Customer Reviews

Flying Blind: A Novel of Amelia Earhart (Nathan Heller Novels)

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

 

 

PLOT: Nate Heller, Chicago detective, finds himself recounting the memories of his own experience with the life of Amelia Earhart. Enrolled by Amelia's husband, G.P. Putnam, as an undercover detective, Heller becomes emotionally tied to Earharts' life, career and the risky business that comes with it. Later, when Earhart becomes lost during her around-the-world flight, he takes on a mission of his own; to find out the truth behind it all.

Type of Fiction: Mystery/Action/Adventure.

Positives: Collins has a remarkable ability to write a fast-paced, twisting, and eventful novel filled with lively characters, descriptions and memorable imaging. This book is an incredible portrayal of an Amelia Earhart theory, definitely showing that the author has done research.

Negatives: The author put to use the characteristics of a stereotypical detective when constructing Nate Heller, the main character. I also found it full of crude humour and subject - which is mostly a fault that my own opinions fail to dismiss. However, I don't find that it diminishes the plot - only subtracts slightly from my own enjoyment while reading.

Recommend? Definitely! This book, despite its negatives, is an incredibly written and thoroughly researched gem for those who are interested in mystery, Amelia Earhart, or aviation history. Having done research on Earhart, I would recommend this highly if you're looking for a basic introduction, or imagery for remembrance.

Age Range: 14+ - Sexual scenes, discussion and crude humor.

Where/When to Read: Well, I suggest waiting til after your air flight. Other than that, rain or shine, inside or out, I think you'll enjoy this novel.

Happy Reading!

Having read all of Collins' Nate Heller casebooks, I would rank this one as fitting into the top 5 or so. Not as snappy as the early Chicago-based ones and certainly nowhere close to the pinacle of the series Stolen Away (about the Lindbergh kidnapping), this book still has all of the best features of these books: Great background, terrific characters, funny dialogue, ample sex (using charmingly veiled language without lapsing into cute-ness), and a plausible plot that finds our man in the midst of one of the 20th Centuries best mysteries. If you haven't read a Heller book, seek out True Crime and True Detective, then jump to Stolen Away and then come here. You'll be glad you did.

It's been a while since I've read a Nathan Heller novel. I loved "Stealing Away" and enjoyed the others I've read, but I figured that the more we saw, the harder it would be to swallow just how many famous mysteries Heller was involved in. And that's what happened here, especially since Heller is far more involved with Amelia Earhart than he's ever been with a client or a victim.

That involvement colored the rest of the book in a way that was a bit more cynical than usual and that made Heller a lot harder to take. I appreciate that the speculation about history's truth is just that, and that we can disregard the whole thing, but Heller's love for "Amy" makes almost every other character in a position of authority seem sordid if not evil. The result is a rather simplistic narrative. That Collins would treat Huey Long with more sympathy than any effort to spy on Japan in preparation for the inevitable war is perpelxing.

This is still a fun read, but it's just not the same as the earlier works. And after you've had your hero sleep with Amelia Earhart, what's next? Eleanor Roosevelt?

The title could be 'Swept Away' as the writer sweeps you into a another place and time. His use of real people in history is fasinating, and by inserting his fictional 'hero' Nathan Heller, a cynical former Chicago cop, into these people's live's a sign of real writing ability. Nathan gets involved ( in more ways then one) with Amelia Earhart. He's hired by Amelia's husband to watch over her and to try to figure out who is sending her threatening notes. Sounds simple enough, but as the tale unfolds, and things begin to unravel for Nate, nothing is as simple as it first appears. The writing is crisp and biting, the historical character's alive and human. Highly recomended...

Max Allan Collins has written a delicious take on one of the 20th century's greatest mysteries, the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. Collins has probed deeply for the facts and theories behind this still-fascinating event, and has constructed a meticulous piece of prose that manages to encompass ALL known theories in some fashion, even fashioning attributing real heroism to the little-known Fred Noonan, Amelia's navigator and companion on that last flight. The characters themselves behave just as we imagine they should, given what we know of their actual personalities. Not only is this a page-turner, it's hard to find a moment that does not ring true historically. As an author of an Earhart biography myself, I am astonished and delighted with Collins' entry into the field. If you're not an Earhart buff before reading this book, you sure will be when you're done!

By 1970, the former head of the Chicago based A-1 Detective Agency, Nathan Heller, enjoys retirement in Florida. However, his idyll relaxation ends when he meets the Texan, J.T. "Buddy" Busch. The Texan offers an opportunity for the sixty-four year old Nathan to finally learn what truly happened to his old friend, Amelia Earhart, who disappeared over the horizon over three decades ago. Nathan cannot resist looking for the aviator, who he provided security for back in 1935. Thus, Nathan steps out of retirement and begins his greatest quest of all: to learn what happened to Ms. Earhart.

