The Flight

Rating:
Summary: Flight really takes off!!
Review: Although this book is out of print, I have had it on my to read table and I picked it up a few days ago and found it hard to put down. The story involves time travel, but unlike Michael Crichton's latest which deals with the same subject, Runyan doesn't clutter up the story with a detailed explanation about how one accomplishes such a feat. A well done plot, good characters and a fast pace make this a very enjoyable read. The fly leaf says Runyan is working on another novel. I will look forward to it.

Rating:
Summary: sim. plot "Final Countdown" well written "What if?"
Review: Plot: Present day U.S. President has terminal cancer, VP is a sleaze. Covert organization learns of possible cancer cure found in Phillipines pre-Japanese occupation in WWII. Senior military man is asked to head up time travel expedition in modern airliner to find it. Really enjoyed this quick read, I liked the plot and some of the humorous dialog, especially the scene between the main character and the carrier Commander .. "For the price of another drink, I'll tell you the Goddamndest story you ever heard." The book isn't overblown with time travel vortexes and parallel universes and the like. Read Stephen Hawking if you want to enrich your gray matter. I thorougly enjoyed this book, and have been anticipating another from the author, however, the lack of success with this one I'm afraid has dimmed his enthusiasm to complete another.

Rating:
Summary: An exciting and unpredictable venture into our own mortality
Review: Read this book!, If you have an interest in real people achieving what may be construed as a unrealistic goal, you will enjoy this immensly. Although the initial chapter is not as gripping as I would like, endure it. the book flows well there after and leaves you always wanting to pick it up again. Enjoy

Rating:
Summary: Took Flight For Me
Review: The Flight exceeded my expectations in several ways. Judging the book by its cover, I dug in, planning a quick read through more pulp fiction. But the plot was as twisty as a bag of pretzels, and the author really knew his stuff: the U.S. and Japan battling in and around the Philippines during WWII. His clever handling of time travel was appreciated as well.

The President is dying of cancer and may not survive long enough to represent the "good guys" at an upcoming world meeting on European nuclear disarmament. Without him, the hawks (including his own VP) will have their way with dire consequences for the world. But there's a possible cure. Fifty years earlier, an Army doctor in the South Pacific claimed to have discovered a miracle drug that stopped cancer cold. But the man is killed or captured by the Japanese before the formula is made public. Retired Army Colonel Joe Kogan, now researching these same Philippine islands for his doctorate, is the expert chosen to take a flight of hand-picked experts back in time (the government has been keeping the poorly tested technology secret) to 1941 to retrieve the recipe and bring it back in time to save the world from the brink of ... nuclear re-proliferation? But, of course, time travel is never as easy as it seems on paper. The plot sounds corny, but it's really well done and entertaining.

The book does have a few flaws. One is the introduction early in the tale of Kogan's girlfriend. I kept waiting for the story to come full circle and explain her relevance. There was none. She never showed up again. Why create her in the first place? The second was the intimation that Kogan suddenly knew or sensed or remembered something about a mysterious fifty-year-old picture of him found in the archives, and that his premonition (or whatever it is) convinces him to make the dangerous trip back in time. Again, this is never explained. Overall, though, this is an enjoyable, thought-provoking, and very readable book. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes, author of Wake Up Dead.