We've been here before.
'Fate' is near the top of my list, and F4 Phantom is up there as well (pity Robert Prest never wrote a follow-up).
Richard Bach's 'A Gift of Wings' is the definative book that got me flying in 1978. Probably my 'top' aviation book for that reason alone. Lots of his other stuff is pretty good, too, but some is wierd.
'Cloud Cuckooland' and 'Aireymouse' are well worth a read as well. I saw these reduced to £4.50 each at a bookstall at the Woburn Moth rally yesterday.
For aviation-based thrillers, Stephen Coonts takes some beating (he is an ex-US carrier based pilot and his books follow that theme).
But maybe the best aviation thriller writer is Brian Lecomber. He only wrote few, but they are absolute crackers. Try his description of a partial engine failure at take off from a tiny Dominican Republic jungle strip, and the subsequent circuit and land back, in a Pawnee fully loaded with banana oil; "thank you God. I have control now".
Superb!
SSD