Rating: 
Summary: Unfortunately thin and amateurish
Review: ...The book is honestly not very good. The plot is thin, with ridiculous characters that don't amount to much more than throwaway caricatures. Even the main characters of Mark and Neil are bland and unmemorable, without any defining character traits. The mystery is not much of a mystery, and instead of building to a revelation, just meanders to a finish. Finally, there seems to be an attempt to make a statement about organized religion and homosexuality, but it comes across as ham-handed and mean-spirited. A cartoonish televangelist hates gays? Well, that's not very original, and it's certainly not fun.I want to encourage young writers, and especially ones who introduce previously unheard voices into the mainstream, but I unfortunately cannot recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Re Flight Dreams
Review: As a lapsed Catholic, a runner, an owner of and admirer of Abysinnian cats, and a "late bloomer" who had my first same-sex relationship in my early thirties, how could I NOT like this book? The plot was good, the characters well-written and likeable. I think Craft writes as good gay mysteries as Zubro, which to me is high praise. I have ordered the nexy two in the series and am looking forward to them. A GOOD READ!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Light dreams perhaps
Review: Craft's newspaper writer turned detective, Mark Manning, gets involved in the disappearance of a wealthy North Shore woman who breeds and shows the exotic Abyssinian cat. He is the only journalist who still believes she is alive after 7 years, but the forces supporting the Chicago Archdiocese inheritance of 100 million dollars from her estate want the courts to rule that she is dead. There are additional threads to the story involving Roxanne; a lawyer friend who introduces Mark to her architect friend from Phoenix named Neil. What she doesn't know is that putting Mark and Neil together is going to stir up Mark's repressed feelings for the same sex. This is not exactly the kind of romantic plan Roxanne had for Mark since she also has designs on him. The actual "mystery" aspect of the story isn't really very much of a mystery. Early on you can easily figure out what is going on and pretty much how it will end. So, with that in mind you have to judge the book on whether or not you like the characters and writing. I'd give the book one less star if it weren't for Craft's writing style. He moves the story along fairly well and throws in some clever ironic moments. However, his action scenes are stiff and confusing, particularly one involving a car mishap in the Arizona desert. The fluid prose needed to convey the split second events with some clarity is just not there. The real issue for Craft's series, of which this is the first installment, is his main character Mark Manning. He is portrayed as a physically attractive indeed above average man who knows his own mind and is absolutely certain that he is right. Rarely does Mark have doubts about anything involving himself. Quite often Mark actually lectures various characters and doesn't seem to mind making the contemptuous remark for the (in his view) wrong-headed opponent. His arrogance is astonishing in some scenes. The other issue I have with the book is the thinly drawn characterizations. You learn superficial facts about most of the characters (Roxanne has a drinking problem for example) but there is no real exploration or resolution of the issue at hand. Or if there is a resolution of sorts it is so briefly handled as to fall into the category of miraculous. The "bad guys" are incredibly stereotypical cutouts that are more laughable than menacing. Quite often Craft sets up a scene simply to climb upon his soapbox and lash out at whatever issue he wants his characters to champion. Religion in particular receives the most scathing criticism. I have no issue with the criticism of religion, but if I wanted a set of opinions on religion and gays I don't think I would seek it in a purported mystery. If handled well it wouldn't be a problem even if in a mystery novel, but it is very forced and an interruption to the flow of the story. Overall, a somewhat satisfying read in the take-a-book-to-the-beach variety, but I seriously doubt I'll read the additional installments in the series. You have to care about a character or set of characters in order to be willing to invest the time in reading a half dozen or so books. I just don't care enough about Manning to do so.
Rating: 
Summary: Read this, and you will want to read more of Michael Craft!
Review: Flight Dreams is another one of those books that you want to keep reading. Great character development and enough continuing plot lines to know that Mark Manning is going to have more dead bodies to trip over in the future! This is definitely a fun read! I have read every book in the Mark Manning series, and Flight Dreams was a great kickoff. This book is the first of a series that just gets better.
Rating:
Summary: Read this, and you will want to read more of Michael Craft!
Review: Flight Dreams is another one of those books that you want to keep reading. Great character development and enough continuing plot lines to know that Mark Manning is going to have more dead bodies to trip over in the future! This is definitely a fun read! I have read every book in the Mark Manning series, and Flight Dreams was a great kickoff. This book is the first of a series that just gets better.
Rating: 
Summary: Flight Dreams is the first title in a new mystery series
Review: Harriet Klausner's enthusiastic review of my book concludes, "This reviewer fervently hopes that Mr. Craft has further tales about Manning to spin." Readers can rest assured that more are on the way from Kensington Publishing, scheduled for release at yearly intervals
Rating:
Summary: The start of something big
Review: Having recently discovered the Mark Manning series by Michael Craft, I decided to go back and read the books in order from the start. I was not disappointed; what a launch! The first book, "Flight Dreams," contains all the elements Craft fans have come to expect from him -- beautiful prose, moments of soul-searching philosophy, occasional erotic diversions and, of course, dreams, which seem to be a running theme of the series. This is clearly the work of a younger writer, but no less satisfying than Craft's later books. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliantly beautiful debut and an enticing who-done-it
Review: Helena Caster, a rich and widowed Chicago socialite, disappeared seven
years ago along with a pair of her prize breeding Abyssinian cats. Nobody
knows if she was murdered, kidnapped, or left of her own free will. If she
doesn't return soon, she will be declared legally dead and her fortune
divided up between the Chicago Archdiocese and her favorite cat foundation.
Everyone including the police, the estate attorneys, and her own sister
believe that she is dead, all except for one man. Reporter, Mark Manning has
followed the case from its beginnings. He alone has written column after
column addressing all the evidence that points to her leaving of her own free
will.
........ When his allegations become a story unto itself, his publisher gives him
an ultimatum: find the woman before she's declared legally dead or lose the
job that means everything to him. His boss's deadline forces him to look
into the empty life he's been living and face up to the fact that for years
he been trying to outrun the realization that he's gay. When he meets Neal
Waite at a friend's party, he faces what he can no longer deny and accepts
Neal's invitation to see if they can explore a future together. It is his
acceptance of the truth about his own sexuality that puts him on the road to
Arizona, where Neal lives, as does a woman who is breeding prize winning
Abyssinians. When Manning picks up the scent of the missing heiress, he not
only has to tackle the Catholic Church but a subversive group with its own
agenda that they will go to any lengths to keep secret.
......... Michael Craft's debut novel is a beautiful, evocative and at time,
erotic literary work. Although Craft's emphasis is on the protagonist's
involvement with a mystery that he must solve or lose the career he holds so
dear, the author intertwines the story line with a sub-plot about the same
man coming to terms with his own sexual orientation. This allows him to find
the answers to the puzzle that has plagued him for seven long years. It also
enables him to accept the love he has derived himself out of for fear of
society's scorn. The who-done-it is more of a why has it been done, a
refreshing and delightful change from the usual run of the mill mystery.
This reviewer's fervently hopes that Mr. Craft has further tales about
Manning to spin. .......Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: I loved it!
Review: I am a lesbian who worked for over 40 years with gay men so I identify with them, and especially identified with Mark Manning, who, like me, is a lapsed Catholic, a runner, and especially a lover of Abysinnian cats...how could I NOT like this book! Good plot, interesting characters {but did Mr. Craft HAVE to have thar sex scene with the woman, UGH!} Have a minor bone to pick...he keeps calling the cats Abbys...here at the cat fancy in DC area we call them Abys..is this a regional thing? Anyway, a great read; have ordered 2 more of his books.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, Pulleazzee!
Review: I have managed to wade through two of the three "Mark Manning" novels that Michael Craft has published in the last several years. While I appreciate the idea of a strong, gay character, Mr. Craft has a few things to learn about plot, pacing and character development. "Flight Dreams" was dreadful; "Eye Contact", only slightly better. Between the publication of these two books, Mr. Craft has at least mastered the ability to write a sentence. He now needs to move to the next step of putting them in an order that allows the reader to care about the story and its character, including ace-investigative reporter Mark Manning (who is basically the only liberal, intelligent, caring and decent individual --gay or straight -- in the entire Chicago area). The villians in these novels are cartoonish; the so-called plots chockful of impossible coincidences and extreme conspiracies; the motivations ridiculous and the payoffs lame. Perhaps Mr. Craft will grow as a writer, and in time create a truly interesting "whodunit". For now, however, we are left with only these "whybothers".
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