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Alex Shanahan #2
Parts Unknown
John McTavish is not the sort of person to get mixed up in a scenario which would lead to his murder, but he has been found with his throat slashed in Miami. Alex Shanahan owed him a lot from when they worked together at Boston's Logan Airport, so she agrees to his widow's request to try and find out what had happened. In Miami she hears unbelievable rumours that he was somehow mixed up in drug- running and discovers that John was in possession of a logbook from a jet which had crashed in Peru. At a loss to get at the truth and off her own patch, she hires the help of a local investigator, Jack Dolan. He reveals that parts from the crashed 'plane are being re-cycled, and that they are being sold by various companies which are fronts for laundering drug money. The only way Alex can establish the link between these activities and McTavish's death is to confront the dealers handling the illegal parts, but someone is able to anticipate her every move and it looks as though she, too, may end up with a knife at her throat.
496 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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68 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
December 28, 2013
RATING: 4.5
At one time Alex Shanahan was the general manager of Majestic Airlines at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts. She left that position after an incident in which a man working for Majestic was killed, something that people have been blaming on her ever since, and is about to start a new job with a start-up airline in Detroit. However, when one of the few people who supported her through that incident, John McTavish, dies, she feels a strong obligation to investigate what happened on behalf of his wife, Mae. The buzz is that he flew to Miami to bust up a drug deal set up by his brother, Terry, a notably irresponsible person who is deep in debt to various unsavory characters.
Although Alex has an insider’s knowledge of the industry, not many people are willing to help her. She’s more or less on her own in finding out what happened to John. The union has never forgiven her (every trip she takes results in her baggage being sent to faraway places), and the manager of the Miami airport has his own political aspirations that he’s worried about. There’s one guy by the name of Bobby Avidor who immediately leaps onto Alex’s suspect list. While she is tailing him (and doing an admittedly bad job of it), she stumbles across a private investigator by the name of Jack Dolan with whom she joins forces.
Someone sent Alex an airplane logbook, which is a document that is never removed from its plane. Within the same package as the logbook is a huge diamond ring, which is also a key to the identity of the plane. In tracking down the origins of the logbook, Alex uncovers a major scam involving used airplane parts being passed off as new, parts that fail during flight, and which may have caused the crash of a flight in Ecuador.
I’m not normally a fan of amateur sleuths, but I found myself hooked on the lead character in this book. She shows feelings that seem realistic to the situations that she faces. She’s not a superwoman kind of character but resourceful while facing up to her own limitations. Jack Dolan is also an interesting character who has emotional limitations of his own. Jack and Alex seem attracted to one another, but their relationship is handled in a non-cliché kind of way. Some of the secondary characters are less well drawn and a bit caricaturist with the exception of Felix, the assistant manager at a local motel who is a computer whiz kid and a breath of fresh air.
The plot is well developed and very credible. Heitman at one time worked in the aviation industry, and her background has enhanced the book. She does a great job of sustaining tension, and the story kept me turning the pages rapidly. The denouement is a bit overwrought, but on the whole, the book is solid. Recommended.
At one time Alex Shanahan was the general manager of Majestic Airlines at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts. She left that position after an incident in which a man working for Majestic was killed, something that people have been blaming on her ever since, and is about to start a new job with a start-up airline in Detroit. However, when one of the few people who supported her through that incident, John McTavish, dies, she feels a strong obligation to investigate what happened on behalf of his wife, Mae. The buzz is that he flew to Miami to bust up a drug deal set up by his brother, Terry, a notably irresponsible person who is deep in debt to various unsavory characters.
Although Alex has an insider’s knowledge of the industry, not many people are willing to help her. She’s more or less on her own in finding out what happened to John. The union has never forgiven her (every trip she takes results in her baggage being sent to faraway places), and the manager of the Miami airport has his own political aspirations that he’s worried about. There’s one guy by the name of Bobby Avidor who immediately leaps onto Alex’s suspect list. While she is tailing him (and doing an admittedly bad job of it), she stumbles across a private investigator by the name of Jack Dolan with whom she joins forces.
Someone sent Alex an airplane logbook, which is a document that is never removed from its plane. Within the same package as the logbook is a huge diamond ring, which is also a key to the identity of the plane. In tracking down the origins of the logbook, Alex uncovers a major scam involving used airplane parts being passed off as new, parts that fail during flight, and which may have caused the crash of a flight in Ecuador.
