Headwind

April 1, 2001
The real-life Pinochet extradition case inspires this international legal thriller peppered with bestselling author Nance's (Blackout, etc.) trademark razor-edge escape scenarios and death-defying aviation theatrics. Peru charges that former U.S. President John Harris ordered the brutal slaughter of peasant families by Shining Path mercenaries on a CIA-led raid on a Peruvian drug factory, in violation of the recently ratified International Treaty Against Torture. Powerful British lawyer Sir William Stuart Campbell takes Peru's case and, with a personal grudge to avenge, plans for the immediate arrest and extradition of the former president, who is on board a German commercial airline about to leave Athens. Tipped off by an American stewardess, the American and British pilots fake a hijacking and run for Rome, only to learn that warrants are waiting at every European airport. From the plane, Harris calls Jay Reinhart, a brilliant former law partner who was booted off the Texas bench, and gets him to take on Campbell's formidable team. While Reinhart jousts with Campbell in foreign courts, the pilots evade warrants by staying airborne with one stop at an American military base for refueling, playing nifty tricks that fool police, air traffic towers and their own company executives. Nance gets in jabs at diplomatic scuttling of military actions and sets up the David vs. Goliath legal battle with aplomb. Hair-raising near-disaster in the air, high courtroom drama and a strong international cast of characters make this surefire bestseller a nonstop read, with gut-wrenching twists that leave the reader scrabbling for a parachute.

December 20, 2000
A former President aboard a Boeing 737 just landing in Athens discovers that Peru has signed an Interpol Warrant for his arrest. So the pilot takes off again. Let's hope the novel does, too.

Copyright 2000 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2001
One-term former president John Harris is a passenger aboard pilot Craig Dayton's Boeing 737, which is approaching a stopover in Athens on its way to Rome. What waits on the Greek runway, however, is an Interpol warrant for Harris' arrest. Unbeknownst to the former president--and the plane's crew--is the fact that he is set to be hauled to international court under the same treaty that did in former Chilean madman Pinochet. Could it be that the respected and moralistic Harris ordered the torture and execution of hundreds of Peruvian civilians, as the warrant claims? Captain Dayton is not about to feed his esteemed passenger to the international hounds voluntarily, so he and his Brit co-pilot mastermind an exciting escape, bouncing from country to country. Formerly an air-force and commercial pilot, and currently an aviation expert for ABC, Nance was one of the first authors to write an airplane thriller. In his latest, he masterfully puts you in the world of aeronautics, whether in the cockpit, at the control tower, or in the passenger seat. The ending, thrilling both in the air and in a Scottish courtroom, brings this page-turner to a satisfying landing. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)

March 1, 2001
Fans of suspense fiction and aeronautical thrillers in particular will find much to like in Nance's latest, including the requisite white-knuckle flying sequences, which take place in a variety of aircrafts from a Boeing 737 to a Cessna 172; authentic technical details (as one would expect from the aviation analyst for ABC's World News Tonight); sparkling dialog; a relentless pace; and an exciting courtroom drama in Ireland, where the legal jousting reaches its climax. An ex-U.S. President, traveling in Europe, faces arrest under an international warrant for crimes supposedly committed by CIA-hired operatives in Peru, and it's up to an outgunned lawyer from Wyoming a former judge, thrown off the bench in a messy scandal and two daring pilots in a commandeered aircraft to save him. After the first 100 pages, which crackle with tension, the reader is hit with another jolt that lasts just as long, with more thrills yet to come. Highly recommended for all public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 12/00.] Ronnie H. Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.