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Uncontrolled Flight
A 49th Shelf 2023 Book of the Year (Fiction)
A 2023 Standout Read at Consumed by Ink
CBC Books Canadian Fiction to Read in Fall 2023
Wildfire season in the British Columbia Interior. Experienced firefighting pilot Rafe Mackie loses control of his airplane while doing a routine drop and plummets to his death. The investigation that follows unleashes revelations that forever change the lives of three people: Will, the pilot who watches his mentor crash; Sharon, the widow struggling to come to terms with her loss; and Nathalie, an accident investigator with shadowy connections to the incident. As a form of the truth emerges, these three are drawn into a tangle of secrets and lies, passion and grief, blame and forgiveness that forces them to confront the actions that brought one man's life crashing down.
In her second novel, Frances Peck creates another explosive literary page-turner, one that probes love, loyalty, and the ways we try to conceal and redeem our lives.
A 2023 Standout Read at Consumed by Ink
CBC Books Canadian Fiction to Read in Fall 2023
Wildfire season in the British Columbia Interior. Experienced firefighting pilot Rafe Mackie loses control of his airplane while doing a routine drop and plummets to his death. The investigation that follows unleashes revelations that forever change the lives of three people: Will, the pilot who watches his mentor crash; Sharon, the widow struggling to come to terms with her loss; and Nathalie, an accident investigator with shadowy connections to the incident. As a form of the truth emerges, these three are drawn into a tangle of secrets and lies, passion and grief, blame and forgiveness that forces them to confront the actions that brought one man's life crashing down.
In her second novel, Frances Peck creates another explosive literary page-turner, one that probes love, loyalty, and the ways we try to conceal and redeem our lives.
383 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 2023
4 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Frances Peck
2 books22 followersFrances Peck wrote fiction and poetry until the realities of adulthood and rent steered her toward a career as a freelance ghostwriter, editor, and teacher. Known for her workshops and presentations on the finer points of language, she’s the author of Peck’s English Pointers, a collection of essays on language, and a co-author of the HyperGrammar website.
Now she is rediscovering the magic of making things up. The Broken Places, her debut novel, was named a Globe and Mail best book of 2022 and was a finalist for the 2023 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. Her second novel, Uncontrolled Flight, came out in September 2023 and made book-of-the-year lists at 49th Shelf and Consumed by Ink.
Now she is rediscovering the magic of making things up. The Broken Places, her debut novel, was named a Globe and Mail best book of 2022 and was a finalist for the 2023 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize. Her second novel, Uncontrolled Flight, came out in September 2023 and made book-of-the-year lists at 49th Shelf and Consumed by Ink.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
September 28, 2023
4.5*. I absolutely loved almost all of this book. My only complaint is that the end was a bit sudden and quick -- I would have like another seed or two planted earlier in the story. But great writing, great character development, great detail. I'm eagerly looking forward to Frances Peck's third novel....
January 6, 2025
The pull quote on the front cover is really quite accurate in terms of summing up my reading experience: unable to put the book down because you desperately want to know what happens next but terrified to find out the truth. Frances Peck is a master of writing very real characters in the sense that they are extremely complex and not always likeable, yet you still find yourself rooting for them. I really enjoyed the careful way the narrative unfolded with a shifting timeline as well, which was masterfully executed. The exposition of the mystery at the heart of the story was next level.
March 8, 2024
I so enjoy a book that is written by a local author who sets the scenes within the book in geographic places which are immediately identifiable. I find myself that more engaged with the story. Although the publishing year is 2023, she wrote this book prior to The Broken Places.
I really liked the insight into the inner workings of the agency which investigates airplane crashes. She must have an insider contact as she gave, what I believe, was a very accurate assessment of the culture into a government run organization.
A compelling storyline with several unexpected twists, strong characterizations of flawed characters and their often mercurial interactions including their backstories, the exploration of the why of the "accident" and the differing perspectives of some characters viewing the same events--what else could you want in a novel.
I really liked the insight into the inner workings of the agency which investigates airplane crashes. She must have an insider contact as she gave, what I believe, was a very accurate assessment of the culture into a government run organization.
A compelling storyline with several unexpected twists, strong characterizations of flawed characters and their often mercurial interactions including their backstories, the exploration of the why of the "accident" and the differing perspectives of some characters viewing the same events--what else could you want in a novel.
November 25, 2023
Uncontrolled Flight was a great read for me on several levels.
Uncle was a WWII pilot sent overseas to be a radio operator. Daddy taught flying during and after the War at the Flying Club where my younger brother teaches it today; WWII logs are still there. I worked as a Flight Attendant for a small Canadian charter in the late 1980’s.
I’m still thrilled when a clear sky at 39, 000 feet shows the curvature of the Earth.