I’m not normally a fan of amateur sleuths, but I found myself hooked on the lead character in this book. She shows feelings that seem realistic to the situations that she faces. She’s not a superwoman kind of character but resourceful while facing up to her own limitations. Jack Dolan is also an interesting character who has emotional limitations of his own. Jack and Alex seem attracted to one another, but their relationship is handled in a non-cliché kind of way. Some of the secondary characters are less well drawn and a bit caricaturist with the exception of Felix, the assistant manager at a local motel who is a computer whiz kid and a breath of fresh air.
The plot is well developed and very credible. Heitman at one time worked in the aviation industry, and her background has enhanced the book. She does a great job of sustaining tension, and the story kept me turning the pages rapidly. The denouement is a bit overwrought, but on the whole, the book is solid. Recommended.
March 21, 2015
Reminds me a bit of Janet Evanovich novels, but with more bite. Fluff, but well-written. A page-turner. Will definitely be reading more Heitman!
April 28, 2021
“No one makes a choice to be on an airplane with a bad part.” Most especially former Majestic station manager Alex Shanahan. She is about to start a new job with a new airline in Detroit when the man who stood up with her against his union brothers is found dead in a dumpster in Miami. (See first in the series HARD LANDING.)
John McTavish leaves behind a wife, three children, and an embittered brother who have been told that he made a surprise flight to Miami for a drug deal. Unable to believe that version of reality, Alex flies to Miami to investigate. Confronting the local police on what action has been taken, she is told that FBI agent Damon Hollander has taken over the case because John’s murder was done in a style similar to that of a drug lord. So Alex begins her own search, starting with the man at Majestic Airlines pinning the drug rap on John. Alex follows him out to an out-of-the-way salvage shop where she discovers airplane parts that are stolen, recycled, counterfeit, or repaired just far enough to be sold as new to unsuspecting airlines.
In way over her head and in danger of being mauled by a ferocious pit bull, Alex literally runs into private investigator Jack Dolan, formerly of the FBI. He is watching the shop’s owner so that he can reveal the operation that sold parts to fix a helicopter that crashed, killing several law enforcement officers. Alex and Jack cautiously decide to work together, since they have the common goal of exposing the world of bogus airplane parts. Alex reveals what has convinced her that John McTavish was on no drug deal: a damaged logbook sent to her by John before his death, a logbook from a jumbo jet that crashed in Ecuador.
Alex finds an unexpected source of help in a young computer hacker who manages the hotel where John was last seen. After checking surveillance tapes for the one night John stayed at the hotel, two
unauthorized vehicles are spotted. One is owned by a man whom the FBI suspects of moving dirty parts. The other is owned by the head of a savvy investment firm. Just what were they doing at his hotel in the middle of the night?
Spiraling from there are intertwining plots mixing bad airplane parts with drug lords and money laundering together with FBI involvement as well as finding the remains of that crashed jumbo jet. In the process, Lynne Heitman takes us on a trip through South Beach and parts of Miami where no tourists venture. A raging brush fire adds a bit of urgency to the story. Alex’s race against time to make it to her new job also fuels the time rush.
This story was absorbing and revealed a world I had never suspected existed. The complex winding together of plotlines occurred easily and was well thought through. The end result has more kinks and twists and turns than I had expected. This book would be have been more intense if the well worn analogies, cliches, and overdrawn drama had been removed. The storyline was a winner even if the actual language was not.
John McTavish leaves behind a wife, three children, and an embittered brother who have been told that he made a surprise flight to Miami for a drug deal. Unable to believe that version of reality, Alex flies to Miami to investigate. Confronting the local police on what action has been taken, she is told that FBI agent Damon Hollander has taken over the case because John’s murder was done in a style similar to that of a drug lord. So Alex begins her own search, starting with the man at Majestic Airlines pinning the drug rap on John. Alex follows him out to an out-of-the-way salvage shop where she discovers airplane parts that are stolen, recycled, counterfeit, or repaired just far enough to be sold as new to unsuspecting airlines.
In way over her head and in danger of being mauled by a ferocious pit bull, Alex literally runs into private investigator Jack Dolan, formerly of the FBI. He is watching the shop’s owner so that he can reveal the operation that sold parts to fix a helicopter that crashed, killing several law enforcement officers. Alex and Jack cautiously decide to work together, since they have the common goal of exposing the world of bogus airplane parts. Alex reveals what has convinced her that John McTavish was on no drug deal: a damaged logbook sent to her by John before his death, a logbook from a jumbo jet that crashed in Ecuador.
