Customer Reviews

Fly-Off

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bob Norris has shared his unique experiences with us. As a fighter/fast attack man, he brings the fight home and lets those of us who remained behind, on the ground, experience the highs and lows of high performance aviation and the feeling of sitting in that cockpit, hanging it out. I am a retired Navy Chief Parachute Rigger and I really, really loved this book and Check Six. Anxiously awaiting the next book, Cdr. Norris. Sierra Hotel!!!! p.s., liked the way you put Pharaoh in the book. Nice thing for a dad to do.

Another in a series of books that are technically enjoyable, but it is quite telling that the author himself must not read too books because he has obviously never been introduced to the concept of characters or plot. This book carries on at a high-octane, but at the end leaves you feeling empty because there is nothing to remember.

Normally I would rate a book so lacking with 2 stars, but the author does a very good job with the action scenes and with some seasoning could turn his next books into something special.

Norris covers the technical aspects of flying very well, but the plot on this book was extremely thin. He manages to keep it moving, however. He does need a better story concept on his next book to better implement his writing skills.

FLY OFF is one of the best air combat stories I've ever came across. Bob Norris is as good as, if not better than Richard Herman, Coonts and Dale Brown. Bob keeps it easy to understand, and readers feel involved in the story. Fly Off is a great sequal to Check-six! Looking forward to the next Norris novel.

FLY OFF is GREAT fighter pilot stuff. The flying is described completely authentically, as can only be done by one who has been there. The pilots and planes involved are today relevent and add to the drama. Banzai doesn't just describe the flying great - he writes in the "why" of each flight maneuver nuance - really makes it clear to all readers. The drama behind the flying keeps you guessing till the end. Could not put it down till I finished it! Dave Venlet, Navy Fighter Pilot and Test Pilot

Marvelous continuation of the lives and careers of the original characters Lt. Randi Cole, Jack, and "Hoser". Showed the true competitiveness between the many attack air craft throughout the world. I was proud to see how countries that were once enemies can co-operate when the time comes. I look forward to future writings by Bob Norris and wish him all the best in the military techno-thriller arena. He keeps the story line moving with just enough technical explanation to help the reader understand the aircraft in question.

Bob Tichenor MSgt, Ret, USAF

I'm a combat veteran--268 missions in an F-100 in Vietnam--and I've sweat bullets before, but never while reading a book. I've also written about it, but not as well as Norris has. He puts the rest of us to shame.

I brought this book to kill some time on holiday. But when I picked it up I could not put it down. Bob Norris, an experienced Naval aviator is also a pretty good author which is not often the case when these millitary types pick up a pen. The novel describes a fly off competition to pick a new fighter/bomber but all is not as it seems as the hosts have a hidden agenda. Each fighter/bomber has 5 events to prove it's worth and the one fault this book has is Bob should have put more flying sequences into the competion events instead of just giving a brief summary of what they did and the results in some cases. The parts of the novel dealing with the fly offs are top drawer and if you like your aviation in books then read FLY OFF. Keep those books coming Mr Norris

This book is fantastic!!! Could not put it down due to the action. The flying puts you right in the pilots seat and kept you there until the end.This is a book that keeps your riveted with the realistic characters and a twisting plot that keeps you guessing. This author just blew past Brown and Covey!!! I read all the action books and this one is now my new favorite. What a concept- a book based upon aircraft competition with the intrigue of money and the middle east.

In "Fly Off", six of the world's most potent fighter aircraft converge on a remote airbase in Saudi Arabia to prove for once and for all, who's "baddest of the bad", and who will walk away with a billion-dollar contract. To maximize the profit motive, the Saudis will also give the event a ton of media exposure and even spur on-line gambling devoted to the individual events of the over-all competition. Each contestant sends a single airplane to compete in various events designed to showcase their strengths and weaknesses. It soon transpires that the contest is not quite on the up-and-up - although discerning devotees of real military aviation (or even just commercial flight sim programs) would have come to that conclusion well before they turned the first few pages. One of each plane? No competition in logistics or other life-cycle issues? One of the characters even opines that there's more to a jet's superiority than the simplistic meets planned by the Saudis. "Fly Off" is a pretty slim read, and it's hardly realistic. Unfortunately, while you have to really suspend your belief to enjoy it at all, the book introduces several possible subplots that repeatedly suggest that what we're seeing is a smokescreen for some darker plot. Suspension of disbelief only works if you're not constantly reminded that you're using it. Putting aside the "one plane does it all" leap, we also have a choice of jets that doesn't exactly span the globe. We've got the usual suspects - the Raptor and the Super Hornet, a strike version descendant of the Su-27 (but no competitor from "MiG"?), Lancer - a sort of next-gen version of the Harrier, EF2000 (now known as "Typhoon") and a nex-gen version of the Israeli Kfir. The inclusion of a jet flown by a guy named "Moshe" over Saudi airspace may smack of pure sci-fi, but I was willing tp bend my disbelief over that one. More nagging was the lack of anything French (no Mirage 2000 with an option for Rafale?) or something from smaller countries with their own aviation ambitions. (No Gripen, Japanese F-2A, Shenyang, or any of those abortive Hindustan-Air designs?) Also, given the politics at stake in "Fly Off", there's absolutely no feel for the geopolitical situation that keeps the mideast in such turmoil. Lastly, the reps for each jet seems to be all on their own - with no attention from their countries or individual services.

The biggest problem of all is that for a weight subject, "Fly Off" is incredibly light reading - I polished this one off in about a day. It's as if the author couldn't get himself more interested in the story. Author and F-18 driver Bob Norris gives us only the briefest snippets of life at the panel of a cutting-edge fighter-jet, and the most thin of paper-thin characters at the controls. I wasn't expecting Henry James, but some concession to the rules of basic plotting would ahve done wonders for this book. Those unused to the jargon of fighter combat won't be able to follow the action, while readers on more familiar ground will probably finish the book hungry.