WINGS OVER THE CHANNEL

A historical novel set in Britain before World War II focuses on a Royal Air Force officer.

Forsyth’s main character, RAF officer Allan Chadwick, returns to England after his adventures flying Vimy bombers in Iraq during the years preceding World War II. Chadwick is now assigned to the RAF aircraft research center at Farnborough, where he’s deeply involved in hammering out the workings of early warfare radar. He’s been tasked to create an investigative team to make formal reports on all aircraft accidents in Britain (he’s placidly warned that these probes can sometimes be “a little messy”). Unbeknown to him, he’s been identified by the Luftwaffe High Command as a possible target for subornation (“Young officer, not rich, may be open to bribery or possibly a little blackmail” goes the assessment). A covert Nazi mission code-named Amalgam sends lovely young Fraulein Inge Fischer to England in the guise of a German student visiting London. Chadwick’s own storyline is further tangled when he starts a relationship with Lady Melanie Fitzgibbon, who’s involved with a secretive political group dedicated to seeking appeasement with Germany. As these threads combine and plots mature on British soil, Chadwick finds himself at the center of high stakes and a climax full of breakneck action. Forsyth writes all this with a quick, dialogue-driven tempo that will keep readers turning the pages, with the narrative concentrating on both the nuts and bolts of bomber life in 1938 and the machinations of the Nazis in Europe and the pro-German forces in England. Forsyth’s portrayal of Chadwick is nicely textured—he’s a hero but a complex one—although not much of this multidimensionality extends to the rest of the book’s cast. Still, the snappy pacing and the sly undercurrent of humor (including a running gag about Chadwick’s behemoth old Bentley) keep the whole tale moving along briskly.

A rousing, detailed RAF thriller that delivers an effective climax.