Customer Reviews

Executive Intent: A Novel

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I just finished reading Dale Brown's latest techno-thriller, "Executive Intent". I have always been in awe of Dale Brown because I spent 27 years in the air force and I can relate to the systems which he describes in his books. The truth be known, I wrote nonfiction proposals for companies, many of them dealing with technically oriented subjects. I can describe technical subjects to an audience who is familiar with the technology but Dale Brown's gift is the ability to describe these subjects so that lay people can grasp them and understand.

This book, more than others I remember, also deals with the personal and political interactions of the senior leadership of the country as they deal with political and military threats to the security of the United States and the world. He does a great job with describing the political intrigue but his descriptions of his protagonists flying in space and in the atmosphere while engaging in hazardous situations is unparalleled.

Mr. Brown keeps you on the edge of his seat as he describes air to air engagement s between Chinese and US navy pilots, and Russian and US Air force pilots. Then there are the descriptions of actions undertaken in space and the explosion of an unmanned satellite (caused by Russian and Chinese intervention) with a crew of a space plane nearby who had just completed maintenance on the satellite.

Mr. Brown starts this book, as he does many of his books, with real world news reports and web blogs which demonstrate that the futuristic aircraft and space technology is closer than we think.
The only problem I had with this book was a gap between the next to last chapter and the last chapter where obviously a great deal of action and political intrigue had taken place. There was, in my opinion, room for about three more chapters.

Overall this was Dale Brown at his best. I liked his move to including more political suspense in to the story. A great read and I wholeheartedly endorse this book to others.

I have read literally all of Dale Brown's books and have never been so disappointed, as I am with Executive Intent. When I saw it in the book store, I bought it without reading its reviews on Amazon first. I took one for the team this time.

Although the book starts out with the usual Brown style by creating a real world scenario with increasingly dangerous situations for the main characters and our country, Brown seemed to lose interest and in my opinion rushed to a conclusion without the details of a final battle. I was left with the feeling that a sequel is in the offing. If and when the next book is published, I will dutifully read its reviews first.

Fellow readers; wait for this book to be added to the shelves of your local library.

I believe I have seventeen or so Dale Brown Novels in my bookcase and most of them I really enjoyed. However, as Brown has advanced Patrick McClanahan to retired general status, the stories have become just a bit uncomfortable and implausable for me. The American Holocost was where I decided that I had gone as far as I could with the techno wizadry and Brown's version of the world. I had hopes that this latest book might be a return to something like the earlier times. What I got was a dash of this and a dash of that. We have a new president who has outlooks much like the current one we have and a female Secretary of State who has a very large agenda. At least Brown didn't have to dream those two up. The Vice President is one which we could really use right now, however.

In this book, China and Russia are conniving to get the US out of using space as a defensive weapons environment and they are doing a very good job of it as the president doesn't want to do anything to antagonize or stand up to our adversaries. I won't divulge how this crisis is dealt with, but I will say it is highly unlikely in the real world.

Three stars means "It's OK." And it is. It just isn't what we used to get from this author.

Dale Brown has been writing aviation (and now space) themed thrillers since 1987 when he authored the classic "Flight of the Old Dog". Many think he has never equaled that effort. Regardless, Brown has churned out about 20 techno-thrillers, many featuring the very durable rogue General Patrick McLanahan, techno wiz billionaire Jon Masters, a very cooperative former US President Martindale, a rotating cast of incompetent, corrupt politicians and literally armies of bad guys around the world.

Typically, Brown can be depended upon for two things: 1) lots of techno wizardry on the ground, in the air and lately in space; and 2) lots of violent, rousing action. Politics have played a larger and larger role in recent Brown offerings and this time they are actually center stage.

We have a new President, Joseph Gardner, who is a "globalist" and "world citizen" kind of guy who feels all that ails the world can be cured by the United States being less "aggressive". His Secretary of State is a woman of unbridled ambition and loose virtue.

