Flames Over Norway (The Secret Squadron Book 1) by Robert Jackson

Flames Over Norway (The Secret Squadron Book 1) Reviews

• 
  Veronica ⭐️

  Flames of Norway is set during the lead up to WWII and follows the POV of three main characters, Kalinski – a Pole, Armstrong – a Britain and Lehmann – a German.
  
  Jackson tells the facts without prejudice and gives the reader a blow by blow description of the battle for Norway. He knows his subject and the reader is taken right to the heart of the action with vivid imagery.
  
  Although written with great detail of the military planning and reconnaissance missions the story never gets bogged down and it kept me enthralled until the fiery end.
  
  Highly recommended for any readers interested in the planes and the missions of pilots during WWII.
  
  I received an ERC from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
  
• 
  Maria Beltrami

  Fiamme sopra la Norvegia, ovvero come l'oro norvegese non finì in mano nazista. Interessante romanzo storico che parla delle attività su un fronte poco conosciuto della seconda guerra mondiale e di come, vista da quei terribili inizi, la guerra avrebbe potuto essere facilmente vinta dalla Germania nazista, di sicuro meglio armata e priva di scrupoli rispetto alle potenze alleate. Come dicevo, romanzo molto interessante anche se un po' ondivago, dato che molto spesso, la parte storica diventa di secondo piano, e molto romanzesca, rispetto alla descrizione degli innumerevoli duello aerei. Molto divertente, soprattutto letto alle luce delle attuali teorie complottistiche relativa alle scie chimiche, il passaggio che parla della sorpresa dei primi piloti d'alta quota nello scoprire che al di sopra di una certa altitudine i loro aerei, che a quote più basse non tracciavano segni nell'aria, disegnavano invece poderose scie che in qualche modo ne denunciavano la presenza nonostante le verniciature che li rendevano invisibili dal basso. Per la cronaca: il romanzo è del 1966.
  Ringrazio Endeavour Press e Netgalley per avermi fornito una copia gratuita in cambio di una recensione onesta.
  
  Flames over Norway, or how Norwegian gold did not end up in Nazi hand. An interesting historical novel about activities on a little-known front of World War II and how, seen by those terrible beginnings, war could easily be won by Nazi Germany, certainly better armed and unscrupulous than Allies. As I was saying, a very interesting novel though somewhat incostant, since very often the historical part becomes secondary and very fictional compared to the description of the many air duels. It's a lot of fun, especially in light of the current conspiracy theories about chemical sciences, the passage that talks about the surprise of the first pilots of high altitude to discover that above a certain altitude their planes, which at lower altitudes did not trace signs in the air, drew insteads big path that somehow denounced their presence despite the paintings that made them invisible from below. For the news: The novel is from 1966.
  I thank Endeavor Press and Netgalley for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
  
  
• 
  Tony Hisgett

  The book follows the reconnaissance pilot Ken Armstrong during the early days of the war, although occasionally the focus switches to Stanislaw Kalinski, a Polish fighter pilot and a German Me109 pilot Hans Lehmann.
  
  A great deal of the book is an historical description of several incidents at the beginning the war, especially the invasion of Norway. Although this is interesting there are times when it goes on a bit too long and I just wanted the story to get back to Armstrong’s adventures.
  
• 
  Brad

  For the most part, this book was very enjoyable. I felt the book ended abruptly. perhaps that was the writers intension. To leave the reader wanting more. There was more of a story that should have been told. Generally speaking, a light story to read and not much more.
• 
  David Wardrop

  Sometimes when reading historical fiction you can easily tell that it has been well researched and Flames over Norway is one of those books.
• 
  Les

  This is the second book by this author that I've read, and my experience was similar. Flames Over Norway is set during the very early stages of World War Two, and the central character is a young reconnaissance pilot who flies dangerous photographing missions over enemy territory in an unarmed aircraft. The story moves along quite well and describes the scene very well, almost documentary style in places with the author filling in the background tactical situation of the posturing armies and air forces. As the title suggests, the largest section of the story takes place in Norway, where the German forces are trying to gain a foothold due to the valuable strategic nature of their shipping ports, essential for their naval vessels trying to get to the North Atlantic. The story turns more into a blow-by-blow account of tussles between the local militias, British garrisons and the invading Nazi troops, and is well-written and interesting, but the story still lacks a definable overriding plot or story. There are some particularly cool naval battle scenes that I found interesting and there is a small amount of intrigue around a train load of gold that the Norwegians are desperately trying to whisk away from under the Germans' noses, but not a heavy enough plot to really engage. Had there been a bigger story at work (other than the whole World War Two thing) then this book would've been a lot harder to put down. The author's knowledge of the period and of the aircraft and hardware appears to be vast and accurate, and this lends itself to a book that is more educational than entertaining. I reckon that anyone who is an enthusiast of World War Two aviation in particular would enjoy the book, but I wouldn't recommend it to a typical reader looking for a rollicking yarn. This is a bit of a shame because the writing style is good and the story flows well enough, it's just missing that "big picture" to keep the reader firmly on the hook.
• 
  John Purvis

  “Flames over Norway” eBook was published in 2016 (April, the paper version was first published in 1996) and was written by Robert Jackson. Mr. Jackson has written several books, both Fiction and Non-Fiction, on World War II, with a focus on aircraft of the era.
  
  I received a galley of this novel for review through
  https://www.netgalley.com. I categorize this novel as ‘PG’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in England and Norway just prior to and during during World War II. The primary character is British Flying Officer Ken Armstrong.
  
  Armstrong is one of those few very brave pilots who flew unarmed aircraft over occupied Europe and even Germany itself to get ariel reconnaissance film of enemy installations and ship movements. The story recounts Armstrong’s encounter and escape from German aircraft. It also tells of his participation in the British military intervention in Norway after the Germans invaded during the spring of 1940.
  
  This is the third of Mr. Jackson’s novels that I have read. They are relatively short, but I enjoyed the 4.5 hours I spent reading this 152 page novel. I found it an interesting coincidence that I had recently viewed a short video (
  http://wp.me/p4jzCO-ZD) of an American who flew unarmed Spitfires on air reconnaissance missions during World War II. I give this novel a 4 out of 5.
  
  Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at
  http://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/.
• 
  Neil

  I received a free copy via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.
  This is a well written story and at times reads as a biography rather than fiction.
  Saying that it is a easy read and very enjoyable.
• 
  Peter Gandrud

  Good book with real time drama
  
  This is an excellent history of Norway during WWII.
  I like the flying drama with fog rain guns bombs.
  I recommend this book.
• 
  Chaplain Stanley Chapin

  Great action
  
  It was able to show the accounts of a very important aspect of military planning, reconvene by air and ground
• 
  John Edmonson

  Good read.
  
  It's not great literature, but it is well-written, and fun to read. I enjoy Jackson's books a great deal for those qualities.
• 
  MR M J SMITH

  A good read
  
  This book gives a very decent insight in to the invasion of Norway and the British attempt to support the nation.