BETWEEN BATTLES

by James D. Houston ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 27, 1968

The Air Force is the Service Branch under fire in a novel struggling to maintain a sense of humor and hardly ever succeeding. Narrator Lieutenant Young, who gets sick in the wake of jet stream, nevertheless fights a game ground war. He is the official spokesman, the coverup man who tries to reassure the outraged citizenry of Suffolk, England, when their ears and windows are shattered by sonic boom. And when a plane crashes with one of those bombs aboard, well, we's never lay a nuclear egg on you now, would we folks. The commander is predictably concerned with Image and Community Relations and the flyboys must touch ground long enough to put on dog shows and fox hunts. But disillusionment is setting in-Stillwell, the top airman, wants out but is killed before the higher-ups can bring themselves to give him a discharge and little Martinovich runs around collecting grievances which he hopes to publish in an attack and atonement issue of The Airscoop. Finally Young decides to throw a black mark into the red tape and we leave him pondering. . . . The reader will also ponder. . . in this medium, the message gets lost.

Pub Date: Sept. 27, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dial

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1968

Categories: FICTION