Wings of Fire [Paperback]

Dale Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2003

North Africa is in turmoil. The new Libyan president has had the new Egyptian president assassinated, and the latter's widow, Susan Salaam, vows revenge. She enlists the high-tech help of Air Force general Patrick McClanahan and his Night Stalkers. But the Libyans, and their scheming secret allies, hold a trump card-one with a deeply personal meaning for McClanahan-and it may be one that will leave even the Night Stalkers powerless...

Editorial Reviews

Review

A white knuckle read from start to finish. -- Publishers Weekly

The best military adventure writer in the country today. -- Clive Cussler

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Berkley; X edition (June 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 042519065X
• ISBN-13: 978-0007776283
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #456,914 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than Da Vinci and more appropriate for the times, August 3, 2006

By 

Tyler S. Ferguson (Wheaton, Illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wings of Fire (Paperback)

Knowing that you have to read in order to write, I haven't read a Dale Brown book in awhile and reading Wings of Fire, I forgot how much I enjoy his work. Mr. Brown's writing is superb and his knowledge of military hardware and political history is endless. His command of military structure and world events that he weaves into his narration has no equal. Wings of Fire is the kind of novel that takes you into the thick of things in Egypt and Libya. Step aside Tom Clancy for no one does this type of adventure better than Dale Brown.

I find that I have to go out and get his next book to see if he brings the beautiful president of Egypt back into his story. The two things I like best about the book are the action and the settings. Mr. Brown has the uncanny ability to shape and weave a character into a plot that seamlessly holds your interest as you turn page after page. I usually find his books too short, even though the publisher would usually have him cut the pages.

Mr. Brown has written a book that is hard to put down. He also weaves current events such as the rise of Islam and the Islamic Brotherhood into his stories that help give us a better perspective on world issues.

I find books like this far more refreshing than the Da Vinci Code with its secrets and made up plots. A great read.

TS Ferguson, Author of Apocrypha

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excelent, if you have read Dale Brown's previous books., July 20, 2006

By 

Robert Seymour (Oklahoma City, OK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wings of Fire (Paperback)

For the people who have written reviews blasting character development, and technologies in the book, don't appear to have started at the beginning. This book is a part of a series that started almost 20 years ago. This is frankly one book series that you cannot pick up halfway through and expect to know all the characters. If you had trouble with the book and are open minded enough to give Dale Brown another chance, start at the beginning with "Flight of the Old Dog", and continue through the series.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Never really gets off the ground, April 19, 2004

By 

Rottenberg's rotten book review (nyc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wings of Fire (Paperback)

In "Wings", Dale Brown's perrenial hero Pat Mclanahan returns to action in Libya. "Wings" follows a virtual series of books starring Mclanahan and his crew of go-anywhere, do-anything-it-takes air warriors. In his last book "Warrior Class", Mclanahan had been involuntarily retired from the air force due to his efforts to nab a power-mad international criminal named Pavel Kazakov. In league with the Russians, Kazakov tried to engineer a war in the Balkans to enhance the profitability of his petroleum, money-laundering and narcotics enterprises. In protective custody in "Wings" Kazakov is nevertheless on a new venture - this one involving a power-mad Libyan who traces his lineage to the pre-Quaddafi regime that ruled Libya. Nobody really believes that Jadalla Zuwayy is really the true king of Libya, but he is treated as if they did - especially the pilots, soldiers and generals who stand poised to invade oil-rich Egypt on his orders. Susan Harris, a beautiful American married to the soon-assassinated Egyptian president, tries every trick she can hold off crazed Zuwayy (Egypt's forces greatly out-strip those of Libya, but the latter possesses a huge supply of neutron bombs that can make everybody losers). The only hope is McLanahan and his crew. Armed with futuristic weapons designed and built by the Skymasters corporation, and assigned clandestinely by a covert organization known as "Nightcrawlers" (and headed by former president Kevin Martindale), Mclanahan goes into battle with next-generation stealth bombers and combat suits likely inspired by Sigourney Weaver's power-loaded from "Aliens". Unfortunately, bad luck strikes - and some of the Nightcrawlers fall prisoner during an ill-fated hunt in Libya for WMD. Trouble is compounded when the survivors find themselves in Egypt, where loyalties are divided. Back in the USA, the Thorn administration struggles with how to respond to the growing unrest in North Africa and with how it will deal with the McLanahan. (The Nightcrawlers may take Uncle Sam's best interest to heart, but they don't take his orders - and they face criminal prosecution for their unauthorized activities; Thorn himself typiefies the opposite of previous administrations - he pulls out all but a shell of US forces from overseas stations, and refuses to commit them anywhere unless foreign leaders can get their own populations to accept their presence). Meanwhile, the Skymasters company struggles to perfect a powerful laser-weapon that can be carried in a refitted B-52 bomber. Their latest secret weapon however proves to be a nine year old girl who knows more about plasma lasers and parallel universes than her parents..or the rest of the planet.

A Dale Brown novel is a lot like one of those family get-togethers: you go to these things about once a year, and with some subtle variations, each one is pretty much like the one you survived the year before. We've still got power-mad dogs, craven US politicians, tons of high-tech and some big battles. Although the storyline spills directly from "Warrior Class", "Wings" has fewer than its share of references to older Brown novels. The villains are as unconvincing as ever (idiots who believe their own lies) and speak in the least plausible dialog. The technology seems compelling, but if you really wanted to learn about plasma lasers, would you really make a bee-line for the nearest Dale Brown tome? For the rest of us, Brown's technobabble may remind us that we studied so hard in high-school because we never wanted to hear that kind of droning again. Brown's President is a surprise - a good one actually. You're never sure where he stands, but Brown isn't willing to make him a paper-thin baddie like Kazakov. Instead, Thorn becomes the kind of counterpoint that Brown's books need. Despite its title, "Wings" may have the least emphasis on what actually happens inside a fighting warplane than any other Brown novel. Instead, Brown concentrates his emphasis on the "Tin Man" battle armor - motorized exo-skeletons that turn individual soldiers into walking tanks. It's an idea that comes at the expense of his interest in military aviation that probably attracted Brown fans to novels like "Flight of the Old Dog" and "Day of the Cheetah", but the new technology is far too exotic to substantiate his story. Instead, "Wings" is thin and unsatisfying.