I remember seeing Clint Eastwood’s Firefox when it hit the theaters back in 1982. It was one of the first films I was able to go see on my own. I also remember seeing the novel, with the movie cover in the local book stores.

Some forty odd years later, I decided that it’s time to read the novel the film was based on. Before Tom Clancy made techno-thrillers a bestselling thing, Craig Thomas was around cranking out Cold War thrillers with a technological edge.

Where the film has to show some of the things that are glossed over in the book, the novel reads like a bit of a East-West thriller. Its first half features pilot Mitchell Gant (who suffers from some serious PTSD) getting recruited for a joint American-England mission to sneak into Russia, and steal the new Russian MiG-31, codename: Firefox.

We get the story from both points of view, as Gant gets inside Russia, and the KGB and government are hunting him down. There are secrets, blind spots, and a lot of one hand not knowing what the other is doing, as Mitchell works his way deeper into the realm of the Firefox.

The plane, itself, is top-of-the-line, advanced beyond American and British jets, and includes a thought-initiated weapon system.

It’s a fairly moderately-paced tale, as Gant not only gets into the country, but races skyward to deliver the plane home, while eluding Russian forces, including the other Firefox prototype.

Thomas introduces a vast cast of characters on both sides of the story, and each of them gets their time in the narrative. Politicians are scheming, the spies are working, and Gant is not only suffering from a paralyzing PTSD dream, but is also the best pilot… ever.

It’s solid and enjoyable. I think, however, if it was written today, it would move a little differently, and be a little more tightly paced. It could move a bit faster, and Thomas’ story could be a little more intense and really lean into the suspense and the aerial combat. I have to be honest, I didn’t care that the dueling fighter planes happened, and was over so quickly.

It was a little more expanded upon in the film, but in the novel, it’s almost blink and you miss it. I enjoyed it, but it’s not as solid as I would have wanted it to be. Still, I may end up digging into the sequel, Firefox Down, before too long.

Mitchell Gant, despite what he goes through in the story, and what he’s gone through before hand, just doesn’t feel like a completely realized character. But it’s a great idea, and fun story.

Man, I love the look of the Firefox as seen in the movie, and that’s how it looked as I dived into the book.

Firefox is a solid Cold War thriller with some great moments, I jut wish it had been a little more tightly paced and a touch more exciting.