Wed 17 Dec 2014
A 1001 MIDNIGHTS Review: DESMOND BAGLEY – Flyaway.
Posted by Steve under 1001 Midnights , Reviews[7] Comments
by George Kelley & Marcia Muller
DESMOND BAGLEY – Flyaway. Doubleday, hardcover, 1979. First published in the UK: Collins, hardcover, 1978. Detective Book Club, hardcover 3-in-1 edition [no date]. Fawcett, paperback, 1980. Also: HarperCollins, paperback, 2009, paired with Windfall, also by Bagley.
Picking the best Desmond Bagley high-adventure novel is difficult because they are of uniformly high quality; most critics agree that in the past ten years, Bagley has surpassed the old masters such as Hammond Innes and Alistair MacLean with such expert novels as The Vivero Letter (1968), set in the remote Mexican jungle; The Snow Tiger (1974), a tale of an avalanche in the mountains of New Zealand’s South Island; and The Enemy (1978), which deals with computer technology. Bagley’s novels mix carefully researched background detail with a great deal of action and momentum, involving his reader thoroughly in his adventurous plots.
Flyaway may be Bagley’s finest work, a slight cut above the others. When Paul Billson disappears into the Sahara Desert,aircraft-industry security chief Max Stafford departs London for Africa to track Billson down. Max learns that Billson, whose father was a legendary there some decades ago, intends to clear the Billson name; the public still believes Billson’s father deliberately vanished over the Sahara so his wife could collect a fortune in insurance benefits. Max catches up with Billson — after much difficulty — but then both men find themselves hunted by forces intent on protecting the secret of Billson Sr.’s disappearance.
This novel is superior high adventure; Bagley’s attention to technical detail and his evocation of the desert milieu are impeccable. Bagley drew upon personal experience in the aircraft industry for this novel, which gives it added substance and credibility.
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Reprinted with permission from 1001 Midnights, edited by Bill Pronzini & Marcia Muller and published by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2007. Copyright © 1986, 2007 by the Pronzini-Muller Family Trust.
December 17th, 2014 at 7:03 pm
My favorite Bagley came early, HIGH CITADEL, it remains one of the best adventure novels of its type and ranks for me with Innes STRODE VENTURER, Lyall’s MIDNIGHT PLUS ONE, and MacKinnon’s CORMORANT’S ISLE.
He did get better though, and this is one of the highlights, only it is only my fourth favorite Bagley novel.
By the end though, no one did this better than Bagley.
December 17th, 2014 at 7:13 pm
Bagley’s an author I’ve never managed to catch up with, I’m sorry to say. I have quite a few of his books in paperback, including the recent doubled up edition from Harper, but that’s as far as he’s gotten (or I have).
My reading experience with authors of high adventure is very nearly nil, come to think of it, including MacLean, Innes, Lyall and MacKinnon. I’ve only begun to scratch the surface, and as time goes on, the more behind I get.
December 17th, 2014 at 10:32 pm
I thought his books were very good and matched the best of the work that Alistair MacLean did in his early years. Probably the only one not up to his high standard was Night Of Error, which was probably written early in his career and then published after he died.
One of his books (The Enemy?) has the main character wake up and look into the mirror and not recognize himself, which is a pretty darn interesting way to start a book.
December 18th, 2014 at 5:07 pm
This was the first Desmond Bagley title I read, and I have very fond memories of it. It is also one of my two or three favorite Bagley novels.
David. NIGHT OF ERROR was actually completed by Mr Bagley’s wife after his death. She also wrote the final Desmond Bagley novel, JUGGERNAUT.
Ben
December 18th, 2014 at 7:05 pm
David P
The one you mention is FREEDOM TRAP which John Huston filmed with Paul Newman and James Mason as THE MACINTOSH MAN. It was loosely based on the scandal over George Blake, a British criminal who helped a KGB agent escape an English prison.
Another to keep an eye out for is RUNNING BLIND which is set in Iceland. There is a film version but it is almost never shown though it once played on PBS of all places around the same time as the adaptation of Buchan’s THE THREE HOSTAGES with Barry Foster as Richard Hannay.
December 18th, 2014 at 9:28 pm
More books and old movies to read and watch. I’ve added all of the above to both lists!
December 18th, 2014 at 11:25 pm
David, you are correct, I was trying to remember without getting out the books, which is always a mistake to try and do.
Ben, thanks for that info, I had not heard that his wife had done any of the work on the last couple of books. Juggernaut is the only book of his that I have not read.