Customer Reviews

The Killing Sky

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"The Killing Sky" is the fifth book in Robert Gandt's great series of novels about Brick Maxwell, and it's one of the two best. (My other favorite is "Acts of Vengeance", the second book in the series.)

Brick Maxwell is a U.S. Navy pilot and squadron leader, flying an F/A-18 Super Hornet off the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, stationed in the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. The story starts with a joint exercise with the Israeli Air Force ending with an American F/A-18 getting shot down for real!

What went wrong? Did the Israeli pilot really push the missile launch button instead of just announcing a simulated kill? And why does the female Israeli Mossad agent make a play for Brick Maxwell? Is she trying to get information out of him or does she have other motives?

This book contains the same three general plot elements as most of Robert Gandt's novels:

- exciting "you're sitting in the cockpit" descriptions of modern Navy flight operations, with dogfights, carrier-based landings and takeoffs, and push-button warfare with modern smart bombs and missiles.

- geopolitical machinations, this time involving high-level Americans and Israelis and Palestinians. And to keep the excitement up there are internal conflicts within each national group, including a really nasty American political envoy with presidential ambitions.

- romantic involvement for Brick, this time involving not just one but two women.

I liked this book a lot, despite the rather slow start. The suspense gets cranked up by the under-handed dealings going on between the politicians and the resulting armed conflicts between the Palestinians, the Israelis and the American forces. Is the United States really going to invade Palestine and engineer a democratic process, just like in Iraq? And who is really behind the decisions that are causing the continued escalation of hostilities?

One of my criticisms of Robert Gandt's novels is that the characters don't really come across as real people. This is still true in "The Killing Sky", but less so than in the first books in the series, another plus for this book.

Recommended for all fans of military action novels, as is the whole Brick Maxwell series.

Rennie Petersen

This book took me about 150 pages before I was hooked. I was put off by a couple of things:

1) The knock-out gorgeous Israeli spy/helicopter/deputy foreign minister blah, blah, blah. Why can't we have an ugly spy that doesn't hop into bed right away?
2) The venal self-serving politician (not that there aren't plenty of those) that puts personal ambition ahead of country and honor.
3) A tidy ending that wraps up most of the loose ends. Those that remain dangling aren't all that critical.

The story is interesting, but when we get to the war part and you have the combined might of 3 carrier battle groups and a cast off line that the air force couldn't find any place to base their planes even though they had Iraq and Israel and Qatar in close proximity tended to suspend belief from a military perspective.

Where were the Tomahawks, the B-2s, the submarines, the Ucavs and on and on it goes? If America goes to war, it will not only involve a bunch of Super Hornets flying off carriers.

The scope of this book was far broader than the time spent to develop the story.

I think Robert Gandt can do better.

The Killing Sky is the 5th book in the Brick Maxwell series and it is as good if not better than the previous four. Just like the other Gandt novels in this series it took me one weekend to read as I couldn't put it down. It is great for couples since it appeals to both men and women. It has everything from the fast paced excitement of being in the cockpit of an F/A-18 Super Hornet to romance. I would best describe this book as Tom Clancy meets Top Gun which is a great combination. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an entertaining story!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Gandt's writing continues to improve. His characters are well-developed and the dialogue is realistic making the book very readable. Brick Maxwell is an enjoyable character and his development as a pilot and person has been interesting to follow. I definitely recommend this book and look forward with anticipation to the future installments in this series.

Robert Gandt's novels get better with each new release! This tops all previous...and they've all been incredibly good. The technical accuracy of the books and Robert's Naval Aviation background make this series particularly appealing to ex-military aviators and non-aviators alike. The plot is captivating enough, however, that readers with no military background will still be held spellbound... Great book, can't wait for the next in the series!

Once again Bob Gandt aims to please and scores a direct hit in The Killing Sky. I really enjoy how he jumps between different plots and different theaters of operation from book to book to keep things fresh while retaining his classic trademark action. As always, he follows up his terminology and acronyms with a brief explanation of what they mean which is very handy for all us armchair fighter pilots. Keep up the great work Bob, America needs a hero like Brick Maxwell more than ever!

I have read all 5 of Robert Gandt's Brick Maxwell books. I must say between the time of his next release i have trouble finding something that curves my appetite. Highly Recommended.

For his fifth novel with Brick Maxwell, Gandt moves into the Middle East, the war on terror, and Israeli-Palestinian politics. Some techno-thriller authors are starting to drag with their fifth novel. Not so with Gandt. Not overwhelmingly technical and includes some human interest, relationship twists. Plus, at the end of the book, the promise of more to come. Better than I expected!

With the heart and soul of a former U. S. Navy Fighter Pilot, Gandt once again captivates his fans with a gripping account of the Killing Sky over the war-torn Sinai Peninsula. When alter ego, Commander Brick Maxwell, loses his F/A-18 wingman to a ground-based missile over the forbidding desert of Negev in a joint training exercise with the Israeli Air Force, the author weaves yet another first-rate tale of gut-wrenching action and suspense.

A most compelling story, well told by the master of his craft.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

With THE KILLING SKY, Gandt's military adventure series climbs to a new and edgier level. Set in the troubled land of Israel, this story grabs you at the very beginning. Just when you think you know where it's going, the author yanks the rug out from under you. Besides being filled with the usual action scenes, this latest novel portrays its characters in an especially believable and sympathetic style.