Mitchell Gant Books In Order

Publication Order of Mitchell Gant Books

The Mitchell Gant series is a series of thriller and suspense books written by one of the prolific English authors named Crig Thomas. It consists of a total of 4 books, which were released between the years 1977 and 1997. The chief protagonist of this series is introduced in the form of a fictional character named Mitchell Gant. Author Craig has described Gant as a Russian jet skyjacker and a former Vietnam vet, who works for the CIA. The first appearance of the Mitchell Gant is seen in the 1977 book titled Firefox. In this book, he is depicted as a United States Air Force Major and goes on to steal a fighter aircraft, MiG-31 Firefox’ prototype, from the Russians. This book was later adapted into a successful Hollywood film. At the beginning of the book series, author Craig has described Gant as growing up in a small town located in rural America, called as Clarksville. When he was small, he was attracted towards flight after watching a small plane at a gas station. And after cherishing some happy memories in Clarksville, Mitchell Gant joined the U.S. Air force as a fighter pilot. During one of the combat missions in the Vietnam War, his fighter plane was shot down by a missile. He saved himself by ejecting, but was captured by guerillas. Gant was saved by the arrival of an allied aircraft, but he was traumatized by the incident. As he also died in the shooting of his aircraft, the experience gave him post traumatic stress disorder. He began having frequent flashbacks and during the nights, he used to get nightmares visualizing himself as a Vietnamese.

Gant leaves the military after the end of the war and starts working in a pizza restaurant in Los Angeles for some time. In one part of the series, Gant is shown describing taking up this job as a means to run away from his personal problems. Later, the CIA recruits him to take part in the Firefox mission as he knew Russian, knew how to fly a Russian aircraft, and had the Vietnam combat experience. As Gant’s mother was a Russian, he was very fluent in the language. The CIA gives a 3 months training to fly a similar aircraft as the MiG 25 and a simulator of Firefox. At first, he gets inserted into the Soviet Union through a scheme by the Anglo-American intelligence. Gant is tasked to steal two prototypes of the fighter plane. After knowing that the two aircrafts are stationed at an airbase in Moscow, he crosses the Soviet Union and reaches there. Gant is helped by a number of MI6 agents and several dissident scientists. They help to create a diversion which allows Gant to steal both the planes. Even though he faces some obstacles, he goes on to succeed in his mission eventually. As the series proceeds further, Mitchell Gant is seen getting captured by the Russian forces after being forced to land the stolen aircraft near the Finland border. They cause huge atrocities on him to make him give information about the CIA missions, but he does not get broken by them. Subsequently, Gant becomes successful in escaping with the help of a double agent known as Anna Akhmerovna. And after overcoming a few more obstacles on the way, he flies back to his home safely. Mitchell Gant makes his final appearance in the book called A Different War. He is shown investigating the crashing of two airliners being a member of the NTSB. At the end of this book, author Craig has mentioned that Gant received a Medal of Honor. He has also revealed the information that Mitchell Gant was an instructor and F-117 pilot at the time of the Persian Gulf War.

One of the well known books published in the Mitchell Gant series is titled ‘Winter Hawk’. The Fontana publication released this book in the year 1988. At the starting sequence of this book, it is depicted that a nuclear treaty about to get signed between the Soviet and American leaders at Geneva. When only a week is left before the signing of the treaty, a CIA agent informs the Americans that the Soviet leaders are preparing to launch a laser weapon in the Earth’s orbit from the Launch site at Baikonur. If this launch becomes successful, the Americans will become defenseless against the Russians and their generals will start controlling the USSR. On hearing the news of the launch, the American President begins to panic and orders to put the Winter Hawk mission into operation. As per this operation, penetration attempts will be made in the Central Asian Soviet via the Afghan route to bring out the CIA agent and obtain proof of the launch from him. Mitchell Gant is asked to fly one of the stolen helicopters from Rusia and is given 4 day’s time to complete the mission. The second helicopter gets destroyed by the Russian forces, which was carrying reserve fuel for Gant. As a result, he is unable to reach Baikonur. Once again, he gets captured by them. Gant encounters the KGB officer named Dmitri Priabin, who wishes to take revenge from Gant because of whom his beloved Anna was killed while helping him to escape previously. The mission, capture of Gant, and his escape attempt, are all set against the background of a chilling nuclear confrontation. It appears that author Craig has utilized all his powers as an author to develop the unforgettable and thrilling adventure of this book.

Another excellent thriller written by author Craig Thomas in the series was published under the title of ‘Firefox Down’. The Warner Futura publication released it in the year 1997, after it was first published in 1983. In this plot, the events after the stealing of two MiG aircrafts from Russia by Mitchell Gant takes place, are described by Craig. While flying away with the stolen aircrafts, Gant realizes that his fuel tank is leaking. He is also confronted by a couple of other Russian aircrafts. Due to this, he forcefully makes a landing near the Soviet border. As he does not have anywhere to run, he gets captured. The aircraft sinks to the bottom of the frozen lake on which Gant had landed. A KBG agent named Akhmerovna helps Gant to run away. Another KGB officer called Priabin also comes to love reluctantly, only because he loves Akhmerovna. After giving Gant into the hands of a western intelligence expert team, Akhmerovna gets shot. They intelligence team recovers the plane from the lake and asks Gant to fly it to home. Even though he faces a lot of difficulties while flying it, he reaches home in the end.