The new President has decided that adding more aircraft carriers is the way to assure America's continued dominance and protection of the world's oceans. That means no additional money for a space weapons system that has been underway for some years.

China and Russia observing the weakness of American foreign policy decide to increase their sphere of influence.

And that's where the action - what there is of it - is.

Unlike most Brown novels, most of the focus is on politics of various kinds. International relations. The tensions between the military services. The policy differences between the military and its civilian leadership. Shifting alliances between nations, the fecklessness of the United Nations.

Yes, there are a few combat sequences and a couple of them are edge-of-the-chair tense, but the almost constant combat of earlier novels isn't there and may be missed by many.

There's a lot of space-based techno-wizardry involved and that's a lot of fun.

The Chinese and Russians are tough adversaries and Brown, as is usual, piles in a lot of known facts about their growing military capabilities.

General Patrick McLanahan hovers in the background this time around and plays a relatively small, but critical, part in the adventure. One gets the feeling that McLanahan is being edged into the background.

Overall, while not as action filled as other Dale Brown adventures, this one is well plotted and moves quickly. But it is dangerously close to being more of a political thriller then a techno-thriller. Adrenalin junkies may not enjoy it as much as some of Brown's other novels, but I like it.

Jerry

I have read and enjoyed all of Dale Brown's books, but this book just ends. I was horribly disappointed at the lack of a proper conclusion like we always have received. I actually looked at the book to see if pages were missing.

This is not a techno-thriller, rather it is mostly about a bad politician. The reader spends most of his time hating the President and his failure to see and deal with the obvious. You must wait until the final few pages for the bad guys, foreign and domestic, to receive their just rewards. Who can say why Brown revised his formula of major confrontations with the good guys using their high tech aresenal to prevail? I think this novel should just be avoided, it is a disappointment.
Larry Brodsky

I have been an avid Dale Brown reader from way back all the way back to the cheetah days. I have enjoyed many of his books but this one did not strike that cord with me. The story starts out strong and then gets about midway through the book and looses the way. Not to spoil the book but to wrap a whole lot of things up in a single chapter is not the Dale I remember. This book had a real chance at being good but was left as they say on the cutting room floor. One can only hope that the next book is better.

Dale Brown's latest novel, "Executive Intent", continues his tradition of inserting living & breathing characters into expraordinary situations. Some do well; others do not. One of his strengths is involving the reader from the first sentence, which happens here. During a Navy exercise, America's latest outpost in space, the Armstrong Space Station, alerts carrier defense crews to a possible threat to the group. The action picks up from there. The plot barrels along from there, involving various plots and agendas, all of which seem torn from the headlines. The only limitation that kept me from giving this book five stars was the climax, which seemed unnecessarily abrupt. I would almost have wanted the book to borrow the television convention of the cliff-hanger, since there are more stories coming, but I can live with this book as is.
If you've read Dale's other books, you will be familiar with many of the characters, but his writing is such that you won't have had to have read them to be enthralled with the current plot. Enjoy!

this book arrived in mint condition and was a very good read
I like all his books as they give insight into what future could be.

"Executive Intent" by Dale Brown:


New President, Joseph Gardner, knows the way he wants to strengthen and maintain America's dominant presence in the world. It takes an increase in aircraft carriers. This leaves the budget too tight to pursue any space weapons systems and some countries are noticing America's vulnerabilities.

When two power hungry counties, China and Russia, join forces against the US after an incident, much quick decision making has to be done. The fundamental differences in the President and the Vice President's beliefs are shown and tough decisions made. His female secretary of state has an agenda all her own and it may or may not be in the country's best interest.

The standoff between the US forces and Chinese and Russian forces are tense and strategic. Space is seemingly up for grabs to the country with the most power. The President has to fight a political battle as well as making the tough calls in the battle between the US, Russia, and China.

Loaded with technology and politics...lots of cool gadgets and some good action! This book pulls you along through the story for an intense ride.


Reviewed by Ashley Wintters for Suspense Magazine