Tiger's Claw (Patrick McLanahan, #18)

Tiger's Claw (Patrick McLanahan #18)

3.36 of 5 stars 3.36  ·  rating details  ·  171 ratings  ·  47 reviews
The fight for the Pacific begins

When China increases its naval presence in the Pacific and develops advanced weapon technology that targets American ships with lethal accuracy, it imperils American military superiority. Can the United States, in the wake of an economic recession and decreased military spending, compete with its cash-rich Chinese enemy? This question can be...more
Hardcover, 432 pages
Published September 4th 2012 by William Morrow (first published August 14th 2012)
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Bill Wilson
My first Dale Brown book - and certainly my last. Tom Clancy without any of the redeeming qualities. I enjoy the geopolitical plot and find the military hardware descriptions interesting (to a point, and like Clancy, he often doesn't know when to stop; sometimes I felt like I was reading an inventory sheet for an Offut AFB base storeroom). But subtlety and nuance are apparently not writing tools Mr. Brown covered in his writing class after the Air Force. Most of the good guys were cartoonish one...more
Patrick
Dale Brown, the author of the stellar novels Flight of the Old Dog and Hammerheads, has really started to fade. Tiger's Claw is a perfect example of a series gone on for too long, the characters are tired and the plot series is just stretching too far.

Patrick McLanahan has been through more than many characters, from nuclear holocausts to nail biting dogfights with heavy bombers. Now, with China becoming a major threat to the weakened United States he seeks to start a private air force to stave...more
Dave
Dale Brown used to be one of my go-to authors when I wanted to just read some mindless action/mil-thriller. But it seems that he has gone the way of Patrick Robinson. In the novel, the Chinese are stirring up trouble, throwing their weight around, and the Americans don't like it. Brown introduces some interesting ideas at the very beginning about new technologies, fancy pants EMP weapons and so on. (which the novel is named after, I think) He then proceeds to ignore these for pretty much the res...more
William Bentrim
Tiger’s Claw by Dale Brown

Dale Brown plucks his plots out of newspaper headlines. This thriller postulates China as our new deadly foe. Obviously that is not much of a fictional stretch.

One of the subtleties of Brown’s books is the need to read between the lines. The book points out that with the intertwined nature of the global economy it would be difficult for any conflict to escalate to war.

Even noting that, Brown clearly details how minor events can snowball into making conflict nearly ine...more
James
I stopped reading Dale Brown because I felt he was doing formula novels. I was curious about the ripped-from-the-headline premise so I read Tigers Claw. This book starts off strong then peters out. The high tech weapons that China uses, the hacking of utilities.. Where are the consequences? How is it that every time a power goes rogue we get a coup (or two) to resolve the problem? The president is always weak or clueless.
I can live with all that if the recurring characters and cinematic fight sc...more
Amit Shetty

Forget US vs Russia, it's US vs China now.


A brilliant war novel and the only one that reminded me of Tom Clancy.
US and China are at war or nearing it and threatening situations on both sides of the world begins to raise fears of an all out nuclear war. And at stake is the complete dominance of the South China sea which if you do some research would basically mean its China vs The World.

The book has been written using the assumption that the reader has some sense of the military jargon of the US...more
Read Ng
Brown has always created tales set around current events and cutting edge technology. His world is just a bit more advanced than that publicly available, but oh so credible that the military is holding equipment and weapon systems for their own use. His heroes are a bit far fetched, but that's all part of the fun.

This story is a bit long on the setup and short on action for my taste. Not to say that I was unhappy with the story. I just wish it was a bit longer. I thought there would have been gr...more
Ed Schmidt
China is strutting it's stuff in the South China Sea, downing an unarmed reconassiance plane, a rescue helicopter, and sinking an unarmed American frigate. Meanwhile, back at Battle Mountain, Nevada, Retired USAF Lt General Patrick McClanhan, now in charge of StarMasters Inc, is refurbishing and souping up formerly mothballed B1B Bombers and F111 Fighter Bombers. His intent is to rent the planes, pilots, and support crews to the US Goverment to augment it's sagging force.

