Fire Flight FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Veteran pilot Clark Maxwell thought his fire bombing days were well behind him. But when Jerry Stein, Maxwell's friend and airtanker fleet-owner, calls at the height of the fire season to beg him to reenter the war, he doesn't hesitate. A pair of ferocious forest fires is raging out of control, threatening to destroy Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and incinerate thousands of area homes. As the wildfires spread, whipped by massive winds, and the federal forces arrayed against the fires reach their limits, anxiety grows in the local population. A paranoia plagues the fire bombers and smoke jumpers as well, after a mysterious string of violent airborne accidents among the airtanker fleet claims the lives of some of the most fearless and experienced veterans." Maxwell has long argued that the airtankers - old aircraft used by pilots to bomb the fires with fire retardant slurry - are faulty museum pieces that should have been grounded years ago. Now some of the fleet seem to be falling apart in midair. In the middle of the area's worst wildfire season in history, Maxwell is convinced that a sinister cover-up is behind the rash of horrific air disasters. Were the planes' inspection papers forged? Is someone capitalizing on these crashes? As he races to unravel a very real mystery and prevent a natural disaster of massive proportions, Maxwell's probe reaches the upper levels of the very government agencies charged with mounting the aerial fire fighting effort - a move that for wholly unexpected reasons just may cost him his life ... and the life of Karen Jones, the married smoke jumper with whom he seems to have fallen in love.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Nance's latest aviation thriller (Pandora's Clock; Turbulence) departs a bit from his successful formula of race-against-the-clock plotting and in-flight suspense. Instead, it plunges into the world of smoke jumping, with many intricate and intimate sequences featuring airborne firefighters at work. It's a good trade-off. There is still plenty of suspense and high-stakes action, but the story is more character-driven and lighter on professional jargon, anchored by a romantic triangle and a whodunit. At the center of both is veteran pilot Clark Maxwell, called back into battle from the private sector by his slightly sleazy former boss Jerry Stein when multiple forest fires stretch the resources of the Forest Service and threaten local populations. Clark's re-up with the service lands him in the orbit of feisty fellow smoke jumper Karen Jones, his longtime "fantasy pinup girl." Their mutual chemistry is undeniable, but nonstop firefighting-and, more important, Karen's hot-tempered husband, Trent-stand in the way of romance. Troubles in the air begin when a last-minute switch puts hotshot pilot Jeff Maze aboard the Douglas DC-6 originally earmarked for Clark. The wings break off the plane in flight, killing Jeff and his co-pilot instantly. Jeff's distraught girlfriend, Misty, holds some of the keys to the puzzle, which Clark determines to piece together. He suspects merely negligence, but when the same airborne fate nearly befalls pilot buddy Sam Littlefox, Clark concludes that it's sabotage. But by whom, and for what purpose? With its lively cast and rich plot, this is Nance's best book in years. (Nov. 11) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
In his latest thriller, Nance (Turbulence) takes us into the world of airborne forest firefighters and the equally brave people who do battle on the ground. Fires are raging out of control in Yellowstone National Park, and planes from the aging fleet of water tankers are crashing. Veteran pilot Clark Maxwell has returned from retirement to help out-not only in his official capacity but also as an investigator in light of the recurring crashes. Where have the planes been over the preceding winter instead of having life-saving maintenance performed on them? Maxwell suspects a major cover-up. Despite a rushed and contrived ending, Nance has crafted an exciting and compelling story. Recommended for most popular fiction collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/03.]-Robert Conroy, Warren, MI Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
AudioFile
A huge forest fire ranges out of control in Jackson Hole and Yellowstone National Forest. The fires are fought by brave pilots in ancient air tankers (converted from old passenger airliners) dropping chemical fire retardants and by fire jumpers who fight the fires on the ground. Clark Maxwell, a veteran pilot, watches as friends die when one plane's wings fall off mid-flight and another crashes from mechanical neglect. Nance's performance is best when he stresses the tension felt by the pilots and fire fighters as they battle the flames and their cantankerous, unreliable planes. Nance draws the listener into the story most effectively when he dramatizes the action. M.B.K. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
Mixing white-knucklers (Headwind, 2001, etc.) with the occasional near-miss (Turbulence, 2002, etc.), Nance now takes up fighting the wildfires that yearly send up hundred of homes in flame. Turbulence, in its attempt to fashion the first passenger airline mutiny in history, presented readers with a flight attendant from hell and the looniest pilot since Leslie Nielsen, and forced its story into outrageous inconsistencies. As if to avoid such bent plotting, Nance now abandons the high and the mighty, gets straightforward and down to earth-although massive hysteria and some really bad guys do arise. Living legend and womanizing Jeff Maze has for years flown for Jerry Stein's fleet of DC-5B, 45-year-old air tankers out of West Yellowstone, planes that need a whole winter's repair after the way they get beat up during firefighting season. But Misty Ryan, Jeff's lover of 12 years, knows Jeff's been acting strange. Jerry Stein has brought Clark Maxwell out of a four-year retirement as a fire-retardant dropper. Jerry's in a panic because the government may shut him down and itself take over firefighting, while Clark worries that after 17 years of dropping retardant from these worn-out planes, fate-statistically-is hunting him down. So he's back low-dropping slurry through hellish canyons of smoke plumes, superheated air, and exploding trees. Nance rises quickly into danger mode as Clark finds half of his flight panel inoperable and fuel gauges unreliable. Then accidents in the tanker fleet multiply. What's causing these disasters-and what's Jeff Maze got to do with it? And why does Jerry Stein squirm when Clark demands that he fly as copilot in Clark's rusty Tanker 88? Nance strives for nostyle like that of the early Richard Bach in Stranger to the Ground or of Ernest K. Gann in Fate Is the Hunter-in fact, the writing here at first feels hacked out and thriller-thin before it rises to blazing excitement.
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