Dreamland

Dale Brown has collaborated with Jim DeFelice(check out his WAR BREAKER, by the way) to produce an excellent new novel set roughly around the end of Dale's DAY OF THE CHEETAH but tying in nicely with SHADOWS OF STEEL. In the story, Colonel Tecumseh DOG Bastian is assigned by the White House to get Dreamland, the secret base at Nevada's Groom Lake, back into shape or else defence budget cuts will force the place to close. The first half of the book deals with experimenting on new weapons systems, in particular the FLIGHTHAWK unmanned aerial vehicles and also development of the EB-52 Megafortress, another old favourite! Dale Brown has also done well in creating some new characters, such as hotshot F-16 pilot Mack Smith, paraplegic ex-pilot Jeff Stockard who is a leading player with the FLIGHTHAWK system and is also burned out, concerned about his marriage to Megafortress pilot Breanna Bastian Stockard, daughter of 'Dog'. All these personal dramas intertwine well when things heat up in the book's secomd half. As well as the new faces, we also get cameo appearances from Patrick MacLanahan, loose cannon General Brad Elliot(who I sadly miss, this character really rocks!), Madcap Magician SPECFOR operative Hal Briggs and also National Security Advisor Deborah O'Day, who is undecided about closing Dreamland. Overall, memorable characters, fast pacing, easy-to-read narrative and some interesting military technology which might be in use today(you just never know what they've got hidden away) and some pulsating action scenes in the air and on the ground with a deployment of a Marine Expeditionary Unit on a search and rescue mission make this new Dale Brown story well worth the read. I eagerly look forward to reading more in the DREAMLAND series!

I think I enjoyed this Dale Brown book more than any others I have read. Perhaps, he strikes chord with me in that he knocks the idea of a JSF project and continues his love affair with the B-52 megafortress featured in earlier books.It ius a straight forward story about people ont he sharp end of the stick taking car eo fhte bad guys (the Iranians this time). Interesting technology and good action.

I don't know what input Jim Defelice had with this book, nor have I ever read anything else by him. However, this book certainly was another typical Dale Brown winner. I commend their collobration on this book and enjoyed the deviation from Dale's normal cast of characters despite having a few of our old friends present. I have yet to look back at other DB books to confirm the timing of Dreamleand relative to his other books. I was a little thrown off by the fact that McCllanahan was still out of the Air Force, since I believe was brought back in under th rank of general in Fatal Terrain.

The book as a whole entity was excellent...same Dale Brown preciseness as in all of his previous works. The only problem I had was the starting of a new set of characters halfway through his original series...The timelines of the original cast being away during the time of this book just didn't add up. As I said, however, as a stand-alone book, it was great!

This book introduced some a lot of new characters, for those of you who are familiar with DB and his other novels. The Return of the Megafortress and the other Hi-tech gadgets give a thrill. While those familiar with this type of book, following conversations that switch between "call signs" and names won't be hard to follow.