As things escalate in th...more
Rick Buckshnis
Finished Tiger’s Claw and it is basically the same formula for his other recent books. To me it seems as if there is 70% diplomacy and 30% action. This is a non-scientific estimate and is probably inaccurate, but that is what it seems like to me. The Chinese are the bad guys, flexing their muscles and being bad-asses. McLanahan to the rescue. His son, Brad is in the book and to me, annoying. However, Patrick is getting older and the show must go on.
To me, an abrupt ending after way too much buil...more
Randall
Gripping. The real action finally heats up. It's over. If the novel would have been about the actual action rather than an old man bitching about the attitudes of the young, training, and meetings it would have been brilliant. Most of the novel could have more suitably been a few chapters as a prelude to the action rather than the other way around. Very disappointing overall, but perhaps the abrupt ending at the most exciting part has just left me ...
Mark Polino
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Julian Hoffman
Typical Dale Brown book - lots of action, not too much character development, but a fun read. Glad to see him bringing a new protagonist into the series in Brad McLanahan, but sad that he felt he had to kill off Patrick McLanahan, his main character for so long. I disagree with the need to do that, but hopefully it will pay off in Brad's development in the future.
Sheldon Lehman
Brown takes you back to where it all started in "Flight of the Old Dog".. with the B1 bombers. Then he takes it to the second generation with McClanahan's son, similar to what Clancy did with the Ryan family. It's a good and plausible scenario of actions between China and the US. Obviously if you have never read any other books in this series, please don't start with this one.
Joanne
I've read all the other Dale Brown books, and in my opinion this was one of the weakest. McLanahan's son, Brad, is woven into the story, and I found it hard to like his character. The Chinese are provoking the United States using a new secret weapon, and once again, Patrick McClanahan has just the right aircraft for the job, in spite of budget cutbacks. It wasn't a book I got very invested in, although it did have a bit of a surprise ending. If you're a Dale Brown fan, though, you'll have to rea...more
Mikethecripple
overall... crap, if the last 10 pages or so were different it would be AWESOME but the ending just killed the whole series really with patrick acting (what i would call) completely out of character and i also felt the ending was way too rushed, however still a good read
Chuck
When will I learn? An author's style does not change for the better although I have known some whose styles have deteriorated. Mr. Brown's descriptions and dialog is just as trite, verbose and redundant as ever. I'm going to add him to my "Don't Bother" list.
Eric Taub
I used to be able to depend on Brown for an entertaining, high-tech page-turner, but this is just gruesome. Lots of talk-talk-talk explication with very little payoff in the form of a few predictable, tiresome "action" scenes. The politics are laughable, and I did.
Jane
It was way too technical and it seemed that the publisher only gave him a certain number of pages because he wrapped the story up way to fast. He should have left out some of the technical stuff that didn't add to the story and then he would have time to finish the story.
Tim
I found this novel interesting because of the characters and the subject. Not always easy with this author who has written some clinkers, especially around latino immigration. 7 of 10 stars
Eric
To me this one was just okay. China is the new biggest enemy to the US and The Maclanahan family will have to save the day again! It was still a fun read and it leaves you waiting for the next book to see what happens next.

Lou
While I do enjoy Dale Brown's books, this one seemed rushed in places, especially the ending. Dale Brown needs to make sure that he draws out the "famous, final scene". It was definitely glossed over IMO.
Larry
Basic book. The story line is getting old. Would actually rate this a little below a 3...but not a 2. May have to give up on Brown.
Mike
Not the CD but Goodreads doesn't list the hardcopy
Tiger's Claw: A Novel
Dave Jones
Dale Brown writes a great military thriller. The pacing on this one was a bit slow. And it is obvious that this is part of an arc. Not necessary his best but worthwhile reading.
Twila
The book was very thorough in its description of military hardware. I liked that though, and the plot was very intense.
VaughanPL
Sep 13, 2012 VaughanPL marked it as to-read
Shelves: suspense
Click here to find it in the catalogue
Jay Clement
This was a weak book with a plot fluffed up by pages of jargon and unnecessary side stories. Disappointing.
Brian Nuernberg
Awesome Book, continued the tred he's done well with in all his other books. Couldnt put it down
Dayle
A lot of technical details, seems like more then half the book. Very dark...not a favorite .
John
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Tiger's Claw (Patrick McLanahan, #18)
Tiger's Claw (Patrick McLanahan, #18)
Tiger's Claw (Patrick McLanahan, #18)
Tiger's Claw (Patrick McLanahan, #18)
Tiger's Claw (Patrick McLanahan, #18)

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Former U.S. Air Force captain Dale Brown is the superstar author of eleven consecutive New York Times best-selling military-action-aviation adventure 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) and FATAL TERRAIN (1997)...more
More about Dale Brown...
Flight of the Old Dog (Patrick McLanahan, #1) Day of the Cheetah (Patrick McLanahan, #4) The Tin Man (Patrick McLanahan, #7) Sky Masters (Patrick McLanahan, #3) Hammerheads

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