Scorpion Strike

By John Nance

I know I mentioned this in the Orbit review, but something I've found about John Nance books is that they are highly engrossing, very entertaining and always contain at least one really unbelievable scene, which if you stop to think about it, it could ruin the book for you. Or you can suspend belief for a while and enjoy the story like it was meant to be enjoyed.

I say this because near the end of Scorpion Strike the two heroes engage in a dogfight between a Mig-25 and a Hind helicopter. Did I mention that the two heroes of the story don't know how to fly the copter, can't read the labels on the instruments as they are in Russian and Arabic, and had trouble figuring out how to use the gun in the nose of the copter? The helicopter wins.

Scorpion Strike wasn't a bad book. I just prefer civilian aviation stories to military. Always have. I didn't like how for the first 1/3 or so of the book a lot of the conflict within the US Military side of the story was between the soldiers trying to pull rank on each other. Having worked at an Air force Base for a while I know John Nance was trying to portray reality but it just doesn't make sense how when there is a job to do in the book it can get bogged down by everyone arguing about who can give and change orders depending on rank while no one solves the problem at hand. Shouldn't they all be working together to come up with a solution? Maybe it's because the military is so focused on training leaders that no one can follow? I don't know.

If you enjoy military books, C-141's, and great aviation writing, then give SS a shot. The story takes place in Iraq near the end of Desert Storm. If not, then stick with Nance's other novels.