The Last Pilot

Starred review from April 20, 2015
Using the early days of the U.S. space exploration program as a backdrop, Johncock’s impressive debut laces fact with fiction to tell the tale of Jim Harrison, an Air Force test pilot, and his wife, Grace. The story opens in the Mojave Desert in 1947, where Jim pushes innovative aircraft to their extremes and rubs elbows with the likes of Chuck Yeager and Jack Ridley. Jim and Grace pine for a child and eventually welcome a daughter, Florence. But Florence becomes gravely ill at the age of two, and despite his vast knowledge of cutting-edge aerospace technology, Jim can do little to save her life. Devastated, he throws himself into his work instead of mourning her death, volunteering for the upstart NASA program and moving with Grace to Houston. Once there, Jim must race against a ticking clock—the president expects a mission to the moon by 1970—and he slowly drifts away from Grace, develops anxious ticks, and suffers through disturbing visions of Florence, all as he prepares to participate in one of the Gemini space shuttles. Jim’s story is fascinating, and the author writes with a strong ear for dialogue, which rattles the pages with intensity. A marvelous, emotionally powerful novel.

May 1, 2015
British novelist Johncock's debut takes place on American soil-and in American airspace-at the peak of the space race, from 1947 to 1968. Fictional Air Force test pilot Jim Harrison works in Muroc, California, at the future Edwards Air Force Base. He and his wife, Grace, struggle to accept infertility; are thrilled by a surprise pregnancy and parenthood; and drift away from each other after a tragic loss. Grace, who's grown accustomed to being alone as a pilot's wife, needs more from her husband after the death of their daughter. Instead, Harrison throws himself into his role as a member of the New Nine-the second class of astronauts and, more importantly, the first that will fly manned missions into space. Harrison's career leads him to interactions with real-life characters Gus Grissom, Jim Lovell, and Pancho Barnes. The novel moves quickly as a result of minimalist, quotation-mark-free dialogue. At times, multiple characters named Grace and Jim cause confusion-an awkward choice on the writer's part. Johncock's extensive research, as evidenced by his long list of book and film sources, is a double-edged sword. The novel gains significant life from Pancho Barnes, the kind of character who can't be invented, and Johncock's mastery of the jargon and mechanics of test piloting and space flight is impressive. However, the flight process and lingo can diminish focus on the characters. The space race is as much a character here as the Harrisons and their social circle, so much so that the people are sometimes overpowered by the mechanics. The book ends with things as they should be between Grace and Jim, but their happy ending is overshadowed by other astronauts' achievements. An ideal read for history buffs and space race enthusiasts.

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June 1, 2015

Involved in the evolution of high-speed flight in the Mojave Desert in California in the late 1940s and 1950s, test pilot Jim Harrison has little time for family life. But that changes when his wife, Grace, gives birth to a baby girl. After the child's sudden death from a rare form of cancer, Jim readily accepts an offer to become an astronaut, and the family relocates to Houston, a move for which Grace is not prepared. While Jim commits himself totally to the task of space flight, he tries to ignore not only his own deeply rooted grief but also Grace's unhappiness in Houston and unwillingness to let her daughter go. Eventually Jim must face that he can't continue to tough it out in military fashion. VERDICT A child's death is enough to unravel anyone, and it's not always clear whether Johncock is exploring a family's grief or linking it to the larger theme of the American space program. Yet this first novel is engaging and believable, and it's compelling to revisit the events of the space program. [See Prepub Alert, 3/9/15.]--James Coan, SUNY at Oneonta Lib.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2015
In his debut novel, accomplished short story writer and Guardian reporter Johncock takes a look back at the early days of the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in a plot revolving around the exploits of fictional test pilot and astronaut Jim Harrison. Johncock follows Harrison's journey from the Mojave desert, where he flew experimental rocket planes like the X1 in the skies over the Mojave Desert, while, on the ground, rubbing elbows with aeronautic legends such as Chuck Yeager, to Cocoa Beach, Florida, where Harrison joins a team of American astronauts charged with the mission of gaining the lead in space over the Soviets. Harrison's success, however, is cruelly shadowed by the death of his little girl, Florence, age two, a child he and his wife, Grace, were never even expected to have. While realistically describing the struggles Harrison faces in finding the courage to transcend a personal tragedy in the service of his country, Johncock also draws on true-life historical details to tell, in beautifully measured prose, a riveting good yarn about the U.S. astronaut-training program.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)