Several years after a bitter retirement from the Air Force, former fighter pilot Colin Pearce has found a second career: flying Gulfstream and Falcon business jets as a daily contractor. Between the constant travel and his extensive Single-Malt Scotch collection, he manages to keep the demons of has past where they belong. It’s a lucrative, solitary existence and that’s the way he likes it.
But then he takes a phone call while making a connection in the Atlanta airport and his life changes forever.
The call leads Pearce to a dark corner of a nearby hotel bar, where he finds himself across a table from two CIA operations officers – one of whom looks oddly familiar. Over the last year, they’ve been following the activities of a mercenary F-16 unit which has been conducting bombing raids all over the world. Now, thanks to an informant on the inside, they have solid intelligence on an upcoming strike that could have devastating global consequences. But their informant has gone silent and they need Pearce’s help.
Pearce flatly refuses and tells them, “…where all this service to country shit is concerned, my ‘give-a-damn’ has been flat out busted.”
Then, they tell Pearce the one thing he wasn’t prepared to hear. Their informant was Burt Magnusson, Pearce’s Air Force Academy roommate and close friend. Before he went missing, Magnusson added Pearce’s name to the unit’s “talent pool” of possible replacements. Now the unit needs a new pilot and the CIA needs someone to stop them. Colin Pearce, a former F-16 instructor with no family ties, seems to be the perfect candidate.
But that’s not the only reason the CIA wants him. They also know enough about Pearce’s dark side to be confident he’ll do what must be done.
Reluctantly, Pearce goes in and immediately finds himself in a desperate race against time as he frantically tries to thwart the unit’s destructive intentions as the day of the fateful strike rapidly approaches. In the midst of this struggle, Pearce must cope with the competing romantic attentions of the unit’s seductive commander and its voluptuous flight doctor, while simultaneously trying to evade an anonymous assassin who seems intent that Pearce doesn’t leave the island alive. Pearce has lived his life by a single creed: “I’d rather be lucky than good.” With lottery-like odds against his survival, he’s going to have to be very lucky indeed.
Chris Broyhill has loved writing and aviation for as long as he can remember. He took a creative writing class in high school but it was his passion for flying that lead him to the United States Air Force.
Chris graduated from United States Air Force Academy with Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and focused on a career in the cockpit. He served in the USAF for over twenty years, was promoted early to the rank of Major and reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before retiring.
While in the USAF, Chris amassed over 4,000 hours of flight time in the T-37, T-38A, the AT-38B, OV-10A, A-10A and the F-16C/D, Blocks 25, 30 and 42. He attended the Air Force Fighter Weapons School in the A-10 and graduated at the top of his class. Upon transitioning to the F-16, he upgraded to from mission-ready wingman to mission commander in less than 18 months, well ahead of his peers.
Chris served in several leadership positions at the squadron and wing level in the USAF, and his last assignment was the one he liked the best, teaching new fighter pilots how to fly the F-16 at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. While in the USAF, Chris completed a Master’s Degree in National Security Studies and attended numerous professional military education courses, most notably the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
While in his late twenties Chris was still compelled to write. He started writing a 4 volume fantasy series. He outlined the entire series, wrote 2 1/2 of the 4 volumes and secured an agent. The agent, unfortunately, could not sell the book. Chris has nursed several ideas since then, but it wasn’t until he started writing about Colin Pearce that his passion for writing and flying came together.
Upon retiring from the USAF, Chris chose a career in Business Aviation and has acquired type ratings in the Hawker 400/700/800A/800XP, Gulfstream G-IV/SP, Dassault Falcon 900EX and Falcon 2000 EASy.
Chris has flown in North America, the Caribbean, Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, parts of Africa and the Far East. He holds a Certified Aviation Manager credential from the National Business Aviation Association, has served in many aviation leadership positions in the US and overseas, has built two aviation operations from the ground-up and has performed consultant services for clients.
Chris started writing the Colin Pearce series in early 2006. He was commuting to Saudi Arabia from the US and working a 35 days on/30 days off schedule. He kept having to fill in for leadership roles and ended staying for weeks at a time. To pass the time, he decided to write. It was during those off hours that Chris was able to bring the idea of the “contract business jet pilot who gets into trouble” into existence. Once he combined the contract business jet pilot with former fighter pilot, a mercenary fighter squadron, and the CIA, the story took on a life of its own. He wrote for 8 months until the Saudi job ended and then put the book on hold while in transition and busy with other projects. He eventually finished The Viper Contract, the first book in the series, in 2009.
