- Audio Cassette
- Publisher: William Morrow; Abridged edition (May 1 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0060520213
- ISBN-13: 978-0060520212
- Product Dimensions: 18.3 x 11.2 x 3.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 186 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
This absorbing techno-thriller follows the author's established pattern of fast action in the air and on the ground, its hard-driving protagonists equipped with an arsenal of futuristic hardware. Patrick McLanahan is back again, this time as air force major general in charge of the First Air Battle Force, a secret experimental unit with the controls to a jackpot of high-tech toys, among them air-retrievable bomb-carrying drones, venerable B-52s packing brand-new, high-powered lasers, and B-1s (called Vampires) capable of carrying out unmanned missions. Supporting McLanahan are a respectable company of the other continuing characters in the author's air force saga, which has acquired (like Clancy's Jack Ryan volumes) some of the attributes of an alternate history. These include Rebecca Furness, with her first star; maverick Daren Mace, still under a cloud and still in love with Rebecca; cigar-smoking acting Secretary of State Maureen Hershel; and charismatic ex-President Kevin Martindale. All collide when a Taliban raid into Turkmenistan leads to the overthrow of the Russian-backed Turkmen government. Eager to set things right, the Russian chief of staff engineers a military coup in Russia, pumping up the threat of war between Russia and the U.S. At the end, Brown (Wings of Fire, etc.) has deftly set up his next book, with Turkmenistan ruled by Jalaluddin Turabi, a former Taliban bandit and now a budding statesman, while the Russians bare their fangs over the not-unexpected destruction of their bombers by the Air Battle Force. Brown fans will declare this a page-turning delight.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Clancy's got serious company.' New York Daily News 'When a former pilot with years of experience turns his hand to writing thrillers you can take their authenticity for granted. His writing is exceptional and the dialogue, plots and characters are first-class... far too good to be missed.' Sunday Mirror 'Dale Brown is a superb storyteller.' Washington Post 'The best military adventure writer in the country.' Clive Cussler
Old Dog Brown brings back his favorite technothriller heroes for what will likely be their 15th consecutive assault on the bestseller list, despite ever more unwieldy plots, laboriously detailed fantastic weapons, and bombastic action sequences. Forcibly retired US Air Force General Patrick McLanahan (Wings of Fire, 2002, etc.) and his unsanctioned Night Stalker special ops corps of freelance commandos (who work outside the government) have saved the world several times over from total destruction and always win the biggest stakes on the table. What is an Air Battle Force? Well, former child prodigy aeronautical and space engineer Jon Masters has devised the Vampire bomber, which carries StealthHawk Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles within it. McLanahan leads the 1st Vampire Squadron, and StealthHawks are the leading edge of the force he and Wing Commander Rebecca Furness use to launch a counterattack against Afghan Captain Wakil Mohammad Zarazi's Taliban troops, who capture a UN Afghan Relief and Rehabilitation unit in Northern Afghanistan. Air Battle Force is the future of air warfare and in part consists of robot warplanes launched from the Vampire bomber. Flying a B-1 over air space congruent to Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan, McLanahan loses a robot plane and goes searching for it through various hostile radars and air defense systems while running almost on empty. As it happens, the Turkmenistan oil fields have become the prime target of Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces no longer safe in Afghanistan. The novel bomber makes a pancake landing, skipping off the ocean onto a beach. The technoclimax comes with the Vampire in a dogfight while attacking an airbase in the Russian Federation. Tense pages hard-focused on aerial hardware as Brown pumps it up for fans-who know what they're getting. (Kirkus Reviews)
