Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Last Raven by Craig Thomas The Last Raven by Craig Thomas. Completing the CAPTCHA proves you are a human and gives you temporary access to the web property. What can I do to prevent this in the future? If you are on a personal connection, like at home, you can run an anti-virus scan on your device to make sure it is not infected with malware. If you are at an office or shared network, you can ask the network administrator to run a scan across the network looking for misconfigured or infected devices. Another way to prevent getting this page in the future is to use Privacy Pass. You may need to download version 2.0 now from the Chrome Web Store. Cloudflare Ray ID: 6586ade16ac38498 • Your IP : 188.246.226.140 • Performance & security by Cloudflare. Craig Thomas obituary. Craig Thomas, who has died from pneumonia aged 68, was at the forefront of the spy/adventure genre known as the techno-thriller, novels in which technology – usually cutting-edge military hardware extrapolated from current technological advances – is central to the plot. Thomas's 1977 novel Firefox featured the fictional MiG-31, an aircraft so advanced that it would immediately give the Russians the upper hand. At the time, the Russians had the MiG-25 Foxbat, the fastest reconnaissance bomber and interceptor in the air, with a top speed of Mach 2.8. Thomas's Firefox could achieve speeds of Mach 5, had stealth technology which made it invisible to radar and a guided missile system controlled by the pilot by thought alone. Realising the implications to security in the west, his British spymaster Kenneth Aubrey suggests an audacious plan to steal one of the two prototype aircraft. Firefox was filmed in 1982, with Clint Eastwood directing and starring as Major Mitchell Gant, an American fighter pilot and Vietnam PoW traumatised by seeing a young girl incinerated by napalm. The book was a bestseller, with its publishers, Sphere, gambling on recent real-life events – the defection in 1976 of the Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko to the US via Japan with a Foxbat – to risk a 250,000-copy paperback edition. The book went through 33 printings over the next 17 years, helping to propel Thomas's sales to more than 20m by the time Gant made his fourth and final appearance in A Different War (1997). Although not technically minded, Thomas was able to steep his books in intricate detail, the result of meticulous research. The background material for Firefox was provided by friends formerly with the RAF, and the Russian setting was derived from guidebooks and photographic books. He could not afford to visit Moscow – a situation soon solved by the book's tremendous success, which allowed him to become a full-time writer. By then, he did not think it prudent to take a holiday in Russia, saying: "I don't think I'm their favourite novelist." Thomas was born in Cardiff, the son of JBG Thomas, a rugby journalist on the Western Mail, and his wife, Gwen. Educated at Cardiff high school and University College, Cardiff, he would later say that his five years at university completing an MA on Thomas Hardy sealed his fate: "It was a life connection with literature, with the magic of words." He began teaching English at schools in the West Midlands and, after a day of Shakespeare, Dickens and Keats, would read thrillers – John le Carré, Frederick Forsyth, Len Deighton, Alistair MacLean, Jack Higgins and Adam Hall – for entertainment. When he joined the ranks of thriller writers himself, he read the classics for pleasure. Thomas had begun writing as a boy, firing off short stories to magazines without success. As a teacher, he tried writing radio scripts for the BBC, having discovered that he did not need to write the whole thing, just a cast list, an outline of the plot and six sample pages of dialogue. He continued to write these "in a rather amateurish and occasional way" for five or six years until one of the editors who read his outlines offered some advice, saying that while Thomas could write, radio drama was not his medium and he should try a novel instead. "Perhaps he hoped never to hear from me again," said Thomas, "but he provided what was the single most important piece of practical advice I have ever received. It changed my life." At the time, Thomas was toying with an idea for a