Unlawful Flight - Paperback

by James Charles Boatner (Author)

In the literary style of John Grisham's legal thrillers and Tom Clancy's cold war sagas, UNLAWFUL FLIGHT chronicles the story of two strangers whose lives become inextricably linked by fate and common cause, exposing a tangled web of underworld crime, international conspiracy, and governmental corruption at the highest levels. Stephen Goddard is facing financial ruin. Fired from his six-figure job as an airline captain, being divorced by his wealthy socialite wife, he reluctantly accepts a lucrative, but illegal job of flying narcotics from a mountain lake in Colombia to a snake and alligator infested river near New Orleans. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Carlo Matranga, Godfather of the New Orleans Mafia, intends to steal the syndicates money, leave town, and retire quietly in his native Sicily. Had he known that he had terminal cancer or that the FBI was listening to his phone calls, he might have done things differently. When Goddard is arrested on drug smuggling charges after the deal goes awry, he and Matranga become unlikely allies and co-conspirators to flee from New Orleans and federal prosecution. With the FBI, Interpol, and the Mafia one step behind, the two fugitives embark on a globe-hopping, adrenaline-pumping journey of adventure and intrigue.

Author Biography

James Boatner is a retired Electrical Engineer having spent much of his career in the aerospace, oceanographic, and nuclear research industries. He made technical contributions to NASA's Apollo Lunar Landing program, NOAA's Project Bomex, and served as manager of facilities maintenance at Oak Ridge National Laboratory-West Area. He is a graduate of Mississippi State University, a native of Long Beach, Mississippi, but currently resides near Charlotte, North Carolina. He is an avid sailor, golfer, and aviation enthusiast.This is his first novel.