The ninth novel in the Heller historical mystery series is a great tale that brilliantly blends fact and reasonable speculation into a wonderful fiction novel. The research is obviously meticulous and adds authenticity to the novel, proving that Max Allan Collins is not FLYING BLIND with this tale, which ought to be required reading for history students. Nathan remains refreshing and charming, and the support cast, especially Amelia, is a welcome addition to the book. Mr. Collins is clearly one of the top writers of historical mysteries and fans of the sub-genre should read all nine Heller books for some of the best mysteries on the market today.

Harriet Klausner

It may not be absolutely historically accurate, but I did not read this for textbook history material. I wanted to be entertained and there was no shortage of fun plot here! It will definitely give you a view of Amelia Earhart that you don't get from most accounts of her life.

Flying Blind is a solid entry, though not my favorite, in the excellent Nathan Heller mystery series. The "slandering the dead" complaint may reflect a generation gap. I don't find the depiction of AE as bisexual to be slanderous at all. The depiction of her sex life may be prurient, but it is completely in character with the narrator. I can't speak to the Packard tranny; that may be an error. (Maybe old Heller's memory is slipping as he writes his "memoirs"). As to the 9mm, that's no anachronism. Browning did make a 9mm automatic that predates the classic 1935 Hi-Power. 9mm was not common in the U.S. in Heller's day, but not unheard of. Many war-trophy Lugers were in the hands of the good, the bad and the ugly on the mean streets of the USA.

Flying Blind troubled me in ways that none of the other Nate Heller books have troubled me. (I've read a total of nine.) The most important source of my reservations is Max Allan Collins' portrayal of Amelia Earhart's sex life, which seemed speculative to the point of presumption. While historians and biographers have long wondered if she was bisexual or lesbian, that speculation is a long way from having Heller, in one scene, discover Ms. Earhart in bed with another woman. The mistake is aggravated by the fact that Collins doesn't use his interpretation of Ms. Earhart's sexuality to illuminate her character--the same night she's been with the woman she goes to bed with Heller, just like any of Heller's numerous other girlfriends. The two carry on an intermittent affair throughout the rest of the novel, even talk about marriage--but the subject of Ms. Earhart's feelings for women never comes up again, leaving the impression that Collins employs it solely as a sensationalistic plot twist. (Toward the end, in a passage that is less important but even more outrageous, Heller asserts that Ms. Earhart's favorite heterosexual position was woman-on-top. Exactly where in his research did Collins find that "fact"?)

Amelia Earhart is a genuine American heroine. She deserves better treatment than this.

In Collins' favor, the book resembles the others in the series in that he has done a great deal of research, most of it accurate, and often manages to render the atmosphere of Depression-era America convincingly. Occasionally, however, inaccurate or anachronistic details jar--another reviewer has mentioned a Packard's automatic transmission and Heller's 9 mm sidearm. My personal favorite occurs when Collins has James Forrestal, assistant secretary of the Navy, tell Heller that the Japanese are developing a carrier aircraft called by two names--"Claude" and "Zero." Historically, Claude and Zero (aka "Zeke") were two different fighters, a fact still widely known and easy to find out. That Collins gets it wrong undermines a reader's faith in his other research.

The Heller series started off as a chronicle of the detective's adventures in the politically-corrupt and mob-run city of Chicago, fertile ground for Collins' brand of historical fiction. Recent installments, however, have found the character evolving into a 1930s version of James Bond who takes his investigations to exotic locations like Hawaii, New Orleans, and the Caribbean. Heller's abortive rescue of Earhart on the Pacific island of Saipan is blatantly unbelievable, leaving me wondering when he's going to get back home. Surely Heller must have been connected somehow to Mayor Daley's Democratic machine and the electoral hanky-panky that won Illinois for John Kennedy in 1960. Surely Heller must have investigated the 1968 Democratic convention riots and the trial of the Chicago 7. How about future Heller books on those? They'd get him back where he belongs.

It was a sorry day when the courts disallowed slander of the dead, it opened the doors for some to trash the famous dead. Mr. Collins takes this to a new low and it wasn't necessary sine the general story is quite good without the trash. Signet should get some older editors, ie a 1935-6 Hudson with "park" in it's trans. a 30's ex-cop using his father's 9mm, I don't think so- maybe if he was a German cop, but not Chicago.