Three Corners To Nowhere by Martin Caidin

JetBlackDragonfly
Apr 27
2 min read

Martin Caidin has written over 70 books, including Cyborg (1972), the novel that was the inspiration for the hit TV series The Six Million Dollar Man. An aviation and aeronautics authority, his novels are filled with technical detail, similar to Michael Crichton and Arthur Hailey.

This combines disaster with mystery, history, action, and the supernatural.

The daughter of Charles Maynard, President of the computer company Positronics, Inc., boarded the company Gulfstream II luxury jet with several elite guests. The most important was Dr. Mazurski, a genius inventor of a revolutionary biocybernetic computer developed by Positronics and of great interest to the Pentagon.

This begins like a disaster movie (the flight is ominously 'Triple-six Delta') when a wall of cloud reduces visibility to zero, the stewardess commenting "this would happen... right when we're in the middle of the Devil's Triangle." With no compass, instruments, or engines, they vanish in the midst of a magnetic lightning storm.

The Department of Defense, FAA, CIA, OSS, FBI, and Army are all concerned with a national security breach due to the disappearance of Mazurski, and launch a massive sweep of the area. Positronics is most worried about their $100 million insurance policy, and Sierra Insurance calls in Dave Fenton, unmatched in scientific techniques to complete unsolvable insurance claims. Six-two with lean muscle and tousled hair, he is an expert in aviation, engineering, crime solving, and cybernetics. With his own team of experts, he is like a James Bond figure, surrounded by every luxury with an unlimited expense account.

The Devil's Triangle is a mysterious place where hundreds of aircraft and thousands of people have disappeared (as this was written in 1975). Fenton investigates a 1945 commercial flight that vanished on a clear day, along with the five aircraft searching for it, their last message: "We're completely lost." Several boats have been found adrift, abandoned by any living thing. Natural phenomena are researched, from lightning strikes, magnetic vortexes, electrified gas, headwinds, waterspouts, and even a theory that bends time.

In a nice touch, Fenton finds support from friend Dr. Rudy Wells, the cybernetics genius behind the creation of the 'Cyborg, the six-million-dollar man'.

Fenton soon finds his investigation compromised when a contract is put out on him. The plane has simply vanished without a trace of wreckage, and someone is determined that the answers will never be found.

This had exciting moments, and a thick pile of technical aviation information. If you are a pilot, there is a lot to like here. I found it consistantly entertaining as it kept twisting, although not in the supernatural way I was expecting.

Another Caidin bestseller is Marooned, which was filmed with Gregory Peck and Gene Hackman in 1964.

1975 / Paperback / 280 pages