Global Air Trouble Shooters: Book 1

Over the years, I’ve ready many books to my kids, including series and standalone novels from Christian and non-Christian authors alike. This first book in the Global Air Trouble Shooters series by Jerry B. Jenkins is far and away the most intense book we’ve read thus far, even outpacing Gary Paulsen in its harrowing realism. And I don’t say that lightly!

The first chapter of this book opens with Chad and Kate Michaels waiting for their mom to pick them up from school so they can meet their war-pilot dad freshly back from his deployment. Even before the chapter’s through, however, Mrs. Michaels is killed by a drunk driver and the kids have to welcome their dad home in total, abject sorrow. Thus begins a period of brokenness and healing that we readers sort of skim over, resulting in their dad’s decision to leave the military in order to partner with his kids in starting their own airline company that services missionaries in need.

The Michael’s take their first job in Indonesia, flying doctors and missionaries into the remotest areas of the islands still populated (the foreigners surmise) by cannibalistic tribes. On one run across the mountains, a leaky fuel line damaged by a disgruntled native results in a crash-landing down the side of a mountain, right in the heart of Cannibal Valley, a crash that instantly kills their missionary-doctor friend on impact and causes some seriously life-threatening injuries to both Mr. Michaels and Kate. Only Chad is fit enough to be of any use in trying to call for a rescue, but his own injuries and exhaustion in this desolate place surrounded by native tribes makes it a terrifying adventure that no one’s been promised to survive.

This book brings to mind so many ideas, comparisons, and contrasts that I could explore, but in an effort to keep my reviews relatively short, I’ll stick to just these three topics: contrasting this series to other Christian adventure series, comparing it to a secular series, and commenting on Jerry B. Jenkin’s surprisingly gripping writing style.

First, I need to contrast this newfound series against a few other Christian adventure series we’ve tried. Most recently, we read through Ted Dekker’s Dream Traveler’s Quest series, which in comparison to this is so grossly infantile and fanciful that I’m a little ashamed we even read it! We’ve also tried reading some books from The Cooper Kids Adventures by Frank Peretti, and while those books also contain some high adventure, their supernaturalism and unbelievable plot structures make them feel more like fantasy than anything—akin to Indiana Jones, only Christianized. No, I’d argue that this surprising series by Jenkins sets itself apart from those mediocre series and has gotten me excited again for Christian fiction!

Second, if I am going to compare it to anything, I would have to compare it to Gary Paulsen’s Brian books (i.e. Hatchet and The River), and not only because they share a plane-crash scene. They also share an intense realism that most authors shy away from, either because they don’t want to scare their kid readers or because they give in to the temptation to add incredible elements that sap the plots of their genuine, natural, realistic strengths. Neither Jenkins nor Paulsen overplay their hands in these books, allowing the truly dangerous situations to play out in real time.

I recall when I read Paulsen’s Hatchet and then The River aloud to my kids a few years ago, my son especially was not a fan. He felt that the realism and danger were too intense, giving him nightmares and terrible thoughts of death. I was surprised to see similar, more intense elements in this book as well, yet this time my son responded differently. I don’t know if it’s because he’s grown older or because we’ve had deeper conversations about death since then, but he’s now more capable of hearing these stories without it affecting him as much. Of course, it might also be that we read this book in the mornings, not as a bedtime story, so perhaps his outlook changes from evening to morning.

Finally, I’d like to comment on Jerry B. Jenkins’ surprisingly gripping writing style in this book. The quality surprises me, though I’m not sure why. After all, it should not be surprising that the co-author of the multi-million-copy, best-selling Left Behind series knows how to write! I just think that his incredible writing abilities are more on display in this long-forgotten book for young adults than they ever were in that exciting yet overblown series for adults.

Jenkins expertly (and unexpectedly) combines two of my favorite genres, missionary stories and survival tales, into this intense plot, fictionalizing the real-life adventures of PNG missionaries that you might read about in Don Richardson’s Peace Child, Lords of the Earth, or Eternity in Their Hearts. Jenkins isn’t telling a true story here, but my son did ask if it was real, and that sparked some conversations about frontier missions and even about the missionaries our church supports, now serving in the PNG.

Clearly, I enjoyed this book, and I really look forward to reading the next two installments that we have on our bookshelf. I just don’t how we’ll ever get back to “normal” Christian fiction after a powerful series like this!

©2023 E.T.

Read More from Jerry B. Jenkins:

• Left Behind (1995)
• Tribulation Force (1996)
• Crash in Cannibal Valley (1996)
• Terror in Branco Grande (1996)
• Disaster in the Yukon (1996)
• Book 1: The Vanishings (1998)
• Book 2: Second Chance (1998)
• The Mark (2000)
• Mark’s Story (2007)