Ah the romance of it (but not glamour, as my boss who’d worked for Wardair always assured me) In a country like Canada as stopping local bus service traps people who otherwise must travel, transportation of any kind will never cease to be a big story.
The mystery and suspense in Uncontrolled Flight places it among my favourite reads of this year which also include the first novel by Frances Peck, The Broken Places which some West coast dwellers fear reading but should not. Chew on the tough subject matter and find the redemption in engaging personal stories of characters like people one has met or always known.
Uncontrolled Flight is a trip all its own, a truly Canadian journey, and that’s saying something.
We know these people. What will happen next?
Uncle was a WWII pilot sent overseas to be a radio operator. Daddy taught flying during and after the War at the Flying Club where my younger brother teaches it today; WWII logs are still there. I worked as a Flight Attendant for a small Canadian charter in the late 1980’s.
I’m still thrilled when a clear sky at 39, 000 feet shows the curvature of the Earth.
Ah the romance of it (but not glamour, as my boss who’d worked for Wardair always assured me) In a country like Canada as stopping local bus service traps people who otherwise must travel, transportation of any kind will never cease to be a big story.
The mystery and suspense in Uncontrolled Flight places it among my favourite reads of this year which also include the first novel by Frances Peck, The Broken Places which some West coast dwellers fear reading but should not. Chew on the tough subject matter and find the redemption in engaging personal stories of characters like people one has met or always known.
Uncontrolled Flight is a trip all its own, a truly Canadian journey, and that’s saying something.
We know these people. What will happen next?
August 14, 2024
Peck keeps the story moving with the little pieces of information that each of the characters seems to have related to the crash of the Tracker plane piloted by Rafe Mackie. Each thinks that they hold the secret to the reason why the plane went down. It becomes a question of who do they trust their information to and are they willing to share their secrets? The story progresses through time periods related to the date of the crash.
Reading this book in BC during the summer of another bunch of forest fires helped me to get settled into the setting very quickly. I had some difficulty with the character of Nathalie and her decisions. That character needed some more development for me to better understand her motivations and actions. I appreciated the way that Peck wrote the story in a way that showed the grieving process through the eyes of the different characters and ended it in a realistic way.
Reading this book in BC during the summer of another bunch of forest fires helped me to get settled into the setting very quickly. I had some difficulty with the character of Nathalie and her decisions. That character needed some more development for me to better understand her motivations and actions. I appreciated the way that Peck wrote the story in a way that showed the grieving process through the eyes of the different characters and ended it in a realistic way.
August 25, 2025
I have such mixed feelings on this book, I really didn't know how to rate it. On one hand, I thought the writing was really strong, the author did a great job building a suspenseful storyline that made me want to keep reading. I also personally loved the story being set in Vancouver, it felt like a character in the story, and the author's descriptions felt very true to my experiences in the city.
On the other hand, I really did not enjoy where the plot went in this book.
In the end, I think it gets 3 stars from me for creating something I both really enjoyed and absolutely despised.
On the other hand, I really did not enjoy where the plot went in this book.
In the end, I think it gets 3 stars from me for creating something I both really enjoyed and absolutely despised.
January 14, 2025
It’s wildfire season in British Columbia. How could Rafe Mackie, a veteran firefighting pilot with West Air, lose control of his plane while making a routine drop of fire retardant, and crash into the forest? That is the question everyone’s asking in Frances Peck’s ambitious and suspenseful novel Uncontrolled Flight, and it’s a question that reverberates far beyond the circle of family, friends and colleagues who suffer in the immediate aftermath of his death.
Peck constructs a story with many moving parts around a few central characters. Will is Rafe’s firefighting partner, a younger pilot whom Rafe had mentored. Over the ten years of their partnership the two had become close friends and learned to read between the lines of each other’s moods. Sharon is Rafe’s wife, a vibrant and attractive woman in her mid-forties who, suffering the fallout of her husband’s death in the form of an identity crisis, struggles to find a path forward. And then there’s Nathalie, an expert crash-scene investigator but also a supremely self-serving young woman whose private and professional lives are cesspits of impulsive behaviour, bad choices and poor judgment.
We see the action through their eyes, and Peck supplies each with a detailed backstory, giving the novel great depth and resonance.
The story’s main narrative trajectory is the investigation into the crash, which also entails a deep dive into Rafe Mackie’s life. Mackie grew up with older brother Sheldon in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. But beyond this basic fact, Sharon knows little about Rafe’s life there and can’t help but wonder why he rarely spoke of it and always managed to find an excuse not to return, not even for his parents’ funerals. Sharon is also tormented by regret because she and Rafe never managed to conceive a child, and at the time of the accident they were living apart, their marriage having hit a rocky patch.
