Customer Reviews

Foxbat

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The West, alarmed by reports of the MiG-25's technological prowess, scheme to nab a copy of the super-palne for themselves. The Foxbat is a big and ugly airplane, one that Western intel had already dismissed as less-than wonderful. (Previous reports of the jet's technological formidability were shot down when the west got a close look at a MiG-25 flown by a defecting pilot to Japan.) In "Foxbat", the west changes its mind again due to reports of a new variant. With better electronics, and more high-powered engines, this Foxbat is primed to become the Soviets' primary platform for anti-satellite weaponry. "Foxbat" tells of the efforts to recruit, then blackmail an elite fighter pilot into defecting with his wonder fighter. The novel is an interesting piece of cold-war frisson - easily dated to the mid/late 1970's. (There are no good guys; even the Americans are using people to get what they want - an observation made by a navy pilot who realizes that he's being sacrificed to help nab the Soviet fighter.) The hero of the story is the feckless and luckless Foxbat pilot who's dragooned into defecting, and then must survive when the Yankees get cold feet and decide that they want the plan quashed. The characters are pretty thin, and the writing style won't stick on you like Craig Thomas does. This was an interesting idea for a novel - one that wasn't necessarily made obsolete with "Firefox", and it's worth a read for that alone. Just don't expect something as memorable.