing them off) and be so NOT moving. For starters, Fox chooses to rely on a couple of cheap cliches to drive his story. First off, the main plot centers not on the children, but on the cop trying to solve the case. Cliche number one: this cop is a woman. Cliche number two: this cop is also a mother. Cliche number three: woman cop was abused by ex-husband and is now dating chief of police. Cliche number four: FBI big men come in (behaving stereotypically as if they believe themselves to be better then the cops) and cheesy romance between woman cop and FBI G-man develops. This lame main storyline is surprising considering that Fox has obviously done his research when it comes to the kidnapper's pathology. He is a unique character who destroys all preconceived ideas about him along the way. Bottom line, not enough time was spent on developing the characters of the children or their bus driver, kidnapped along with them (most of the kids don't even get names) to care other than in the most detached way, when the kidnapper starts killing them. Woman cop was too cliche for me to care. Thus, I read the whole book which granted was suspenseful enough not to want to put down, without really caring about anyone in it at all.

A crackpot in a clown suit hijacks a bus full of mentally and physically challenged children. He forces the driver at gun point to take the bus to a deserted bunker. Several children are killed by the maniacal clown; the driver herself faces death on more than one occasion.

A local police officer who has a 4-year-old daughter has a special interest in the case; in addition to being a single parent, she feels a kinship to every child on that bus.

The questions that really arise throughout this tediously written and overly long, drawn out account are 1) who is the clown and what is his agenda and 2) what is the agenda of the towns folk in positions of power? Summed up, there is a lot of under the table dealing and some very questionable people involved.

The story was good, but it was not well edited and dragged on for a very long time. Half the pages could have been used to tell the story. That aside, it's something that most folks will probably enjoy. It sure beats television.

This is a sensational book about kidnapping a bus full of disabled school children. All the children will be killed in 38 hours if the demands are not met. I liked this book as the author isn't afraid to let his villain be evil in the fact that he kills a child during the bus hijacking lets the reader know this isn't going to be a soppy Disney type book where the hero saves all and no one is hurt.

No this book is a true thriller where you know the clock is counting down for the main hero character a female detective who must work out where the children are and what the kidnapper is really after.

This is an extremely realistic well written book. This could easily happen in the non fiction world which is why you won't be able to put this book down.

I read this book for school last year, and i was pretty excited to start it because it sounded like it would be good. By the time i got past the first chapter, however, I could tell that I was going to be disappointed. The author introduces a lot of issues into the book that he never really follows up on. For a book that is only a little over 100 pages, he shouldn't have included so many tangents that never seem to have any closure, and leaves you wondering what ever happened. The build-up to the climax, to find out who the "avenger" is, is the only good part about the book. I got a shock when i found out who it was, but the climax ended way too simply and way too early to keep me from being disappointed. It took me much longer to finish this book than it should have because I never wanted to read it. If i hadn't been forced to finish it, i probably wouldn't have. It's not worth the time it takes to read it.

This is by far the worst piece of 'literature' I have ever been unfortunate enough to read. This book is supposed to deal with 'real life' issues of young adults when in all actuality is nothing more than a shameless attempt at hack writing. Remember how R.L. Stine wrote crappy horror stories for children to make money... this is worse. Not only does it have nothing to do with adolescent issues, it in some ways promotes rape, drinking, and violence. This is by far the most horrible story I have ever read. This story is also not even written very well. Worst Book Ever.

One would expect many problems to arise in one's life during adolescence, but never anything as twisted as the situations illustrated in this book. In this book, Robert Cormier uses a very disturbing yet absorbing plot of complicated relationships, and manages to create a story that will bother the reader's mind for weeks after reading the book. Through the use of very complex and sometimes unstable characters, Cormier shows that deception comes in many forms. One of the factors that adds to the suspense of the story and keeps the reader's attention throughout is what I call Cormier's 'split plot POV' writing style. Just as is seen in other works by this author, such as I Am the Cheese and After the First Death, he tells the fictional story through the eyes of more than one character, thus using different points of view and making it all the more interesting to read. The fast-moving chain of events also adds to the dramatic effect upon the reader. From what I've read of Cormier's works, he has a habit of unhappy, but nonetheless effective endings that leave the reader either wanting more, or wishing that they hadn't picked up the book. In my case, every time I finish one of his novels, I feel a little more sane and more human; We All Fall Down was no exception. In relating to the characters, no matter how twisted they may be, the story becomes more real to me, and the life lesson to be learned from it gains a deeper meaning. This is definitely the kind of book that encourages reading -- even in the twisted and hectic lives of adolescents.

A lot of us suspect that behind the scene of politics much more unrevealed information is kept away from the public eye.
Reading this book would help anyone to be more educated and less naive as to what the reality behind "Showtime America" is, based on a clearer understanding of issues like war...
I thought the movie "The Matrix" was brilliant, now I find it to be closer to reality than I thought.

Bishop Porter shares some very touching and all to recognizable traits from within the body of Christ!This book shows where it is truely at and the need of reconciliation within the body of Christ (in the church and ourselves). This book brought tears to my eyes at several points and at times made me feel ashamed to be white and silent. As I read this book I could see that this reconciliation is needed not only in racialism but in all areas such as denomination, the rich with the poor, the intellectual with the challenged, the fit with the handicapped, the saved with the unsaved, ... if we could only do as Jesus commanded "love one another". If your heart is with God's will for your life this book is a must read!

