Flying to Pieces

was what I thought when I found this copy in a box of donated paperbacks on my first Iraq tour. I love old WWII airplanes, goofy adventures, and grew up around my grandfather and all his WWII buddies listening to wild tales. I'd drop papers for 30 days' leave and cast my lot in with a caper like this in a heartbeat if the old guys asked. Tons of fun, but with just enough cliches to keep it from getting that fifth star.

Flying to Pieces was an excellent book, with thoroughly deep characters and an engrossing plot. Ing weaves a masterful book together with a few special surprises in the end. Loved the name of the group, B.O.F. (Boring Old Farts)

Ing's recent books, Spooker and Butcher Bird have been thrillers, with tension and suspence as characters narrowly escape death, capture, doom. Ing's characters share center stage with great machines. Flying to Pieces is something new: funny. The plot includes interesting machines in the form of preserved warplanes, but the story is about a group of old farts (and one grandson) off on a treasure hunt. I am reminded of Donald Westlake's comic caper novels, only here the characters might possibly be legal, trying to follow a treasure map to a hidden cache of antique planes on a Pacific island. There are lots of sidetrips and background on characters, so the book is leisurely if one is expecting a fast paced thriller, but a full sized and thoroughly enjoyable read if one wants a light hearted treasure hunt by a bunch of old farts.