Customer Reviews

Flight Dreams: A Mark Manning Mystery (Mark Manning Mysteries (Kensington Hardcover))

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Overall, the best part of Craft's novel is its ability to make the reader think about his past. All too often Mark Manning's experiences made me re-live episodes from mine (sometimes with laughter and sometimes with tears). Craft has made Mark Manning believable because he is so like the rest of us. Struggling with the same feelings and sometimes fears. Few books today are successful in doing this. Craft draws the reader into the minds of his characters so well, the reader doesn't know it until the last page is read, and then of course it's too late. You just have to find out what happens next to Mr. Manning and his new found love Neil.

But perhaps, best of all, when I finished the book I felt satisfied. Again, another rarity in today's mass produced fiction.

Great job Craft!

Michael Craft is absolutely my favorite author. Jump aboard for a great ride with this the first novel in the Mark Manning series. The only other series that ranks as high in my book is the Todd Mill series by RD Zimmerman.

I love the Mark Manning series (6 books thus far). I have read the first four of the series and am eager to finish the two recently published ones, when I have uninterrupted time on my hand. To-date Flight Dreams remains my favorite. Mark is sensitive, mature and sexy. The mystery is fast paced and suspensful enough to hold the reader. Spiced with Mark's coming-out and the development of his relationship with the compatible Neil, the story is definitely more emotional and a notch above other gay mystery novels. I hope Mr Craft will continue with the series.

This book, had me weary at first. After getting into it, and not being able to put it down - I knew I was going to love this book! Not only did I read it in a record three days, I then started to research the entire Mark Manning series. This book is GREAT for anyone who enjoys a good mystery novel, with a terrific group of characters. You will love some and loathe a few of them - it has all the essential elements of a fantastic mystery must read! Since it is the first in the series, I might caution you now though - you will be ordering the other four books soon after finishing this one!

I am a lesbian who worked for over 40 years with gay men so I identify with them, and especially identified with Mark Manning, who, like me, is a lapsed Catholic, a runner, and especially a lover of Abysinnian cats...how could I NOT like this book! Good plot, interesting characters {but did Mr. Craft HAVE to have thar sex scene with the woman, UGH!} Have a minor bone to pick...he keeps calling the cats Abbys...here at the cat fancy in DC area we call them Abys..is this a regional thing? Anyway, a great read; have ordered 2 more of his books.

In Michael Craft's first volume in this series, he introduces the reader to Mark Manning, a Chicago newspaper reporter who for almost seven years has been writing about the mysterious disappearance of Helena Carter who apparently has more money than the Catholic Church but not if one priest has anything to do with it. When we first meet Mr. Manning, he has had a few unsatisfatory sexual encounters with women but during the course of the novel finds himself as he attempts to locate Ms. Carter. The male good guys, Mark and Neil, are ruggedly handsome; Roxanne, the attorney who cannot leave gay men alone, finally redeems herself; as a friend of mine says, Mr. Craft writes well about sex; he takes punches at the Religious Right; and the plot has great twists and turns and builds to a believable climax. In short, I want to know what happens to Mark and Neil in the next volume.

One small complaint: I now know more than I ever wanted to know about Abyssinian cats.

Like other Craft fans, I discovered "Flight Dreams" after reading the second in the Mark Manning series "Eye Contact". For that reason, I can be more objective, I think.

Every writer is constantly developing, changing, experimenting, and growing in his/her chosen profession. Craft's first mystery is a prime example of an author "testing the waters". While the killer's identity was somewhat easy to determine, the author populates the book with some fascinating, if slightly improbable, characters. Craft's attention to character is also evident with the personal life of protagonist Manning.

And the vivid descriptions of the locales and the adornments show a man that appreciates the aesthetic.

"Flight Dreams" doesn't quite ascend into the far reaches of space, but it does get airborne.

And what better way to spend leisure time than by being curled up with an entertaining and carefree escape from the daily grind?

As a lapsed Catholic, a runner, an owner of and admirer of Abysinnian cats, and a "late bloomer" who had my first same-sex relationship in my early thirties, how could I NOT like this book? The plot was good, the characters well-written and likeable. I think Craft writes as good gay mysteries as Zubro, which to me is high praise. I have ordered the nexy two in the series and am looking forward to them. A GOOD READ!!!

Flight Dreams is another one of those books that you want to keep reading. Great character development and enough continuing plot lines to know that Mark Manning is going to have more dead bodies to trip over in the future! This is definitely a fun read! I have read every book in the Mark Manning series, and Flight Dreams was a great kickoff. This book is the first of a series that just gets better.

Michael Craft has tied together several stories here that have equal emphasis. A tale of repressed desires, a straight forward mystery tale, and a condemnation of the religious right. The combination does not always work -- but at the conclusion I can say I am left wanting to read more.

Having been trained as both a writer and an architect, I may be a bit biased in favor of the characters, but the dialog is truly in need of help. It alternated between florid prose and stiff barks... does anyone speak like this?

As the start of a new series, I can say the protagonist is likable without being syrupy sweet, and the action moves along at a good pace. Enjoy the story as it is laid out and you will be left ready to read another in the series.