High Flight

Rating:
Summary: Joshua's Hammer
Review: After reading most of David Hagberg's Books I was hooked on this one. I usually read in bed at night but I could not put this book down. I didn't want it to end. 5 stars. What a great movie this book would be, unless someone didn't tell it like it was.

Rating:
Summary: This Was A Letdown!
Review: After reading several David Hagberg books High Flight was a big letdown. Rrossfire,Countdown,White House and Joshua's Hammer were excellent thrillers that I enjoyed reading. This book took up too much space trying to be a techno thriller in the mode of Tom Clancy. This detracted from the heroics of the good guy Kirk McGarvey. The villains in the story were also shifted to the sideline by the techno gimmickery. This book was also way too long. Because of the subject matter it wore on your patience to finish the book. This was definitely not on of David Hagberg's better efforts. I am glad he got back on track with his later efforts. This was nearly bad.

Rating:
Summary: I normally enjoy Hagberg--but this was way too long...
Review: First off let me say that I am a true David Hagberg fan having read ALL of his books (except for Joshua's Hammer--haven't seen it at any local bookstores--YET) but it seemed to me that he was TRYING to specifically tackle a subject that was very ambitious and in so doing attempted to unseat the techno-thriller throne established by Clancy. And in the process wrote an otherwise entertaining novel that could have EASILY been done with 300 LESS pages. There was SO MUCH unnecessary everything that it nearly took a great story and made it absolutely dreadful. I HATE feeling this way, especially since I have enjoyed each and every Kirk McGarvey novel to date. All in all I enjoyed this one,too--but it definitely isn't without its faults. Contrived meetings between secondary characters which solve nothing, and ultimately move the plot BACKWARDS rather than FORWARDS. I also felt that Hagberg taking on the Japanese was a bit too coincidental that it came out not long after Clancy's 'Debt of Honor' which ALSO has the US being attacked by the Japanese, and before that it was Michael Chrichton's 'Rising Sun' where we got to read a LOT of anti-far East diatribes and even farther back to Clive Cussler's 'Dragon'. Sure all of these novels are unique but it almost seems as though there is a trend going on here that pits US against THEM (Asians--Japanese in particular). Maybe I am taking this a bit too far, but I always become disappointed in novels that in order to look more sophisticated than they really are add hundreds of useless pages of backwards-plotlines that take the story nowhere fast. Okay, off the soap box. If you are big Hagberg fan, read and decide for yourself, it WASN'T a BAD novel, just not what I felt it COULD have been if a lot hadn't been cut out first.

Rating:
Summary: McGarvey as Free-lance muscle...still saving the world!
Review: It always pains me to see "Clancy and Bond better look over their shoulders . . ." as a review of a Hagberg/Flannery novel. Hagberg pre-dates both authors as an accomplished yarn spinner. And in High Flight he just keeps spinning and spinning and spinning (about 830 pages worth!).

I have suggested in the past that MacGarvey was used up as a character for Hagberg. I mean, how many times can you save the world and get fired by the CIA for doing it. But the author does a fine job of resurrecting him as a free-lance trouble shooter with some special contacts all over the world in this tale.

Before MacGarvey can save the world from the brink of war, lots of bodies have been strewn about, planes drop all over the place, and the reader has been raked over the coals of suspense.

This book has plenty of high points. Some of its characters are truly diabolical in the old Fleming tradition (the ex-Stasi assassin is extremely resourceful - Hagberg developed him wonderfully - among his best villians). The techno aspect is written tersely and confidently. He stands up well compared to the other guys out there. And the plot is actually very good - as are some of the many sub-plots.

Low points - the other villian in the novel, Yamagata, is never fully developed. Hagberg could have made him a bit more evil by dwelling on his treatment of Chance Kennedy (one of the novel's hundreds of minor characters). The love interest for the protagonist, Dominique Kilbourne, is a bit wooden - not much to her.

And, yes, I'll bow to the novel's detractors: it might have been a tad too long. The primary plot devise - development of a triggering mechanism by rogue Americans to bring down American airplanes using Japanese equipment - is painfully tedious at times. But just when you're about to say "if they have to find another part to build the thing and waste another 20 pages I'm gonna loose it," Mueller, the ex-Stasi guy, offs somebody with some glib remark that makes you chuckle.

Some folks have lamented that the novel jumps around too much; I had no problems following the action. The novel is a tightly woven tapestry with many sub-plots occuring at the same time. To keep the story moving in a linear fashion the author had to jump around a lot.

