Global Air Trouble Shooters: Book 3

The mid-1990s was a good season for Jerry B. Jenkins. I’ve read a lot of books in my life, and this three-book set about the Global Air Trouble Shooters is now one of my all-time favorite series. I’m not exaggerating.

I say this was a good season for the author, because although he’d been publishing books since the late 1970s, he really hit his stride in 1995 with Left Behind, the first book in his now 16-book Left Behind series. He followed that with Tribulation Force in 1996, the same year that he published all three Global Air installments. Up till now, he’s published over 200 books (21 of which have been NTY best-sellers) with more than 73 million in sales. It’s insane.

While I’ve read only a tiny handful of books from his massive bibliography, I gotta say that Global Air is likely his most underrated series of all. I’ve already praised Book 1: Crash in Cannibal Valley and Book 2: Terror in Branco Grande, so I won’t overplay my praise, but Book 3: Disaster in the Yukon is probably my favorite of the three.

Chad and Kate Michaels have returned to their homebase in Alaska following their nightmare in South America, a life-and-death encounter with drug traffickers and a corrupt government that came just months after they all survived a plane crash in Papua-Indonesia. Safely home on their own turf, they drive 4 hours to the Canadian border to meet some old friends from Mr. Michaels’ military days who are taking over as superintendent at a Christian boarding school. Kate’s excited to spend a few days with her old friend, Suzie Q, again, though Chad’s dreading even a brief reunion with the brat—that is, until he actually sees her.

Chad and his dad leave Kate at the school to visit with her friend for a few days, even though there seems to be a bug going around. On their drive back, they hit some seriously bad weather and crash, and they discover that the storm that strikes is just one of three that’s hitting the entire region over the next hours and days, devastating Southern Alaska and Northern Canada. Fighting the elements just to survive, Chad and Mr. Michaels also realize that they’re the only remaining hope for the school several hundred miles away to get the antibiotics they need to fight the sickness. Beyond this, Suzie Q’s illness weakens her and escalates her diabetes and need for insulin, though the shipment of her next six months’ supply has been lost somewhere in the storm. Racing against the clock and through the elements, Chad and his dad must give everything to save Suze Q before she falls into a coma and dies.

We’ve been reading this book a chapter at a time, but last night the story was so intense, we finished the final five chapters at once. I simply couldn’t put it down. Jenkins’ pacing was so tight that I didn’t even hurt my voice despite all the reading aloud, though I probably would have kept reading even if I had. What a ride!

I’m starting to record all my reading online at a new site called Book Notification, and I was super excited to find that Jenkins actually wrote a fourth book in this series in 2013, Sudden Impact. I don’t have it on my bookshelf, but I hope to have it soon and will jump at the chance to see the Michaels family in action again. I’m giving my copies of this series away to a kid in my church, and I hope he enjoys it as much as we have. If you’re looking for a thrilling series and don’t mind something moderately Christian, look no further than this. You won’t be disappointed.

©2024 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)