Alex finds an unexpected source of help in a young computer hacker who manages the hotel where John was last seen. After checking surveillance tapes for the one night John stayed at the hotel, two
unauthorized vehicles are spotted. One is owned by a man whom the FBI suspects of moving dirty parts. The other is owned by the head of a savvy investment firm. Just what were they doing at his hotel in the middle of the night?
Spiraling from there are intertwining plots mixing bad airplane parts with drug lords and money laundering together with FBI involvement as well as finding the remains of that crashed jumbo jet. In the process, Lynne Heitman takes us on a trip through South Beach and parts of Miami where no tourists venture. A raging brush fire adds a bit of urgency to the story. Alex’s race against time to make it to her new job also fuels the time rush.
This story was absorbing and revealed a world I had never suspected existed. The complex winding together of plotlines occurred easily and was well thought through. The end result has more kinks and twists and turns than I had expected. This book would be have been more intense if the well worn analogies, cliches, and overdrawn drama had been removed. The storyline was a winner even if the actual language was not.
January 10, 2018
Loved it!!
This is turning into a great series!! I really enjoy Alex and look forward to book 3. There hasn't been a full moment I either book!
This is turning into a great series!! I really enjoy Alex and look forward to book 3. There hasn't been a full moment I either book!
March 8, 2020
This has some same characters as Hard Landing. Another good murder mystery.
July 22, 2016
This was a convoluted story about the airline industry, bogus airplane parts, money laundering, drug dealers; AND they are all intertwined. At times it is suspenseful, nail-biting, and edge-of-the-seat exciting. It is written in 1st person by our heroine, Alex Shanahan and is the 2nd in a series. It was not necessary to read the 1st, but it sure would have been helpful in understanding Alex's background and things that were hinted at about an incident that changed her life.
Alex Shanahan has just left her job as General Manager at Majestic Airlines at Logan Airport in Boston and is headed to a new job in Detroit at a start-up airlines. She left after an incident (book one) that caused her employees to blame her for a man's death. Just before she leaves, she finds out that John McTavish, her only ally in the incident, has been murdered - what the police call a "mugging". She promises his widow, Mae, that she will go to Miami on her way to Detroit and investigate John's death and find out what really happened. John has been accused of flying to Miami to break up a drug deal that his brother, Terry, is accused of setting up. Alex knows that John is honest to the core and wouldn't be involved in drugs or otherwise. Before he died he mailed Alex a damaged logbook from an unknown plane and a diamond ring.
Upon arriving in Miami, the 1st person she questions is Bobby Avidor, the maintenance supervisor at the airport who was an old family friend of John's and who saved Terry's life from drowning. Alex decides he may be involved in illegal recycled airplane parts and tails him one night. Since this is her 1st investigation ever, she is inept and is caught by private investigator, Jack Dolan. He is tailing an old army buddy named Jimmy Zacharias who he figures is dealing in bogus airplane parts and who he detests immensely. Bobby and Jimmy end up the same warehouse and so do Alex and Jack.
Alex and Jack team up after she hires him to help her investigate jack's death. Everything they discover seems to be inter-related. Some of the major players are:
- My favorite is Felix Melendez Jr. the very young acting general manager of the Miami Airport Hotel. He has spiky black hair with white tips, is a computer whiz, and eager to help Alex hack into anywhere on the net. He's a breath of fresh air in the story.
- Ira Leemer, an ex-con salvage dealer who is coerced by Jack to help in the investigation.
- Dan Fallacaro, general manager of the Logan airport and who took Alex's old job.
- Phil Ryczbicki, general manager of the Miami International Airport who is a contact for Alex.
- Vanessa Cray - owner of Cray Financial Services who is very aloof, haughty, unfriendly, and who is involved in money laundering. She is also out for revenge on someone.
- Arturo - Vanessa's mysterious body guard.
- Damon Hollander - a young special FBI agent who is gung-ho to move up the chain by making the big bust of an international drug lord. He has a secret informant and is keeping Jimmy out of jail by using him to catch the bigger fish.
- Ottavio Quevedo - the Colombian drug lord.
- Detective Patricia Spain who is an old friend of Jack's.
- George Speath of Speath Aviation where Alex goes undercover as an auditor.
- Bull - the scariest and most vicious canine ever which Alex encounters more than once.
The author worked at Logan International Airport and has vast knowledge of the airline industry. We get authenticity but no information dumps - just background to help us understand what's going on in the story. There is a little romantic interest between Alex and Jack. Jack also has a secret which lost him his last job with the FBI and turned him into an investigator. The characters are complex and intriguing and fleshed out. The plot is complicated, well-developed, full of twists and turns, and entangled. A good entertainment read but not a light read.
