Star Rating:
Synopsis of the novel by Alex Stone:
Hauling Checks is a comedy about the darker side of aviation. A cast of degenerate pilots, who work for a shady night time air cargo operation, take you on a flight through the unfriendly skies. The pilots abuse every Reg in the book in their quest to make deadlines for their high value cargo. As the company falls on hard times, management resorts to questionable measures to save the failing airline.
My Review:
Oh My God! Were do I even begin? This book is just a major eye-opener to the areas we rarely pay heed to. I mean who even bothered to take a moment to think about the hardships the cargo pilots go through apart from themselves and probably their friends and families? I mean, Oh My God! This book had me thinking hard and long. These poor people ! Really? Do people actually live like this? Dyamn son! (Pardon my lack of grace!) Of course, I am sure parts of this book would be exaggerated, but still. Really?
The whole story is written from the perspective of a cargo pilot who works in a seriously debilitated aircraft company. There is a lot of dark humor in this book that's more dark than humorous. The lead establishes himself pretty clearly by describing himself right at the beginning on the book and you know that the tone is set and know in which direction the book is going, or so you think.
This really ill managed company have severely ill maintained planes that the pilots are forced to fly or rather are convinced to believe that they are in a flyable condition and kudos to these pilots for taking it up in the sky , because I would never have the nerve to do that! There were so many things about this airline that was done right wrong, I mean lesser companies have standard operating procedures, subject knowledge and sensible staff, but this place was crammed with under-qualified (and unqualified ) staff, no organisation structure and horrible plane maintenance mechanic. I am all about living life on the edge, but a life like this is just violations of human rights. The crazy shifts and work timings and the effects it has one's personal life is truly bothersome. This horrible boss with no respect to anything but saving money even at the cost of the employees heath both physically and mentally. The random screw ups with the plane, the staff or even the packages will truly leave you open-mouthed. The relief I had when he quits the job and takes the final flight. But obviously the story has to end with a dramatic effect, and dramatic it was! The revelations were such major stuff that were all hiding in plane sight, but still came as a shocker when disclosed.
All thorough out the book, I realized that the lead never had an opportunity to have any kind of an enriching conversation. His weekends were lifeless and filled with troubles. He was truly going through some major life crisis and at several times he let himself be taken for granted, but then you think , hey , what could he have really done? It is not having a backbone , or rather a lack thereof, but it is about the situation you are stuck in and no external exposure to even explore other options because of is working schedule and circle of friends.
One the plus side, I learnt a lot of new pilot terminologies and felt better about my life, so thanks Alex for that ! I cannot imagine how anyone could live a life like this and yet, there are people living like this and I truly want to walk up to them and pat their backs.
Alex stone is a wonderful author who can find humor even in the darkest and the most depressing situations in life and this book shows you that. Even if you want to be depressed for the people in this book, you just end up laughing at their helplessness. The Hauling Checks was a truly engaging book and I'd like to see what is in store with the next book, although I can't imagine what could beat this one with it's major ups and downs.
About the novel :
Liked the review and want to check out the book?
Hauling Checks can be purchased at the following online stores:
Paperback:
eBook:
Amazon.com(Kindle)
Smashwords.com(ebook)
About the author:
Alex Stone grew up in Munster, Indiana. He's been flying since age fourteen and received a Bachelor's Degree in Aviation Science from Western Michigan University. He has worked as a flight instructor and was a "Freight Dog" in the air cargo industry for seven years. This is his first novel.
To Know more, go check out: http://haulingchecks.com/
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