Now, I'm an admitted Hagberg fan. I've only read one novel (written as Sean Flannery) that I truly did not enjoy. This one ranks at the top for out-and-out, over-the-top enjoyment. I think it is far superior to his previous work with a far Eastern flavor, Critical Mass.

Highly recommend it. Eagerly await Whitehouse!

Questions? email me . . .

Rating:
Summary: Too Long? I Don't Think So...
Review: It's pretty rare that I can say "After 600 or so pages, it really heats up" about a novel without sarcastically panning it, but in this case I can.

I picked up this book on name recognition alone. To be honest, the description on the back of the book didn't do anything for me, and I shuddered at the size of the book, but I dove in anyway because Hagberg is, to, me, a proven product.

I wasn't disappointed at all. The first few pages were enough to get me hooked, and I don't agree with criticisms about the length of the book because the vast majority of it is necessary to set up the action. I could see cutting 50 or 60 pages, but I don't agree with people saying that it should be 300 pages shorter. That sort of criticism is valid for a lot of Tom Clancy's work, but Hagberg makes better use of his pages than Clancy does.

This is not the best novel I've ever read, but it's in the top five. It requires a lot of time invested, but you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Too Long? I Don't Think So...
Review: It's pretty rare that I can say "After 600 or so pages, it really heats up" about a novel without sarcastically panning it, but in this case I can.

I picked up this book on name recognition alone. To be honest, the description on the back of the book didn't do anything for me, and I shuddered at the size of the book, but I dove in anyway because Hagberg is, to, me, a proven product.

I wasn't disappointed at all. The first few pages were enough to get me hooked, and I don't agree with criticisms about the length of the book because the vast majority of it is necessary to set up the action. I could see cutting 50 or 60 pages, but I don't agree with people saying that it should be 300 pages shorter. That sort of criticism is valid for a lot of Tom Clancy's work, but Hagberg makes better use of his pages than Clancy does.

This is not the best novel I've ever read, but it's in the top five. It requires a lot of time invested, but you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: A complex, multi-layered thriller
Review: Okay, let's get the bad stuff out of the way. I fully agree with everyone who complains about the lack of character development.

That said, we have a very intriguing concept here. It has been called Japan Inc. and the concept that business is war is taken to its logical extreme in High Flight. How separate is the Japanese government from entrenched business interests? And could there be a government behind the government that could engineer an economic attack on the United States in order to expand Japan's control over the Pacific Rim.

This is a very complex plot that involves baiting the Russians to strike back and the Seventh Fleet to intervene on behalf of the Japanese. Into this mix, a covert group attempts to gain control of America's domestic airline production industry and the plot involves sabotage of civilian airliners. There is a lot going on in this book, but it is well written and it continues to draw you on to the next page. Considering it is almost 900 pages long, this is a page turner that deserves to be read.

Whether you agree or disagree witht eh book's premise, it is worth considering.

Rating:
Summary: Not Clancy, but pretty good!
Review: This is my first Hagberg book, and I'll probably pick up a few more now. The length is considerable, but most of it flows along nicely. Any book of this length will have a few pages where the pace slows. The political angle is the most prevalent ... this isn't really a techno-thriller or an action thriller. For example, Crichton's "Airframe" is an airplane techno-thriller, and you'll learn a lot about airplanes. Clancy likewise teaches you a lot about submarines (Hunt for Red October), or nuclear bombs (Sum of All Fears), even if sometimes you feel the story has paused so you can read a scientific journal article. However, I didn't really learn anything in this novel ... "Rising Sun" (Crichton) was more 'educational'.

I think I bought this book because I heard it contained P-3 Orion aircraft, of which I'm a fan. Indeed, they are mentioned in mostly realistic ways, but they are not a main player. The only P-3 Orion technical 'problem' was on page 821 where Hagberg says that the Orion throttled back to deploy dipping sonobuoys. A "dipping sonobuoy" is the terminology typically used for the equipment on a anti-submarine helicopter, not an airplane. While you could stretch the term to apply to the sonobuoys planes drop, it's not what one would usually use.

Overall, it's nice entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: Not Clancy, but pretty good!
Review: This is my first Hagberg book, and I'll probably pick up a few more now. The length is considerable, but most of it flows along nicely. Any book of this length will have a few pages where the pace slows. The political angle is the most prevalent ... this isn't really a techno-thriller or an action thriller. For example, Crichton's "Airframe" is an airplane techno-thriller, and you'll learn a lot about airplanes. Clancy likewise teaches you a lot about submarines (Hunt for Red October), or nuclear bombs (Sum of All Fears), even if sometimes you feel the story has paused so you can read a scientific journal article. However, I didn't really learn anything in this novel ... "Rising Sun" (Crichton) was more 'educational'.

