After a brief career as a television writer, Arthur Hailey turned to writing novels and created a string of best-sellers which became pop staples and made him Canada's most financially successful author: his books have been translated into thirty-five languages and turned into films and television miniseries. His 1968 novel, Airport, gave rise to two film sequels, and eventually to two parodies; Hotel (1965) provided the basis for a television series. In novels such as Airport Hailey perfected what became one of the most successful formulas for the 1960s and 1970s best-seller by depicting a crisis taking place within a large institution in a plot that was constructed episodically and that maintained several separate lines of action. His first two novels are not as formulaic as those that followed, and although they were not as popular, they remain his best. His use of an intrusive and discursive narrator throughout his...