One of the best novels I have read this year and surely the best novel about the war-in-the-air during WW2 since Len Deighton's 1970 epic 'Bomber'. It's a real treat to find an English author telling the story from the German perspective. The writing is elegant, stylish and beautifully nuanced, but the horrors of the Nazi regime are described with devastating realism, and the final days of the Third Reich are a stark reminder that in war there are no real victors, only the vanquished.
Hauptmann Jochen Murville is the ace pilot caught up in a battle to protect his homeland. He's not a Nazi; he's brave and compassionate, and this is his story. The characterisation is one of the great strengths of this novel. The denouement is written with nail-biting intensity. There are some real tear jerking moments.