Just Finished Reading: Battle Born by Dale Brown.

In the early part of the 21st Century South Korea unveil their audacious plan for the reunification of the peninsula. During a regular military exercise they attack and defeat the North Koreans weakened by years of famine and southern infiltration. Thrown into this crisis are the technical magicians of Area 51/Dreamland/Groomlake and a tight knit group of Nevada Air National Guard units recently trained in new weapons and new techniques -their job, to save the world from nuclear annihilation.

This book was very disappointing. Barely readable it consisted of two dimensional characters, ridiculous situations and heavy handed jingoism. The first quarter of the book was the worst where the author displayed his detailed knowledge of various aircraft, acronyms and procedures ad nauseum. When he finally got around to the action things improved, but only just. The flight scenes, whilst fairly well done, where ‘telegraphed’ well in advance and thereby lost any of their intended excitement. The thinly drawn characters produced no empathy so I didn’t care overly when they succeeded in their missions or died trying. Overall the book seemed to be a propaganda piece for increased military spending and the philosophy that international problems can usually be resolved through the use of enough cruise missiles. Needless to say I cannot recommend this book to anyone!