RETURN TO A COUNTRY AT WAR

A high-flying adventure novel–equal parts Top Gun, Clive Cussler and The Time Machine–from former Air Force man Eichman.

Larry Kinkade is as good a pilot as they come. He’s flown missions in Vietnam and Iraq, he’s well-liked by the brass, and he has “earned the respect of all the men and women who served with him and under him.” Kinkade’s also “opinionated,” danger-loving and a dead ringer for Clark Gable, which means that he’s also quite adored by the ladies. In fact, the hero’s only apparent flaws are his love of horses–and adultery. Lots of adultery. As the book opens, Kinkade, retired with the rank of brigadier general, is testing planes for a company called Martin Aviation. On the side, this married man tutors Navy commander Laura Cole. Rest assured that Laura is no model. Some pilots, in fact, think that she’s “on the dumpy side. However, despite those flaws, she had a strikingly pretty face, and a marvelous upper body. Her breasts especially were magnificent.” Pretty soon Cole and Kinkade roll into bed, where “things worked out as [Kinkade] had hoped and expected.” It’s not all sex and languid sighs, however. Soon, Cole and Kinkade agree to test a device intended to make planes invisible to the enemy. Instead, it catapults the two lovers back in time, to 1942, at the height of World War II. There, Kinkade’s movie-star looks and dexterous trigger finger allow him to indulge in both of his favorite vices–seducing women and shooting down enemy planes. Explosions and fireworks ensue, as readers will expect. However, while the scenery in the book will feel familiar to fans of military fiction, Eichman serves the genre well. He shows equal talent for crafting intrigue and innuendo.

Generates more than a little heat.