Edge of Battle [Mass Market Paperback]

Dale Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 2007

Jason Richter and his high-tech unit Task Force TALON are charged with securing the Mexican border, where a terrorist band has been operating with impunity and enflaming the passions of the population.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran audio, TV and film actor McShane brings Brown's latest thriller to life with understated skill—a much-needed element in this churning engine of hard-to-swallow political and military theorizing. Listening to McShane is like sitting in a bar and sharing war stories with a friend; his raspy, deceptively ordinary voice could well belong to one of the U.S. Border Patrol agents who are killed by a Russian terrorist group in the hot zone between America and Mexico, or a member of Task Force TALON—the U.S. paramilitary unit trying to wipe out the terrorists whose leader has linked up with a seriously nasty "coyote"—a vicious smuggler of drugs as well as people. What Brown does best are the sort of nonstop action scenes his fans have come to expect—and McShane knows just how to bring those moments to vivid audio life without going over the top.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Review

'Clancy's got serious company.' New York Daily News 'When a former pilot with years of experience turns his hand to writing thrillers you can take their authenticity for granted. His writing is exceptional and the dialogue, plots and characters are first-class!far too good to be missed.' Sunday Mirror 'Brown puts us into the cockpits of wonderful machines and gives us quite a ride. His flying sequences are terrific!authentic and gripping.' New York Times Book Review 'The best military adventure writer in the country.' Clive Cussler --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Harper (April 24, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060753080
• ISBN-13: 978-0060753085
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #892,843 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Former U.S. Air Force captain Dale Brown is the superstar author of 21 action-adventure "techno-thriller" 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), FATAL TERRAIN (1997), THE TIN MAN (1998), BATTLE BORN, (1999), WARRIOR CLASS (2001), WINGS OF FIRE (2002), AIR BATTLE FORCE (2003), PLAN OF ATTACK (2004), ACT OF WAR (2005), EDGE OF BATTLE (2006), STRIKE FORCE (May 2007), SHADOW COMMAND (2008) ROGUE FORCES (2009), EXECUTIVE INTENT (2010) and A TIME FOR PATRIOTS (May 2011). Fourteen of his novels have been New York Times best-sellers. He is also the co-author of the best-selling DREAMLAND techno-thriller series and writer and technical consultant of the Act of War PC real-time strategy game published by Atari Interactive and the Megafortress PC flight simulator by Three-Sixty Pacific. Dale's novels are published in 11 languages and distributed to over 70 countries. Worldwide sales of his novels, audiobooks and computer games exceed 12 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. He was also an Air Force instructor on aircrew life support and combat survival, evasion, resistance, and escape.

Dale supports a number of organizations to promote law enforcement, education, and literacy. He is a Life Member of the Air Force Association, U.S. Naval Institute, and National Rifle Association. He is a command pilot for Angel Flight West (www.angelflightwest.org), a group that donate their time, skills, and aircraft to fly medical patients free of charge. He is also a mission pilot with the Civil Air Patrol, flying a variety of missions in support of the U.S. Air Force and other federal agencies. 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 Piper Aztec-E airplane. On the ground, Dale enjoys tennis, scuba diving, and soccer. Dale, his wife Diane, and son Hunter live near Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I'm over the age of 13, but..., July 31, 2006

By 

Michael St James (Ogden, Utah) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Edge of Battle: A Novel (Hardcover)

...if YOU are, you might want to skip this book. I love military techno-thrillers, but this isn't one. The dialogue belongs in a comic book, the characters are poorly developed, and while I don't mind a meaningful sex scene that lends something to the story, the ones in this book are sophomoric and gratuitous. Dale brown had a few good books in him, but that was yesteryear. What's that old saying about a bunch of monkeys pounding on a typewriter?

For a better novel of war with Mexico, read Harold Coyle's TRIAL BY FIRE.

