Headwind

Rating:
Summary: High flying action
Review: A top international lawyer is hired by the Peruvian president to arrest the former president-for tortures committed in Peru-when the plane arrives in Athens. The captain of the European carrier that is carrying the ex-president has different ideas and will do what ever is possible to keep this from happening. While flying all over Europe to evade this legitimate warrant for arrest, the reader is treated to some suspenseful reading and some interesting cat and mouse ploys. This is a fast paced action thriller with some political overtones. Most of the action and descriptions seem to come from a knowledgeable pilot/author, but I truly must question one glaring error I noticed in the book that a pilot would never make. Squawk 266.....9? A nine? In a squawk? Not likely Mr. Nance.

Overall great entertainment.

Rating:
Summary: A chilling thriller
Review: After giving a speech on world hunger, retired President John Harris flies from Istanbul to Rome with a stop in Athens. However, at the airport, the Greek police try to serve an international warrant filed by the head of Peru against the former President insisting he violated the Treaty Against Torture while in office by sanctioning CIA acts of violence against innocent people. Pilot Craig Dayton realizes the former President is in danger and makes a daring unauthorized take-off before the police arrest Harris.

International lawyer, Sir William Stuart Campbell represents the Peruvian government in the World Court. William has a personal grudge against John and goes all out to nail the former world leader. The pilot, the president, and his attorney seek a nation that will provide a safe and fair hearing, not yet realizing the drama that will unfold when they select that country.

As action thrillers go, John J. Nance typically writes some of the genre's best works. His setting of an airplane for his story line produces chills even for those readers who enjoy flying. For those who fear the air the background provides tremors. The characters including the President, are three dimensional and complex adding to the feel of a thriller. HEADWIND is top gun material and sure to place Mr. Nance on all the best-selling lists.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Not Enough Fuel and Nowhere to Land
Review: Captain Craig Dayton flies a 737 for a German airline and is on the ground in Greece ready to take off. John Harris, a former President of the United States is aboard the flight. When Harris was in office he supposedly ordered an attack on a biological weapons factory in Peru and all the workers were tortured to death. Now, because there is an international treaty against torture, Peru has issued an international arrest warrant for former President Harris and it's Interpol's duty to enforce it.

Dayton doesn't have any intention of turning Harris over to the Greek authorities or anyone else. He takes matters into his own hands, backs the plane away from the gate and takes off on an unused runway without clearance. However he's a got a problem, he doesn't have enough fuel to get to the States and most places he can land in Europe will surrender Harris.

Again John Nance has written an aviation thriller that will have you biting your nails as you rush though the book.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

Rating:
Summary: A nail-biter based on a dubious premise
Review: Craig Dayton is the American pilot of a German 737 passenger jet. After boarding travelers in Athens for a flight to Rome, Craig is faced with the Greek police who want to arrest one of his First Class passengers, John Harris, a former President of the United States. Harris is wanted on an Interpol warrant initiated by the Peruvian government. Peru charges that Harris, in violation of an international treaty against torture, sanctioned atrocities that occurred during a CIA-sponsored raid on a Peruvian heroin factory during the Harris Administration. As a former U.S. Air Force pilot now in the reserves, Dayton's instinct to protect a former Commander-in-Chief takes over, and he backs his jet away from the gate, overturning a loaded baggage tram in the process, and vamooses out of Dodge, so to speak. Thus begins a chase across Europe, Harris in the 737 pursued by the Lear carrying Stuart Campbell, the international lawyer retained by Peru to bring the fugitive to bay.

HEADWIND is an engrossing read if one accepts the shaky premise that an American pilot, sufficiently dedicated to guard the welfare of an ex-President, would also be enough of a cowboy to endanger his job, his crew, and the 118 paying passengers aboard his plane. To a certain degree, Dayton is a hero of the plot, though a bigger one is Jay Reinhart, a friend of the ex-President's and an expert in international law, whom Harris retains as his attorney. Jay, a former Texas District Judge, has recently been reinstated to the bar after having suffered a suspension for falling in love with a female defendant on trial in his court for murder. In any case, Jay now has to scramble from his Wyoming hideaway to Europe where the chase is on.

Author John Nance does a swell job alternating the action between foreign courtrooms and the 737's flight deck, and there's sufficient tension, especially in the latter, for me to have gnawed away the edges of my expensive manicure. (Darn! Where's that emery board?) And all the while there's the question, "Is Harris really innocent of the charges?" After all, there's that pesky videotape.

Although the ending is cloyingly happy as all loose ends are tidied up - a pet peeve of mine, HEADWIND is the perfect thriller for your next plane flight. If you're going roundtrip coast to coast, you'll finish before you touch down on the home leg. Check to see if any of our ex-Presidents are in First Class as you board, and yell "Hey, Bubba!" if you see Bill.

Rating:
Summary: John Nance At His Best
Review: Headwind is impossible to put down after the first page. The suspense never lets up as the story unfolds quickly. Ex-president John Harris, his assistant, and a secret service agent are about to land in Athens Greece. The police are waiting for his 737 to land in order to arrest Harris for violating the Treaty Against Torture. Peru is claiming that a CIA operation resulted in the murder of hundreds of innocent civilians and was santioned by then President Harris. The pilot, Craig Dayton, is a U.S. Airforce reserve military who backs the plane out and takes off in a daring escape.

The plane makes its way to Italy and on to Ireland before trying to get back to the United States. In the meantime while onboard, John Harris hires an old friend, Jay,an attorney who has been teaching international law in Laramie, Wyoming to represent him. The legal battle is finally fought in Ireland with a wonderful series of legal manuevers [...]

Read the book for the rest of the story. The characters are well developed, the dialogue is believable, and the landings are incredibly suspenseful.

Rating:
Summary: Plans and Politicians
Review: When a bogus warrant is issued for a former president of the United States under the auspices of a Torture and Terrorism treaty, you have plausible pre-September 11 scenario.

There is a combination dramatic legal arguments and a globe hopping President attempting to stay one step ahead of the process servers in a chartered 737.

AFter a couple of clunkers, it was good to read a well-paced and well thought out book.