PROFESSIONALS

A companion to The Fledglings code 91808, this is John Harris's gripping First World War novel for fans of Clive Cussler. To swing the tide of war you must take to the air once again. It was 1916 and the First World War still had two years to run. Martin Falconer, at 18 an experienced pilot with service in France to his credit, was kicking his heels in England, awaiting another posting to the Front. Throughout the spring he watched the progress of the war, especially the war in the air, acknowledging to himself the Germans' superiority. Their machines were better, and they had produced the war's best-known hero of the air, the Red Baron. British machines were poor, morale was low, and the odds were stacked against them. Finally at the beginning of April Martin was sent again to France, but this was the month that became known as Bloody April, when a pilot's life expectancy was two weeks, and Martin found himself in a unit demoralised and ill-managed. Harris's sombre picture of Britain at war is as compelling as only the truth can be. 283pp in facsimile reprint of the 1973 original. Fairly large print.