Down Around Midnight

Around midnight on June 17, 1979, Air New England Flight 248, en route from New York, crashed into the woods on Cape Cod. The pilot was killed, and the survivors struggled to escape the wreckage and wait for rescue. They survived with trauma both physical and emotional. Robert Sabbag was among them. This is his gripping account of the crash and his candid attempts, and those of the other survivors, to come to terms with its aftermath. Fast paced and mesmerizing, it is an unforgettable personal reflection on how we live with what we can never forget."Sabbag examines the crash both as an outstanding reporter investigating an old story, talking to those involved and meticulously piecing together the evidence, and also as a survivor confronting his own demons and the inevitable vagaries of memory... A compelling and tightly written reconstruction of the crash and his struggle to come to terms with the near-death experience."
-Boston Globe

"Sabbag has a knack for thumbnail portraits and sardonic humor... eloquent..."
-Time

"His most emotionally resonant book... A remarkably powerful, human story not merely of a plane crash but of the impact that one brief moment can have on an entire life... "
-Booklist

"Wonderfully readable... Sabbag has a journalist's eye for detail and a sardonic style that would be entertaining no matter the topic... The conclusions he comes to are thought-provoking and wise."
-Minneapolis Star TribuneRobert Sabbag is the author of Snowblind, Smokescreen, and Too Tough to Die. He is a regular contributor to Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, and other publications. He lives on Cape Cod.