"After the twists and turns in Goering's many missions, Frater finishes with a stunning revelation . . . the author delivers an exciting read full of little-known facts about the war. A WWII thrill ride." - Kirkus Reviews The U.S. air battle over Nazi Germany in WWII was hell above earth. For bomber crews, every day they flew was like D-Day, exacting a terrible physical and emotional toll. Twenty-year-old U.S. Captain Werner Goering, accepted this, even thrived on and welcomed the adrenaline rush. He was an exceptional pilot―and the nephew of Hermann Göring, leading member of the Nazi party and commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe. The FBI and the American military would not prevent Werner from serving his American homeland, but neither would they risk the propaganda coup that his desertion or capture would represent for Nazi Germany. J. Edgar Hoover issued a top-secret order that if Captain Goering's plane was downed for any reason over Nazi-occupied Europe, someone would be there in the cockpit to shoot Goering dead. FBI agents found a man capable of accomplishing the task in Jack Rencher, a tough, insular B-17 instructor who also happened to be one of the Army's best pistol shots. That Jack and Werner became unlikely friends is just one more twist in one of the most incredible untold tales of WWII. "From the title of the book to the final, riveting chapters, Frater spins a tale with a twist that grabs the reader and never lets go. It's an astonishing look into how the military, prompted by the FBI, came up with a plan to let Werner G. Goering, a U.S. bomber pilot in the European theater, fly combat missions even though his uncle was Hermann Göring, commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe (the German Air Force) and Adolf Hitler's successor to the Nazi regime." -- MySanAntonio.com "The riveting true story of a World War II bomber pilot and the co-pilot who received orders to kill him...After the twists and turns in Goering's many missions, Frater finishes with a stunning revelation...the author delivers an exciting read full of little-known facts about the war. A WWII thrill ride." -- Kirkus Reviews "STEPHEN FRATER has uncovered one of the greatest and most ironic surprises of World War Two: the fact that a decorated American bomber pilot who flew forty-eight missions over Germany was the nephew of Reichmarshall Hermann Goring...A riveting book, every bit as exciting and unusual as Operation Mincemeat, and demonstrating that there are still things we don't know about WWII." -- Michael Korda, New York Times bestselling author of Hero and With Wings Like Eagles "Mr. Frater takes gruesome air combat stories and packs them with impressive historical detail and unforgettable characters. The terror men faced in the air for hours at a time comes across in this outstanding work. Using clear writing and ending in an unexpected twist, Hell Above Earth not only captures the drama in the air but also the inner turmoil of men. This is history at its best, a gripping tale of adventure..."-- Seattle PI, April 2012 "For once here is a book with a subtitle worthy of being called an "untold story." Stephen Frater has skillfully fashioned a real, hitherto untold tale, the background of which is the air war over Europe in World War II...Frater, as few others have done, has managed to convey both the heroism and the terror of the men who flew the bombing missions over Germany... Altogether a riveting tale of men at war." - Marshall De Bruhl, author of Firestorm: Allied Airpower and the Destruction of Dresden. Stephen Frater was a staff writer and columnist for the New York Times subsidiary The Sarasota Herald-Tribune. His articles, biographical features and military themed nonfiction book reviews have been published nationwide. He is the author of the book Hell Above Earth . He is currently an adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Rhode Island's Harrington School of Communication and Media. He lives in Rhode Island and Florida.