Frederick Forsyth's "The Shepherd" - A Good Read for AH players

[LTARGlok]

Is anyone else here a big fan of this story by Frederick Forsyth?? 

It does take place on Christmas Eve, and has an obviously religious undercurrent going on throughout.

The story is so well written, that you actually feel that you are the fighter pilot in the cockpit of his badly disabled plane, struggling to make it to an airbase in England.  As he tries his best to cope with all of his instrument failures, and the disorientation of the fog covered English coast side, out of nowhere, the Shepherd ( a De Havilland Mosquito ) suddenly appears. 

I found it an absolutely riveting and unusual Christmas story to read.




To those that have read the story:  Do you believe that God answered the fighter pilot's prayers??

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[Angus]

Being a Forsyth Fan, this post makes me want to weep

...Because I havent got the book, bwaaaahhh!

TY for the info, I'll order this one!

[LTARGlok]

Being a Forsyth Fan, this post makes me want to weep

...Because I havent got the book, bwaaaahhh!

TY for the info, I'll order this one!

Well, for anyone who loves this game, this would be a good read.   Forsyth himself is a pilot, so he knows a lot about planes and flying.

It talks in detail about WWII British bomber operations, and of Mosquitoes acting as Pathfinders for Lancaster raids.  One of these Mosquito pilots would also take off again after returning from a mission, for the purpose of helping to guide damaged bombers back to base.   In this role, the Mosquito changed from being a Pathfinder, to instead becoming a "Shepherd".

Hence, the title of the Book.

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[LTARGlok]

Here is a link to reader reviews of this book, in case anyone would like to learn more:

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/0670639699/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Note that the highest review possible is for 5 stars.   Out of 18 reviews given, 15 were for 5 stars.   And the other 3 were for 4 stars out of 5.   So this is definitely a well written book.   Forsyth is most famous for being the author of "The Day of the Jackal", which was selected as being the best novel of 1971.

If you do read all of those reviews, some contain some spoiler info.   So be careful in reading them, if you do plan to track this down and read it.

There are used copies of the book selling on Amazon.com for as little as $.99, so this is definitely most affordable.   It was written back in 1975.   While it received some great critical acclaim, it was not at all the commercial success that some of his other works have had.

Since most of it is written as being the thinking that is going on inside the mind of a pilot dealing with an emergency, it has a most unique perspective.   And I think that this sort of perspective alone would appeal to players of this game.   For it puts you, the reader, right into the cockpit of the stricken fighter plane, trying to find some way to avoid the impending disaster as his fuel is slowly used up.

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