Review

Cassada

By James Salter

Published by Harvill Secker

Stationed in West Germany, the 44th Squadron’s task is to patrol the skies' looking for Communist incursions.

Most days, weather permitting, the pilots are able to hone their flying skills, competing fiercely against one another for prestige and, in the process, occasionally exceeding the limits of what is safely acceptable.

When the ambitious but reticent Cassada, a Puerto Rican, joins the squadron, he is immediately disliked by some of the other pilots; moreover, at least one of the flight commanders believes that the new lieutenant ‘“has the mark of death of him”’. Cassada sets out to prove that he can be as good a pilot as the others, with tragic results.

The novel brilliantly conveys the boredom and the excitement of Cold War military life, the stagnation of the political situation reflected in the complacency of the squadron. However, it is the central event of the book – two fighters, low on fuel, one without radio contact, return to base in rapidly deteriorating weather conditions – that gives Cassada its heart-pounding momentum.

Reviewed by James Smith, Booktrust website editor

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