Rogue Forces (Patrick McLanahan)

As always it is one of Dale Brown's great books. He is the best when it comes to high teck Military novels.

Loved this book. Took present day situations and added a bit of futuristic weapons to make it more interesting. Characters were really interesting, and the book was a fast and fun read.

Dale Brown continues to be the spinner of the technothriller. His knowledge of the US Military comes from having served in the USAF. He has a good grasp of current events and is able to turn out a book which is hard to put down.

I've prefaced my reviews of Dale Brown's last three thrillers (including this one) with a reminder that Brown is a remsrkably inconsistent author. His last outing, "Shadow Command" was awful, while the one before, "Strike Force" was excellent. In "Rogue Forces", you are reminded of the young Dale Brown who, with the first of his 21 books, thrilled us with "Flight of the Old Dog". In my off the cuff estimate, I'd say that more than half his books since have been stinkers and none has ever equaled the first. "Rogue Forces" shows some of the old Dale Brown: I had no choice but to lose sleep over two nights to finish it. One page just led to another and I didn't want to put it down. The story is built upon a few well-known and increasingly stale characters. Retired General Patrick McLanahan, who has blown up half the world it seems in previous combat missions of dubious legality, is now working for a private contractor. So is former President Martindale. Boyish genius Jon Masters, who seems a parody of Bill Gates, is there to provide miraculous technological inventions. Current President Gsrdner is still there, as treacherous and dishonest as ever and filled with hatred with McLanahan, who has the goods on him. The libidinous Stacy Anne Barbeau is now Secretary of State and still, shall we say, intimate with the President, while his wife waits upstairs in the White House. No surprises here: all these characters serve like coat hangers for Brown to hang his story on. And quite a good story it is this time around. President Gsrdner has been rushing the withdrawal of American military forces from Iraq, leaving the emerging state unsteady. US built airbases have been turned over to the Iraqi Army, with American forces as tenants. Increasingly, private contractors are performing duties once the province of the military. In fact, at Allied Air Base Nahla near Mosul, Iraq. the beleaguered American commander is surprised to find that former (trouble making) General Patrick McLanahan has shown up with Jon Mssters and a new wonder plane, the XC-57. Colonel Wilhelm, the commander of the American contingent, is a cartoon character. The real story is that the PKK, a Kurdish Communist group, demanding an independent Kurdish nation created from parts of Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran has been conducting guerrilla operations in Turkey. Turkey feels that the Iraqis, Americans, EU, UN and everyone else doesn't care and isn't doing enough to stop these raids. Events start popping quickly; McLanahan is doing his usual thinig with his wonder airplanes and other weapons - and before you know it, President Gardner wants McLanahan in jail, the Turks are preparing for war and the Iraqi Army has disappeared. The action is fast and furious. Brown fills every page with action and keeps the reader engrossed. The magic airplane, the XC-57, does its stuff (blowing things up and gathering information from almost everywhere), there are powerful drones, Jon Maste