Star-Raker - A Book Review

Happy New Year, one and all, and welcome back to TIT! I hope you all had a good festive season.

I managed to catch up with some reading and films over Christmas and the New Year, so there'll be a couple of posts coming up about those but for today, I'll be posting a review for Star-Raker by Donald Gordon.

3'6, a bargain???

Bring on the hyperbole!!! :-)

Some of you may recall Gordon's novel, Flight of the Bat which I reviewed last year here. I liked that novel so was looking forward to reading a previous book. It's not a substantial read, I read it over the course of an afternoon, but it was, overall, rather enjoyable in a lightweight way.

Detailing the prototype flights of a revolutionary British supersonic airliner, it promises both drama and technical accuracy when pilots testing the aircraft start to develop cancer, threatening not only the future of the programme but also the company building the plane.

It is very much a piece of its time (1962) and it takes no imagination whatsoever to see how this could have been filmed in that very clipped, emotionally straight-jacketed British cinema style of the time. It makes the characters feel, if not lifeless, then at least somewhere on the spectrum. Even death brings very little emotional response apart from sniffles into a hanky and a turn of the head.

The story itself moves at a rollicking pace and the sub-plot about politics and the Ministry add a depth that is certainly required. It does tie in nicely and whilst the science of the danger posed by the new aircraft (no spoilers though) is suspect, it's a MacGuffin that serves its purpose well even if, in the final pages, it is used to physically disable a main character is a stupid and pointless manner. (Don't worry, that event is signposted earlier on so you know it's going to happen!).

Still, it's worth a read and won't take up too much of your time. Of the two books of Gordon's I have read, I still much prefer Flight of the Bat.

Speaking of the author, whose full name is Donald Gordon Payne, I must make an apology, in that Star-Raker was his fifth novel, not second. Whoops. He enjoyed later success in having one novel optioned by Disney which was later made into "The Island at the Top of the World"and according to the Wikipedia entry for him, the gentleman celebrates his 93rd birthday today.

Many happy returns, Mr Payne, thank you for two (as read so far), entertaining novels!

Flight of the Bat - A Book Review

Hot off the presses (in 1963), Flight of the Bat is the second novel by Donald Gordon. His first, Star-raker, is on my reading pile so I'll come back to that in the future). Set in the early to mid 1960's (probably '63 as it is post Cuban missile crisis), the Soviets land a capsule via ICBM to each of the Western capitals (London, Washington DC, Paris and Bonn) daring them to send a response by a similar method within seven days, otherwise they expect surrender talks  they blatantly have superior technology.

The novel sets out the Soviet superiority in missiles and defence technology in general. The West's missile replies are ineffective or shot down, a Polaris boat is lost in the Arctic and hope seems lost.

Except for the RAF who have managed to husband an aircraft programme (the Bat of the title), to the point where it is ready for service. From its description, it feels like a cross between the Valiant B2 Pathfinder and the TSR 2, though more the former than the latter. With two plucky pilots (one British, the other an American exchange officer) plus a bright young lady in the tech department, Flight of the Bat follows the reaction to the Soviet ultimatum and the sacrifices made for the mission to deliver the reply.

Now before I say anything else, the novel is of its time and it would be wrong to tear into it for that reason alone. Given its age, the novel does have one instance of racism from one main character that is quickly rebuked by another, but that is about it, unlike the Nevil Shute novel "In the Wet", which although one of my favourite aircraft related novels, does lay racist terms quite thickly. There is also smoking galore and whilst some of the technical details ring true, there is a lack of detail that modern day readers might find surprising given that public access to weapons technology information has been quite easy since the late 70's onwards.

Still, I will not be too harsh, it's a briskly written tale and rather enjoyable overall. There is a fault with the characterisation (almost stereotypical but then again, the British are terribly British, even when the character is American). When reading this, I was definitely reminded of the films of the period with their clipped, crisp pronunciation, the stiff upper lip and the stoic fatalism that seems to be an RAF entry requirement. At the same time, there is a techno-thriller vibe that feels very Tom Clancy and the combined spy trawler mission and flight to Moscow feel as if they are from a similar, Clancy-esq vein.

I first read this when I was at secondary school and somehow lost that copy. Replacing it cost a few pounds from Amazon and I am glad I have a copy again. If you have a fondness of Nevil Shute and his aviation novels (as stated before, In the Wet is superb), certainly give this a try.