Product Description

In September 1939, World War Two is declared. For RAF fighter pilots patrolling the Franco-German border it is a bizarre time: one moment they are chasing an elusive Luftwaffe, the next ordering champagne in Paris. Then, in May 1940, Hitler launches Blitzkrieg and the Hurricane squadrons find themselves engulfed in battle. Blue Man Falling follows the fortunes of two RAF pilots; Englishman Kit Curtis, and American Ossie Wolf, who clash not only with the Germans, but also with each other, fighting for different reasons and employing different methods as France collapses and the Allies face humiliation and defeat. They also encounter the insidious Fifth Column, the enemy within, and those intent on profiting from chaos...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1265971 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

About the Author
Frank Barnard trained as a journalist before moving into public relations. He worked as managing director for major international consultancies before quitting at 50 to write full time and race cars. He is married with two children and four grandchildren with whom he enjoys sailing and sea-fishing near his home in Rye, Sussex.

Customer Reviews

Impressive debut
Blue Man Falling deserves to be a great success. Frank Barnard has managed to combine a gripping adventure story of Hurricane fighter pilots with a moving and totally convincing account of the tragedy and drama of the phony war. The book gradually builds pace through the skillful use of flashbacks and scenes which contrast the relative calm of pre-occupation Paris with the turmoil of the German advance. The author clearly shares in the adrenalin rush of an aerial dogfight, but equally clearly recognizes the pain and horror experienced by combatants and civilians on either side of any conflict.

After reading Blue Man Falling, you will not only have enjoyed a hugely entertaining story; you will have learnt more about the early days of World War II (and probably the Spanish Civil War, too), and very likely wondered how you yourself would have acted in the heat of battle.

The Phoney War, Rehashed
By setting his story during the Phoney War and the Battle of France, Mr. Barnard invites direct comparison to Derek Robinson's "Piece of Cake", the definitive novel on the RAF. But whereas Robinson oozes style and wit on every page, Barnard is merely competent, hard-working and earnest. Robinson displayed a refreshingly clear-headed approach to his subject: his protagonists were the heroes, cowards, and total [...] of the air force, and he dealt with them all evenly and with no sign of sentimentality. Barnard, on the other hand, has picked the two best and brightest pilots in his fictional squadron, the smart men who survive and rise to the top; in other words, precisely the type of hero one would expect in a war novel. The result is like a slightly more grown-up version of Biggles, and the enemy is suitably sadistic and inhuman.

Mr. Barnard squeezes in a lot of detail. In some cases this is good, such as when he describes Paris and the various restaurants, clubs, and hotels his characters visit. Other times it comes across as showing off: he's done a lot of research, so he's keen to tell you the caliber of every bullet and the type of engine in every car or airplane. Details of the latter type make me cringe, as they tend to take the emphasis away from the characters and their emotions and place it on technical jargon and dehumanizing trivia.

Mr. Barnard's greatest offence is the creation of Ossie Wolf, one of his two heroes. Ossie is an American pilot who served with the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War and now flies with the Royal Air Force. He's disdainful of the British class system and the notions of chivalry and gentlemanly behavior that are still clung to by the officers he serves with. If he weren't totally humorless, he would be a dead ringer for Christopher Hart III, the character in "Piece of Cake" who Robinson used to make exactly the same arguments against the outdated tactics and ideas of the RAF. In Ossie's case, however, I wasn't really sure how he got to be so good at what he does, since he seems to be an ace pilot from the beginning despite having never seen action before. The unoriginality of this character is almost too much to believe, and if it weren't for Ossie's inclusion the novel would have an easier time standing on its own merits. The dialogue given to him is so over-written I couldn't help imagining Humphrey Bogart in the role.

In addition to his two RAF heroes (the rest of the squadron is reduced to a list of names), Mr. Barnard trots out a parade of German and French soldiers and civilians, all of whom are treated with varying degrees of scorn by the author. The Germans, several of whom the pilots meet face to face, are all bloodthirsty monsters; the French are cowards and weaklings who hardly deserve to be defended. All this is done, it would seem, to build up the heroes: since everyone else is wrong, they must be right.

The book does have some merits. For the most part prose is fluid and serviceable, though not terribly exciting; he tends to write the French characters' dialogue in a formal and stilted manner, as if in a very literal translation. The air combat scenes, if not quite as nail-biting as Robinson's, do the job well, even though they tend to make everything seem very easy -- the German airplanes fall like flies at the hands of Barnard's heroes, and it's never entirely clear how they became such amazing pilots. Mr. Barnard's goal was to juxtapose the swinging nightlife of Parisian cafes with the mundane horrors of the Phoney War, and he's done so quite well. If only he'd done it before Mr. Robinson wrote "Piece of Cake". The only reason to recommend this novel is that it might be easier to find and cheaper that "Piece of Cake", and might appeal more to readers who prefer technical details over black humor.

Great first novel
Quite unlike any other work I've read based on the happenings during early WW2. The detail was particuarly impressive and the reader will absorb an enormous amount of historical fact in an easily assimilated way without appearing to do so. The persona and life of the main character, the well brought up and slightly naive,unworldly young fighter pilot from a priveleged background, is particularly well drawn and totally beleivable. There are one or two sub plots and beautifully set up characters that add enormous interest. The contrast between the hastily snatched social breaks and the chronicles of the death and destruction whilst flying against the enemy reflects no doubt exactly how it was and again is particularly well drawn and sensitively written. The lifetime of the average frontline fighter pilot at the time being measured in months at best. A lot of meticulous research has been done for sure by Frank Barnard to produce a great read that is hard to put down once started. I look forward to his next one, as he must go will surely go from strength to strength.