Roseanna's Reply (Hardcover)

~ Frank Johnson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Reading Roseanna s Reply is like taking a drink of water out of a fire hydrant. --Capt. James A. Lovell, Astronaut and Mission Commander, Apollo 13

Roseanna's Reply is a WWII era novel based on historical fact that blends famous wartime personalities (Jimmy Doolittle, Ronald Reagan, William Randolph Hearst, Howard Hughes, to name a few) with the book s principal characters in a fascinating manner. With America s WWII aviation industry as backdrop, the book is an action/mystery/espionage story that I think will appeal to a wide audience. There is a lot of information about WWII and the Mustang that is not well known. It s a good read that will keep your interest till the last page. --C. E. "Bud" Anderson, Colonel USAF (Ret.), WWII Triple Ace and author of To Fly and Fight

What Tom Clancy did for submarines, Frank Johnson has done for the P-51 Mustang. His story telling takes you as close to aerial combat as you should hope to get. Roseanna's Reply is a love-and-war epic that celebrates the grand virtues of a bygone era. It s a big story, powerfully told, of a troubled young woman who finds the courage to embrace the warrior within. But it is also a tale of WWII intrigue that takes the reader from the blacked-out streets of L.A. to savage combat in the skies above Europe, with many vivid stops in between. Its inspiration is the fractious and fascinating history of the P-51 Mustang itself, which emerged from obscurity to become the most famous and important fighter of WWII. --Michael Colleary, writer and film producer, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Face Off

Product Description

Women fly combat missions today in the military services. They were just as capable 70 years ago. In the early months of WWII an enigmatic bush pilot comes to the rescue of downed American ferry pilot Roseanna Kendell in the northern wilds of Canada. The daughter of Dutch Kendell, president of North American Aviation, Roseanna is strong willed and volatile and has inherited her father's love of aviation. And from her Mexican mother she has inherited uncommon beauty and a bond with an extended family and their culture south of the border. When Roseanna learns that her savior is not only a Battle of Britain veteran but a 'Merlin magician' as well, she concocts a scheme to bring her new friend Waldo to Los Angeles ostensibly to work for her father but in fact, to become her mentor. She has never seen or met anyone who can fly like Waldo. But a plot to disrupt WWII aircraft production, resulting in family tragedy, changes her plans. With the help of her aging sidekick as well as a reluctant FBI agent turned Air Corps Captain, Roseanna sets off on a mission to learn who was behind the plot. After a rocky start, the three begin working together to solve a mystery that will lead them to more murders and take them throughout Southern California, into Mexico, to Washington, D.C. and eventually to Europe. It is a journey that will see them cross paths...and occasionally swords...with the likes of Howard Hughes, General Jimmy Doolittle, Hap Arnold, Captain Ronald Reagan, William Randolph Hearst and J. Edgar Hoover. In the process, the three will learn more than they bargained for...about each other and about who would destroy the Kendell family. Finally, while flying in the guise of civilian technical advisors in the skies of war-torn Europe, Roseanna and Waldo will fulfill their destinies from the cockpit of one of the deadliest fighters of WWII, the Mustang. Roseanna's Reply is a story about flying. It is a murder mystery. It is a story about family and love and friendship and a young woman born half a century too soon.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 511 pages
• Publisher: Central Coast Press; First edition (July 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0981697801
• ISBN-13: 978-0981697802
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,731,125 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing result for a first-time novelist... a great read!, July 19, 2008

By	Thomas Duff "Duffbert" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I was contacted by Frank Johnson and asked if I'd like to review his World War 2 historical novel, Roseanna's Reply. Since it's a genre I normally enjoy, I decided that it might be a good recreational read. As I believe this is his first novel (at least I didn't find any others on Amazon, but I could be wrong), I wasn't expecting great things. Add in the 566 pages of the book, and I wondered if I had perhaps made a mistake in accepting the book. But much to my surprise and amazement, Johnson pulled off an excellent writing job. And even though books of this length usually have me wishing the writing was a bit tighter, at no time was I tempted to start skimming material to get to the end.

The book takes place in 1942, when the air war between Germany and England is still very much up for grabs. The English and American commands are looking for a better fighter that can both perform in a dogfight *and* travel as escort to long-range bombers into Germany. Without the escort capabilities, the bombers are taking much more damage than they are able to inflict. North American Aviation, run by Dutch Kendall, is trying to create a new fighter by taking the body of the Mustang and fitting it with the Merlin engine for better performance. Their enemies aren't only the German spies, but other companies in the US who want their own piece of the fighter market.

Dutch's daughter, Roseanna Kendall, is a stellar, headstrong pilot who is ferrying aircraft around North America for the war effort. But what she *really* longs to do is to fly combat missions. Her life almost comes to an end when she's forced to ditch an aircraft in the snowy wilderness of Canada during a trip. But she's rescued by a equally competent and mysterious bush pilot named Waldo. Never having had much use for friends, Roseanna finds herself drawn to Waldo, in part because of his flying skills, and also because he seems to be hiding a background that hints of war time heroism and combat missions. She's able to convince her father to hire him at North American Aviation in California as a test pilot, and he also takes on the task of turning Roseanna from a stubborn flier into a top-notch combat pilot. Dutch feels this will benefit her as he grooms Roseanna to take over the company some day. But she is still harboring hope that somehow she can one day go head-to-head with enemy planes during real aerial engagements.

