Aces: A Novel of World War II

by Robert Denny

A tale of American boyhood friends who face love, war, and the Messerschmidt-262, the world's first operational jet fighter

349 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 4, 1991

Reviews

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 2 out of 5]

Denny was a WW2 bomber pilot and reporter. I don't know how he was at his day job, but he's not much of a novelist. Robinson and Amandson hail from different strata of a small Pennsylvania mining town. Lt. Google is from California and know kung fu. Together, they're part of the 8th Air Force. It's 1945, and they just need to make it till the end of the war. Denny plays with history a little, making the wasserfall SAM and an elite unit armed with Me 262s more deadly then they actually were. The story ambles through meditations on the warrior ethos, and class and sex in the 1940s, before settling into a happy ending for Robinson, with his enemies confronted and killed, and peace made with the death of Amundson.

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read, predictable but entertaining.

[Kenneth Litwak · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is okay. It has some interesting stories, which might be based on real experiences of the author. On the other hand, it has the same issue, but much worse, than books by Tom Clancy, Dale Brown, Robert Ludlum, and others. It is several places where there are meaningless sex scenes. As far as I'm concerned, that's just garbage. The story of three teens, two guys and one girl, skinny-dipping and then having sex in the back seat of the car has virtually nothing to do with what the story is supposed to be about. The book should focus on U.S. bombing in 1944-45 in Europe. Period. The rest is "bantha fodder." Plus, it's an odd title. Neither bomber crews nor bomber pilots become aces. The title should reflect the subject matter of the book. I don't recommend this book.

[Hans · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being a former B-17 8th Air Force bomber pilot, the author does know his stuff and how to portray flying a B-17. But the story of Aces is rather flat.

You take two hometown friends, they fall in love with flying, and each others girl friends, and decide to enlist and become pilots. They both end up in the same unit of the 8th in the UK. Lots of things happen, but you hardly feel 'connected' to them.

The author plays with the historical timeline, and mixes the Me-262 and the Wasserfall missiles with our main characters. How these things evolve is shown by following historical persons like Galland, Hitler, Göring, Speer, Eisenhower, and more, adding a German fighter jock.

It is not a bad book, but it misses 'the touch' to draw you in.

[Steve · Rating 1 out of 5]

Denny, a 35-mission B-17 captain and DFC holder, won't win any medals for his novel. The premise -- Allied bomber and fighter forces vs. the Me 262s -- is captivating, but his characters are shallow and his writing is stilted.