Death Orbit

Wingman #13

by Mack Maloney

Fighter pilot Hawk Hunter ventures into zero gravity to catch a madman—as an even greater threat hurtles toward Earth . . .   Hawk Hunter is the finest fighter pilot on Earth. Behind the controls of his famous red, white, and blue F-16, he can perform feats of aviation that make gravity seem nonexistent. All his life he has yearned to escape the Earth’s pull, and now he finally has—orbiting the planet in a stolen Russian shuttle. But this is no pleasure cruise. A crazed terrorist has escaped the Wingman’s grasp. Pursuing his old enemy in zero gravity, Hunter detects a far greater threat than one rogue a comet speeding straight toward Earth. Stopping this interstellar threat will be the toughest mission of Hunter’s highly decorated career. To fend off the comet, the people of Earth must band together as they never have before. In a world consumed by warfare, only peace can save them. Death Orbit is the thirteenth book of the Wingman series, which also includes Wingman and The Circle War.

Genres: Fiction

415 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Mack Maloney is the author of numerous fiction series, including Wingman, ChopperOps, Starhawk, and Pirate Hunters, as well as UFOs in Wartime – What They Didn’t Want You to Know. A native Bostonian, Maloney received a bachelor of science degree in journalism at Suffolk University and a master of arts degree in film at Emerson College. He is the host of a national radio show, Mack Maloney’s Military X-Files. Visit him on Facebook and at www.mackmaloney.com.

Mack Maloney is the Pen name for BRIAN KELLEHER

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Death Orbit is the thirteenth book in the Men's Adventure series featuring Hawk Hunter and his friends in an ongoing post-apocalyptic world told with broad and bold pulp flourishes and influences. This one continues the tendency of edging towards science fiction and a little away from the straight military adventure that was first noted in the preceding volume, Target: Point Zero. The books all feature larger-than-life characters facing overwhelming odds with implausible aircraft and weapons, but they're well told and well paced good-hearted adventures, so captivating that it's no problem to ignore the silly sections. It's good escape fiction in the proud pulp tradition.

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Our heroes led by Hawk Hunter are now in space to track down Viktor II, another arch super criminal who has sent the Asian Mercenary Cult and the Fourth Reich. The villain has taken refuge in a space station, initially thought to be the Mir station.

Meanwhile, the United Americans and others on Earth are experiencing weird, almost paranormal/supernatural phenomena. This is where the author takes a hard left and we the readers are holding on, wondering what will happens next.

1. He recreated Flight 19 which was presumably lost in the Bermuda Triangle.
2. He brought the USS Cyclops out of the Bermuda Triangle.
3. There is the "more dead cosmonauts" theory - the idea that the Soviet Union's space program hid more of their failures than originally reported.
4. He created the Cuban Missile Crisis of sorts.

Those are a few plot twists which often remain unresolved. In fact, they were never resolved. I am not going to say more but there are other elements that are more clichés and tropes.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rated this book 3 1/2 stars. While this 13th book in the Wingman series might be losing some steam, it is still intriguing enough to want to finish and see where it all ends up.