Tin Man [Paperback]

Dale Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 1999

Patrick McLanahan and his team embark on a high-tech battle against crime in the USA -- in the spectacular new thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Flight of the Old Dog and Fatal Terrain. The master of military adventure creates the ultimate one-man army! In another action-packed thriller of unrivalled authenticity, former pilot Dale Brown brings back his ever-popular hero Patrick McLanahan -- this time at the centre of an undeclared war exploding on the streets of America. Now retired, McLanahan works for a company developing cutting-edge strategic devices for the armed forces. But when his rookie-cop brother is shot by terrorists, he transforms himself into a high-tech weapon of war. Protected by a new carbon-filament bodysuit that can instantly harden into stronger-than-steel armour and armed with almost-superhuman powers he can barely control, he embarks on a personal mission of revenge that will send his life spiralling towards disaster.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Patrick McLanahan, a sometime secret agent for the military and an associate of a high-tech company that manufactures weapons for the armed forces, is the hero of Dale Brown's fast-paced thriller The Tin Man. When McLanahan's kid brother, a rookie cop in Sacramento, is severely injured by a gang of international terrorists, McLanahan decides to take justice into his own hands and shut down their operation. In order to do so, McLanahan must figure out who these heavily-armed thugs are and track them down. He and the owner of the high-tech company develop a powerful weapon to help him accomplish that task--a bulletproof suit equipped with rocket thrusters that makes McLanahan a formidable fighting machine. McLanahan soon comes to be known as the tin man.

Meanwhile, the criminal mastermind Gregory Townsend and his cohorts in the Aryan Brigade wreak havoc in California. They stage a violent armed robbery and try to wrest control of the booming trade in illegal drugs from neo-Nazi biker gangs. Townsend tells a new recruit that he and his men plan to become "the Microsoft of the methamphetamine trade"--but it seems likely that his goal is even larger and more sinister than that. This book should appeal to fans of Ian Fleming's James Bond thrillers. Like Bond, McLanahan gets to use a lot of cleverly-designed high-tech gadgets to extract himself from sticky situations. The Tin Man is packed with skillfully crafted action scenes. It's a pretty good yarn. --Jill Marquis --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

The tag line "This time it's personal" comes to mind in Brown's 11th techno-thriller (after Fatal Terrain). Instead of foreign countries and the threat of WWIII, international terrorism hits the streets of Sacramento, Calif., in the form of Gregory Townsend, who is apparently out to unite California's motorcycle gangs and corner the amphetamine market. His one mistake is wounding the brother of Brown's series hero, veteran Patrick McLanahan, during the robbery of a mall. The resulting mayhem is a tribute to Brown's storytelling abilities; it's an unlikely but successful mix of a revenge plot, a meditation on vigilante justice and a superhero-origin story. McLanahan becomes a one-man army, known as the Tin Man, with the help of some cutting-edge technology from his current employer, a defense contractor. It turns out that Townsend's ultimate aims are not quite what they appear to be; Brown's intentions are just as slippery. While the dark side of vigilante justice has haunted pulp fiction heroes like the Avenger and comic book heroes from Batman to the Punisher, it's a rarity in thriller fiction, which usually likes to keep things black and white and far from home. Brown does the opposite in this novel?he gives this modern Batman a hard-edged twist and a dose of techno-reality, and through a neat plot twist shows how the power to survive and to commit violence is both painful and seductive. Bottom line, it's a page-turning start to a fresh new direction for both Brown and McLanahan. And now that the Tin Man is part of Brown's universe, it will be interesting to see what Brown makes of him. Major ad/promo; simultaneous BBD Audio.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins Pb (October 31, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0006511805
• ISBN-13: 978-0006511809
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (79 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,030,519 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

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fair story - really a 3.5 star rating, January 31, 2003

By 

Erik1988 "beingawriter dot wordpress dot com" (Folsom, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Tin Man (Hardcover)

1) The reader, Victor Garber, on this 4 cassette tape set did a great job. The emotions and different voices for each character was professionally and convincingly performed.

2) I've never read/heard a Dale Brown story before so I came into this without any expectations. Based on the other reviewers who have previous experience with Dale Brown it sounds like I should try some of his other stuff.

3) I live in the Sacramento Area and particularly Folsom where the story takes place. It is always fun to read a story in your local area because you can more vividly imagine the characters doing what they do in the familar locals.

4) My cons with the story:
a) The "love" story as portrayed in the audiobook came out of left field and felt very forced
b) There were some ill-mental effects of the suit but that was never brought up again when it should have made more sense
c) Just a but too much suspension of disbelief on scences where there should be other cops or people around but where we only found the main characters
d) The ending dialogue was horrendous and cliche

5) My pros of this story:
a) Got to love the whole James Bond type technology
b) Good red-herrings
c) I like action and this book has a fair dose of it

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Tin Man, April 2, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Tin Man (Hardcover)

Dale Brown's The Tin Man is an action packed fast paced thriller. It is an amazing read. Like the thrillers of Tom Clancy, Stephen Coots and Larry Bond, the novels of Dale Brown brim with action, sophisticated weaponry and political intrigue.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It was pretty good, April 11, 1999

By 

Mr N Forbes-warren "author of RESURGENCE and ... (Newport, South Wales, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tin Man (Mass Market Paperback)

Overall, I liked Dale Brown's latest. The opening scenes, and Gregory Townsend's planning an execution of the robberies and methamphetamine lab takeovers made for an action-packed start. But what are his real motives? And when Patrick McLanahan's brother, who is a rookie cop, is shot by one of Townsend's fellow terrorists, McLanahan takes the law into his own hands with an assortment of gadgets, James Bond style! The main instrument of the story is that advanced BERP suit, which is made of a special bulletproof material and protects him from gunfire. And the local police don't take too kindly to his vigilante antics, so he becomes a wanted man by everyone while he tries to avenge his brother's shooting and discovers more than he bargained for! Some lively action, awesome technology which might be feasible one day and good characterisations. I read this book twice(as I have with most of Dale Brown's books!) in the past couple of months, and it's better the second time round. The ending might seem daft at times, but the rest of the book makes up for it.