Firefox (novel)
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 First edition cover |
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| Author | Craig Thomas |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Techno-thriller, Novel |
| Publisher | Michael Joseph (UK) & Holt Rinehart and Winston (USA) |
| Released | 8 August 1977 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 288 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-03-020791-6 (first edition, hardback) & ISBN 0-7181-1570-8 (UK hardback edition) |
| Preceded by | Rat Trap |
| Followed by | Wolfsbane |
Firefox is a thriller novel written by Craig Thomas, published in 1977.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The book focuses on the fictional MiG-31 Firefox aircraft which has been developed by the USSR during the cold war. The Firefox includes various advanced capabilities; most notably it employs an unspecified form of stealth which makes it completely undetectable to radar; it is capable of attaining speeds of Mach Five or more; its weapons are controlled by the thought impulses of the pilot, allowing them to be very rapidly aimed and fired. Less emphasised but equally impressive is the aircraft's three thousand mile range.
Faced with an aircraft which will give the Soviet Union the ability to completely dominate the skies, the CIA and MI6 launch a mission to steal one of the two Firefox prototype aircraft. The first section of the book details the mission, in which fighter pilot Mitchell Gant covertly travels to Russia and with the help of a network of dissidents and sympathisers makes his way to the Bilyarsk air base on which the two prototype aircraft are being developed. With the assistance of some of the scientists working on the project he is able to penetrate the base and successfully steal a MiG-31. This section of the novel depicts such intelligence work as a grim, frightening and stressful experience, a marked contrast to the more adventurous "Bond-type" thrillers.
The second section of the book deals with Gant's attempts to evade Russia's air defences and make his way back to friendly airspace with the Firefox. Here the novel is notable for its focus on military technology and tactics.
[edit] Characters in "Firefox"
- Mitchell Gant – American fighter pilot and spy, protagonist
- Kenneth Aubrey – British spy master
- Dmitri Priabin – Aubrey's opposite in Soviet intelligence
- Peter Shelly – British
- Charles Buckholtz – American agent with the CIA
[edit] Literary significance & criticism
Firefox is regarded by many as being one of the very first examples of the Techno-thriller, a genre which was further popularised with Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October seven years later.
[edit] Allusions/references from other works
Firefox and Firefox Down also seem to be the inspiration for two missions in Hidden & Dangerous, in which the player must steal a top-secret revolutionary German bomber and fly it to safety. Once it is shot down, the player must defend the crash site from German Fallschirmjaeger until the essential parts of the aircraft are ready to be moved.
[edit] Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science
Since the Firefox novels were written, a real life MiG-31 (known to NATO as the Foxhound) has been produced. As may be expected, it has little in common with its fictional counterpart, although the original aircraft in the novel was coincidentally a "next generation" successor to the MiG-25 "Foxbat", which is what the actual "Foxhound" was designed to be.
It should be noted that when NATO intelligence groups discovered the development of a new fighter, known then as the Ye-155MP, many believed that it was indeed a superfighter with unmatched maneuverability and top speed. This idea proved to be false, in the instance, since the prototype was an 'evolutionary' one, aimed at producing successor to the tried Foxbat.
[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
Firefox was made into a movie by Warner Brothers based on the novel and released in 1982. Clint Eastwood was the director, producer, and played Mitchell Gant. Although many details of the novel are changed, the movie was on the whole considered by fans to be a faithful interpretation of the book. Interestingly, the MiG-31 design produced for the movie is styled in a way which is somewhat similar to real life stealthy aircraft which appeared many years later.
[edit] Sequels
The novel Firefox Down is a continuation of the story of Firefox.
Many of the characters of Firefox and Firefox Down return for the novel Winter Hawk (1987) and A Different War (1997), both set significantly after the events of Firefox. These stories do not feature the Firefox but depict the further adventures of Gant.
[edit] Further reading
For fans of the movie Firefox there's a highly detailed online resource focusing on the technical and design aspects of this fictional aircraft located at http://www.thinkinrussian.org/
[edit] Release details
- 1977, USA, Holt Rinehart and Winston ISBN 0-03-020791-6, Pub date 1 August 1977, hardback (First edition)
- 1977, UK, Michael Joseph ISBN 0-7181-1570-8, Pub date 8 August 1977, hardback
- 1978, UK, Sphere ISBN 0-7221-0445-6, Pub date 27 July 1978, paperback
- 1978, USA, Bantam Books ISBN 0-553-11820-X, Pub date ? ? 1978, paperback
- 1988, USA, Time Warner ISBN 0-7515-1138-2, Pub date 1 January 1988, paperback (reissue)
- 1992, USA, Chivers Audio Books ISBN 0-7451-4096-3, Pub date ? December 1992, Audio book cassette (narrated by Stephen Thorne)
