While this novel had a lot of interesting themes around First World War aviation --- e.g., the embryonic development of the U.S. aviation industry, the influence of politics upon said industry during the 1917-18 period, and the effects of combat on the average fighter pilot in France --- I did not like it. The story seemed to be loosely structured with sketchily developed characters who served as little more than consumer products for endorsing the story’s themes. I really wanted so much to like this novel, as it was Jack Hunter’s last. (His first novel, “THE BLUE MAX”, another First World War aviation novel I avidly read as a teenager, remains as one of my favorites of the genre.) But “THE ACE” proved to be ultimately unsatisfying.