Old Dog Brown brings back his favorite technothriller heroes for what will likely be their 15th consecutive assault on the bestseller list, despite ever more unwieldy plots, laboriously detailed fantastic weapons, and bombastic action sequences. Forcibly retired US Air Force General Patrick McLanahan (Wings of Fire, 2002, etc.) and his unsanctioned Night Stalker special ops corps of freelance commandos (who work outside the government) have saved the world several times over from total destruction and always win the biggest stakes on the table. What is an Air Battle Force? Well, former child prodigy aeronautical and space engineer Jon Masters has devised the Vampire bomber, which carries StealthHawk Unmanned Combat Air Vehicles within it. McLanahan leads the 1st Vampire Squadron, and StealthHawks are the leading edge of the force he and Wing Commander Rebecca Furness use to launch a counterattack against Afghan Captain Wakil Mohammad Zarazi's Taliban troops, who capture a UN Afghan Relief and Rehabilitation unit in Northern Afghanistan. Air Battle Force is the future of air warfare and in part consists of robot warplanes launched from the Vampire bomber. Flying a B-1 over air space congruent to Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan, McLanahan loses a robot plane and goes searching for it through various hostile radars and air defense systems while running almost on empty. As it happens, the Turkmenistan oil fields have become the prime target of Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces no longer safe in Afghanistan. The novel bomber makes a pancake landing, skipping off the ocean onto a beach. The technoclimax comes with the Vampire in a dogfight while attacking an airbase in the Russian Federation. Tense pages hard-focused on aerial hardware as Brown pumps it up for fans-who know what they're getting. (Kirkus Reviews)
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Most helpful customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
this book stinks,
By A Customer
This review is from: Air Battle Force (Hardcover)
I've read every Dale Brown book published. This is not the same old Dale Brown we are used to. Hope it gets better from here, or I am done.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Military Drudgery in the [Tarnished] Name of Clancy...,
By L. Berk "Leah Lionheart" (Praha, CR) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Air Battle Force (Mass Market Paperback)
Dale Brown can't decide what he wants to do: Either be a military writer, or be a fiction writer. Frankly, in both arenas, he fails. Quite miserably. There is virtually no plot development in this book, and the endless drudgery of military and technological description becomes mind-numbing, even to the most adherent military fiction fans. His writing is far from fluid, rather he utilises a blocky, counter-intuitive way to write, which makes this book doubly hard to get through.He attempts to formulate some sort of character development between Daren and Rebecca Furness, both characters in this novel. Rather than adding dimension, however, it merely makes the characters even more cardboard-y: All Brown seems good at is describing missiles and aeroplane fuselage. Which is fine, if you're writing a military guide. And not so fine if you're writing fiction. The premise of the story is simple enough: Taliban fighters are invading Turkmenistan. In the great name of Clancy, Brown can't help but to throw in some malevolent Russian forces to take a low jab at our Gulagian friends. Additionally, he throws a General (P. McLanahan) into the mix, a General who has faced his share of trials and tribulations, as well as military drama. Finally, there is a political twist: There are two candidates running for presidential office of the United States. Truth be told, though, after five hundred+ pages of this book, and upon its finishing, I couldn't help but ask: What, exactly, happened? One never finds out the outcome of the political race, you don't quite find out what happens to any of the characters besides in their military circumstances...The characters accesorize the guns, rather than vice-versa. It seems that Brown tries to do too many things at once, and as a result, doesn't even marginally succeed at any of them. I bought this book as a 'beach read' and figured I'd blow through it in about three days. Wrongo. It took me upwards of two weeks to finally finish it. The novel drags its feet in all the wrong places, and doesn't have any real plot development. I'm *not* looking for a literary masterpiece in the name of "The Red Badge of Courage," I was simply looking for an entertaining read. Not really worth your time, unless you like to read an aircraft manual thinley veiled with what seem to be the threads of a plot line.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Air Battle Force is too much tech, too little plot,
By Jacquelyn K Sinclair (Mahomet, IL United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Air Battle Force (Hardcover)
Having read several Dale Brown novels now, I'm tiring of his incredible attention to technical detail and seemingly too little effort in developing a story line. Air Battle Force takes way too much time telling us every detail of every tank, fighter plane and computer system while leaving the reader waiting and waiting for something to develop amongst the characters.I'm also wondering how much more he plans to wring out of the Dreamland story with its fancy, tech-stuffed bombers and Tin Men. G Sinclair
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