thriller as his next submission to the BBC. Instead, he spent 18 months turning it into a novel. Even he could see the end results would require a lot of editing and rewriting, and he put it aside. But the experience did not go to waste. His next attempt, Rat Trap (1976), about the hijack of a British Airways 707 by an American and five accomplices who want to trade passengers for an imprisoned Arab terrorist, took three months to write and was sold to Michael Joseph (now part of Penguin). He immediately followed it with Firefox, which took only four and a half months to complete. Quitting his position as senior English teacher at Shire Oak school, Walsall, Thomas continued to write tales of espionage. Wolfsbane (1978) established the history of two characters already seen in his work: Aubrey (from Firefox) and Hilary Latymer (from Rat Trap). In 1944, they are both working for the Special Operations Executive and, by the time of the novel's 1963 setting, are with the SIS (MI6), of which Aubrey would subsequently become head. Aubrey was a key link in all 16 of Thomas's espionage novels, often at the forefront – in Snow Falcon (1979), The Bear's Tears (1985, published as Lion's Run in the US) and All the Grey Cats (1988, Wildcat in the US) – or playing a background role, usually to Gant or the agent Patrick Hyde. Gant was reintroduced in Firefox Down, which begins seconds after the events of Firefox, and Winter Hawk (1987), about a Russian space weapons platform. His final appearance saw him investigating the destruction of a prototype airliner. The Australian ex-SAS officer Hyde took the lead in seven of Thomas's novels: Sea Leopard (1981), Jade Tiger (1982), The Bear's Tears, The Last Raven (1990), A Hooded Crow (1992), Playing With Cobras (1993) and Slipping into Shadow (1998). Other characters – who included Aubrey's assistant Peter Shelley, Gant's Russian nemesis Dmitri Priabin, and the KGB agent Alexei Vorontsyev, who had leading roles in Snow Falcon and A Wild Justice (1995) – were woven into these interconnected novels, creating a much larger tapestry. Thomas wrote two further, unrelated novels, as David Grant: Moscow 5000 (1979), about a terrorist plot to bomb the Moscow Olympics; and Emerald Decision (1980), in which a man (in the 1940s) and his son (in the 1980s) seek out the truth about Nazi involvement in Ireland. Thomas's hobbies included watching cricket, gardening and listening to music. His fascination with philosophy and political theory led him to write There to Here: Ideas of Political Society (1991) and, completed shortly before his death, a study of Friedrich Nietzsche. In 1967 Thomas married Jill White, who also acted as his editor, secretary and bookkeeper. They lived for many years in Staffordshire but had recently moved to Somerset. She survives him. David Craig Owen Thomas, author, born 24 November 1942; died 4 April 2011. Craig Thomas. Craig Thomas was educated at University College, Cardiff, where he gained is M.A. in 1967. He is the author of bestselling novels including: Firefox, Winter Hawk, All the Grey Cats, the Last Raven, A Hooded Crow, Playing With cobras and a Wild Justice, all of which spring from his interest in geopolitical tensions and conflicts. Craig Thomas is marriesd and lives with his wife and two tortoiseshell cats in Staffordshire. His interests include cricket, gardening and music, especially classical music and jazz. Book List in Order: 18 titles. Jahmo and the Giant. Jahmo was the son of a Great King who lived long ago in a beautiful land in Africa. Jahmo was handsome and brave, with a kind heart and was well liked by his people. In fact it was had to find fault in the young prince at all, except for the fact tha. Slipping into Shadow. Set in Burma, where a vast holiday resort is being carved out of the jungle, this is a thriller and love story encompassing international politics, global finance and drug dollars - forces that threaten to destroy investigator Patrick Hyde and those . A Wild Justice. A NEW KIND OF WAR An American executive in Siberia is murdered. A few days later, at a glittering Washington party, ex-CIA agent John Lock celebrates his sister Beth's birthday. By the next morning, Beth and her husband, Billy Grainger, an importa. Playing with Cobras. Former British spy Patrick Hyde comes to the aid of British secret agent Philip Cass, who languishes