Airframe

Airframe follows Casey Singleton, a quality-assurance VP at an aircraft manufacturer, racing to uncover the truth behind a deadly in-flight incident before a big-money sale collapses and a television journalist buries the story under ratings-driven distortion. Crichton's aviation research is meticulous, and his satire of TV journalism chasing drama over facts is sharp enough to feel relevant today. Casey is a capable, credible protagonist navigating a male-dominated world without the story making a production of it. The downside: the ending is somewhat mechanical, and the technical detail slows things in the middle stretch. A clean, well-constructed thriller — just not Crichton at his very best.