FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Refusing to rest on her laurels after winning an Edgar Award for her seventh novel, the succinctly titled Bones, popular suspense novelist Jan Burke made an effective departure from all her earlier books, all of which featured feisty California journalist Irene Kelly. Flight places Irene in a subordinate role, focusing instead on her husband, veteran homicide detective Frank Harriman.

The story opens with an extended prologue in which Las Piernas homicide investigator Phil Lefebvre, responding to an anonymous phone call, stumbles across the corpses of wealthy industrialist Trent Randolph and his teenage daughter, Amanda. He also discovers Randolph's badly wounded young son, Seth, and saves the boy's life. Lefebvre then mounts an investigation that successfully implicates local crime lord Whitey Dane. Before Dane can be brought to trial, three things happen. Seth Randolph is murdered in his hospital room; virtually all forensic evidence disappears; and Phil Lefebvre flees from the scene in a small private plane. The case against Dane disintegrates, and Lefebvre vanishes without a trace, leaving unanswered questions -- and a shattered reputation -- in his wake.

Ten years later, hikers discover Lefebvre's mummified corpse amid the wreckage of his plane, which had crashed in the San Bernardino Mountains shortly after takeoff. The long-dormant case is reopened, and Frank Harriman begins to reinvestigate. He quickly learns that the downed plane had been sabotaged and comes to believe that Lefebvre -- whose name has become anathema in the Las Piernas Police Department -- may have been a victim, not a murderer-for-hire. Frank's defense of Lefebvre isolates him from his fellow officers and stirs up a proverbial hornet's nest of controversy and residual bitterness. At the same time, his painstaking investigation gradually captures the attention of the Looking Glass Man, a deranged killer who has successfully pursued his own violent agenda for more than a dozen years.

Flight is a gripping, consistently readable novel, but not a perfect one. The prose is occasionally pedestrian and the excessively elaborate plot sometimes strains credibility. The real heart of the novel -- and its primary source of pleasure -- lies in its subtle, cumulatively affecting presentation of two very similar men: Frank Harriman and Phil Lefebvre, decent, intuitive policemen with highly individual standards of ethical behavior. As Harriman follows in a dead man's footsteps, bringing Lefebvre's investigation to a belated -- and satisfying -- conclusion, Flight rises above its generic origins, acquiring an unmistakable emotional power that is all its own. (Bill Sheehan)

Bill Sheehan reviews horror, suspense, and science fiction for Cemetery Dance, The New York Review of Science Fiction, and other publications. His book-length critical study of the fiction of Peter Straub, At the Foot of the Story Tree, has been published by Subterranean Press (www.subterraneanpress.com).

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Hot off the publication of Bones, the winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel, Jan Burke explodes onto the suspense scene with Flight, featuring the hard-edged Detective Frank Harriman, husband of Jan's beloved series heroine Irene Kelly.

A family is found murdered. In a cruel twist, one of the Las Piernas Police Department's own, Philip Lefebvre, is suspected of killing the only witness. When that detective disappears, a crime boss goes free. And the LPPD is forever changed.

Called in to investigate the wreckage of the missing detective's plane, Frank Harriman is given a set of cold cases that have suddenly become white hot. Detective Harriman's conviction that the LPPD tagged the wrong murder suspect is wildly unpopular. Alone, his instincts and integrity questioned at every turn, Harriman must stop the killer before hundreds of lives, including Harriman's own, are lost.

Flight is a heart-pounding marriage of Jan Burke's "intricate plotting" (Washington Times), "chilling suspense" (Clive Cussler), and trademark "crisp, crackling prose" (Library Journal) that will thrill newcomers and veteran Burke fans, cover to cover.

FROM THE CRITICS

Jill M. Smith - Romantic Times

Award-winning author Jan Burke offers readers a new aspect of her marvelous series featuring reporter Irene Kelly and her husband Frank Harriman. Flight is truly Frank￯﾿ﾽs book and it is remarkable so emotional and gripping you won￯﾿ﾽt be able to put it down.