in a dark Delhi prison, accused of brutally murdering an Indian cinema star. By the author of A Hooded Crow. Reprint. A Hooded Crow. Patrick Hyde and Tony Godwin pursue elusive leads linking a prestigious electronics firm to the KGB and Moscow, but a South African atrocity soon pulls Hyde away from his prey and teams him up with ex-operative Richard Anderson. Reprint. The Last Raven. Wildcat. A SHOCKING TECHNO-MILITARY THRILLER THAT ONLY CRAIG THOMAS COULD WRITE -- THIS SWEEPING EPIC OF NONSTOP SUSPENSE WILL TAKE YOU FROM THE TOP HEADQUARTERS OF LONDON AND MOSCOW TO THE INFERNOS OF EAST BERLIN AND NEPAL . An East German defector dies. Winter Hawk. WINTER HAWK -- THE MISSION ONLY MITCHELL GANT COULD HANDLE! Gant is back. To stop the Russians from turning space into an armed Soviet camp. To avert global disaster. To pull off the impossible! Hijacking the enemy's deadliest warcraft since. Lion's Run. British Intelligence is dealt a shattering blow when Director-General Sir Kenneth Aubrey falls prey to an exquisitely clever trap. A top-level KGB mole leaks secrets from a computer file named Teardrop, and Aubrey is ruined, charged with treason. Now. Firefox Down! With only forty-eight hours to pull the deadliest warplane, Firefox, from its crash site in Finland and examine its secrets, Sir Kenneth Aubrey's team battle the elements and the clock, and the KGB-imprisoned Gant struggles to escape. Reprint. Wolfsbane. TRIGGER OF VENGEANCE For almost half a lifetime ex-agent Richard Gardiner has buried his searing memories of treachery and torture, of that nightmare time in the bloody cellars of the Gestapo and the hideous sick double-cross that followed when freed. Jade Tiger. With the reunification of Germany set to be consummated in two weeks, a Chinese official charges that a highly placed West German is a Russian operative, a charge calling forth a mammoth intelligence effort of ultimate importance. Sea Leopard. While charting the new Soviet underwater defense system, HMS Proteus, a British nuclear submarine, is unaware that the Soviets are waiting to spring a deadly trap and steal the British submarine's equipment. Emerald Decision. A British agent uncovers a secret nest of Nazi submarines. German agents multiply in Ireland. A Massive Nazi parachute drop is imminent somewhere in the British Isles. CODE NAME EMERALD is put into effect - a secret plan so lethal and so illegal th. Snow Falcon. Contraband infrared photographs of a deserted Lapland village provide British intelligence chief Kenneth Aubrey with clues to a conspiracy masterminded by a high-ranking Soviet Politburo member to undermine the bureaucracy they control. 'THE LAST RAVEN' IS A THRILLING RIDE FOR FANS OF ACTION AND ADVENTURE. Patrick Hyde is one of those doomed heroes who hardly spend a happy moment as they seek to unravel complicated political plots in which they have become enmeshed. Hyde, a British agent operating inside the Soviet border with Afghanistan, witnesses the crash of a military transport plane. One of the victims is Irena Nikitina, the liberal-leaning wife of the Russian leader. It doesn't take long for Hyde to realize that the crash was an expertly planned shootdown involving rogue KGB and CIA operatives, and that, as one of the few witnesses, it is going to take more than good luck to keep him alive. The Last Raven by Craig Thomas (HarperCollins, $19.95) is the story of Hyde's bid to beat the odds while dealing with more than his fair share of geopolitical skulduggery and violence. Meanwhile, there also is a damsel in distress: Kathryn, the niece of Hyde's boss, Sir Kenneth Aubrey. Kathryn's boyfriend, a former Federal Aviation Administration investigator, has evidence that the crash of a commercial jetliner in California might have been caused deliberately. When the boyfriend disappears and later turns up dead, Hyde is sent to protect Kathryn, one of fiction's most unappealing heroines. Thomas, the author of such best sellers as Foxfire and Wolfsbane, knows how to juggle complicated plots and unpleasant characters. The Last Raven will not disappoint die-hard action fans, but it might disappoint the reader seeking more than brutal villains and harassed heroes awash in blood and gore. Another psychological tour de force is Lie to Me by David Martin (Random House, $18.95). Wealthy builder Jonathan Gaetan and his young