Customer Reviews

Firefox

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book almost 20 years ago, if I remember correctly, and it's one of the few books which I literally couldn't put down until it was finished. I think I finally turned out the light at about 3AM, even though I had to go to work early the next morning. It is gripping, believable, and well written in every respect. If you like international spy techno-thrillers at all, this is one of the best ever written. PS - the Clint Eastwood movie based on this book was one of Eastwood's most mediocre efforts. If you saw it and were disappointed, don't let that stop you from reading the book. The book is FAR superior!

"Firefox" is the code name for a new breed of Russian fighter, a plane that's invisible to radar, outruns missiles, and wields an arsenal guided by the pilot's thoughts. With nothing remotely capable of matching the super-jet on their drawing boards, British and American spymatsers hit on a seemingly impossible, virtually suicidal plan: send one of their pilots into Russia - into the Russians' high-security flight-test center - to find the super plane, and steal it. Complicating things is Mitchell Gant, the west's designated skyjacker, a burnt out Viet Nam vet who test flew captured Russian planes for the CIA. Scarred within after being shotdown, Gant's plods on, begging to be discovered and put out of his misery.

Like the plan, "Fireox" the novel seems like a no-brainer - Craig Thomas seems unsure of his hold on military technology, and by his prose, you'd never confuse him with other authors who've done the stuff they've written about (like fly planes and get shot at). Instead, Thomas' crisp prose, an almost constant state of tension and an almost supersonic pacing put "Firefox" ahead of just about any other aviation technothriller. Bets of all are the flying scenes. While other writers boast of being able to put the reader inside the cockpit of a high-performance fighter - only Thomas delivers. Unlike other authors, Thomas knows the tension, stark terror and gallons of adrenaline that a fighter pilot can be expected to go through while trapped in a dogfight. Then there's Thomas' hero - Gant. Thomas' conceit is that Gant's superiors were so ready to see there case fail, that they chose the one man least capable of pulling it off. Gant is unlike any technothriller writer you've ever read about - he begins the novel trapped in a chronic nervous breakdown. Yet he excels over the cardboard charachters of other books who just push buttons and read computer screens. Those charachters just register information - Gant actually experiences it as real people would. With the exception of "Flight ofthe Intruder", and Thomas' other Mitchell Gant novels, this is probably the best air-war thriller you'll read. Sequels included "Firefox Down", "Winterhawk" and "A Different War" - "Winterhawk" being my favorite story, but never outrunning the flying scenes of "Firefox".

Regrettably out of print, Craig Thomas's FIREFOX is an expertly-crafted military thriller that once begun is nearly impossible to set aside. The author creates a realistic Cold War atmosphere even as the eponymous MiG-31 Firefox pushes the envelope and infuses the story with an intensity and excitement rarely achieved. Nearly as interesting as the protagonist's bid to fly the Soviet Union's prize superfighter right out from under their noses is his struggle with his inner demons, a bitter duel whose outcome is open to doubt--like his near-suicide mission itself--up to the very last breathtaking page. Spawned the somewhat underrated motion picture starring a well-cast Clint Eastwood in the hero's role which is worth seeing on its own merits, but the book, as is so often the case, remains the frontrunner. Surely the novel will be re-issued sometime soon, but if not then I heartily recommend any used copy you can get ahold of. For breakneck thrills and aerial pyrotechnics, FIREFOX is a rarely equalled winner.

This book is a favorite of mine, which I've read many times over and I've never tired of. The book is a great thriller and is very suspenseful, with also great characters, dialogue, and vehicle and environment description. Espionage and aircraft fans will get a kick out of this book, and won't put it down! Also, if you loved reading this book, you'll also love the sequel FIREFOX DOWN! and the movie FIREFOX starring Clint Eastwood! Craig Thomas's FIREFOX is a masterpiece that is always a pleasure to read.

