That''s Me in the Middle

Strangely horse-faced World War I flying ace Bart Bandy finds himself kicked upstairs - to everyone''s appalled surprise - and made a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Flying Corps.

But not for long. Persuaded to give a school speech on the many shortcomings of Field Marshal Haig, Bart finds Fortune''s Wheel definitely on the turn and soon he is once more heading for the hell of the trenches - this time on a bicycle.

With the daredevil commander of the 13^th Bicycle Brigade, Bob Craig, there follow a series of edge-of-the-seat adventures, always accompanied by what Craig later refers to fondly as brilliant exchanges of utter nonsense .

Donald Jack''s blackly humorous Bandy memoirs are classics of their kind. Against an unshrinkingly depicted backdrop of war and its horrors, his anti-hero''s adventures are both gripping and shockingly funny.

Reading can lead to involuntary bursts of loud laughter.

Very descriptive, full of air combats and written with a fine eye for period detail . . . there is quite simply no finer book of its kind. Highly recommended.

It is clear that Bandy likely should''ve been killed several times, but very likely the Grim Reaper was laughing too hard to hold his scythe straight . . .

Hysterically funny! . . . each book is another installment in the continuing saga of a Canadian and his adventures in war, the world, and women.

I have yet to find another author with the wit and humor of Donald Jack.

I enjoyed every word . . . terrifically funny. P.G. Wodehouse

Jack does more than play it for laughs . . . The mingling of humor and horror is like a clown tap-dancing on a coffin, but Jack is skillful enough to get away with it. Time Magazine

Funny. Very. Donald Jack has as light a touch with this fragile art as his hero has on throttle of a Sopwith Camel. Excessive corn is avoided in favour of wit and a delight in life. New York Times

Bartholomew Bandy is the most remarkable hero (or anti-hero) since Harold Lloyd impersonated the Freshman. Chicago Tribune

To know Bandy is to love him . . . you tend to gallop through and come hurtling out at the end panting for more. The Sunday Sun

For those to whom Bandy is a newcomer, what a treat is in store. Toronto Star