wife, Mary, return home from a party to find an intruder in their house. At first Jonathan believes it a simple case of burglary, then the stranger with the Bowie knife begins to make more and more sadistic demands. The next day Jonathan is found dead in the bath, and his widow tells a story of self-mutilation and suicide. Detective Teddy Camel, whose waning reputation rests on the fact that no one has ever lied to him and gotten away with it, is given the job of questioning the grieving widow and establishing the truth of her story. For reasons not even he can explain, Camel gives the widow's story his own personal stamp of authenticity, although he knows she is lying. The case is almost closed when Jo-Jo Creek, Jonathan Gaetan's assistant and former lover, tells police the builder had called her right before his death and told her to transfer $145,600 into his checking accounts. She insists Gaetan never would have killed himself. Reluctantly the police agree to continue investigating, and the stage is set for an engrossing thriller in which nothing is predictable. As more and more thrillers seem like variations on similar themes, it gets harder each year to find the thriller that strikes a different note. But Undue Influence by Shelby Yastrow (Contemporary Books, $18.95) combines credibility with originality while taking a hard look at the probate system. Benjamin Stillman, 81, has worked for more than 40 years for the same Chicago brokerage house, leading a seemingly dull, lonely existence. Shortly before his death he asks a struggling lawyer, Philip Ogden, to draw up a will for him. Ogden is amazed to discover that Stillman's estate was worth $8 million. Stillman's employers immediately suspect that he siphoned off their funds to build the impressive portfolio, while various other freeloaders try to cash in as the case winds through the probate court. One thing that puzzles Ogden is why Stillman, a Roman Catholic, would have ordered his estate left to the Beth Zion Synagogue. Yastrow is strong on the legal complexities, but too many of his non-legal characters tend to resemble cardboard cutouts rather than flesh-and- blood people. Annette Meyers appeared to have hit on a winning combination in The Big Killing when she introduced Wall Street executive search specialists Xenia Smith and Leslie Wetzon (Smith and Wesson, get it?), and turned them into amateur sleuths. But Tender Death (Bantam, $17.95) is a poor shadow of the former thriller. This time Wetzon gets caught up in another dose of sudden death when a friend introduces her to an elderly, wealthy widow who is being looked after by a home nursing aide who owes more to the Zsa Zsa Gabor school of nursing than Florence Nightingale. Not surprisingly, a short time later the widow takes a walk off a 20-story building without waiting for the elevator. Wetzon smells murder most foul and begins looking into home health care for the elderly. In between she constantly is setting up meetings with Wall Street types who need her help in relocating to more lucrative positions. Wetzon also has trouble with Smith, who is more interested in making money than saving the world. Meyer, a senior vice president of a Wall Street executive search firm, writes with authority when she is explaining the wheeling and dealing that involves getting bright young men into top positions. But her main characters, unconventional the first time out, are in danger of becoming Johnny One-Notes. Meyer appears compelled to constantly remind the reader that Wetzon, like her creator, was once a professional dancer who performed on Broadway. Every time Wetzon swings a scarf around her neck or twists her hair into a bun, Meyer recalls her past career. Wetzon, forever getting herself into tight situations, seems more cut from The Perils of Pauline mold than Wall Street Week. Bernard Cornwell is proving himself to be a tried and trusted teller of His latest, Crackdown (HarperCollins, $18.95), is set in and around the Bahamas, where crooked cops and politicians are salting away the profits of the cocaine trade. tales about disaffected sons of the rich and their battles with the sea. Nicholas Breakspear, the estranged son of England's most famous actor, wants nothing more than to sail the Pacific in his 40-foot ketch, which is sadly in need of repair. To get the money to pay for his dream, Breakspear, who