He's probably best known for his 1977 novel, Firefox, about a British and American plan to steal the USSR's latest high-tech aircraft. (Of course now the name "Firefox" is probably best known as the name of a web browser.) The novel was turned into a Clint Eastwood movie and was followed by a sequel called Firefox Down in 1983.
I read both of those books back in the mid-80s and quickly moved onto his other books, most of which followed the pattern of putting animals in the titles. What I really enjoyed was the combination of stylish writing, exciting action and fairly plausible plots. My favourites include Snow Falcon, The Bear's Tears, Winter Hawk and The Last Raven.
The novels tended to feature Cold War settings and shared a large cast of characters, most notably the MI6 spymaster Kenneth Aubrey, Australian-born agent Patrick Hyde and US pilot Mitchell Gant.
I've read a lot of thrillers since and as far as I am concerned very few compare to the Craig Thomas novels. The one exception that comes to mind is Gerald Seymour, my "other" favourite author!
Craig's last novel was Slipping into Shadow in 1998. i live in hope that he writes another!
My Craig Thomas web page can be found at http://uk.geocities.com/hindgunship/index.html
