Book description
Bob Winrush used to fly passengers, then worked for years as a
'freight dog', flying consignments of goods and sometimes people to
all the corners of the world - including bush-strips in war zones:
'real flying,' as he called it. Until, one day, he walked away
from a deal that didn't smell right - something a freight dog should
never do.
Now working as a private pilot for an Emirate prince in Dubai, he
finds that moment of refusal catching up with him. Caught between
those who want to find out more and those who want to cover their
traces, he becomes a marked man, and flees to a remote Scottish
island. Pursued by both armed assassins and a ruinous, bitter divorce,
he struggles to re-fashion himself in this barren, beautiful place,
taking on another identity.
But back in the world of smuggled AK-47s and heroin, the stakes are
rising. Despite the presence of Judith, the alluring environmentalist,
memories of his uglier flights return to haunt him. Even in the
furthest Hebrides his past is with him, and the predators are closing in.
Adam Thorpe's tenth novel is an extraordinary amalgam: a
vertiginous, page-turning thriller and a masterful work of literary
fiction. Fast, funny and very frightening, Flight shows a new
facet of this most brilliant of writers.
Adam Thorpe was born in Paris in 1956. His first novel,
Ulverton
, was published in 1992, and he has published
two books of stories and six poetry collections - most recently
Voluntary
. His new translation of
Madame Bovary
has just been published by Vintage. He lives in France with his wife
and family.
