Hawks: A Novel

Bomber pilot Ross Colyer is retrained to fly fighters and is sent to China in the spring of 1944 to fly the Army Air Corps' hottest plane, the P-51B Mustang

This WW II thriller soars when its characters are at the controls of a plane, but between flights the prose falters and the novel is grounded by foul weather. In Falcons (1993), Ross Coyler flew missions over Germany in a B-24; here he pilots Mustangs over China. Driven by a love of flying and an intense camaraderie with his fellow pilots, Coyler overcomes obstacles, mostly political and personal, to continue his excellent performance. He sidesteps a jealous commanding officer and an ambitious general, achieving success as a squadron leader and proving himself several times. Perhaps things break a little too well for Captain Ross Coyler. When he goes off half-cocked and concocts a last-hurrah mission for his squadron before bugging out, almost everything goes his way. Nothing the author does here is so far off the mark as to jar or alienate the reader. The characters are either clearly sympathetic or antagonistic: Major King, the CO, is a jealous martinet who tries to smear Coyler's reputation; General Sprague is a political animal who uses influence in Washington to support his machinations; Major Weibel is a washed-up drunk with one last act of valor in him. Their actions are so predictable as to be trivial, distracting from the flow of the plot. Rosenbaum also follows Janet Templeton, a former girlfriend and widow of Coyler's enemy from Falcons, as she works in a bomber factory, becomes involved with a war profiteer, and finally extricates herself with her reputation intact so she can await Coyler's eventual return. Too easygoing to be thrilling, Hawks is hard to dislike without being likeable. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

In Hawks, Rosenbaum takes Ross Colyer, the hero of his Falcons (1993), through the last two years of World War II. After surviving Tidal Wave, the epic attack on the Romanian oil-producing city of Ploesti, as a B-24 bomber pilot, Colyer switches to flying the new P-51 Mustang fighter and gets sent to China. On the way, he must battle not merely the Japanese but also the jealousy and incompetence of his own superiors. That jealousy continues to hound him beyond the end of the war, thereby setting the stage for a third novel. Real characters, especially General Chennault of Flying Tigers fame and Mme. Chiang Kai-shek, add historical realism, and Rosenbaum's own experience as a bomber pilot during the war adds even more resonance. A fine air-war adventure. Dennis Winters

In this sequel to Falcons (LJ 2/1/93), which began the story of the Army Air Forces in World War II, bomber pilot Ross Colyer is sent to China to fight back the Japanese. The battle to carry fuel and spare parts across the Hump to East China, the struggle to control the air over the islands, and the air fights over Iwo Jima and into Japan are detailed nicely. A former pilot who has fought in three wars, Rosenbaum has a superb knowledge of the Army Air Corps. He is at his best when he is angry, as he is when political factions bicker over control, problems with plane parts are glossed over, and opportunistic Congresspersons and higher officers intervene for their own welfare. Though the necessary love interest is vapid and the character of Colyer needs to be humanized, this ambitious undertaking is a better book than Falcons. A powerful portrayal of men at war that fans of the genre will enjoy.
Ralph DeLucia, Willoughby Wallace Lib., Branford, Ct.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.