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wait for the Paperback Printing, June 1, 2006

By 

John R. Linnell (New Gloucester, ME United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Edge of Battle: A Novel (Hardcover)

After reading all of Brown's novels from Flight of the Old Dog to PLan of Attack, I advised the author in my review of the last one to retire the Old Dog and Patrick MacClanahan. They had served well for a great many years, but is was time to send them into retirement. Apparently Brown agreed whether he ever saw my advice or not.

When Act of War came out, I saw the reviews and was dissuaded from reading it. However, this one intrigued me. The few reviews either loved it (five stars) or hated it (one star) and inasmuch as the author had chosen a story that dealt with the issue of immigration, I decided to give it a go. I was going to be spending some time on vacation and that is often the best time to give a book a workout.

After doing so I settled somewhere in the middle on my thoughts of this story. The discussions about what to do about border issues that are held in the administration are probably not far from the mark as to what is happening today. You have those that want the border enforced without militarizing it. You have those that want the border enforced with a military presence in a supportive, but not enforcement role and you have those that want to build the fence, put troops there to enforce it and develop a policy to deal with the illegals that are here and those that would like to immigrate. The first time these positions were trotted out and explained by their exponents was informative. However, returning to the White House for the whining and backbiting that ensues when things do not go well gets a bit old after a while. That is not to say it isn't realistic as there is enough whining and backbiting in the real White House and on Capital Hill these days to go around, but it makes the story seem repetitive and unnecessairly drawn out.

Brown still has his "Gee Whiz" contraptions although instead of planes he goes to the Tin Men type of Cyborts. I hope they exist if the US owns them, but I suspect they are still a figment of his imagination.

He also introduces some Mexican politicians who will make this book a non-starter South of the Border. At times you can't figure out who you hate more - the Mexicans who are out to feather their nests and careers at the expense of anyone who stands in their way or the Russian terrorists who are still intent on obtaining nuclear weapons to use against us.

Having said all of that, I finished the book, thought it was worth reading, thought it could have been better and if I had it to do over again, I would probably wait for paper back.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mildly entertaining thriller, but Brown seems to be going downhill, July 2, 2006

By 

Jerry Saperstein (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Edge of Battle: A Novel (Hardcover)

Dale Brown has written some great thrillers. But that was yesteryear. His newest, "Edge Of Battle" is saved from the trash heap only by the fact that it moves along quickly, kind of like a comicbook. And that is its only saving grace.

The plot is ridiculous; the characters thinner than paper and the technology (surprisingly) dated. The latter is difficult to believe since Brown made his reputation largely on techno-thrillers. But this one read's like the science section from last year's Popular Science magazine.

The story is that the U.S. - Mexican border is totally porous: millions of illegal immigrants are flooding the U.S. Brown's backstory of U.S. politicians "arguing" about the issue is silly as is his invention of talk radio giant Bob O'Rourke who rants against illegal immigration and demands that something be done.

On the other side of the border, a Mexican known as "Commandante Veracruz" urges illegal immigrants to essentially demand their "rights" from the U.S. government. Mexico has a woman President and a totally unbelievable interior minister who plays a major part in the story along with a Russian terrorist.

The whole thing is silly. Brown simply can't pull this silly story off.

Jason Richter and his unit of CIDs (Cybernetic Infantry Devices) are supposed to slow the illegal immigration. Oddly, Brown sidetracks the deployment of the CIDs, which turn ordinary men and women into super-soldiers, to favor his insipid political story.

Brown lays it on thick about various unmanned aerial vehicles, which becomes as exciting as listening to traffic reports on the radio. He has the terrorists deploy some exotic weaponry here and there.

Overall though Brown simply establishes that throwing lots of acronymns around isn't enough to create a compelling read. "Edge Of Battle" is readable, but not at all exciting or memorable. His last novel, "Act Of War," featuring many of the same characters was similarly dull. Brown, frankly, seems to have lost his edge and is doing little more than churning out words to meet the demands of his contract and to line his pocket with the dollars of unwary readers.

Jerry