Mitchell Gant is a series of mystery thrillers by British author Craig Thomas. Craig Thomas made a name for himself as one of the best techno thriller writers with many in the genre crediting him with the invention of the genre. His explosive first novel in the series “Firefox” published in 1977 was a huge success even going on to become a major Hollywood success that starred Clint Eastwood. With the first novel achieving so much commercial and critical acclaim, Thomas wrote several more novels in the series that went on to become bestsellers. The novels are Cold War era type novels that tell of the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union through the work of the lead protagonist Mitchell Gant, a US Air Force Major. Craig’s experiences living in the Cold War era and practicing as a teacher stand him in good stead, as he writes a very detailed techno thriller narratives with graphic images that make the characters come to life. The Mitchell Gant series of novels could best be described as super charged techno thriller novels that hinge on the personality of the strong-willed Mitchell Gant. Gant an obsessive renegade American pilot determined to use all means in his power to defeat the enemies of the NATO regardless of the consequences. Over the course of the series, the narrative follows the life of the lead protagonist from the Cold War to the Vietnam War to the Gulf War and beyond. Most of the novels in the series are set in the British intelligence agency MI.6.

Mitchell Gant the lead protagonist in the novels was born and raised in rural America. He had always fancied life as a pilot ever since he saw a small plane land in his small town of Clarksville for refueling. Soon after turning eighteen, he leaves Clarksville and joins the United States Air Force, where he becomes a fighter pilot. He is shot down during the Vietnam War while flying the F-4 Phantom that is hit by a Viet Cong launched surface-to-air missile. Luckily, he manages to eject, though he lands in a Viet Cong area where he is captured as a prisoner of war. Even as allied aircraft eventually saves him, the experience leaves him traumatized, particularly when a napalm dropped by the US Air Force sees a young girl traveling with the Viet Cong die in the ensuing flames. Now suffering from PTSD, he has frequent flashbacks of the traumatic events. He has frequent nightmares of being a Vietnamese that is incinerated by napalm dropped by an American aircraft. After leaving the US Air Force, he
finds a job as a menial laborer in a Los Angeles pizzeria. For him, quitting the military was an attempt to run away from his psychological issues. However,
given his knowledge of Russian, Russian aircraft, and Vietnam combat experience, he is eventually recruited for the Firefox operation run by the CIA. He only
needs three months of training in Russian before he can fly a Firefox simulator and replica of the MiG-25.

While he is credited with inventing the techno thriller novel, Craig Thomas never had any military training. Nonetheless, the novels are steeped in intricate detail gathered from meticulous research. Most of the background material for the Mitchell Gant series of novels is derived from conversations with friends of his that once served with the RAF, with his Russian settings coming from photographic books and guidebooks. The series of novels are known for their cutting-edge technologies in military hardware,
which are central to the plot. For instance, Firefox the first novel in the series had the MiG-31 a highly advanced aircraft as the central component of the plot. The Russian military at the time possessed the MiF-25 Foxbat, which had a top speed of Mach 2.8 and was the fastest interceptor and reconnaissance bomber of the time. Thomas Craig’s aircraft is better as it can go up to Mach 5 and had the technology that made it possible to control its guided missile and radar systems by pilot thought. With out of the box thinking, the novels quickly became bestsellers selling over 20 million copies by the time the last novel in the series was published in 1997. What made the novels such as success was their combination of a compelling and intimate spy on spy yarn and international military action thriller narratives.

“Firefox” the first novel I the series tells of Mitchell Gant an American ace pilot, recruited by NATO while still suffering from a PTSD incurred when he was held as a prisoner of war in the Vietnam War. He is now trained and charged with infiltrating the Soviet Union and stealing the Firefox, the ultimate fighter bomber. With revolutionary thought processing weapons and sustained Mach 6 speeds, the Firefox could just be the plane that could shift the balance of power in favor of Russia. The plane has been custom-built for the form of Colonel Yuri Voskov, a man who has an identical build to Mitchell Gant. NATO activates its assets in the Soviet Union who help in smuggling him across Russia to the south of Ukraine where the Red Air Force is testing out their prototype. His mission is to steal the Firefox and while at it, escape from some of the globe’s most sophisticated air defense grid. But he also has to evade and make it out of Russia while being pursued by a similar MiG prototype.

“Firefox Down” the second novel in the series is a sequel to the first novel “Firefox”. The second novel starts with Mitchell Gant trying to fight off a second MiG-31 that has been on his tail since he stole the first prototype. With his plane sustaining significant damage and losing fuel rapidly, he is forced to land on a frozen Finnish lake. Given the weight of the plane, the ice breaks and he is now in danger of losing both the aircraft and his life in the cold icy lake. Getting out of the wrecked plane and crawling off the ice, the Russians capture and hold him as a spy, while the West tries to recover the prototype from the lake before the Soviets can destroy or recapture it. Meanwhile, Gant is trying to escape the Soviet Union with the help of a KGB agent’s girlfriend codenamed Burgoyne. But even as he comes near to achieving his objective, Burgoyne’s cover is compromised, leaving him with a dilemma on whether to get out of the Soviet Union or to save the woman.