For Will, Rafe’s death is an almost lethal blow. On the day of the crash, Will was in a second plane flying over the same patch of forest. His job was to guide Rafe to the spot where the retardant drop would have the maximum impact on a growing wildfire. But after witnessing the accident first-hand, Will’s severe case of shock leaves him unable to think straight. He can’t believe that Rafe would allow himself to become distracted and refuses to accept that pilot error was a factor. While on forced leave from his job, his life very nearly goes off the rails.
Nathalie’s involvement encompasses her professional role as a crash investigator and her troubled personal life. Though she has not been assigned to the team looking into Rafe’s accident—in fact, she's been explicitly warned away from the investigation—this does not stop her from poking her nose where it doesn’t belong. Nathalie carries some baggage. A previous investigation went badly when, prematurely and without authorization, she carelessly leaked information to the press, causing embarrassment for the Transportation Safety Board. Her supervisor, Tucker, regards her as a loose cannon and has her on a short leash. But Nathalie hasn’t learned from her previous mistakes. As she demonstrates time and time again, she simply doesn’t care.
In Uncontrolled Flight, Frances Peck’s control over very complex material is nearly flawless. This is a long book. Unavoidably, given the novel’s setting and the circumstances driving the action, the story includes a fair amount of technical jargon. But on numerous occasions Peck weaves esoteric information seamlessly into the narrative and, by providing context, makes it comprehensible to those of us with no background in fighting wildfires from the sky.
In the end, Uncontrolled Flight succeeds as a gripping, emotionally charged, and deeply affecting story of lives intersecting under tragic circumstances. In this, her second novel, Frances Peck explores two sides of love and loyalty, how they provide strength to keep us going during difficult times, but also shield us from the jagged edges of reality’s hard truths.
Peck constructs a story with many moving parts around a few central characters. Will is Rafe’s firefighting partner, a younger pilot whom Rafe had mentored. Over the ten years of their partnership the two had become close friends and learned to read between the lines of each other’s moods. Sharon is Rafe’s wife, a vibrant and attractive woman in her mid-forties who, suffering the fallout of her husband’s death in the form of an identity crisis, struggles to find a path forward. And then there’s Nathalie, an expert crash-scene investigator but also a supremely self-serving young woman whose private and professional lives are cesspits of impulsive behaviour, bad choices and poor judgment.
We see the action through their eyes, and Peck supplies each with a detailed backstory, giving the novel great depth and resonance.
The story’s main narrative trajectory is the investigation into the crash, which also entails a deep dive into Rafe Mackie’s life. Mackie grew up with older brother Sheldon in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. But beyond this basic fact, Sharon knows little about Rafe’s life there and can’t help but wonder why he rarely spoke of it and always managed to find an excuse not to return, not even for his parents’ funerals. Sharon is also tormented by regret because she and Rafe never managed to conceive a child, and at the time of the accident they were living apart, their marriage having hit a rocky patch.
For Will, Rafe’s death is an almost lethal blow. On the day of the crash, Will was in a second plane flying over the same patch of forest. His job was to guide Rafe to the spot where the retardant drop would have the maximum impact on a growing wildfire. But after witnessing the accident first-hand, Will’s severe case of shock leaves him unable to think straight. He can’t believe that Rafe would allow himself to become distracted and refuses to accept that pilot error was a factor. While on forced leave from his job, his life very nearly goes off the rails.
Nathalie’s involvement encompasses her professional role as a crash investigator and her troubled personal life. Though she has not been assigned to the team looking into Rafe’s accident—in fact, she's been explicitly warned away from the investigation—this does not stop her from poking her nose where it doesn’t belong. Nathalie carries some baggage. A previous investigation went badly when, prematurely and without authorization, she carelessly leaked information to the press, causing embarrassment for the Transportation Safety Board. Her supervisor, Tucker, regards her as a loose cannon and has her on a short leash. But Nathalie hasn’t learned from her previous mistakes. As she demonstrates time and time again, she simply doesn’t care.
In Uncontrolled Flight, Frances Peck’s control over very complex material is nearly flawless. This is a long book. Unavoidably, given the novel’s setting and the circumstances driving the action, the story includes a fair amount of technical jargon. But on numerous occasions Peck weaves esoteric information seamlessly into the narrative and, by providing context, makes it comprehensible to those of us with no background in fighting wildfires from the sky.
In the end, Uncontrolled Flight succeeds as a gripping, emotionally charged, and deeply affecting story of lives intersecting under tragic circumstances. In this, her second novel, Frances Peck explores two sides of love and loyalty, how they provide strength to keep us going during difficult times, but also shield us from the jagged edges of reality’s hard truths.