In addition to writing about Colin Pearce, Chris is currently serving as the Chief Pilot for a Fortune 100 flight department and is pursuing a PhD in Aviation from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Chris is happily married to his wife Denise and they have four children, four dogs, two cats and a rabbit. The Viper Contract is his first novel and he has plans for several more in the Colin Pearce series.
BOOK REVIEW: Chris Broyhill's THE VIPER CONTRACT delivers a knockout punch
Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/blog/13353#... As the host of Conservatives Lead with Sean McCaffrey every Tuesday on KFNX in Phoenix (1100kfnx.com), I have the wonderful opportunity to meet interesting candidates, elected officials, community leaders... and when I'm especially lucky, authors. Tonight was one of those times I was especially lucky, as I was joined on-air this evening by an author of tremendous talent who is among the rising stars of the suspense genre. Called "a likely successor to Tom Clancy and the heir-apparent to the techno-thriller throne", Chris Broyhill is the author of the recently published "The Viper Contract" (Brighton Publishing, 2011). "The Viper Contract" is every bit as exciting as the title alone makes it sound, and it's no wonder that even investment bankers are arguing online about who is most likely to play lead-character Colin Pearce if/when the book makes it to the big screen. The short summary is as follows: a retired Air Force pilot with a grudge against the military finds his life turned upside down when two CIA operatives approach him in a bar with an off-the-books assignment he just can't refuse. Readers will feel (I did) as if they are actually in an F-16 cockpit as the book races to its impressive climax. But what makes it all so impressive is that Broyhill manages this literary coup without the technical schematics that bog down Clancy novels. When I finished Hunt for Red October, I felt exhausted, as if I was ready to navigate the Grand Banks in a sub. But, truthfully, when I read a thriller, I'm looking for thrills, not engineering classes. And in a masterful way, Broyhill put me in the cockpit, in the air, in the fight (and yes, there are some BIG fights), without pop quizzes on brakes and thrust. Tonight, on my radio show, however, what most impressed me was not just getting the opportunity to spend nearly 30 minutes talking books, politics and flying with Chris Broyhill... what impressed me most was that today, as a successful author, devoted husband and father, and businessman, Chris Broyhill has never forgotten what it meant to serve our great nation. And the respect, admiration and maybe even awe Broyhill has for the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and guardsmen serving today made me especially proud to have him on my show. "The Viper Contract" is a fantastic book. It was/is a best seller as an eBook, and is now also available in print (see Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or wherever you buy your books). And, FYI, if you visit Chris online and buy a copy direct from his website, he'll personally autograph it for you, too. www.chrisbroyhillbooks.com What a great country we live in. What great books there are out there to read.
Excellent story - fast paced action - well worth a read
The Viper Contract tells the story of an ex US Air Force fighter pilot, Colin Pearce, who has been forced to take up a career as a contract pilot, ferrying businessmen and the like around. The money’s good, but it doesn’t excite him the way his former profession did. And then something happens to change all that. He is approached by the CIA to act as an undercover agent in a daring and deadly airstrike which could have disastrous consequences reverberating around the world.
The bulk of the story is based on the time he spends undercover. The mercenary outfit that recruits him firmly believes he is onside - although one or two maybe have their doubts. But it’s a strange life. He has no idea where in the world he is, and the attitudes of the some of the women - who seem to be competing for his attention - is somewhat bemusing. But, of course, he can’t possibly ignore their advances!
The plot of this book is excellent. It moves at a great pace, and on the whole, the characters are well defined. I was puzzled by some of their behaviours from time to time, but nothing that detracted from the story. It is tense and exciting, and written by a man who understands his subject well.
There were two very small issues that just prevented me giving this book five stars. The first was that Broyhill did dwell on the detail of some of the plane’s functions. If you are an aeroplane enthusiast - you will love this. I’m not, so in a couple of places I skipped ahead. But it’s a pretty minor issue, to be honest. The other thing was the very end of the book, where I felt that two of the characters behaved in a manner which didn’t fit well with their cutthroat vicious characters. But in realty, this was the last page of the book, more or less - and overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
This review was written by Rachel Abbott for the Kindle Book Review
5.0 out of 5 stars Slick, smooth and crisp., November 19, 2011 By gungadind - See all my reviews This review is from: The Viper Contract: A High Tech Aviation Thriller (Paperback) Not since Ian Flemming created James Bond have I been so engaged with a central action character.The author creates a realistic definable hero that you can believe in. The story is rich with details that empower the reader with the ability to easily grasp the rush of a pilot in an F16 fighting for his life. Viper Contract is replete with multiple plots racing neck and neck like a pack of thoroughbreds for the finish line. And - every one is a winner. As you can probably tell, I like this book and want to see more.
