Flying Boats & Spies:
A Nick Grant Adventure
by Jamie Dodson

    FLYING BOATS & SPIES by Jamie Dodson
    Category:  Action-Adventure
    Age Recommendation:  Grades 6+
    Release Date:  5/08
    Publisher:  On Stage Publishing
    Reviewed by:  Jaglvr
    Rating:  5 Stars


    The action in FLYING BOATS & SPIES takes off before chapter one ends.  An elite plane lands at a small airfield
    in California.  Unbeknownst to Nick Grant, the occupants are none other than Charles and Anne Lindbergh.  A
    secret request by Anne is asked of Nick.  Nick is to deliver a map case to a Mr. Grooch aboard the North Haven.  
    What starts out as a simple request turns into murder and spy intrigue.

    Set in the early 1930s, before the war, Japan and America are spying on each other.  Nick just happens to have
    landed in the middle of the intrigue.  The depression is in full bloom and Nick’s family is in danger of losing their home
    to foreclosure.  His father has traveled to Oregon in search of work, leaving Nick, his sister, and mother alone in
    California.  Nick is still in high school, but does all he can to help earn money.  When he is asked to deliver the map
    case to the ship, he decides he will try to join on to earn money.  Upon delivering the case, he lies about his age and
    his name, and they bring him aboard.

    Before the ship sets sail, Nick imagines he sees someone in the shadows watching him.  But he shakes the thought
    away, finding it too impossible to believe.  Only after he reads the news when the ship docks in Hawaii does he
    realize that more may be at stake.  His boss at the small California air strip has been murdered.  He is sure it has to
    do with the Lindberghs’ and the map case, but who will believe him?

    As the story unfolds, the reader learns about the early days of air travel.  Though a fiction novel, it paints an amazing
    portrait of the hard work that went into creating the ability to navigate around the world by air.  Nick does
    backbreaking work on his adventure, all the while smack dab in the middle of the Japan versus America chess board
    of the early 1930s.  The reader learns of the strategic importance of placing air strips on the remote islands of Wake
    and Midway.

    For anyone that has an interest in early air flight, history, or spy novels, this story will not disappoint.  The chapters
    are short, allowing younger readers an easy time to enjoy the story as well.  The novel ends with the idea that there
    could be a sequel.  If there is, I know I would definitely pick it up and travel with Nick on more adventures!