I did not enjoy this book much. It has 20 chapters and 16 of them are written in the third person, presumably to allow Dick Pike to indulge in his preference for verbose prose. So thats 16 chapters of 'XXXX' "reflecting/pondering/ considering" - the weather, the geography, the aircraft, last nights party etc. Oh and probably nineteen chapters of noticing the runway lights in peripheral vision. The story about Roly Beamont's Saudi investigation seems a rehash from another book, and there is one chapter about an ATCO who assisted an emergency.......by marking his radar screen with a chinagraph pencil! I also find the phraseology strange - would a fighter controller talk about 36,000 ft, or Flight Level 360?Take out all the 'padding' and there are actually some interesting/entertaining stories there, but 'derring do' as described on the cover - nope!! And a chapter about his father flying Beaufighters in WW2 - To include that in a book about the cold war - Book editor John Davies of Grub Strreet must have temporarily lost his senses! However, lovely picture of Roger Pope on his way to Akrotiri on the cover.