I think I bought this book because I heard it contained P-3 Orion aircraft, of which I'm a fan. Indeed, they are mentioned in mostly realistic ways, but they are not a main player. The only P-3 Orion technical 'problem' was on page 821 where Hagberg says that the Orion throttled back to deploy dipping sonobuoys. A "dipping sonobuoy" is the terminology typically used for the equipment on a anti-submarine helicopter, not an airplane. While you could stretch the term to apply to the sonobuoys planes drop, it's not what one would usually use.

Overall, it's nice entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: An Okay Novel
Review: This is the second book that I have read by this author. At heart it is basically a political-conspiracy type thriller. It pits the Japanese against the Americans in control of an airplane manufacturing company. A group of very powerful Japanese businessmen plot to restore the glory of the former Japanese empire by trying to gain control of an American aircraft manufacturing company that is developing a hypersonic commercial airplane. But that goal is only part of a larger plan that aims to control the western Pacific so that Japan can have access to natural resources in south east Asia. This group of Japanese, with the help of a few "loyal" military men, plans to execute a mini war against the Russian and they manipulate the American government in order to achieve their ultimate goal.

The American aircraft manufacturing company counters the potential Japanese hostile takeover by hiring a former CIA assassin to help them stop the Japanese plot. At the same time a former Undersecretary of State has his own agenda. He wants to warn the administration and the American public that Japan is getting too powerful. He wants to avoid another Pearl Harbor. He teams up with a former East German spy/assassin and a couple of American weirdos to blow up eight airplanes and blame these terrorist acts on the Japanese.

If I had to write this review with one word, it would be: Unbelievable! This is definitely not one of my favorite novels.

* Character Development: Hagberg hardly spends any effort in developing the characters. I don't have any feeling for the main character, the CIA assassin, nor the villains, the East German assassin and the former Undersecretary of the State. This novel is definitely not character driven. On top of that, the author has created a hero who happens to be an assassin. It makes it more difficult for me to accept the hero. Score: 1.

* Pacing: The author did an okay job in pacing the novel. The pace is relatively fast and that may be the only reason that I was willing to finish reading this book. However, this novel is not exactly a page-turner. Score: 3.5.

* Plot: The plot follows three main parties. The Japanese manipulators, the American conspirator (the former Undersecretary of State), and our hero, the former CIA assassin.

The author wants us to believe that this Japanese group is powerful enough to control their own government and military and, at the same time, that the Japanese military is strong enough to start a mini-war against Russia and the United States. Additionally, I had a hard time accepting the idea that the Japan wants to control the western Pacific just to make sure that they have access to natural resources. When the story opens, there is no threat to Japan. Furthermore, the author never explains why controlling the American aircraft manufacturing company would help the Japanese achieve their goal. On top of that, the author hopes that the readers will forget that the State Department would have to authorize any foreign company that took control of a strategic industry.

The American conspirator (the former Undersecretary of State) is a character that is hard for me to accept. I sure hope that our political system is doing a much better job of selecting personnel in public office. A former Undersecretary of the State intends and actually sacrifices two thousand American lives by blowing up eight commercial airplanes just to warn the administration and the American public of the threat of Japan. Unbelievable!

The list of unconvincing events and unbelievable characters just goes on and on. The author believes that the combined efforts of the FBI and the CIA organizations are no match for a former CIA assassin, our hero. It is very clear that the author ignores a lot of well known facts. The CIA is not allowed to operate inside our country and the top brass, like the deputy director of operations and intelligence, do not run around like a field agent. Well, I think I have beaten this dead horse enough. Score: 1.

* Storytelling: I liked the author's writing style, though he may not be top of my favorites list. The chapters are broken down into manageable subsections. This was very helpful to me because I only spent half-an-hour to read for each sitting. However, this book is 200 to 300 pages too long. Score: 3.5.

* Reviewer's Lean: I'm very critical of this book. I have read other novels where the plot was also very unquestionable but I was willing to look over it. Novel like Matthew Reilly's Ice Station is so fact-faced that I don't have time to slow down and think about the plot holes while I am reading. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed reading portions of this book. Therefore, I'm willing to add half a point to make the overall score 2.7.