Review: LOW FLYING

LOW FLYING by John Reynolds (Starblaze, 2020)

Reviewed by Harold Bernard 

Matt Bullock, an Auckland university student clashes with his flying instructor Jason Collins who tries to hit on Matt's racy girlfriend Fleur Lassiter, resulting in the two men brawling at their aeroclub. Illegal immigrant Vladimir Zhukov, a ruthless Russian veteran of the brutal Russia-Aghanistan conflict, is running a lucrative crime syndicate in Auckland. Jason Collins is operating a smuggling operation of medical drugs using light planes. Zhukov decides to muscle in on it.When Fleur Lassiter disappears her friends Sue Perry and Jenny Carter, convinced that Zhukov is involved, confront him. His response is to kidnap them. Matt, and his new girlfriend Sandy Anderson are convinced that Zhukov is now in league with Collins. Matt makes the risky decision to use his new flying skills to rescue the women and bring the Zhkov and Collins to justice. The scene is set for a tense confrontation from which there can only be one winner.

This is a fast-paced, exciting book, involving Matt, a flying student, Jason, his instructor and Fleur an older but very attractive woman. Jason is involved in drug smuggling, using his aviation skills, and his contacts in the aviation world, to fly drugs into New Zealand from Australia via Lord Howe Island, landing in Northland at a private airstrip. 

Things get complicated when Zhukov, a Russian crime boss, who was forced to flee Russia, uses his henchmen to muscle in on Jason’s smuggling; he is brutal, savage, and not afraid to use kidnapping or even murder to get his way.

The story reads well, and I could easily picture in my mind the Auckland location, and the action that takes place in it.

Some of the action scenes stretch the reader’s imagination, and echo a James Bond movie in that regard. Add to that several unexpected twists to the plot, and the whole can certainly not be regarded as boring or slow.

The author has obviously had an involvement with the private aviation scene, and has a knowledge of Russia and its people. It was a real co-incidence that I read the book just as the invasion of Ukraine was taking place.

I can recommend the book to anyone who likes a good action story, with a satisfactory ending.

This review was first published in FlaxFlower reviews, which focuses on in-depth reviews of New Zealand books of all kinds, and is reprinted here with the kind permission of Flaxflower founder and editor Bronwyn Elsmore.