STEVE RAMSAY

Steve Ramsay is a pilot.

Nothing is known about Ramsay's history prior to the events chronicled in the books. There is nothing mysterious about it all, just nothing mentioned. Ramsay does not do much talking about himself as he would rather talk about others - they seem a lot more interesting to him.

He loves flying and he loves adventure. To couple these two passions, he has chosen the "non-sked" route. This means that he has eschewed the more common route of commercial airlines in favor of piecemeal work that takes him to different parts of the world for short contracts.

The lack of a normal job might mean the lack of a steady paycheck but Ramsay seldom has such a problem. He is a good, dependable pilot and because of his love of excitement, he is willing to take just about any assignment. He charges a sizeable fee for his services but because not many pilots will fly into war zones without cover and because he usually gets the job done, he is used a great deal.

Ramsay is definitely not a spy in any capacity but his adventuring throws him into international crisis situations and his innate sense of right and wrong, coupled with his desire to come out of the contracts with his body intact, invariably has him acting in a de facto role.

Despite his willingness to fly into dangerous areas for a price, Ramsay is in no way a hotshot or reckless or a thrill-seeker. He enjoys excitement but he likes staying alive and he knows that getting his 6'2" body filled with holes from other people's guns or blown out of the sky by a missile or stabbed in an alleyway is not the way to keep breathing. For that reason, he tries to avoid angry people with guns, is a very good pilot, and is cautious about where and when he goes for a walk.

All that caution considered, he still gets shot at, fired upon, and sometimes bad men come out of the alleys.

Steve Ramsay is not a spy certainly but he does get involved in the same sort of international activity that a spy hero would often find himself doing, in other words, an international adventurer. He would never see himself as such as he thinks of himself as just another sky-bum, loving to fly and willing to fly anything to anywhere if the price is right.

These books are just fun to read. The character is fairly intrepid but not foolhardily so. He loves hard drinking and soft women and he hates being tied down. He is brave and loyal and he is a good friend to have. His adventures are realistic, believable, thought-out, and quite exciting, told in a way that keeps the action going and the thrill alive. All these things make for an enjoyable read.