Customer Reviews

The Mysterious Aviator

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The Cold War is underway and--oh wait a minute, it's the 1920's. Nonetheless, the Soviets are already up to their shenanigans--hiring German and English aviators to do stealthy reconnaisance flights over Portsmouth, England for reasons that aren't made absolutely clear.

One of them crashes his Breguet Nineteen on the South Downs between Winchester and Under, where he's found in bad shape by our hero Moran. The aviator looks familiar--wasn't he in the Flying Corps, Ninety-Two Squadron back in 1917? Well... maybe. But how did a good English lad get mixed up in this Soviet business?

The most memorable chapter is a solo flight Moran takes from England to Italy, navigating with a couple of map pages torn from an Encyclopedia Brittanica, sustaining himself en route with a flask of brandy and a couple of sandwiches made by the girl we hope he'll marry if he makes it back to England alive...

Thanks for a fun ride, Mr. Shute.

It is great to have so many of the Nevil Shute titles (maybe all of them) available via these quality reprints. This is my second order of a reprint of a Shute book and I am very pleased. I had a problem with my first order (a wrinkled page not discovered until much later) and the publisher took care of it - good for them! There are many Shute fans out there and even though original copies of his titles are much desired, it is nice to be able to obtain them easily through this publisher.