Customer Reviews

The Target: Love, Death and Airline Deregulation

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Sometimes there are people so utterly despicable and hate-worthy that they just need killing. "The Target: Love, Death, and Airline Deregulation" is the story of Carlo Clemenza, the most despised man in the airline industry. Every who works under him comes to hate him with all their being, wishing death upon him. There is one pilot, however, who is willing to do more than just wish. "The Target" is an entertaining adventure of karma and men pushed to the edge, recommended.

The sub-title of The Target by author J.R. Hauptman is Love, Death and Airline Deregulation and is an apt depiction of this debut novel that captivates the reader from the opening pages.

The Target is set in the 1980's in the years after the Airline Deregulation Act became law in the fall of 1978. Our protagonist is Ivan Jasonovich, a helicopter gunship pilot during the Vietnam War, and a commercial jet pilot in the 70's. We first meet Ivan dressed as an Elk hunter in Sun Valley, Utah where he is preparing to set an ambush on a ski trail to kill Carlo Clemenza. At this point, author J.R. Hauptman has us hooked. Why would this war veteran, father and airline captain have any desire to commit cold-blooded murder?

Through clever use of back story, Hauptman shows the airline industry was once a country club for overpaid pilots with few worries other than which beautiful young stewardess they would bed on the next layover. He peppers the story throughout with evidence of how deregulation allowed Clemenza to singlehandedly bust unions, devastate lives and bankrupt Centennial Airlines with corrupt business practices more suited to the mafia than a major airline. Despite barely escaping with his own life when the attempt on Clemenza fails, Jasonovich can't let his desire for vengeance wane.

Many of the pilots of the time were Vietnam War veterans. In the war, they flew countless combat missions, risking life and limb for an ungrateful nation. Only after they began their commercial careers flying rich vacationers and businessmen around the world did they receive the respect they rightfully deserved. Ivan and his colleagues lived a rockstar lifestyle, envied by men and desired by women. Carlo Clemenza took away more than just their livelihood; he took away their pride and self-worth. Marriages ended, families estranged, many never flew again and there were suicides. Those who returned to the skies flew in a much different industry. When the unions crumbled, so did the pilots' ability to say no; no to flying fatigued in broken planes in dangerous weather. Instead, it was fly or you're fired. These unsafe conditions lead to crashes, one of which killed two of Ivan's close friends. Clemenza became the most hated man in the airline industry and a common sentiment was, "Please! Won't somebody kill that SOB?"

After a failed travel agency business, Ivan returned to flying jets; however, no longer for a major airline. Between flights for lesser companies he continued to track Clemenza. It soon appeared that Ivan was now also the hunted, as one or more of Clemenza's thugs were on his tail. With help from friends in the military and the airline industry, Ivan was able to form his plan for an epic confrontation with Carlo Clemenza.

J.R. Hauptman draws on his vast experience as a jet pilot to bring the reader into the cockpit with vibrant sensory descriptions and strong, scene-setting narrative. He has written an intriguing plot filled with plenty of tension and conflict, superb character development, realistic dialogue and an unrelenting pace.

I have heard it said that men don't read anymore--too distracted by the Internet and video games to pick up a book. I disagree. Guys will enjoy this intriguing story with tough-as-steel, take-no-bull, Cap'm Ivan who stands tall for his beliefs and never gives up.

The Target is highly recommended for those who enjoy great thrillers.

by reviewer William Potter for Reader's Choice Reviews.

The Target is a fun and fast read. I could not put it down once I started. I'd like to see a follow up novel with this cast of characters.

The Target by J.R. Hauptman

I read very few novels; therefore, most of my adventure and mystery entertainment comes from movies and video. This book however, was a pleasant surprise and I enjoyed it from start to finish. It does an excellent job of merging fact and fiction that will keep you thinking, "Yeah, that's what it's really like". It is not hard for the reader to know whom J.R. Hauptman is writing about in a parallel real world. The airline industry deregulation and the employees whose lives were altered by mergers and bankrupts are well known by all who had any relationship with them. The story moves fast and reminds you of the "die hard" guy that just keeps on going after taking a beating. The pursuit to eliminate the bad guy turns the hunter into the hunted many times. I enjoy technically correct activity and the cockpit operations satisfied that over and over again. You somewhat comprehend how the pilot and his instruments perform together getting the job done, how he uses instincts and feel to put the aircraft under his command. As the plot to kill continues, you get to know a guy who was married, has a kid and still worries about how he will pay the bills if there is to be a future.

The ending chapter does a great job explaining what political and social events produced the destruction of the old and restart of a new lack-luster airline industry.
It is a good read.


Charles Blackwell

There is a reason J.R. Hauptman is living in obscurity down in Florida...this book is sure to raise the ire of the powerful people depicted in the plot. An informative and quick moving read that is sure to please, it was written from the heart by a pilot who has lived much of the story. In these times, stories of corporate greed are something many of us can sink our teeth into, with real experience of how it affects our every day lives. Thanks, Hauptman, wherever you are, for a great read!

