Customer Reviews

Good ...but it could have been better - By: Barton Keyes, 12 Jul 2008
What could have been a very good book is reduced to a good one by some very poor editing.
There are leads not followed up (why was Armand Hammer being scrutinised by MI5?); characters suddenly appearin the narrative having been introduced once 30 pages ago; there is occasional Boy's Own detail (do we really need to know the complete Mark & variant of the radar equipment on board rescue helicopters?) there is an over-reliance on acronyms.
The book would have also benefitted greatly from a few plans of Piper Alpha showing the arrangement of some of the locations where the narrative is placed. The author makes significance of the confusion occasioned by the darkness, smoke & maze of the platform's layout; his writing occasionally worsens the confusion for the reader.
But it's still a page-turner & a shocking story of incompetence, confusion, greed & heroism.