October 16, 2023
Another great novel by Frances Peck. As with her first novel, this one revolves around the story of a few different people's lives who become interconnected by a tragedy. In Uncontrolled Flight, that tragedy is the death of a firefighting pilot, a seasoned veteran whose plane just nose-dives into the trees on a routine flight, right in front of his friend's plane. The devastating effects of watching his co-worker die gets exacerbated by dealing with two men who are crash investigators. It becomes even more complicated as to why a third investigator has been told to stay off the project.
Some unexpected twists and compelling characters make for a great read.
Some unexpected twists and compelling characters make for a great read.
November 9, 2023
The title of Frances Peck's second novel promises tension and chaos. The first few chapters introduce three unforgettable characters who deal in different ways with the tragedy of a plane crash during British Columbia’s firefighting season. As the ensuing crash investigation unfolds, it is easy to forget the riveting plot and get lost inside the characters’ heads. Feeling their grief, guilt, resentment, and courage had me turning the pages slower and slower because I didn’t want to leave. Highly recommend this book.
February 14, 2025
Uncontrolled Flight is the kind of story you simply can't put down. From the first words in the prologue, you KNOW this story is going to be sad, loving, painful, terrifying at times, and absolutely engrossing. Frances Peck knows how to write about grief, about pain and love. Chapter Twenty is one of the most poignant descriptions of grief, the awkwardness of grief and the pain of losing I've read in a long time, reminiscent of Julian Barnes writing about the loss of his wife.
Thank you Frances Peck!
Thank you Frances Peck!
February 7, 2026
Interesting and complex character development about a crash in the interior of BC while fighting a fire. The key question is why did this experienced and charismatic pilot drop to his death. The book focuses on four different characters who are impacted by his death, all of whom carry guilt that they may be the possible cause. The reason, only slowly revealed, is much more complicated. A gripping tale.
November 24, 2023
Uncontrolled Flight is an exhilarating polyphonic ride. Each rich character brings their own complexity and motivations to the narrative. I found myself second-guessing and switching allegiances several times which is a sign of thoughtful writing and carefully designed structure. This novel is full of turbulence of all kinds, I raced through it. Very sexy, too! Thoroughly enjoyed reading!
February 28, 2024
Uncontrolled Flight is powerfully well written. What affected me most was the author’s profound understanding of grief and loss and the altered state it plunges us into – an inner and outer world we no longer recognize. I’ve read very few books that have captured this so well, in a way that supports such a great, fast-moving story. Highly recommended.
July 23, 2024
A compelling read! I enjoyed the character development and the local setting brought to life. The writing captured it all, including characters by speech patterns.
While I loved the pacing throughout, the clues and chapter endings, I was not as satisfied with the ending. So, 4.5 stars from me. I would recommend it; it’s an intense reading experience.
While I loved the pacing throughout, the clues and chapter endings, I was not as satisfied with the ending. So, 4.5 stars from me. I would recommend it; it’s an intense reading experience.
September 29, 2023
It took me a while to warm to this book. I had thoroughly enjoyed The Broken Places and was expecting something similar. Instead, a much slower mounting need to reach the end and get to the bottom of the mystery.
November 23, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Uncontrolled Flight by Frances Peck. I loved the story line (very unique) and the character development. I found myself consumed in the story and wanting to know how it ends. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good fiction novel.
January 13, 2024
A great read. Tradgedy examined by three survivors whose lies and secrets form a tangled web. Well paced with brilliant character arcs, and a heart-wrenching, totally believable accident that begins this compelling tale.
July 15, 2024
I was not expecting to love this book so much! I picked this book up because it was a local author, and I love wildfires (fighting them, not the devastation of them)
This book was full of unexpected twists, I love how it potrayed the many layers of grief!
This book was full of unexpected twists, I love how it potrayed the many layers of grief!
November 23, 2023
Exciting, surprising, engaging. Well written!
January 19, 2026
Loved this book! The unraveling of the story and the depth of the characters made me feel like I was saying goodbye to a friend when it was finished.
August 26, 2024
Frances Peck's second novel is an emotional rollercoaster ride through the lives of people who loved and lost a firefighting pilot in British Columbia, Canada. The forest firefighting industry on the west coast is the backdrop for the intertwined relationships pilot Rafe Mackie had with his soon-to-be ex-wife, co-workers, relatives and friends. It is at times both sexy, and haunting.
The writing is clear and unadorned, but lyrical, and some of the scenes, especially the flashbacks with his wife, are so painful and steeped in reality. Well done, Frances. I really enjoyed this.
The writing is clear and unadorned, but lyrical, and some of the scenes, especially the flashbacks with his wife, are so painful and steeped in reality. Well done, Frances. I really enjoyed this.
February 24, 2024
A writer’s work crafted with precision, economy and vividness. The characterizations and psychological constructions are as strong as I’ve read in quite some time. I’ll be devouring her other work, The Broken Places.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews