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Brad McLanahan #6
The Kremlin Strike
In this exciting, visionary, and all-too-plausible next chapter in the legendary Dale Brown’s New York Times bestselling techno-warfare series, Brad McLanahan and the Iron Wolf Squadron must fight the Russians on a dangerous, untested battlefield: outer space.
The previous administration’s ineffective response to the growing Russian threat has left America vulnerable. Setting a bold course for America’s defense, the decisive and strong new president, John Dalton Farrell, intends to challenge Russian aggression head on. Brad and Patrick McLanahan and the formidable Iron Wolf Squadron—including the recently injured Nadia Roz, rested and back to fighting form thanks to a pair of state-of-the-art prosthetic legs—are ready and eager to join the battle.
The previous administration’s ineffective response to the growing Russian threat has left America vulnerable. Setting a bold course for America’s defense, the decisive and strong new president, John Dalton Farrell, intends to challenge Russian aggression head on. Brad and Patrick McLanahan and the formidable Iron Wolf Squadron—including the recently injured Nadia Roz, rested and back to fighting form thanks to a pair of state-of-the-art prosthetic legs—are ready and eager to join the battle.
But even with their combined forces, the Russian menace may prove too great for the Americans to overcome. Done with provocative skirmishes and playing for small stakes, the Russian president has set his sights on the ultimate prize: controlling the entire world. Expanding beyond earth’s bounds, the Russians have built a new high-tech space station and armed it with weaponry capable of destroying US satellites as well as powerful missiles pointed at strategic targets across earth.
Devising a cunning plan of attack, Brad, Nadia, and the Iron Wolf warriors will take to the skies in their advanced space planes to destroy the space station, check the Russians’ plan for dominance, and save the world. But is it already too late?
437 pages, Hardcover
First published May 7, 2019
463 people are currently reading
1542 people want to read
About the author
Dale Brown
151 books1,132 followersFormer U.S. Air Force captain Dale Brown is the superstar author of 25 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), THE TIN MAN (1998), BATTLE BORN (1999), and WARRIOR CLASS (2001). His Fourteenth Novel AIRBATTLE FORCE will be published in late Spring 2003... Dale's novels are published in 11 languages and distributed to over 70 countries. Worldwide sales of his novels, audiobooks and computer games exceed 10 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.
Dale is a director and volunteer pilot for AirLifeLine, a non-profit national charitable medical transportation organization who fly needy persons free of charge to receive treatment. He also supports a number of organizations to support and promote law enforcement and reading.
Dale Brown is a member of The Writers Guild and a Life Member of the Air Force Association and U.S. Naval Institute. 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 own plane. On the ground, Dale enjoys tennis, skiing, scuba diving, and hockey. Dale, his wife Diane, and son Hunter live near the shores of Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
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.
Dale is a director and volunteer pilot for AirLifeLine, a non-profit national charitable medical transportation organization who fly needy persons free of charge to receive treatment. He also supports a number of organizations to support and promote law enforcement and reading.
Dale Brown is a member of The Writers Guild and a Life Member of the Air Force Association and U.S. Naval Institute. 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 own plane. On the ground, Dale enjoys tennis, skiing, scuba diving, and hockey. Dale, his wife Diane, and son Hunter live near the shores of Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
July 25, 2019
This is how you write a tech thriller! 10 of 10 stars!
July 11, 2019
Give it 3.5 stars.
Plot: 5 -- it moves!
Characters: 1 -- everyone is 2 dimensional
High concept: 3 -- War is space is not a new idea but the space weaponry in the novel is good.
Language: 3 -- The writing is not beautiful but kudos for the tech talk that provides verisimilitude
Russia gets the jump on the US by launching laser and plasma guns into space. The plasma gun shoots toroidal plasma at 4000 km/s. In minutes, American satellites are disabled and the Russian premiere is on the phone with the US president dictating terms of subservience. It's up to the clever guys at Battle Mountain who somehow have weaponized space planes that the US Air Force does not. There's lot of bravery, action, risk, and heroism exhibited by the guys and gals of Battle Mountain. Without them, the US armed forces would have been reduced to ash.
You can't get your arms around any of the characters. Their cardboard cutouts would cut your arms. But the central story point keeps you reading: how will the US destroy this space gun? Star wars are coming and the warning is that we better be up there first.
Plot: 5 -- it moves!
Characters: 1 -- everyone is 2 dimensional
High concept: 3 -- War is space is not a new idea but the space weaponry in the novel is good.
Language: 3 -- The writing is not beautiful but kudos for the tech talk that provides verisimilitude
Russia gets the jump on the US by launching laser and plasma guns into space. The plasma gun shoots toroidal plasma at 4000 km/s. In minutes, American satellites are disabled and the Russian premiere is on the phone with the US president dictating terms of subservience. It's up to the clever guys at Battle Mountain who somehow have weaponized space planes that the US Air Force does not. There's lot of bravery, action, risk, and heroism exhibited by the guys and gals of Battle Mountain. Without them, the US armed forces would have been reduced to ash.
