Air Apparent

Boysie Oakes #7

by John Gardner

Boysie Oakes, ex anguished agent, ex defective private eye, and greying horrifically at the temples, is facing the wilderness of middle-age supported only by the Welfare State. At long last Boysie Oakes has reached seedy maturity - and he plans to grow old quietly without any more dangerous missions. Until, like an evil genie, up pops his oily old boss, Mostyn, offering a life of renewed luxury. Boysie is to become the sole British Director of Air Apparent, an airline which operates from one office, has no aircraft, yet, by juggling with officialdom and illegally chartering aeroplanes, manages to transfer its customers to their destinations at half the scheduled fares and still makes a vast profit. But when Boysie discovers that Air Apparent is being used for more nefarious purposes, such as the shipment of arms to third world nations, he is forced to call in his old shooting partner, Charlie Griffin. Events crowd in, culminating in a hijacking, hilarity and, naturally, hectic hedonism. “Gardner’s at the top of his form.” Daily Mirror “Boysie Oakes is at the top of his form in this topical thriller.” Guardian “All very entertaining in a crazy sort of way.” Morning Star ‘Air Apparent’ is the seventh in the Boysie Oakes series of novels by John Gardner. Tightly written and packed with incredible twists, ‘Air Apparent’ is a brilliant continuation of the story of Gardner’s cowardly professional assassin. It is perfect for fans of classic British spy fiction, including Ian Fleming, Len Deighton, and Desmond Bagley. Before coming an author of fiction in the early 1960’s John Gardner was variously a stage magician, a Royal Marine officer and a journalist. In all Gardner has fifty-four novels to his credit, including Maestro, which was the New York Times book of the year. He was also invited by Ian Fleming’s literary copyright holders to write a series of continuation James Bond novels, which proved to be so successful that instead of the contracted three books he went on to publish some fourteen titles, including Licence Renewed and Icebreaker. Having lived in the Republic of Ireland, the United States and the UK, John Gardner sadly died in August of 2007 having just completed his third novel in the Moriarty trilogy, Conan Doyle’s eponymous villain of the Sherlock Holmes series. Endeavour Press is the UK's leading independent publisher of digital books.

176 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1973

About the author

Before coming an author of fiction in the early 1960s, John Gardner was variously a stage magician, a Royal Marine officer and a journalist. In all, Gardner has fifty-four novels to his credit, including Maestro, which was the New York Times book of the year. He was also invited by Ian Fleming’s literary copyright holders to write a series of continuation James Bond novels, which proved to be so successful that instead of the contracted three books he went on to publish some fourteen titles, including Licence Renewed and Icebreaker.

Having lived in the Republic of Ireland, the United States and the UK, John Gardner sadly died in August of 2007 having just completed his third novel in the Moriarty trilogy, Conan Doyle’s eponymous villain of the Sherlock Holmes series.

Reviews

[William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boysie always a good read

Oakes once again hooked into working for Moysten. Have fun trying to figure out which ones are the good vs the bad guys. Don’t know what it’s all about until you’re halfway into the story.

[Jorn Barger · Rating 1 out of 5]

Abysmal. Gardner's hobby is logistics, and this one pivots from the boring logistics of a passenger airline to the confusing, poorly drawn logistics of an overseas coup. No good guys. By rights they should all have been killed repeatedly.

[Melinda]

Quite entertaining, considering it's age! While not so much to do with airlines (my reason for picking it up) it definitely had a good plot with lots of intrigue and twists that you just didn't see coming.