From Amazon.com
Like his creator Patrick A. Davis, Colonel John Quinn saw some air time during the Gulf War. Unlike Davis (who came home unscathed and became an airline pilot, and then during an enforced layoff authored the bestselling
The General), Col. Quinn caught an Iraqi missile. He went through several agonizing surgeries, only to find out that he'd never fly again. Now he's stuck inside the Pentagon as a lowly assistant to the Air Force Chief of Safety, writing reports on air crash statistics, mourning his failed marriage, and waiting for retirement. Then the president's brother is killed in the highly suspicious crash of an Air Force Lear Jet near Washington, D.C., and Quinn gets the kind of wakeup call Harrison Ford would die for.
Against all odds, Quinn is put in charge of this political hot potato of an investigation by a superior officer who up until now apparently hated him. Quinn's ex-wife, a washed-out pilot, turns up at the crash scene as a top official from the National Safety Board--and she seems to have connections to the president's chief wheeler-dealer. Everybody concerned wants a quick and dirty investigation blaming pilot error, but Quinn won't sit still for it. The pilot was a good friend and a top flier; Quinn's partner turns up lots of nagging details about sabotage; and a look at the life of the president's brother reveals a possible scandal of epic proportions. Davis might not be the most stylish writer in the world, but he knows how to quickly sketch in a solid background of Pentagon and flying minutiae against which he sets his shadowy tale. --Dick Adler
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Davis's sturdy, adrenaline-charged political techno-thriller sets a down-to-earth air force colonel against a deadly conspiracy involving formidable players in the White House and military. Medal of Honor-winner John Quinn is marking time at the Pentagon in a boring staff job, unhappy that injuries incurred in a mission over Iraq prevent him from flying again. Quinn is skeptical when his boss, scornful Major General Maxwell Cramer, suddenly gives him an auspicious assignment: heading the investigation of an air force Learjet crash in which the crew and the lone passenger, the president's half-brother, perished. Quinn picks outspoken fellow pilot Ted ChenAa highly competent but unpopular critic of the bureaucratic systemAto assist him. Mistrust escalates when Quinn learns the White House hasAagainst regulationsAassigned Quinn's ambitious, opportunistic ex-wife, Jennifer Johnson, as a civilian observer on the case. Then Johnson is joined by the equally power-hungry White House Chief of Staff McKenzie, and soon the investigation is out of Quinn's control. Crafty Johnson leaks ugly rumors to the media, but before Quinn can unravel Johnson's involvement in the insider intrigue, other complications shed light on the situation. A female photography student who may have been a witness to the plane crash is missing; the daughter of an African-American former governor framed in a sex scandal raises questions about videotaped evidence of a murder coverup. Covert agents abound and bullets fly as Quinn and Chen fight for justice. Fast moving, atmospheric and authentically detailed, this gripping second novel (after The General) firmly establishes DavisAan ex-air force pilot with Pentagon experienceAas a writer with a knack for white-knuckled suspense. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
