Milton, Pat

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MILTON, Pat

PERSONAL: Female.

ADDRESSES: Home—Long Island, NY. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Random House, Inc., 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Journalist and author. Reporter for Associated Press.

WRITINGS:

In the Blink of an Eye: The Inside Story of the FBI'sInvestigation of TWA Flight 800, Random House (New York, NY), 1999.

SIDELIGHTS: In July 1996, after TWA Flight 800 exploded shortly after taking off from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City, Associated Press reporter Pat Milton was assigned full time to cover the investigation into the tragedy. Milton expanded her day-by-day coverage of the incident into her first book, In the Blink of an Eye: The Inside Story of the FBI's Investigation of TWA Flight 800. Her account offers no solution to what happened that day, since the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) never completely resolved the case, but instead follows James Kallstrom, the special agent in charge of the New York office of the FBI, as he attempts to determine what caused the explosion.

Several critics questioned the author's position with regard to the case, as well as her accuracy. New York Times Book Review contributor William Langewiesche, for instance, wondered about the ease with which she dismisses certain aspects of the investigation and criticized some of her statements as unbelievable, stating that "words just come too easily to Pat Milton. She asserts, incredibly, that Kallstrom was 'one of the few in the bureau with a thorough understanding of computer technology.' (The evidence is he set up a Flight 800 Web site.)" He continued to remark that the book "is a mine field of statements that Milton should have been advised to explain or abandon." Matthew Brelis, writing in the Boston Globe, felt that "the book seems more like the official FBI version of the accident and its investigation, blessed with the imprimatur of an objective journalist. But Milton threw her objectivity to the wind." However, Curtis Rist, in a People review, called In the Blink of an Eye a "heartbreaking yet inspiring disaster story," and Leatherneck contributor Jamie Walker stated that Milton's work "takes the reader behind the scenes, through months of research and interviews. . . . It puts the details of the . . . [investigation] into the hands of the America public and allows us to see the dedication and skill with which the situation was handled."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August, 1999, Bonnie Smothers, review of In the Blink of an Eye: The Inside Story of the FBI's Investigation of TWA Flight 800, p. 1985.

Boston Globe, July 25, 1999, Matthew Brelis, "Fire in the Sky," p. C1.

Leatherneck, September, 1999, Jamie Walker, review of In the Blink of an Eye, p. 67.

New York Times Book Review, September 26, 1999, William Langewiesche, "Dead End Story," p. 16.

People, July 26, 1999, Curtis Rist, review of In theBlink of an Eye, p. 45.

Publishers Weekly, July 12, 1999, review of In theBlink of an Eye, p. 89.