The Sky Ghost (Wingman, 14)

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Summary: Starts of quite different but soon it's Hawk at his best.
Review: Hawk Humter lands in a parallel reality unsure of who he is. He soon discovers his unique talants and his sixth sense. I was at first unsure of how well this would work out with the strange aircrafts in this book. I was very pleased with the outcome and found myself lost in the book as the story progresses. Over all "Sky Ghost" is keeping true to the series and the character of Hawk Hunter.

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Summary: HAWK HUNTER GETS WET BEHIND THE EARS
Review: I rated this book as three stars due to its weird aspect and the fact that the Wingman series is getting really bizarre. But as for the action and sci-fi quality it ranks a 5. Anyway, it seems our friend Hawk is lost in a world where bigger is better. All of the military hardware is huge, such as the Flying Boxcar and the German cargo plane that is the size of a cruise ship. It seems that fire and water are a theme of this book as floods and dambreaks take place as well as firebombings. For you fans of the Wingman series, what happens near the end will get your attention!! Personally, I'd like to see Hawk make it back to the real world.

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Summary: The best yet
Review: I really really liked this book. It was very entertaining. My favorite thing in the whole book were the monsterous flying machines. I thought they were awesome! I really liked the 40-engined transport aircraft of the Nazis. The other part I liked about it was that Mack made it to where after Hitlers death the new leader let all the Jews go. That was a nice touch. The book was really interesting, and I'll say it again, I loved the huge aircraft! This is obviously the best one out yet.

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Summary: The strangest one of the bunch
Review: I'm guessing that Mr. Maloney wanted to experiment with alternate history with this one. Blasting a somewhat amnesiac Hawk Hunter into a parallel universe where World War Two has been raging for half a century made for an interesting plot; it allowed Hunter to run into characters who had been dead for at least two prior novels. THE SKY GHOST contains all the trademark features of the WINGMAN series: intense aerial combat sequences, Hunter taking on large numbers of enemy airplanes on his own and routing them, tricked-out gimmicky airplanes, an endangered America, and kinky sex. Overall it was a little wierd, but a fine addition to the series nonetheless.

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Summary: Surprise! I like it!
Review: Sky Ghost is a Men's Adventure title from the sporadically produced Wingman series.

If you've stumbled onto this review and don't know what a Men's Adventure book is, it isn't (necessarily) a sex book. Instead Men's Adventures are action-packed stories strong on action, plot, and often short on characterization. They don't have to have detailed characterization because these stories usually take place in a series and thus the main characters are developed over time.

There are a variety of Men's Adventure series. The Mack Bolan/Executioner/Stony Man series portray a grim fellow fighting organized crime - domestic and international. The Destroyer mixes mysticism, martial arts (the sun source, Sinanju), and political satire into its action. Deathlands shows a band of adventurers in a nightmarish post-apocalyptic world. There are several western-themed series like Long Arm and the Trailsman which use horses and gunplay to break up sex scenes. There are several series that relive various battles from recent wars. All of these series have strong male leads, operate in a male world, and have at their core action, action, and more action.

Apologies to those who know what Men's Adventures are, but I thought it useful to give a short primer to help folks better understand this review.

Wingman combines a post-apocalyptic world with the real war variety of Men's Adventure series. Apparently, the first 13 stories (published over a 10 year period) dealt with a war ravaged world in which the US was split up and constantly being invaded. Russians, Asians, Neo-Nazis, etc. all had their shot at the good old broken US. The only thing that stood in their way was air ace Hawk Hunter, Wingman.

At the end of 13, it looked like curtains for Wingman. But he returned in 14, The Sky Ghost, albeit to a different world. This world was apparently a parallel one; one in which WWII never ended. It's the year 1997 and WWII has been going on for more than 50 years. America is in dire straits, they need a hero. Enter Wingman.

What intrigued me about this story (not a book for those looking for serious literature) is the title. It smacked of an old pulp called G-8 and His Battle Aces. G-8 was a master spy and ace WWI pilot/fighter. He fought the Hun throughout his run in the '30s and '40s. But rarely did he fight ordinary Germans. No, instead he fought Nazi werewolves and steel-masked villains with ray guns. These were wild adventures, strange and unreal. The Sky Ghost seemed to be of that ilk.

I found that it was. Oh, the writing is better and a bit more realistic. But the situations are just as fantastic.

The world in which Hawk finds himself is filled with incredible war machines, impossible to build or fly in our world but airborne in Hawk's world. The enemy is clearly defined and we want only to root for the good guys.

Still, there are some twists - not only plot but in the writing. Maloney doesn't seem to dash off the story. He writes. Rather than primarily using dialog to carry the story (a device of the poor and time-pressed writer), Maloney develops various inner dialogs and interesting descriptions. He tries to develop his lead characters, at least a little bit, although he allows peripheral characters to remain cardboard. He's not Hemingway, but then again he's not trying to be. He's trying to entertain a specific crowd. And I think he does a good job of it. There is a bit of wry humor in this book, some pathos, and some fatalistic sadness.

My main concern about this and the other stories was that his prose would be filled with technobable and airplane specs. They are not. He writes enough about the planes to give you the picture but not enough really to bore someone who is not an airplane junky.

And there is a bit of a twist in the story. He hints at a discussion of the nature of good and evil, and how we are drawn to either side. Nothing too heady, mind you, but more than you'd expect.

The Executioner is too grim for my taste; Deathlands is too bloody, violent, and mean. The westerns are all dialog, sex, and nothing much else. So, if you're in the mood for escapist fare that has a bit of a strange twist and lots of action, you might want to try one of the Wingman series.

NOTE: The first 10 are available through the publisher For some reason number 11 is not available. Numbers 12 through 16 are also available through the publisher and probably your local bookstore.

The Sky Ghost is number 14, and the first of the "new world" stories. You don't seem to need to have read the others to follow along. Return of the Sky Ghost is number 15, and The Tomorrow War is number 16. These last two also take place in this "new world" but have yet to be read by this reviewer.

Rating:
Summary: Wingman falls into an Earth where World War II never ended.
Review: This is probally the worst Wingman book but is still good.After blocking the asteroid,Hawk Hunter falls into an Earth where World War II has never ended.He meets his old friends who are a little diffrent in this universe.Hawk flys a Mustang-5,a fighter like a jet P-51.Anyway there is a very strange ending and it really spooks you. Read the book and find out.