Publisher's Weekly
In White's impressive first novel, Excalibur is a potentially invincible first-strike bomber combining Stealth capacity with speed and altitude surpassing even the SR-71 Blackbird . To test its capacity in nuclear winter, the U.S. plans to simulate the results of an above-ground atomic blast by crashing a fuel-laden aircraft in a remote forest area. Russian hardliners plan to smuggle an actual bomb onto the doomed plane, hoping a nuclear ''accident'' will encourage American denuclearization and restore the balance disturbed by the collapse of the Soviet empire. Air Force Major Pete Barnes and FAA investigator Brian MacHenry are swept along on the tides of multiple intrigue. Although Excalibur's link to nuclear winter is postulated rather than explained, dramatic cockpit action and excellent high-country hide-and-seek in the Sierra Nevadas redeem the failings of this eco - techno-thriller that emphasizes the environmental, as opposed to military or political, impact of high-tech gadgetry. White's conclusion will leave readers with a chill that is more than a mere frisson.
Library Journal
Cross techno-thriller and ecological suspense and you get a nonstop, sky-filling chase and evasion drama played over the secret test grounds of the Mojave desert and climaxing in the high forests of the Sierra Nevadas. Air Force Major and crackerjack test pilot Pete Barnes and intrepid FAA accident investigator Brian McHenry are drawn together by the mysterious crash of a small plane. As they gather clues they uncover evidence of a ruthless plot to protect development of Aurora, a secret, super-stealthy aircraft. Meanwhile, biologist Julia Hines is measuring moisture high in the mountains, unaware that her worksite is in the cross-hairs of a band of desperate nuclear weapon experimenters. Readers who will forgive some lapses of logic and the presence of cartoon-grade villains in this first novel will get to enjoy some of the best flying scenes of the genre.-- Elsa Pendleton, Boeing Comput er Support Svces ., Ridgecrest, Cal.
Genre: General Fiction
In White's impressive first novel, Excalibur is a potentially invincible first-strike bomber combining Stealth capacity with speed and altitude surpassing even the SR-71 Blackbird . To test its capacity in nuclear winter, the U.S. plans to simulate the results of an above-ground atomic blast by crashing a fuel-laden aircraft in a remote forest area. Russian hardliners plan to smuggle an actual bomb onto the doomed plane, hoping a nuclear ''accident'' will encourage American denuclearization and restore the balance disturbed by the collapse of the Soviet empire. Air Force Major Pete Barnes and FAA investigator Brian MacHenry are swept along on the tides of multiple intrigue. Although Excalibur's link to nuclear winter is postulated rather than explained, dramatic cockpit action and excellent high-country hide-and-seek in the Sierra Nevadas redeem the failings of this eco - techno-thriller that emphasizes the environmental, as opposed to military or political, impact of high-tech gadgetry. White's conclusion will leave readers with a chill that is more than a mere frisson.
Library Journal
Cross techno-thriller and ecological suspense and you get a nonstop, sky-filling chase and evasion drama played over the secret test grounds of the Mojave desert and climaxing in the high forests of the Sierra Nevadas. Air Force Major and crackerjack test pilot Pete Barnes and intrepid FAA accident investigator Brian McHenry are drawn together by the mysterious crash of a small plane. As they gather clues they uncover evidence of a ruthless plot to protect development of Aurora, a secret, super-stealthy aircraft. Meanwhile, biologist Julia Hines is measuring moisture high in the mountains, unaware that her worksite is in the cross-hairs of a band of desperate nuclear weapon experimenters. Readers who will forgive some lapses of logic and the presence of cartoon-grade villains in this first novel will get to enjoy some of the best flying scenes of the genre.-- Elsa Pendleton, Boeing Comput er Support Svces ., Ridgecrest, Cal.
Genre: General Fiction
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