conveniently served a spell with the Royal Marines and knows how to defend himself in a tight situation, works as a captain for a private-yacht chartering service. Just as Breakspear is ready to pull out of the charter business, a U.S. senator with hopes of making it to the White House hires him to provide a watery drug rehab center for the politician's cocaine-addicted twins. The twins have other plans, and Breakspear and crew are soon fighting for their lives. Even if you don't know a jib from a mainsail, Cornwell, author of Killer's Wake and Wildtrack, knows how to enthrall. He combines action- adventure with lessons on the sea, making the journey into safe harbor pleasant and entertaining. Impulse by Michael Weaver. Hardcover. Condition: GOOD. Spine creases, wear to binding and pages from reading. May contain limited notes, underlining or highlighting that does affect the text. Possible ex library copy, will have the markings and stickers associated from the library. Accessories such as CD, codes, toys, may not be included. More buying choices from other sellers on AbeBooks. Impulse. Weaver, Michael. Published by Time Warner, 1994. Used - Softcover Condition: Fair. Mass Market Paperback. Condition: Fair. More buying choices from other sellers on AbeBooks. Impulse: A Novel. Weaver, Michael. Published by Grand Central Pub. Used - Hardcover Condition: Very Good. Condition: Very Good. First edition copy. . Good dust jacket. Impulse: A Novel. Weaver, Michael. Published by Grand Central Pub. Used - Hardcover Condition: Very Good. Condition: Very Good. . Very Good dust jacket. More buying choices from other sellers on AbeBooks. Impulse: A Novel. Weaver, Michael. Published by Grand Central Pub. Used - Hardcover Condition: Very Good. Condition: Very Good. First edition copy. . Very Good dust jacket. Suspense: Last Raven, Impulse, Mischief. Thomas, Craig; Weaver, Michael; McBain, Ed. Published by Media Books Llc, 2002. Used Condition: Used: Very Good. Condition: Used: Very Good. Very good in very good packaging. 6 cassettes. Audience: General/trade. will mail immediately THANK YOU audio. More buying choices from other sellers on AbeBooks. Impulse. Weaver, Michael. Published by NY: Warner Books, 1993., 1993. Used - Hardcover. 1st printing. 449pp, 8vo. NF/NF. Hardcover in DJ. One corner of book and DJ very lightly bumped. Review copy with promotional material laid in. Impulse. Weaver, Michael. Published by Time Warner Audiobooks, 1993. Used Condition: Good. Audio Book. Condition: Good. Two audio cassettes. 2 reliable audio tapes in the original printed box. Some shelf wear to the box. Some chafing and edge wear to the box. The tapes inside sit sturdy and presentable. Enjoy this audio performance!. More buying choices from other sellers on AbeBooks. Impulse. Weaver, Michael. Published by Time Warner Books Uk, 1994. Used - Softcover Condition: Good. Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. More buying choices from other sellers on AbeBooks. Impulse. WEAVER, Michael. Published by Warner Books, 1993. Used - Softcover Condition: Good. Paperback. Condition: Good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972. Used books may not include companion materials, some shelf wear, may contain highlighting/notes, may not include cdrom or access codes. Customer service is our top priority!. More buying choices from other sellers on AbeBooks. IMPULSE. Weaver, michael. Published by warner books,, 1993. Used - Hardcover. Hardcover. first edition hardcover. fine in a fine dust jacket , Impulse. Weaver, Michael. Published by Warner Books, New York, 1993. Used - Hardcover Condition: Fine. Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. First Edition. This is the author's debut novel. Impulse begins with a single, shattering act of violence against a nationally renowned columnist and his wife, a social worker, while on vacation. A hiker emerges from the woods, and charms the couple into inviting him into their vacation home. Once inside he pulls a gun. From this act the story flies - horror, terrifying new crimes, the hitchhikers need to telephone his first victim with psychosexual confessions and give warnings of his next victim. The price is not clipped. 449 pages, clean with no tears. The former owner's name is written on the front endpaper. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.