Synopsis:

Set in the airline deregulation period of the 1980s, The Target captures the tumultuous first years of airline deregulation and the effects this had on the industry and people who worked in it.

Corporate raider and union buster Carlo Clemenza is generally recognized as the most hated man in the airline business. Working with Wall Street, Clemenza uses junk bonds to finance acquisitions that are made profitable through a winnowing of the ranks, union busting, and large scale budget cuts that increasingly reduce safety measures. Clemenza's methods and unpopularity have resulted in death threats and several attempts on his life.

Arguably, as a class it is the pilots that have been most affected by Clemenza's various takeovers. With the abrogation of union contracts, many pilots chose to strike - and subsequently faced unemployment. Those that returned to Clemenza's Centennial Airlines did so at large reductions in pay and benefits. Those that sought work at other airlines ended up scrounging for work outside the majors and with regional players, air freight, jet charters or similarly less prestigious and lower paying jobs.

A pilot at Centennial Airlines at the time of Clemenza's takeover, Captain Ivan Jasaonovich had followed the union's stance at great cost to himself. After lost half of his retirement in a failed travel agency and unemployed, Ivan had plenty of time to consider Clemenza's role in the continuing decline of the airline industry. Believing that removing Clemenza would halt the airline takeovers and slow down the mismanagement of airlines, Ivan is willing to take down "the Target". Ivan's military training and industry contacts give him an edge not available to many others. The Target follows Ivan as he plans, stalks, and confronts Carlo Clemenza.

Review:

Full of twists and turns, The Target is a detailed and well constructed thriller that gives the reader a fuller understanding of the changes brought by the deregulation of the airline industry in the 1980s. I couldn't help but sympathize with Ivan and his colleagues - I hadn't understood the full impact of airline deregulation. This was a great way to gain insight into that period while enjoying a fast paced thriller. I found The Target a fun and fascinating read.

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation (January 8, 2009), 320 pages.
Courtesy of the author and Pump Up Your Book Promotion Virtual Blog Tours.

After reading this book, I suggested to my husband that he should read it. His answer, "Honey, I lived it...I don't need to read about it." My husband was an Eastern Air Lines pilot/captain for 27 years and went out on strike in sympathy with the Eastern mechanics. He walked the picket line every day and never went back...not like the "scabs". All those days and all the emotions came back to me as I read this book. I couldn't put it down. My only complaint was: the ending! Unless I missed something, my question is "WHO"???? But read the book and see what your answer is.
Hopefully, there will be a sequel to this great read.

Having lived through the carnage in the airline industry from the salad days of the seventies through deregulation and the angst of the eighties and beyond, this story hit home hard. The rush of memories dredged up by the plot played out on the little screen in the mind with accompanying sound track, 'oh yeah, so true!' Anyone with an interest in the airlines, commercial flying and pilot lifestyles would do well to tackle this novel. It is true to life, technically accurate and fascinating.

As a participant in the debacle that was the demise of old Continental Airlines,I can attest to the emotions so
vividly described in "THE TARGET". I found myself reliving memories and experiences I thought I had long ago
put behind me. To realize that the greed of one man can have such devastating effects is to understand how
one man can risk everything to eliminate the cause. Pilot, historian, aviation buff, a must read .

Axe of Iron: The Settlers

Title: The Target
Love, Death, and Airline Deregulation
Author: J. R. Hauptman
Publisher: Caddis Publishing
Genre: Historical Fiction
Copyright Date: 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4363-0934-9
Length: 320 pages
Format: Paperback
Reviewer: J. A. Hunsinger

The Target, set in the decade of the 1980's, provides an engaging read, in a fictional sense, on the morass created by the administration of President Jimmy Carter when, in 1978, he and his Socialist minions decided to dismantle the greatest airline system in the history of commercial aviation. With the deregulation of the industry, utter chaos ensued, and the door opened to the vermin hovering in the wings. The effects are still felt today, thirty-one years later.

J. R. Hauptman gets the reader into the mind of the professional pilots who were some of the highly-trained, dedicated workforce disenfranchised by deregulation, and the humor, fun, sorrow, and rage that typified their lives during those years. He delves into the mindset of the corporate raiders who destroyed great companies, without regard to the bodies collecting along the way, while reaping billions in ill-gotten profits.

The story is a combination of mystery, intrigue, murder, and enough sex to stir the pot; all in a fictional setting made more realistic by our collective memory of actual events. The author's plot is tight, continuity is maintained throughout the story, and he uses the characters to skillfully relate the murderous feelings harbored by many of those who lost everything. The antagonist, Carlo Clemenza, is a fictional man who deserved to pay the ultimate price for what he did to his employees and their labor groups. There are a couple great twists as the story plays out.

Those of us, who were a part of commercial aviation during those years, eventually losing everything we had worked for, will never forget. I recommend this novel wholeheartedly. The Dénouement at the end has little to do with the book and seems to be offered as an aside, but it is my only negative comment on an otherwise good story.

J. A. Hunsinger
June, 2009