Customer Reviews

Angle of Attack

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I found this Kindle eBook via "Kathryn's Report" this morning, and it made for a wonderful afternoon read. Mr. Baldwin introduces and carefully ties together several parallel plot lines often revolving around aviation themes. His character development is excellent; this reader felt an almost personal connection to the characters by the epilogue. At his introduction, the protagonist narrator comes off as a bit of a shady character; however, readers will certainly relate to his struggle as the adventure unfolds. My criticisms are that some of the critical plot connections are perhaps too well foreshadowed and serve to reduce the suspense level, and Clay's venture with the P-51 comes off, at least to this aviation enthusiast, as a bit far-fetched. Overall, I would certainly recommend this eBook for a leisurely afternoon read, but now I want to go learn to fly a glider.

Angle of Attack is a great mystery. Lee Baldwin has captured the pace of James Lee Burke and the descriptive ability of John Steinbeck. I simply could not put this book down until I got to the epilogue.

The story brings out the best of Northern California's culture. I loved hanging out with the glider and vintage aircraft pilots, pot growers and other characters so vividly portrayed. In spite of the murders required in any novel of the mystery genre, the tone of Angle of Attack is uplifting.

Get the book...tell your friends about it. You will not be disappointed.

This author's vein of gold is his character's dialogue which is crisp, clear, and engaging. It gives this plot driven novel the added bonus of character development from a writer who knows as much about language and people as about airplanes and adventure.

The thrill factor from the aviation scenes is obviously based on knowledge and experience filtered through this author's wild and wonderful imagination. Since I'm a frequent glider passenger and a fan of silent soaring, the crisis glider scene in this book hit me in the pit of the stomach.

Thanks Lee for the thrilling ride.

Lee Baldwin has created a book that you will want to complete in one sitting. He maintains a pace that keeps his multiple plots moving at a high level of interest and displays a keen insight regarding his subjects.

I found his characters to be believable and his settings to be accurate. Since much of the action is in California, where I a familiar with the area, I could not criticize his descriptions and directions; a factor which increased the quality of the story. Getting to know Stuka caused me to think that it would be great to see a continuing series in the Lee Child/Jack Reacher tradition.

Don't miss this opportunity to be absorbed by an exciting story.

Angle of Attack pushes all the right mystery buttons!

Glider pilot and glider tutor Cicero Clay was jailed for three years for a crime he did not commit. He is honest enough to admit that he did commit a crime, just not the one he was found guilty of!

His parole officer is suddenly changed. But why? And for what purpose?

In the meantime, a routine job to coach a glider pilot high above the California of the Santa Clara area took a sudden and bizarre turn when the lesson turns into a deadly duel between student and pilot.

Clay sees the man plummet to his death. or does he? And who is the corpse that turns up on Clay's doorstep? Was he there to kill Cicero? Or not? If so, why? Who had sent him?

And there's something that comes from way, way back in Clay's life. Something he though he would never experience again is back. But why? Are there other potentially lethal links to his lurid past? A past he had all but forgotten about?

Clay's life and the life of other, equally innocent people, is in danger, but from not one but two totally different sources! Is it linked to Clay's past? To a very rare World War 2 fighter plane? To his reclusive brother?

There are more twists and turns of the: "Whew! I never saw THAT one coming!" variety than you would see at a snakes' convention!

I can heartily recommend this book. Hopefully author Lee Baldwin will be writing more Cicero Clay books. (And yes, that IS a hint, Lee! It would also make great TV...)

I think honesty and 'disclosure' requires me to say that I know the author. That said I then have to say that I'm mightily impressed with this book. It truly sizzles and the author has found a writing style that intrigues the reader and makes the work very readable. Sometimes I find it difficult to read things written by someone I know... too much 'friend overlay', or some such nonsense. But in this case I found that getting a few pages into Angle of Attack found me forgetting entirely that I knew anything about the author. It grabbed my attention solidly and kept dragging me forward into it's next set of surprises. The main character kept tantalizing me with things he discovered but kept from the rest of the characters until I thought I'd burst with the anticipation of wondering when they'd be revealed. I guess keeping up the suspense is a good thing, because this book does just that and never lets you down. Can't wait for a follow on!

I thoroughly enjoyed Lee Baldwin's story, Angle of Attack. Throughout the book, I was close to being convinced that the author must have experienced this story, or parts of it, because of the intricacies of the plot and the in-depth knowledge of gliding in particular. With his excellent use of words, Lee drew memorable descriptions of the small house where the hero lived (I actually have an imprint of it in my brain), of the swimming pool/grow op, of the hero tearing through the forest on his bike, and so many others. This book held my attention to the end, and I highly recommend it. An adventurous read. Well done, Lee Baldwin!