Air Battle Force

and for his sake I hope he cuts the technical jargon down to a minimum. Other than the too much tech I enjoyed how he spent a lot of time on the Taliban. I found that enjoyable and refreshing for a change. The parts about the Russians were the same old story line on how they start every bad situation then denied it and blame the poor old USA. Sometimes the writer goes overboard in making heroes out of his characters. This time I feel he does not go there because he spent so much time on the Taliban. I enjoyed how he progressed and degressed the 2 Taliban leaders. The writer portrays Thorn as someone who has complete opposite ways of running the White House from all the others who precedeeded him. With our actual Presential race being contested next week I really take an interest at someone who is very different from his predecessors. The two canditates that are actually running this presendential year are the typical candidates. One will keep it the system the same (incumbent party) and the other will change it. Thorn may be fictional but at least he is portrated as his own man. Such as that he did not even attend his own swearing in ceremony because he was too busy. Can you see that being done in the real world? No, way! Mr. Brown keep up the action and limit the technical trite.

I've read every single one of Mr. Brown's books and this one is by far the weakest. Still good though but not his best. It was nice to see old characters like General Furness and Colonel Mace. But Thorn has to go. Hopefully he gets ousted from office in the next book. The plot in this one is kinda a weak but it seems to set up the next book nicely. (A war with Russia?) The robot planes are totally unbelieveable though. It breaks my heart to see Mr. Brown, a former navigator himself, take the real heros out of the picture. Whats the fun in flying if your gonna do it from the ground? A lot seems to be missing from Air Battle Force. But hopefully its just a set up for the next one.

AIR BATTLE FORCE begins spectacularly as ongoing hero of Dale's books General Patrick McLanahan is leading an intel mission into Afghanistan in the war on terror. When he almost loses one of his supersecret StealthHawk UAVs, he orders a decidedly unauthorised mission to recover it using all means at his disposal, much to the detriment of the Taliban forces in the area who want the weaponry on the UAV, his superiors in the White House who want him to fail and indeed at Diego Garcia naval air station when he has to bring down a crippled EB-1 bomber! These blazing action scenes set the tone for the story. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, resurgent Taliban forces led by a General Zarazi ousted out by US forces set their sights on oil-rich neighbouring Turkmenistan, seeking the riches to fund Al-Qaeda terror cells and further their own gains. However, plans for a quick takeover are in danger from an internal power struggle from one Jalaluudin Turabi, corrupt Russian military officers seeking the rebuilding of the former Soviet Union and also US oil companies bribing the Taliban to keep pipelines open. When Turkmenistan is invaded, the US President Thomas Thorn reluctantly authorises McLanahan's new Air Battle Force in to sort out the mess before a major confrontation occurs. Using ground troops - ongoing Marine characters Hal Briggs and Chris Wohl in high-tech exoskeletal body armour armed with hypervelocity projectile weapons - and a new fleet of unmanned, virtual-computer-controlled B-1 bombers, they do all they can to bring down Zarazi's guerilla forces. But there are always complications - General Rebecca Furness, B-1 wing commander is under scrutiny from old flame Daren Mace, from CHAINS OF COMMAND. As well as these olf favourite characters, Dale Brown has also introduced a new set of younger aircrews which will no doubt feature in future novels. When the military action takes off, the pace is fast, exciting and pulse-pounding. Brown once again tells a tale which keeps you reading and sets up the next book nicely at the end with a great and unexpected twist involving the Tarubi character and a power-crazed Russian general. So if airborne action and gadgetry are your cup of tea, this book just might be for you! Well done Dale Brown.

I find that this book was a great read. While some of the action the good guys take is somewhat outlandish, I still believe that Dale Brown's terrific storytelling and techincal-knowledge brought the book together at the end. A must-read for all people who love Dale Brown Books.