Fatal Terrain

This is a book where someone that disobeys orders and ends up killing a thousand civilians for no purpose is celebrated as a hero. It's a book where opponents of the main character are painted as cartoonish villains. Where anyone connected to the US Air Force is perfect and almost everyone connected to one of the other American military branches are stupid. Where everything that happens in Washington D.C. is insane while the pilots in an airplane are the only ones that can make the correct decisions.

All in all, it's a silly book that has to be read as if it was a kid's cartoon. As a kid's cartoon it's easy to digest as long as you don't take anything in it seriously.

The background to Fatal Terrain is that Patrick McLanahan, after saving show more the world over and over again in all the previous books, is persona non grata because of "politics". At the same time Taiwan is trying to break with their history and go forward as an independent and recognized country (something most everyone in the real world thinks would be a good thing as long as China doesn't get too upset). In the book China gets upset and starts lobbying nukes all over the place.

The book completely disregards the classical American blood thirst. If an American is harmed by a foreigner, the default American attitude is to kill everyone. Not so in this book. Suddenly the American people is incredibly restrained. I can only assume that Dale Brown is even more blood thirsty than the average American and uses this book as a way to insult everyone else. show less

Fatal Terrain is the 6th book in the McLanahan series and Dale Brown did not disappoint. The premise of the book is that China wants to reunite with Taiwan at any costs and develops a brilliant plan to do just that. The characters are wonderful, the book is full of non stop action, and is a page turner. Its hard to put down because you want to know what will happen next, you begin to root for the characters. The one criticism I have is that this book included much more technical information than was necessary. But, overall it's a great book and worth reading.

On one hand this novel is fast paced, action filled and exciting. Yet, on the other towards the end things started getting a little far fetched, now I realise in fiction things aren't obviously real however I do prefer it when a novel stays within the realm of possibility if it's set within the constraints of the 'real world'.

So whilst I found this novel highly entertaining and knocked over all 621 pages in a day I felt a little let down by the far fetched events towards the end - it simply just wouldn't happen that someone steals a plane that is wider than a football field, as high as a four-storey building and no one notices it disappearing or happens to note where it's flying too despite it being in the political spotlight.

The whole show more get-the-old-crew-together-and-fly-a-covert-unsanctioned-mission plot whilst entertaining could also do with a shake up. show less

In this all-too-predictable tale, a reconfigured B-52 bomber and its doughty crew try to prevent a war between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China. Dastardly politicians and greedy military careerists attempt to thwart our friends in the skies, but, aided by hawkish President Martindale, strike-warfare expert Patrick McLanahan and his buddies put their prototype aircraft through its paces while flirting with their own capture or destruction. Unfortunately, Brown here fails to live up to the thought-provoking substance of his previous books, notably Shadows of Steel (LJ 6/15/96). The major characters from those earlier works reappear (accompanied by turgid recapitulations of past escapes) and seize the opportunity to weigh in on show more the side of the good guys. Despite battle scenes and lots of shouted dialog, the pace is leaden and the characterizations dull. Only for comprehensive Brown or aviation-fiction collections.
-?Elsa Pendleton, Boeing Information Svcs., Inc., China Lake, Cal.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Booklist
The Old Dog (an airplane, as Brown regulars know) learns yet more new tricks in Brown's latest technothriller. The EB-52 Megafortresses (improved descendants of the Old Dog) are about to be scrapped, the rest of the U.S. heavy bomber force radically downsized. Then the Chinese seriously try to conquer Taiwan, and President Martindale wants to defend it equally seriously, despite U.S. military weakness, interservice rivalry, and political opposition. Led by Brad Elliott and Patrick McLanahan, the reunited Old Dog crew flies one official mission against the Chinese--and then is faced with arrest for exceeding orders. The next mission--unofficial--becomes justly compared with the exploits of the Flying Tigers of World War II and precipitates a decisive U.S. bomber counteroffensive that defeats the Chinese. Longer on well-handled action and hardware than on characterization (virtually all the navy personnel in it are caricatures), the yarn is another consistent page-turner from Brown, anyway, and won't disappoint his numerous readers. show less

This was my first Dale Brown book and I'm afraid there probably wont be any more. I found the characters and the story-line unbelievable. At the end I was just glad I had finished it.

What can I say, it's Dale Brown. A great thriller set in the near future.