Tim Butcher

Flight into danger: Freight Dogs, by Giles Foden, reviewed

School-age dreamer Manu Kwizera is recruited by mercenary bush pilots for a series of dangerous missions in central Africa’s conflict zones

Giles Foden. [Alamy] 
issue 25 September 2021

Flying has always attracted chancers and characters to Africa. Wilbur Smith’s father so loved aviation he named his son to honour the Wright Brothers. ‘I am forever grateful he didn’t go for Orville,’ the Zambian-born author once confided. Smith father and son may well have approved of Giles Foden’s romping novel, which has African bush pilots at its core, and a style not dissimilar to that of an airport thriller.

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