Publishers Weekly

Like Burke's Edgar-winning Bones (1999), this ambitious, if overlong, suspense novel focuses on an intense search for a pathological killer. In Las Piernas, Calif., newspaper reporter Irene Kelly, Burke's series heroine, takes backseat to her husband, prickly, tenacious homicide detective Frank Harriman. Ten years earlier, when brilliant police detective Philip Lefebvre disappeared in the middle of a triple homicide investigation, the cops believed he'd sold out to the suspected killer, drug lord Whitey Dane. When Lefebvre's 10-year-old corpse and sabotaged airplane are found in the San Bernadino Mountains, Frank reopens the case, suspecting that both Lefebvre and Dane were wrongly accused. Irene knew Lefebvre, but, except for a clunky plot device that places her in peril at the finale, this is Frank's book, as he exactingly unearths new evidence and uncovers a possible cover-up. Burke delves into the mind of the real murderer, still at large and unsuspected. The reader gradually identifies this frightening individual, but waits in suspense too long for Frank to do likewise. Burke's strength is her understanding of personal relationships and motivation, plus the memorable characters she creates, notably the murderer, who is so crazy he passes for sane. The author's thorough research is praiseworthy but it often slows down the story, and she isn't a great stylist. Unfortunately, that combination produces a book that takes too many pages to come to the point. Agent, Lowenstein-Morel. (Mar. 6) Forecast: The publisher is behind this title in a big way, with a 50,000 first printing and a 17-city author tour, and Burke's shelf-full of awards for previous books will draw many readers to this new one. This isn't the author's strongest outing, though, and in the long run, sales may not meet the publisher's expectations. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Discovery of the wreckage of a Cessna in the mountain underbrush reopens old wounds and a cold case. The pilot's remains are identified as those of Detective Philip Lefebvre of the Las Piernas Police Department, reviled ten years earlier for taking a payoff and killing the sole witness to a family's murder before disappearing, along with the material evidence that would have taken a major crime lord off the streets. As he investigates, Detective Frank Harriman must overcome the hostility of the other detectives and Lefebvre's family, the reluctance of his superiors, and threats from unexpected sources. Gradually convinced of Lefebvre's innocence, Harriman backtracks through the late detective's personal and professional lives to find the true killer, uncovering secrets that will rattle the Las Piernas force as much as Lefebvre's presumed guilt once did. Fans of the Irene Kelly series should know that Flight is told from the perspective of Harriman, Kelly's husband, with Kelly as a supporting player. This book will whet the appetite of those who have never read any of this series. Start at the beginning with Goodnight, Irene. Highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/00.] Anne C. Tomlin, Auburn Memorial Hosp., NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Internet Book Watch

Trent Randolph and his two children went sailing when a pirate suddenly appeared and killed the father and his daughter, but only wounded the son. Phillip Lefebvre comes on board and rescues the lad, who bonds with his savior. At that time, the police believe they finally have the goods on a local crime boss. The department and Phillip agree until Seth hears a do- rei-me of a watch that terrorizes the youngster. Lefebvre rethinks the case and illegally takes evidence out of the precinct. He goes flying, but his plane crashes leaving everyone to believe that he killed Seth and absconded with the evidence before vanishing. Ten years later, the plane is found and the case reopened with Detective Frank Harriman in charge. He does a paradigm shift assuming Lefebvre is innocent. His efforts bring him to the attention of someone who prefers the cop dead than having the law enforcement official learn the truth of what happened over a decade ago. There have been seven previous books in this series starring Irene Kelly, but this one is different as she plays a minor role and Frank tells the narrative. Flight takes some adjustments for those familiar with Jan Burke's works, but once the reader adapts, the novel gracefully soars. The tale is loaded with suspense, red herrings, and false leads that turn this who-done-it into a powerful reading experience while Ms. Burke deserves kudos for successfully trying something different.