A Tribute to Arthur Hailey

Hailey died of a stroke yesterday. He was 84. Let his soul RIP.

My observations - his novels don't have a beginning or a climax finish like those of say Sheldon's or Archer's. Mostly they'll be like a part of some normal persons' (the hero/heroine don't have any super human powers) life & the novel ends as it starts.

AIRPORT was the first one I read. Makes one feel amazed & at the same time pitiable of the wretched life of the gifted ATCs, a feeling of awe of how a busy airport (was it New York or Chicago?) functioned, that too in the 1960s!.

HOTEL, THE EVENING NEWS, The MoneyChangers & OVERLOAD followed. Read 'Final Diagnosis' & a comparatively weak 'Strong Medicine' too. By the time he wrote DETECTIVE, think he was too old. To use the cliche, he was one real Master Storyteller.

Yet 2 read his WHEELS. Seems it aint that good (perceptions may vary).

Hate reading Hailey's books in paperbacks - you get to know how many pages are left & that in itself will serve as an anti-climax. May be reading Hailey in e-form would have helped.