The Author's Reality is Better

I didn't know what to expect from Bear Grylls' first novel 'Ghost Flight' (2015) because he's this ex-SAS soldier turned television survivalist celebrity. His television shows and adventuring expeditions are enjoyable. He has published non-fiction books related to those television series. But this... I mean, this is a novel, fiction writing... even if he has been assisted by ex-journalist Damien Lewis. (Reviews here, here and here.)

Protagonist Will Jaeger is an ex-soldier haunted by the brutal kidnapping and deaths of wife and son. Then he was recalled to active duty to lead an expedition team to recover a Junkers Ju 390 aircraft and its contents in some desolate part of the Amazon jungle bordering Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. Of course there would be Nazi secret weapons recovered, including means of biological warfare, and secrets of the Third Reich and Allied Forces finally revealed.

'Exactly,' Narov confirmed. 'As to the Röntgen Kanone, there is no direct translation into English. you might call it a death-ray or direct energy weapon. It fires a particle beam, or electromagnetic radiation, or even sound waves. It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but the Nazis were long rumoured to have had such a weapon, and to have used it to down Allied aircraft.' 

Narov's gaze met Jaeger's through the eyepiece of her mask. 'It seems as if it is true, and that they held on to their Röntgen Kanone until the very last/' 

Jaeger could feel the sweat pouring down from his face. The heat was building to intolerable levels, and the perspiration was tarting to condense insides his mask, blurring his vision. He figured they should head for the rear and try to open one of the side doors, which lay just aft of the tailplane.

I understand there'll be more books coming up in this series featuring Will Jaeger. The second novel in this series titled 'Burning Angels' (2016) is out. I'm not impressed. It might fare better as a movie. I won't be chasing this series. This is a classic case of how the author's reality is much more exciting and thrilling than his uhhh thrillers. 😶