Fire Flight: A Novel

I've been in the business of wildland firefighting and airtankering for more than three decades, and I'm darn proud of the image of my brethren that John Nance paints in this grand novel. Clark Maxwell and Bill Deason, if not psuedonyms for real airtanker pilots, represent the best among us, and the flight sequences are steller. So, for that matter, is the character development, and the depth of Clark's attitudes and opinions and struggles, especially where Karen Jones is concerned. I've known at least three Karen Jones in the smokejumper circles, and Nance's descriptions are dead on. I'm aware there are some rancid comments from one of my mad-about-everything fellow pilots posted here, but disregard his nonsense. This is great fiction against the background of the real deal, and you can take that from one who's been there. Recommend this to evryone you can. If they listen to this man, we just might get some things fixed in Washington!

I read a review that chastised John Nance and his book FIRE FLIGHT, because Mr. Nance dared to write about the airtanker fleet in the way he did. The reviewer claimed to have been in the business for over twenty years and added that he'd lost several comrades over the years. He implied that it was scurrilous for Mr. Nance to make money writing about the firefighting community.

Well I suppose then that reviewer would agree that it would be wrong to say, write a book critical of an Army General, because soldiers have fallen in combat. It would also be wrong to write a book about a bad cop, because so many good ones have lost their lives in the line of duty. Wrong to write about a crooked president, after all Kennedy was slain, wasn't he? You see where I'm going with this?

I read FIRE FLIGHT specifically because of the reviews posted here and I enjoyed every sentence of it. Not for one second did I think that just because the owner of the airtanker fleet in the story was a bit of a slime-ball that every one connected with the business was like that.

As another reviewer said, "Mr. Nance writes about brave men and woman," and that part I did believe. Anybody who fights fires as a tanker pilot, a smoke jumper or as a grunt on the ground is a hero and Mr. Nance makes that plain as day. Heck even the slimy tanker boss guy sort of redeems himself in the end.

I'm sorry we lose young men to war. I'm sorry police have to die protecting us. And I'm sorry firefighters have to die doing the brave work they do, but that's no reason to ban a wonderful book or to slam it in a review. Frankly if it hadn't been for Mr. Nance and this book, I never would have known spit about tanker pilots or smoke jumpers. Not only did Mr. Nance show me what it was like to fight a raging wildfire, he did it in an entertaining way that I'll never forget.

Ms. Mindy Adams

John Nance has long been one of my favorite authors. He does for the airplane what Dick Frances does for the race horse. When Nance writes he puts you in the cockpit with the pilot and copilot. You're there as they take the plane off, as they fly it, as they land it and as they get in trouble in it. He puts his pilots in incredibly unbelievable situations and, with a deft few lines of prose, manages to make us buy into it. Is it possible for a lone pilot to land a plane upside down on a truck racing down a runway and have the pilot survive? Well, I guess so, because I was there, I felt the pilots fear, than his acceptance when he knew he was going to die, then his hope when offered a possible solution, than his cool detachment as he went about doing what he had to do to get the aircraft down, and finally his relief when he walked away from it all. Only John Nance could write a scene like that.

In Mr. Nance's other works you pretty much knew who the good guys and bad guys are. In "Fire Flight" you kind of don't. The distinction between good and bad is blurred, the characters are more flawed than in his past books, more human. So human that you might almost be reading about someone you know. However there is one bad guy that stands out and that's the fire. The fire is definitely a very bad hombre and it takes some very brave people to combat it. Nance gives us brave pilots, brave smokejumpers, a brave but sleazy owner of the firefighting watertanker fleet, a brave but arrogant rock star and assorted other brave individuals. Even the guys we don't like are brave, I suppose because, good or bad, it takes a mighty brave person to combat a raging wildfire.

The book opens in the Caymans where we see Jeff Maze, one of the DC6B watertanker pilots. We instinctively know he's up to no good, after all, if you've done any kind of reading, you know the Cayman Islands are the Caribbean's answer to Switzerland, secret bank accounts abound. However Maze goes down to a fiery death in the next chapter, so we know right away that there is something rotten in Denmark, as Shakespeare would say, because we learn the plane should have been inspected and any problems should have been detected and fixed.

So there you have it, the beginning of a super story that has it all. Death, duty, honor, love, treachery, lying, deceit, bravery, exciting flying scenes, bar brawls and the backdrop of it all, a fire that will take your breath away as your fingers burn through the pages. Pardon the pun.

I went out and bought this book because of the reviews below. Everyone just seemed to be singing FIRE FLIGHT'S praises. Every review so positive, and then there was the bit about all those fires in California in the news. Anyway, I figured I couldn't go wrong and I was I ever right. FIRE FIGHT is one super thriller. From the very beginning, when Jeff Maze is spotted in the Caymans, we know something is not right, then when his plane crashes in the next chapter, it puts us on our guard through the rest of the book, on the edge of our seats, wondering what's going to happen next.

I especially liked the part where the rock star Jimmy Wolf uses his influence with the government to pull a water carrying helicopter away from a town that was threatened by the fire to save his expensive home. The chopper drizzles water on the house, but Jimmy gets on the phone, calls his influential pals, demands they unload it all. The pilot says no, because he knows that to do so would destroy the home. Jimmy is furious, threatens the pilot, the pilot dumps the agua and Jimmy's home is flattened under the deluge. Poetic justice, I liked that. Then Jimmy went on to become a hero. I liked that too.

There's lots of stuff going on in FIRE FLIGHT, but it's very easy to keep track of everybody, I never got lost and I didn't put the book down till I finished. Again this is a super thriller, a super book, a wonderful story and a mystery to boot.

It's often a treat and a privilege to hear an audio book read by the author. Such is the case with "Fire Flight" read by popular John J. Nance. He brings an understanding and nuance to the tale that even the best vocal performer may not achieve.

Fiery infernos are spreading rapidly, very quickly out of control and threatening to engulf two national parks. Flames will also level countless homes and buildings in the park. Fighting the fires is an antiquated fleet of aircraft called air tankers. These planes should have been replaced long ago to say nothing of risking their pilots lives as they attempt to contain the raging blazes.

Clark Maxwell, an experienced pilot had no intention of joining this battle until he receives a call from Jerry Stein, a friend and owner of a fleet of air tankers. Soon after Maxwell becomes a part of the fire fighters mysterious air disasters begin to occur. It's not long before he has good reason to believe that an evil force is behind these crashes.

Winds are fanning the flames and people are panicking. As Maxwell probes further his investigation causes him to question officials he would never have believed might be involved in such a horrific conflagration.

Those who like their thrillers laced with action will find much to like in "Fire Flight".

- Gail Cooke