Flanagan's Flight

A Novel

Fiction - Historical - Event/Era
349 Pages
Reviewed on 07/29/2021
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Author Biography

I spent forty years in the banking industry (36 of them at Citibank in NYC), before retiring in 2016. Born and raised at the Jersey Shore, I attended college in Virginia and then returned to my home state for my first job with a regional bank based in Newark. The inspiration for this story and its predecessor, "Bank Street", grew out of a desire to relate my initial experiences in the workplace and to strike a nostalgic chord with the "baby boomer" generation. Bank Street is a coming-of-age story set in the late 1970s during a period of rapid social change. Flanagan's Flight is the sequel, and covers the tumultuous decade of the 1980s.

I thought a lot about potential plot points and characters during my lengthy commutes to and from Manhattan, especially during the last few years of my career. Once retired, I got to work on writing my first novel. It took me three years to complete, but it was a labor of love. A lot of the characters in the story are a composite of many co-workers I had met over the years. The sequel took only 18 months, as it was completed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The same primary characters from Bank Street appear again, along with a colorful cast of new characters.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Trudi LoPreto for Readers' Favorite

Flanagan’s Flight is a journey back in time through the late 1970s and many of the happenings of the 1980s. Jerry and Maria are the stars of the story: meeting, falling very much in love, and marrying in 1978. The reader becomes embedded in their life story, sharing the ups and downs of their experiences. Jerry takes on a new job for a big international bank and spends much of his time traveling around the country. Maria is left at home caring for her son and later her twin daughters. Maria feels alone, frustrated, and trapped even though both sets of parents are always nearby to help out. On a team of auditors, Jerry discovers a problem when one of the bankers being audited is found to be abusing the system, setting up Swiss bank accounts for deals that he receives funds for which are not really his. Jerry faces obstacles, plane crashes, missing his family on long road trips, and more. Maria wants nothing more than for Jerry to be at home a lot more, spending time with her and his children.

If you lived through the 80s, Flanagan’s Flight is a great walk down memory lane. Even if this is not an era you were a part of, author Peter R Cavalier has highlighted all of the historic events of the period in a very accurate and interesting way. For my part, I could relate to almost all of the story, which made it special and personal. I was immediately drawn into the emotive plot and could feel Maria’s loneliness, but also understand what motivated and kept Jerry working so hard and long. Flanagan’s Flight was well written, historically correct, and had both strong character development and plot. I highly recommend Flanagan’s Flight to one and all, knowing you will not be disappointed.