Air Battle Force / Plan of Attack / Strike Force / Shadow Command

Patrick McLanahan #11-14

by Dale Brown

From New York Times bestselling author Dale Brown comes four thrillers featuring the beloved US Air Force officer Patrick McLanahan in one e-book, including: Air Battle Force, Plan of Attack, Strike Force, and Shadow Command.

Air Battle Force—A familiar cast of recurring Dale Brown characters battles Taliban guerrillas as they attempt to overtake Turkmenistan, along with American oil interest in that war torn country.

Plan of Attack—The fight for the future must take place in the blazing skies, a battlefield off-limits to General Patrick McLanahan, the discredited former commander of Air Battle Force… unless McLanahan takes matters into his own hands.

Strike Force—When a military coup in Iran leads to a crackdown on religious jihadists, it looks like a new era is born in the Middle East… but soon Iran unveils its hidden military might and invades northern Iraq, leaving the US completely off-guard. Only hero Patrick McLanahan and his high-tech team are prepared for the challenge.

Shadow Command—What if the most high-tech unit in the U.S. military rebelled against Washington? The future becomes a terrifying reality in Shadow Command.

Genres: Fiction

1640 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 16, 2014

About the author

Former U.S. Air Force captain Dale Brown is the superstar author of 25 consecutive New York Times best-selling military-action-aviation adventure novels: FLIGHT OF THE OLD DOG (1987), SILVER TOWER (1988), DAY OF THE CHEETAH (1989), HAMMERHEADS (1990), SKY MASTERS (1991), NIGHT OF THE HAWK (1992), CHAINS OF COMMAND (1993), STORMING HEAVEN (1994), SHADOWS OF STEEL (1996) and FATAL TERRAIN (1997), THE TIN MAN (1998), BATTLE BORN (1999), and WARRIOR CLASS (2001). His Fourteenth Novel AIRBATTLE FORCE will be published in late Spring 2003... Dale's novels are published in 11 languages and distributed to over 70 countries. Worldwide sales of his novels, audiobooks and computer games exceed 10 million copies.

Dale was born in Buffalo, New York on November 2, 1956. He graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Western European History and received an Air Force commission in 1978. He was a navigator-bombardier in the B-52G Stratofortress heavy bomber and the FB-111A supersonic medium bomber, and is the recipient of several military decorations and awards including the Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Combat Crew Award, and the Marksmanship ribbon.
Dale was also one of the nation's first Air Force ROTC cadets to qualify for and complete the grueling three-week U.S. Army Airborne Infantry paratrooper training course.

Dale is a director and volunteer pilot for AirLifeLine, a non-profit national charitable medical transportation organization who fly needy persons free of charge to receive treatment. He also supports a number of organizations to support and promote law enforcement and reading.

Dale Brown is a member of The Writers Guild and a Life Member of the Air Force Association and U.S. Naval Institute. He is a multi-engine and instrument-rated private pilot and can often be found in the skies all across the United States, piloting his own plane. On the ground, Dale enjoys tennis, skiing, scuba diving, and hockey. Dale, his wife Diane, and son Hunter live near the shores of Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

Reviews

[Michael Koch]

Dale Brown is a dependable author for good action books. This is one of the first of his Air Battle series; it is written in 2003. In this book he unveiled a newly developed concept of high tech military hardware, specifically information gathering, surveillance, detection, electronic monitoring and countermeasures and enhanced infantry mobility and protection device. These are all packaged into a Cybernetic Infantry Device (CID) or often called a man-worn robot. This device can be linked with an unmanned full size stealth bomber that has been modified to carry both offensive and defensive weapons. It is also fully equipped with the cameras and sensors that allow remote pilots to control the entire flight and battle, or to hand the controls over to the aircraft. This combination of stealthy unmanned bombers and high tech infantry allows deep penetration of hostile territory by small numbers of special force operatives supported by massive backup.

In this story these tools are used to maintain peace and US oil interests in a sparsely populated desert that is being fought over by Afghan Taliban and rogue Russian interests. Neither of these forces represent the country of interest (Turkmemistan) and neither is supported by their national governments. This allows Brown to use an interesting and surprising twist that allows the sad desert to be returned to its home country and the Russians and Taliban to both go home before destroying each other. Brown’s protagonist, General Patrick McLanahan gets a dressing down for going beyond his orders and the rest of the good guys are happy.

Brown does a great job of the action scenes. The weapon systems are well described if necessary. Their use is also described as their impact and any opposition the foes might use against them. This is one of Brown’s strengths.

In general the major characters are developed enough that we have understanding of their behavior and some care for them. This makes the book and the plot somewhat plausible.

This is a good book. I enjoyed reading it and it went by quickly. Lots of interest, lots of tension, lots of action. Dale Brown tells a good story. Four stars.

[Joseph]

Quick, interesting read for fans of military thriller.