Alex Shanahan has just left her job as General Manager at Majestic Airlines at Logan Airport in Boston and is headed to a new job in Detroit at a start-up airlines. She left after an incident (book one) that caused her employees to blame her for a man's death. Just before she leaves, she finds out that John McTavish, her only ally in the incident, has been murdered - what the police call a "mugging". She promises his widow, Mae, that she will go to Miami on her way to Detroit and investigate John's death and find out what really happened. John has been accused of flying to Miami to break up a drug deal that his brother, Terry, is accused of setting up. Alex knows that John is honest to the core and wouldn't be involved in drugs or otherwise. Before he died he mailed Alex a damaged logbook from an unknown plane and a diamond ring.
Upon arriving in Miami, the 1st person she questions is Bobby Avidor, the maintenance supervisor at the airport who was an old family friend of John's and who saved Terry's life from drowning. Alex decides he may be involved in illegal recycled airplane parts and tails him one night. Since this is her 1st investigation ever, she is inept and is caught by private investigator, Jack Dolan. He is tailing an old army buddy named Jimmy Zacharias who he figures is dealing in bogus airplane parts and who he detests immensely. Bobby and Jimmy end up the same warehouse and so do Alex and Jack.
Alex and Jack team up after she hires him to help her investigate jack's death. Everything they discover seems to be inter-related. Some of the major players are:
- My favorite is Felix Melendez Jr. the very young acting general manager of the Miami Airport Hotel. He has spiky black hair with white tips, is a computer whiz, and eager to help Alex hack into anywhere on the net. He's a breath of fresh air in the story.
- Ira Leemer, an ex-con salvage dealer who is coerced by Jack to help in the investigation.
- Dan Fallacaro, general manager of the Logan airport and who took Alex's old job.
- Phil Ryczbicki, general manager of the Miami International Airport who is a contact for Alex.
- Vanessa Cray - owner of Cray Financial Services who is very aloof, haughty, unfriendly, and who is involved in money laundering. She is also out for revenge on someone.
- Arturo - Vanessa's mysterious body guard.
- Damon Hollander - a young special FBI agent who is gung-ho to move up the chain by making the big bust of an international drug lord. He has a secret informant and is keeping Jimmy out of jail by using him to catch the bigger fish.
- Ottavio Quevedo - the Colombian drug lord.
- Detective Patricia Spain who is an old friend of Jack's.
- George Speath of Speath Aviation where Alex goes undercover as an auditor.
- Bull - the scariest and most vicious canine ever which Alex encounters more than once.
The author worked at Logan International Airport and has vast knowledge of the airline industry. We get authenticity but no information dumps - just background to help us understand what's going on in the story. There is a little romantic interest between Alex and Jack. Jack also has a secret which lost him his last job with the FBI and turned him into an investigator. The characters are complex and intriguing and fleshed out. The plot is complicated, well-developed, full of twists and turns, and entangled. A good entertainment read but not a light read.
May 3, 2015
Our protagonist is a woman who, up to this point, as been an airline executive with Majestic Airlines in Boston and is now between jobs. An ex-coworker and friend goes to Miami and is murdered. The authorities call it a mugging. But Alex, our hero, is not so sure and promises his widow to go to Miami and investigate. At this point we are at the trailhead of a convoluted path that leads us into the poisonous nests of bogus airplane parts marketers, drug dealers and money launderers. It wasn't an easy read by any means but most importantly; it wasn't much fun.
February 13, 2009
I can't figure out why I didn't enjoy this book more. The writing is tense, suspenseful, funny, scary, romantic, appropriate for whatever scene is being written. OK, I didn't like the violence. I felt sorry for the dog and for some of the other characters. It felt like the story dragged on. I didn't like the ending. Still, the book has more merit than problems. It just didn't appeal that much to me.
Read
February 22, 2008Same book as Tarmac just published in Breat Britain.
June 28, 2008
This is an excellent thriller taken place in the airline business, that starts off with a murder and ends up with twists and turns of a black market of bad airplane parts. What a rush!
October 4, 2014
Also known by the title Tarmac. Very good! Much different from Hard Landing. Heitman is not just a one trick pony.
November 20, 2014
I really enjoy her books, for mysterious reasons. The stories are not believable, you have some plot holes, but I bite. Maybe it's the feelings underneath which grab me...
July 24, 2016
Kind of a good murder mystery.
October 28, 2016
The ebook 's title is Parts Unknown.
It's excellent, unputdownable.
The best of the first 3 books in the series.
It's excellent, unputdownable.
The best of the first 3 books in the series.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews