Rating: 
Summary: Excellent stuff
Review: I love Mark Manning! Michael Craft's sleuthing newspaper man is top notch, and Craft keeps the pages turning. Buy the whole series!
Rating: 
Summary: Sensual and Engrossing
Review: I love the Mark Manning series (6 books thus far). I have read the first four of the series and am eager to finish the two recently published ones, when I have uninterrupted time on my hand. To-date Flight Dreams remains my favorite. Mark is sensitive, mature and sexy. The mystery is fast paced and suspensful enough to hold the reader. Spiced with Mark's coming-out and the development of his relationship with the compatible Neil, the story is definitely more emotional and a notch above other gay mystery novels. I hope Mr Craft will continue with the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Mark Manning manages to waste your time
Review: I was so excited to hear of a gay mystery set in my hometown of Chicago. Finally, a gay themed novel outside of San Francisco, Los Angeles, or New York. I think I actually got a rush out of actually recieving the book in the mail. So, imagine my dissappointment as I plowed through this book praying that it would at some point get better. The characters are hackneyed and lack any depth. All are either %100 good or %100 evil with no shades of grey. The only character with any depth is Father Jerome, whom the author never brings back to the story again. There is no suspense or the classic "whodunit" atmosphere of a dectective novel. The reader can figure out the entire "mystery" by the end of the first section of the book. Although I found Michael Craft's philosophical and religious arguments quite thought-provoking and well articulated through the main character, Mark Manning, they were out of place and lacked any purpose in this novel. It was more like Mr. Craft established a soap box to preach his views on these subjects. Unfortunately, his sermons had nothing to do with finding the missing heiress. In short, the only mystery left unsolved by the end of the novel is why I ever bought the book.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly Subtle and Hypnotic...
Review: I've just finished reading Mr. Michael Craft's debut of his intriguing investigative reporter, Mark Manning. "Flight Dreams" is a well-crafted story on two levels. First, as an obvious mystery, Mr. Craft is vastly adept in plotting an interesting and tangled web of deceit and herring (of the auburn kind). The disappearance of Helena Carter, and the reasons for it, take the reader through some unexpected territory. Secondly, the author writes the characters as fully fleshed-out, three-dimensional embodiments of people we could all know or care about. Mark Manning is a wonderful and complex creation. The exploration of Manning's psyche and realizations of religion and sexuality are at once familiar and intriguing. The author's use of "flight" metaphorically and as allusion in specific instances with several different characters, in slightly shaded meanings, is a remarkable literary device (and one the non-observant may overlook). The book also has much to say about the relevance of religion and its struggles with conscience. I have already ordered the second installment of the Manning series and look forward to many others. I'd strongly recommend this title for any readers who love a good mystery, great storytelling, and characters who are not always wrong or right--but human.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly Subtle and Hypnotic...
Review: I've just finished reading Mr. Michael Craft's debut of his intriguing investigative reporter, Mark Manning. "Flight Dreams" is a well-crafted story on two levels. First, as an obvious mystery, Mr. Craft is vastly adept in plotting an interesting and tangled web of deceit and herring (of the auburn kind). The disappearance of Helena Carter, and the reasons for it, take the reader through some unexpected territory. Secondly, the author writes the characters as fully fleshed-out, three-dimensional embodiments of people we could all know or care about. Mark Manning is a wonderful and complex creation. The exploration of Manning's psyche and realizations of religion and sexuality are at once familiar and intriguing. The author's use of "flight" metaphorically and as allusion in specific instances with several different characters, in slightly shaded meanings, is a remarkable literary device (and one the non-observant may overlook). The book also has much to say about the relevance of religion and its struggles with conscience. I have already ordered the second installment of the Manning series and look forward to many others. I'd strongly recommend this title for any readers who love a good mystery, great storytelling, and characters who are not always wrong or right--but human.
Rating:
Summary: Mark Manning: PART ONE
Review: Like other Craft fans, I discovered "Flight Dreams" after reading the second in the Mark Manning series "Eye Contact". For that reason, I can be more objective, I think. Every writer is constantly developing, changing, experimenting, and growing in his/her chosen profession. Craft's first mystery is a prime example of an author "testing the waters". While the killer's identity was somewhat easy to determine, the author populates the book with some fascinating, if slightly improbable, characters. Craft's attention to character is also evident with the personal life of protagonist Manning. And the vivid descriptions of the locales and the adornments show a man that appreciates the aesthetic. "Flight Dreams" doesn't quite ascend into the far reaches of space, but it does get airborne. And what better way to spend leisure time than by being curled up with an entertaining and carefree escape from the daily grind?
Rating:
Summary: A sprightly whodunit with some unusual twists.
Review: Mark Manning, ace Chicago journalist with a great many more scruples than much of the modern-age press, pursues a missing-heiress story with sagacity even as his personal life transitions through a period of questioning and answering his own intimate desires. In the face of mounting pressure from those who want to "make" rather than "report" the news and opinions of the time, his ethical, honest approach is refreshing. Michael Craft's book is a satisfying and enjoyable read. He writes engagingly and clearly even though his syntax sometimes gets entangled, but this is easily forgotten as he faces choice issues head-on.
Rating: 
Summary: Passable plot hinges on strained contrivances
Review: Merciful mother of Maupin, are gay readers so starved for quality material that they must overpraise this mediocre novel? There are flaming contradictions and red herrings at every turn and the dialog wins no prizes either, nor do the often cartoonish characters. Sadly, I have read ***far*** worse novels in the gay mystery genre and the author at least kept me turning pages, even when I didn't believe a word of it. Go for Aldyne, Stevenson or Zubro to see how it's done with subtlety and style.
Rating:
Summary: Ready for take-off... Launch of the Mark Manning Mysteries.
Review: Michael Craft has tied together several stories here that have equal emphasis. A tale of repressed desires, a straight forward mystery tale, and a condemnation of the religious right. The combination does not always work -- but at the conclusion I can say I am left wanting to read more. Having been trained as both a writer and an architect, I may be a bit biased in favor of the characters, but the dialog is truly in need of help. It alternated between florid prose and stiff barks... does anyone speak like this? As the start of a new series, I can say the protagonist is likable without being syrupy sweet, and the action moves along at a good pace. Enjoy the story as it is laid out and you will be left ready to read another in the series.
Rating:
Summary: Best Series of the Genre
Review: Michael Craft is absolutely my favorite author. Jump aboard for a great ride with this the first novel in the Mark Manning series. The only other series that ranks as high in my book is the Todd Mill series by RD Zimmerman.
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