This is brilliant! I first read this when I was 15, when the movie came out in the UK, and looking back on it, much of the technology of the Firefox MiG-23 arcraft has come to fruitition in real life! In particular, the EFA-2000 Eurofighter and of course, the Stealth features. Even today, this is a story I would recommend to any thriller fan. The Moscow scenes are as authentic as `The Cardinal Of The Kremlin`(Tom Clancy), the methods he uses to get to the Firefox are plausible and in general, the style of writing and grammar is furiously fast-paced in similar vein to Alistair MacLean or Clive Cussler.
Altogether, a must read!

Unlike the original Rambo, author Craig Thomas has brought his troubled Air Force Nam vet through four stories--this book, a sequel "Firefox Down" that continues the journey of Gant's stolen MiG out of Soviet airspace into Scandinavia, "Winterhawk" in which Gant uses a MiL chopper that the Israelis stole for the US to rescue a deep cover agent from their Baikonur rocket base, and "A Different War" which was never published for US release (I bagged a used copy of that one courtesy of rare book site Alibris). In that one, Gant is called upon to investigate an airline tragedy that ends up having corporate skulduggery at its roots--thus its title. The Gant of the printed page is a bit different from the Gant on the screen--in action roles, Eastwood always plays his characters as laconic and menacing. This Gant is more intense, more of an envelope-pusher. As such, he's a lot like David Morrell's Rambo--you'd never make the connection on the screen.

I come across books in the strangest ways. I was fortunate to have found this title by adding a plug-in to my Firefox browser and the plug-in opened it's own tab to show it's functionality. Within the tab, it had a screen shot of a google search page, wherein there was a link to Firefox - book 1970. I tried clicking on the link just out of curiosity. Of course, it didn't work but I promptly completed my own search, read the review on Wikipedia, and was fortunate to purchase a 70's edition softback copy where not one word has been edited from the 1st edition hard back.

Anyway.. on with the review. This book paints a vivid picture in your mind every step of the way. You are in the U.S., Germany, walking through customs, your heart is racing, you are visualizing the multiple changes of disguise and handling of paperwork. You can hear the German accent, see the Firefox, feel the characters all the while exercise your mind as you race towards the sky and then race for your life. Highly recommended.

NATO have a problem. The Russians have built a plane that is well
advance of their current technology. They realise the only way to catch
up with the tech is to steal one. This is not very easy to do, as it is
currently on the ground in Russia.

They must go, somewhat hat in hand to Mitchell Gant, a retired
pilot. He has the skills they need, the ability to speak Russian and to
fly the plane.

A tense espionage and chase novel ensues.

This is the second novel by Craig Thomas, and the one that he's gotten the most fame from. Thomas gives this book a bigger scale than his first novel, Rat Trap, and his novels would get more epic as they went along.

Set during the cold war, the story invloves a newly-made Russian jet, the MiG-31, codename: Firefox. It has stealth technology, can go speeds up to Mach 5, and has a thought-controlled weapons system. The West knows what a threat this can be, so what do they do? Smuggle the best pilot they can find into the Soviet Union so he can steal it. USAF pilot Mitchell Gant is chosen, dispite his shell-shock from his time as a POW in Vietnam. With the help of Jewish dissidents, Gant must make his way through Russia and hijack the super-plane right under the noses of the Soviets. Throughout the journey Thomas takes us through Gant's unstable psyche.

A great novel from Craig Thomas, but I got a little bit bored with some of the flying scenes. I'm more of a cloak and dagger fan than of high tech stuff, but that's not to say that those parts of the book aren't written well; they are, and Thomas does a great job at not hitting you over the head with his research. And even with the techno stuff he can really put you into the heads of his characters which makes for high tension reading.

Firefox was the only Craig Thomas novel to be adapted into a movie. Clint Eastwood's version, released in 1982, made for a faithful adaptation of the book. Though the special effects of the time are horribly dated by today's standards, Eastwood brought all the suspense of the first half of the book to the screen masterfully. And if it weren't for the film, I wouldn't of ever heard of Craig Thomas and be able to enjoy all of his books.

Craig Thomas also cast Mitchell Gant in three more novels: Firefox Down, Winter Hawk, and A Different War.

Though it may take American Readers a spell to get used to the British linguistics, Thomas has a captivating spy thriller here that is hard to put down and excitement galore. The epitomy of Thomas' fiction.