MH370: Widow hits out at author of novel

A lookout is stationed on bow of HMAS Success during the search of the missing MH370. Photo / AP

The widow of New Zealander Paul Weeks, who was on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 when it vanished, has hit out at the Kiwi author of a new novella on the plane's disappearance.

Danica Weeks said a book by Aucklander Scott Maka - released yesterday on the three-month anniversary of the jet's disappearance - was absolutely shocking.

"I wish these people would just really put their concerted effort towards helping us find the plane rather than writing these books and making up these stories about it."

The book, titled MH370, has been described by Maka as a thriller and is an account of what may have happened.

"I was obviously just absolutely shocked to hear that that had come out, especially from a New Zealander," Mrs Weeks said.

"I'm completely disgusted by it, to be honest. I just think it's shocking."

Maka said the idea for the story, which was released yesterday through e-book retailers Amazon Kindle and smashwords.com, came on a "hair-raising" flight experience he had a week after MH370 disappeared.

He was on his way to Vietnam from Malaysia flying with Air Asia.

"I was damn scared. Flying doesn't usually bother me, but knowing that another aircraft had just vanished on the same flight path made me very, very jittery. I almost cheered when the plane landed."

The 45-year-old communications consultant said he approached traditional publishers about a print version of the book, but opted to release it in an e-book version first.

It is "novella-length, much longer than a short story but not quite as long as a novel", Maka said.

He revealed he had been "worried" about the book's reception, because several film projects have been heavily criticised by families of those on board the missing plane.

Meanwhile, a new international crowdfunding campaign, Reward MH370: The Search for the Truth, launches on website Indiegogo today.

The campaign offers a reward of about $3.5 million for information about the flight.
"We will try anything at the moment," Mrs Weeks said. "We'll just keep hoping we'll find out the truth."