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Mitchell Gant #4
A Different War
On its final test flight, a new American airliner crashes mysteriously in the Arizona desert. An accident, or something more sinister? Mitchell Gant, the hero of Firefox and now an expert on aviation accidents, must risk his life by repeating the test flight in every detail to discover the truth.
In Britain, Marian Pyott, MP, finds evidence of a massive fraud involving hundreds of millions of pounds ... and implicating an ailing UK aircraft manufacturer seeking a market for its latest commercial airliner. Behind Aero UK is the conglomerate headed by Marian's childhood friend, David Winterbourne, a man ruthlessly determined to prevent the collapse of his worldwide business empire whatever the cost.
When a second airliner crashes off the coast of Finland, is it coincidence or design? Is there a conspiracy that involves business, politics and the global marketplace?
Gant survived Vietnam, the Cold War and the Gulf. Now he finds himself fighting a different - and far more dangerous - war...
In Britain, Marian Pyott, MP, finds evidence of a massive fraud involving hundreds of millions of pounds ... and implicating an ailing UK aircraft manufacturer seeking a market for its latest commercial airliner. Behind Aero UK is the conglomerate headed by Marian's childhood friend, David Winterbourne, a man ruthlessly determined to prevent the collapse of his worldwide business empire whatever the cost.
When a second airliner crashes off the coast of Finland, is it coincidence or design? Is there a conspiracy that involves business, politics and the global marketplace?
Gant survived Vietnam, the Cold War and the Gulf. Now he finds himself fighting a different - and far more dangerous - war...
378 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1997
4 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
Craig Thomas
87 books92 followersDavid Craig Owen Thomas was a Welsh author of thrillers, most notably the Mitchell Gant series.
The son of the Western Mail rugby union writer, JBG Thomas, Craig was educated at Cardiff High School. He graduated from University College, Cardiff in 1967, obtaining his M.A. after completing a thesis on Thomas Hardy. Thomas became an English Teacher, working in various grammar schools in the West Midlands, and was Head of English at the Shire Oak School, Walsall Wood.
After unsuccessfully trying script writing for radio, Thomas wrote part-time, with his wife as editor, in two fields: philosophical thoughts in books of essays; and techno-thriller genre, which although invention is often attributed to the better-known Tom Clancy, many feel that Thomas was its true originator. Most of Thomas's novels are set within MI.6 and feature the characters of Sir Kenneth Aubrey and Patrick Hyde.
His best-known novel which brought him to global prominence, Firefox became a successful Hollywood film, both directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. After writing his third novel, 1960s Cold War espionage thriller Wolfsbane, he left teaching altogether in 1977. His later books include Snow Falcon and A Different War. Shortly before his death he finished a two-volume commentary on German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
Thomas and his wife Jill had lived near Lichfield, Staffordshire, but moved to Somerset in 2010. He died on April 4, 2011 from pneumonia, following a short battle with acute myeloid leukemia. He was 68.
The son of the Western Mail rugby union writer, JBG Thomas, Craig was educated at Cardiff High School. He graduated from University College, Cardiff in 1967, obtaining his M.A. after completing a thesis on Thomas Hardy. Thomas became an English Teacher, working in various grammar schools in the West Midlands, and was Head of English at the Shire Oak School, Walsall Wood.
After unsuccessfully trying script writing for radio, Thomas wrote part-time, with his wife as editor, in two fields: philosophical thoughts in books of essays; and techno-thriller genre, which although invention is often attributed to the better-known Tom Clancy, many feel that Thomas was its true originator. Most of Thomas's novels are set within MI.6 and feature the characters of Sir Kenneth Aubrey and Patrick Hyde.
His best-known novel which brought him to global prominence, Firefox became a successful Hollywood film, both directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. After writing his third novel, 1960s Cold War espionage thriller Wolfsbane, he left teaching altogether in 1977. His later books include Snow Falcon and A Different War. Shortly before his death he finished a two-volume commentary on German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
Thomas and his wife Jill had lived near Lichfield, Staffordshire, but moved to Somerset in 2010. He died on April 4, 2011 from pneumonia, following a short battle with acute myeloid leukemia. He was 68.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 8, 2025
This started out as a good, although preposterous series. The protagonist is now fighting a different kind of war, as a pilot brought in to reenact a suspicious crash. This was written in 1998. Without the Cold War in the background, none of the antagonists are very menacing.
July 13, 2016
Quite an interesting end to a overall good series, however this novel was based on a false premise, as is demonstrably shown in World Politics (I will not label this premise, for the sake of future readers of this novel and for future encounters of this series, but I will say that this falsity does not exist in such a rampant form in other parts of this series).
June 14, 2019
A well written and well plotted tale.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews