The Battle For Control Of Iran . . . Begins In Space
When a disgraced former Iranian military chief of staff engineers an insurgency that threatens to destroy the theocratic regime in Iran, a new era appears to be dawning in the Middle East. But one must be wary of old enemies . . .
On the run from the Pasdaran, the theocrat's terror army, and unable to count on support from his friends in the regular army, Iranian rebel leader General Hesarak al-Kan Buzhazi desperately turns to his old nemesis, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant-General Patrick McLanahan, for help. Unwilling to commit American forces in an Iranian civil war, and with time running out, the U.S. president authorizes McLanahan to utilize a new, top-secret fleet of globe-crossing spaceplanes, the XR-A9 Black Stallions, led by test pilot and astronaut Captain Hunter Noble. Within hours, McLanahan's Air Battle Force turns the tide, possibly changing the course of history in the Middle East for generations.
The advent of almost instantaneous global reach, along with the reactivation of America's first military space station, Silver Tower, has rekindled fears of a space arms race, and the growing insurgency in Iran is threatening to erupt into a worldwide jihad. But McLanahan finds himself embroiled in even more bitter battles at the White House, between those who support his space-based military initiative and those who are working secretly to undermine it. When McLanahan is forced to concentrate on his political and personal battles back at home, it's left to Hunter Noble and his team of young American space engineers to keep the fires of freedom in the Middle East from exploding completely out of control.
Filled with the latest cutting-edge weaponry, geopolitical intrigue, high-flying suspense, and a colorful cast of characters, Strike Force is New York Times bestselling master Dale Brown at his best.
From Publishers Weekly
Bestseller Brown (_Edge of Battle_) takes the subject of his latest from current headlinesοΏ½the rapprochement between Iran and Russia (the former wants to secure nuclear technology, the latter a new foothold in the Middle East). The emergence of an Iranian nuclear arsenal sets off a crisis, which the usual high-tech weaponry and clean-cut American flyboys (and now girls) deal with as effectively as ever in Brown's fictional world. The author presents his Iranian characters as more than cardboard villains, skillfully showing the influence of Islamic culture on their motivations. Of course, Brown also provides plenty of fast action and exotic hardware, like the XR-A9 space plane, plus such nice touches as a U.S. president who wants to make a space flight. Techno-thriller fans and aviation buffs will be well rewarded. (May)
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From
All but Brown's most avid fans, of whom there are many, are likely to give up on the latest Patrick McLanahan adventure. Although recent efforts have indicated a general smoothing out of the author's clunky prose style, this one makes it look as though he has gone downhill. Turgid is an understatement for this bloated, slow-moving opus. Dialogue scenes go on way longer than they need to, and the dialogue is painfully inept. Expository paragraphs and narrative descriptions are dull, as though Brown got the information down on paper as quickly as he could, intending to go back later and make it readable. On the other hand, the thriller plot will draw action fansοΏ½a Middle Eastern rebel leader calls on Patrick, his old nemesis, to help him defend himself against a terrorist armyοΏ½and those who can't get enough high-tech gimmickry will enjoy Brown's latest inventions, including a suborbital space plane that sounds really cool. But wading through the book is like wading through rain-soaked mud: painful and exhausting for all but the truly motivated. Pitt, David
Copyright οΏ½ American Library Association. All rights reserved