One day when Waldo and Dutch's son Jeremy are on their way to work, their car is deliberately run off the road in an attempt to kill Jeremy and slow down progress on the new fighters. Dutch is able to get a military investigator to look into the incident, and it quickly becomes apparent that there truly is an espionage element to the accident. But since they can't find an internal leak, it's hard to tell if this was a one-time incident or whether the rest of the Kendall family (including Roseanna) remains at risk. Roseanna is falling for Spencer, the investigator, and the two try and figure out what would be proper vs. what would make them both happy.

Without going into much more plot detail (to avoid giving out too much of the story-line), the story works its way through to the conclusion of the war and retribution for Jeremy's injury. Only in the last few pages do you find out exactly how the title fits into the story-line, but suffice it to say that it works out very well.

Aviation buffs will really get into this book. There is a ton of technical detail about planes and aviation, and I would assume that someone into World War 2 fighters would be unable to put the book down. What most impressed me about this book was the dialogue. Realistic interaction between characters is not an easy chore, and I find that first-time novelists usually don't do well with it. Roseanna's Reply is a major exception to the rule. The character development is solid, and *all* the characters carry their weight and contribute to the story. Yes, you could have done this book in 300 pages or so, but I certainly didn't see a need to trim it down. The plot and action flowed, the pacing was right, and I looked forward each night to picking it back up to see where things would go.

When this book makes it to Amazon or the local bookstore, it would be one that I'd definitely recommend. It's not something you'll finish in a day or two, but the time you spend with Roseanna and cast will be well-spent and enjoyable.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 Stars -- A Well-Written, Well-Researched, Adventure Tale!, September 24, 2008

By	bobbewig (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

Frank Johnson's first novel, Roseanna's Reply, is a very engrossing World War II adventure/mystery. Without going into the details of this multi-dimensional story, Roseanna's Reply revolves around Dutch Kendall's North American Aviation company's efforts to develop a better performing aircraft, Kendall's strong-willed daughter, Roseanna, who shares her father's love of aviation and is determined to fly combat missions, and the mystery around the plot to disrupt the aircraft's production. For a first-time novelist Johnson expertly weaves the extensive research he did on aviation in general and the P-51 Mustang in particular into a story that is in part a story of WWII adventure, murder mystery, family, friendship and of a young woman with ambitions well beyond those of most women of her generation. Further, Johnson shows a strong ability to create very realistic, credible characters; and the character of Roseanna Kendall is likely to stay in your memory long after you finish the book. Not being a flying buff, the only criticism I had with Roseanna's Reply is that it was a little too heavy for my taste in the amount of detailed, technical information provided on aircraft and aviation. However, I expect those more heavily into flying will "eat up" this information and have it strengthen their enjoyment of the book. Johnson has written a very entertaining, attention-holding book that deserves a wide reader audience. Please don't let the fact that this book has been unpromoted to-date sway you from reading a tale that warrants the readership of discerning readers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A multifaceted, high-flying adventure story that's pure fun, July 24, 2008

By	Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

With ROSEANNA'S REPLY, author Frank Johnson has deftly crafted a story with a little bit of something for everyone: romance, espionage, aerial combat, murder, righteous retribution, airplane technology, aviation history, Hollywood glamour, a beautiful and strong-willed heroine, and a skilled and steadfast hero. And, if you're a war bird enthusiast, it is, above all, about one of the most iconic aircraft ever to fly - the P-51 Mustang.

In the free-wheeling style of an aerial dogfight, Johnson takes us from Canada to Southern California to England to Mexico to Germany in a storyline piloted by his heroine, Roseanna Kendall, the headstrong daughter of the (here) fictional president of North American Aviation, the company that (in fact) designed and built the P-51, and Waldo, the crack bush pilot that rescues Roseanna from a Canadian crash site and who ultimately accepts an offer to work for her Dad at company headquarters in Los Angeles, where the Mustang is being fine-tuned for its insertion into the air war over the Third Reich.

It should be noted here that, in the hands of Johnson, the Waldo character is an extrapolation of the one played by Robert Redford in a Big Screen production released in 1975 (and relatively unavailable for viewing today). As I understand it, Frank was unable to make the connection explicit in the absence of permission from the studio that owns the film. However, there are hints in the narrative that can be discovered with attentive reading.

A flyer himself, though he leisurely putters through the Central California air in a slow-moving biplane, Johnson's volume is a work of love dedicated to the sleek and deadly P-51. (One needs only to gaze upon a gleaming, restored Mustang to understand why.) As a debut novel, ROSEANNA'S REPLY is a notable achievement and a satisfying read involving a multitude of personae both fictional and real.

And I especially like, on the back of the dust jacket, the yellow swoosh added to the silhouette image of the female model to resemble a wind-blown flying scarf. Classy!

So, Frank, when are you penning a tale built around the B-17? This fan wants to know.