Book Review: Flight Risk by Michael McGuire

Flight Risk

by

Michael McGuire

Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Publication Date: 1st January 2019
RRP: $29.99 AUD
Pages: 304
Format Read: Uncorrected proof paperback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher

Disgraced former pilot Ted Anderson works for a top-secret government organisation set up to investigate terror-related incidents. Sent to Jakarta to find out as much as he can about the pilot of a vanished Garuda flight, he discovers a flight simulator in the pilot's apartment.

When the investigation turns sour, Ted escapes to New York as further disaster strikes.

Another plane disappears from the sky. Then another. Three planes and hundreds of passengers and crew, vanished, without a trace. Panic is widespread and the world is teetering on the brink.

Still no one has come forward to claim responsibility.

At an eerily deserted JFK airport trying to get a flight back home, Ted witnesses a suspicious exchange between an airport cleaner and a nonchalant airline pilot. He follows the pilot to his destination: a Ukraine International Airlines flight, due to leave in an hour.

All his instincts tell Ted that this is the next plane to go down. But what on earth can he do? Take the flight and face almost certain death? Or fly back home and wait for the news headlines?

He does the unthinkable and gets on the plane.

Flight Risk is an action packed and thought provoking thriller.

Ted Anderson had all the makings of the perfect Secret Service Agent; self loathing, dead wife, estranged child, inflated ego, ex alcoholic, disregard for authority and breaker of rules. I knew straight away this guy was going to make dangerous decisions and put his life on the line.

A plane travelling from Sydney to Jakarta goes missing, disappears off the face of the Earth as far as satellite and radar reading are concerned.

Ted is sent to Western Australia to investigate but not happy with waiting around while official channels are searching for crash refuse he heads to Jakarta to search the home of the pilot.

This triggers a roller coaster of events that see Ted in life or death situations on more than one occasion.

The danger and the tempo heats up as Ted fights for his life and the lives of thousands of people around the world.

I really enjoyed this novel from the building of the mystery to the adrenaline filled suspense and danger to the laugh out loud humour.

The character of Ted Anderson was wonderfully drawn from his dry sense of humour and disrespect for everything and everyone to his emotional remorse over his wife’s death and the estrangement of his daughter.

I had some of the best quotes pulled from the book but as I read an uncorrected proof copy these quotes are unquotable. :( So I recommend you buy a copy and have a laugh, hold your breath, close your eyes and be amazed by the sheer courage and endurance of Aussie spy Ted Anderson.

Flight Risk is a riveting read! I’m looking forward to more adrenaline filled reading from Michael McGuire and hope to see Ted Anderson back on the page again.

                              🌟🌟🌟🌟 

My rating  4/5

*this review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge

and Letter 'F' in the 2019 A-Z challenge

 

  Born in Glasgow in 1971, Michael McGuire moved to South Australia with his family at the age of 10.

Michael has worked as a journalist in Sydney and Adelaide for The Australian, The Sunday Mail and The Advertiser, with a couple of forays into the state and federal politics as an advisor.

Michael is married to Rachel and they have two children, Tom and Ruby. Never a True Word, his first novel, is a satire about politics and was published in March 2017 by Wakefield Press.