Blue Gemini

Lt. Scott Ourecky, the hero of Jenne’s debut, a tense Cold War thriller set in the late 1960s that launches a trilogy, wants to become a U.S. Air Force pilot, but fears he may be forever Earth-bound as an engineer. His fortunes begin to change when he’s selected to join Blue Gemini, a secret military operation set up to prevent the Soviets from putting satellites armed with nuclear weapons into orbit. He teams with Maj. Drew Carson, a feisty, aggressive pilot, who looks down on engineers and soon starts hitting on Bea Harper, the woman Ourecky is dating. After a mishap on a training mission in Alaska, Ourecky gains Carson’s respect, and the two slowly begin an unlikely friendship. Jenne, a pilot himself, definitely knows his subject, as shown by the lengthy, detailed technical descriptions of flight missions and simulations, which may tire all but the most hardened aviation enthusiasts. Still, the result is an epic tale of high-stakes action seasoned with the muddy complexities of human relationships. Agent: Peter Riva, International Transactions. (May)