This book is unbelievable - and not in the good way either. A team of government investigators searches for a shadowy genius capable of altering flight-navigation systems used by most large airliners, and obviously capable of bringing them all down. (When the mystery hacker blackmails the government, a few crashed planes are tossed in as a convincer.) Meanwhile, we meet Bo Kincaid, a grizzled veteran fighter pilot whose mastery in the air survived several wars abroad and incipient racism at home. Much of Bo exists as no more than flashbacks that occur thruought the book, and lack any apparent connection to the underlying story - flying Mustangs with the Tuskegee Airmen in WWII and Phantoms over Vietnam. In between learning of Bo's life, the reader watches the fitful and unproductive search for the extortionist whom investigators soon label "Captain Marvel". The investigators quickly hit on Florence Hartzig as the perfect expert to trap Marvel, but can never seem to locate her.

It would be generous to say that this book crashes and burns - generous because that implies that it ever got off the ground. Nothing much happens, but we're supposed to think that the author has done her homework and crafted expert characters, even as they don't do much during most of the story. (the author spends more time showing us how smart they are than he does having them get to the bottom of the mystery; in short, he spends so much time making them all geniuses, that he never makes them convincingly smart). We get the usual cast of characters - brainy and brawny hunks who know the system and how to work around it, and the rest (stand ins for us) as the idiots who'd be lost without them. Author Lee Gruenfeld puts her heroes' experience solving a myriad of issues both relevant (how airliners navigate, how extortionists use ATM machines) and otherwise (why Psychics aren't as reliable as they appear; why the media was wrong when it chastised the government over the Pentagon's $60 hammer). "All", more than many other books, is painfully in love with its sheer gobs of useless knowledge irrelevant to advancing the plot or developing the characters who wade through it. Unlike a really good book that grabs a hold of you from the first page, "All Fall Down" is sort of like some annoying guy you'll meet on an airplane and won't let go until you've heard everything he thinks about every subject he knows.

This is one satisfying read. I really wanted to give it almost 4 1/2 stars. It's very well written, and maintains a steady, but intense pace. The character development is excellent, as are the twists and turns that kept me guessing. It's one book that leaves you feeling full, like you've just eaten a tremendously good meal, and when it's done, you won't feel cheated by some lame ending like many other books have.

Lee Gruenfeld displays superb writing skills in All Fall Down. Two outstanding examples, one an action scene and one a quietly dynamic domestic spat, illustrate this point. The action scene, a literary gem, depicts Commander Jack Webster attempting to talk a crippled jet fighter back to a safe landing on the carrier during the season's worst storm. That one incident by itself would make a hit TV movie. The other scene portrays a bewildered Webster weathering a marital storm following a seemingly innocent remark. Who of us--married or single--cannot relate to that?

The two scenes are examples of what is meant by a character driven, rather than a plot driven, novel. Neither advances the plot line, yet both scenes give us insights into the character of the chief protagonist, thus making his decisions not merely understandable, but coldly logical.

The occasional flyer isadvised to read this novel AFTER his/her next planned flight. In All Fall Down a disgruntled psychopath, a genious in computer programming, extorts millions of dollars by threatening to blow passenger airliners out of the sky. This all-too-possible scenario brings in not only airline management, but the full force of the United States government: air traffic control, the FBI, and all other bureaus related to passenger safety. The climatic scene of the novel covers 15 minutes of real time. Gruenfeld uses some thirty pages to narrate it, not one paragraph of which is superfluous . Writing does not come much better than this.

Speed readers may be put off by the somewhat ;pedantic writing style of Gruenfeld. His low-key narration is somewhat remindful of erudite--though still interesting--professors in the lecture classroom. Speed readers in this case should slow down and smell the coffee.

I expected that Gary Sick's "All Fall Down" was going to be an exciting account of the Iranian revolution and the hostage crisis. Instead, it was a boring account of the Carter administration's reaction to the Iranian revolution and the hostage crisis. Sick worked for Carter when the revolution helped turn the president's foreign policy program on its head. The hostage crisis more than any other event, contributed to Carter's defeat in 1980. Unfortunately, none of this makes for terribly interesting reading. The Iranian revolution is one of the most important events in World History of the last quarter century. But you would never know that from reading this book.

I love Gary Sick! The book was quite comedic in spots! The last reviewer was off a bit. His angle is just as important as anyone elses and cover the American side of the revolution.

The fact that ALL FALL DOWN has been put back into print is a testimony to its continuing relevance 20 years on. This is the best fly-on-the-wall view of an emergent situation I have ever read. It provides not only a chronology, but also personality insights into all the key players, rich cultural and religious backgrounding, and enough military and diplomatic detail to give it a thrilling quality far exceeding anything Tom Clancy could manufacture.

Brian Rubendell's review below is puzzling, because this IS an excellent inside view of the Iranian revolution, a revolution which could not have occurred as it did without the shortsighted bungling of U.S. foreign policy, particularly by Nixon and Kissinger. Carter's inexperience and bad luck, and the Establishment's blinkers, were also critical.

After reading this book 3 times, I am still at wit's end to understand the Middle East, but now at least I know what the critical questions are.

Oh, yeah, J. Brent, you are some smooth talker; it's a pity, however, with all your smooth talk you missed out on what Joe Don was all about; even a cursory look at the video Larry Merchant aired after Joe's death would have showed you more of the man than your predone perspective on him -- he had truly declared peace with the world; he left the gridiron to find what mattered -- and your and everyone else's criteria of what constitutes a "successful life" just doesn't cut it; Joe was after a first-hand recognition of God inside himself; and I think he found it; the pity is that you didn't; you wrote a sports book and a book of a man who, in Kipling's phrase, "went too native." Joe did nothing of the kind; he threw off the expectations of parents and coaches; he left behind the failure of traditional Western notions of the heroic; he quit the tired Sunday go to meeting gestures; and he found, in Eliot's words, a "tremor of bliss." The shame of what you've done lies in your unwillingness or inability to see that; hell, I think you should try writing the damn book all over again. Talk to more people -- sit down with yourself and get a taste of the transcendent peace Joe grew into.