Firebreak

The author has put together a great story line with strong characters. The action never stops and you feel that you are right there.

This is one for aircraft nuts and techno-thriller fans alike. Seeing as I've almost finished reding all of Dale Brown's airborne adventures, I was glad to discover Richard Herman! This is a superb Middle East-based thriller with a consistent, flowing storyline and some believable and well created characters. When Iraq builds a nerve gas missile arsenal and Israel threatens to go nuclear, Washington politicians are too consumed by their pettiness and backstabbing to do anything until it's too late . . . so it's up to the Presiden't grandson, Matt Pontowski, a boyish, wild air force flight lieutenant to provide intelligience on behalf of the Israelis, with the help of an attractive Mossad agent, Shoshana Tamir, to prove to the US that the Arabs are indeed whipping up holy war fever. Since this book was written, Iraq has indeed been recently experimenting with nerve agents and Israel did actually threaten to retaliate with nukes . . . proving that Herman had his finger on the pulse! A very well-written novel indeed.Spectacular flying and ground combat scenes, interesting locales(Spain, Israel, Iraq, Syria) prominent and a swift, flowing and suspenseful pace. All the technical terms are well explained too for non-military readers. Altogether, highly recommended!

I'm an active duty military officer and I haven't found anyone as technically on the mark as Herman. He sets the standard. He develops great characters with human frailties--but don't get too attached to any of them. A master story teller! This book is best if you read Warbirds and Force of Eagles (in that order) first.

I came to like technothrillers after reading Tom Clancy's early novels, and for years I tried to find an aviation equivalent of what Tom Clancy had done with submarine warfare.I came across Firebreak by chance, bought it because I liked the cover of the British edition, and after starting it I really felt like I was discovering a new kind of novel, a feeling I had only had before with Tom Clancy's early works. The first part of Firebreak is a spying story not unlike that of a ( good ) James Bond novel, and the second part is political and military fiction at its best, with the description of an all-out war in the Middle East that is chilling in its accuracy. Suspense is skilfully created and maintained and some real facts are cleverly used ( e.g. the F15 Eagle still flying with most of one wing torn off, a fact that really happened to an Israeli aircraft, although McDonnellDouglas engineers would not believe it when they first heard of it). I only regret that Levi's luck did not last until the end, but I presume the author wanted to respect the laws of tragedy. It is rare to see an author with both the military background and the imagination of a born novelist.

This is Herman's third book, and it features the F-15E Strike Eagle and Lt. (soon to be Capt.) Pontowski. Plenty of action and plot and is the best novel about the F-15E I've read