I finished last night. The bottom line is I’ll definitely read the sequel. It was a long but fast book. Certainly it was entertaining. With Black Water so recently in the news, the idea of retired fighter pilots going rogue and becoming for hire mercenaries is no stretch of the imagination.
Colin Pearce was a gifted fighter pilot who left the USAF at the point in his career when you start flying less and pushing paper more. The separation was like the end of a bad marriage: good memories, but less of them as time goes by. I won’t ruin your reading pleasure by telling you about that, but it could be short story on its own.
As we start the story, Colin is now a contract pilot, flying when companies need to cover an empty seat on the flight deck. He is in Atlanta airport waiting for a flight home when his phone rings. Someone wants to meet him and is willing to pay for his time. He agrees.
What follows involves an old friend in trouble, several women, and Colin back in the cockpit of an F-16 while proving that he belongs there.
I enjoyed this book immensely.
I will warn you of two things:
- I am a lifelong aviation enthusiast and private pilot, so I did not mind the large amount of detail about the aircraft and flying techniques. But I could see that it could be too much for someone who is more interested in the story and less interested in flying an F-16.
- The Nook version which I read was poorly laid out, often to the point of my having to re-read sections because there were scene shifts which were not indicated by the formatting. There were lots of words severed in weird places (again without indication) and a few mis-spellings.
But even so, I still enjoyed this book and I looik forward to seeing our hero appear in his next adventure.
I’m a little torn with this book. It should have been good, it read well and kept me reasonably engaged, but, well I just don’t know.
The book follows an ex Viper jet pilot who discovers a friend has been caught up in some ever so shady business. He is recruited by the CIA (before he is approached by this group) and manages to ‘save the day’.
The book reminded me very much of a Lee Child story; very American in style and very action packed. The problem I had with it was that, whilst Broyhill clearly writes and describes the jets from his own personal experience, I found it all just a little tedious. It was interesting, to begin with. But the intricate level of detail in terms of flight patterns, jet controls etc was just a little too much for me. An ex pilot or similar might enjoy it, but for the lay person wanting to read a general book it was all a little too much, and, ultimately was the thing that made me rate it as a 3 star book.
The writing is good, and clear, and the story flows well. There are some irritating typing errors in the book though that a good editor would have picked up, but overall the book was good.
I’ll be interested to see how the Colin Pearce series develops, and will check out future books by Broyhill.
I won this on Goodreads. If you like planes, you will like this book. In depth look at piloting a fighter jet and dog fighting. Was too focused on the intricacies of fighter jet flying for me but the story line was good. A mercenary group of pilots are going to attack a target. The main character is approached by the CIA to infiltrate the group and help prevent the attack. He's a loner and his only friend disappeared inside the group. He is manipulated by both sides. Well written. Just a little too much detail on the piloting for me. I bet my husband will love it.
This was a book that was over my head in a couple of instances (FYI I'm a pilot, flying amateur aerobatics, etc) yet kept my interest from beginning to end. The main character was confident without being arrogant, the scenes were described colourfully and the plot line was very interesting.
Unlike Tom Clancy, we were not hit over the head with how wonderful the current technology is, but instead the human factors were front and centre.
I am anticipating the second book, I hope that Chris (the authour) has a good second outing.
Although I was never into this book for the story, I felt, after finishing reading it, that it was credible and well told. What I looked forward to when I started to read was adrenalin pumping top-gun style action in the high skies. I got that alright! And although I am just an aviation buff, I revelled in the mechanics of the flight portrayed. It rekindled in me, my unrealised childhood dream of being a pilot!
I just finished reading this book and have to say I really enjoyed it. I had to read it a lot slower than most books because of the technical language, but it was engaging and kept me going. The technical language was clearly explained--but it still slowed me down. If you enjoy military thrillers, this is a book for you!
The flying scenes are the most realistic I've ever read. Colin Pearce could be the next James Bond. This is the first in a trilogy. A page turner. I read it straight through until I was done.