You can't get your arms around any of the characters. Their cardboard cutouts would cut your arms. But the central story point keeps you reading: how will the US destroy this space gun? Star wars are coming and the warning is that we better be up there first.
July 8, 2020
Really enjoyed this. Took me back to the days when I read Tom Clancy novels, but using near future technology: militarized space stations, armored suits, spaceplanes, lasers! What could be better, right? Sort of the perfect genre for me, which just means I need to go back and dig into some of his past novels, which are many!
February 5, 2020
A night and day experience
This book is split right down the middle. There’s a lot of time spent in the beginning setting the stage, this is primarily moving characters around into their new rolls amongst the aftermath of the previous book, The Moscow Offensive, and (for the most part) introducing a plethora of new... everything. I don’t know how many new technologies, devices, weapons and crafts are introduced in the first half, but it’s a LOT. And for a while, I thought The Kremlin Strike was going to be another Starfire, where the entire thing is mostly just setup for the next book in the series.
Then about halfway through, everything got dialed up to 11.
You could say that the second half consist entirely of only two scenes: a massive search and rescue mission, followed by a climactic space battle with an ending that will surprise many longtime fans.
Now there’s only one real negative here (but it’s kind of a big one), and it’s that Dale Brown goes a little overboard with the military terminology in this one. Now I’ve been reading Dale Brown for a while now, so I do understand that the specific plane models and weapon calibers he puts into his writing is part of his appeal. While I am a fan of this, it really seemed to get in the way during the second half when the pace skyrockets (quite literally). All of a sudden, all the new things that were introduced in the beginning are being thrown at you all at once. It’s cool, but between the military jargon of different plane models and the many acronyms of various radar systems, it gets confusing. When there are several different planes and ships and weapons and locations taking part in a single event, keeping things simple can make it easier to keep track of everything. It got to the point where I was no longer trying to keep track of exactly what was what, and instead I just started asking myself, “Is it American or Russian? That’s all I need to know.”
*Side note*
While the McLanahan series has often dabbled in near-future tech with a hint of science fiction, I would love to see Dale Brown write an actual hard science fiction novel. With his military expertise and prowess for fast paced action, I have no doubt it would make for some interstellar warfare that’s actually interesting (because it often isn’t).
This book is split right down the middle. There’s a lot of time spent in the beginning setting the stage, this is primarily moving characters around into their new rolls amongst the aftermath of the previous book, The Moscow Offensive, and (for the most part) introducing a plethora of new... everything. I don’t know how many new technologies, devices, weapons and crafts are introduced in the first half, but it’s a LOT. And for a while, I thought The Kremlin Strike was going to be another Starfire, where the entire thing is mostly just setup for the next book in the series.
Then about halfway through, everything got dialed up to 11.
You could say that the second half consist entirely of only two scenes: a massive search and rescue mission, followed by a climactic space battle with an ending that will surprise many longtime fans.
Now there’s only one real negative here (but it’s kind of a big one), and it’s that Dale Brown goes a little overboard with the military terminology in this one. Now I’ve been reading Dale Brown for a while now, so I do understand that the specific plane models and weapon calibers he puts into his writing is part of his appeal. While I am a fan of this, it really seemed to get in the way during the second half when the pace skyrockets (quite literally). All of a sudden, all the new things that were introduced in the beginning are being thrown at you all at once. It’s cool, but between the military jargon of different plane models and the many acronyms of various radar systems, it gets confusing. When there are several different planes and ships and weapons and locations taking part in a single event, keeping things simple can make it easier to keep track of everything. It got to the point where I was no longer trying to keep track of exactly what was what, and instead I just started asking myself, “Is it American or Russian? That’s all I need to know.”
*Side note*
While the McLanahan series has often dabbled in near-future tech with a hint of science fiction, I would love to see Dale Brown write an actual hard science fiction novel. With his military expertise and prowess for fast paced action, I have no doubt it would make for some interstellar warfare that’s actually interesting (because it often isn’t).
March 6, 2023
After having written the ultimate cyberwar techno-thriller, Dale Brown shifts to Earth orbit, where Russia has deployed a military space station with anti-satellite weapons. An attempt by the company Scion to conduct reconnaissance of Russia's new platform escalates into a conflict in Earth's orbit that sees most of the American spy satellites destroyed. The first half of the novel introduces all the components of the space station and the US's various spaceplanes, and the science and technology behind this stuff, and then the action kicks off during the second half, with Scion, with military support, leading a rescue mission inside Russia's Far East while simultaneously planning an assault against the Russian space station. The premise actually doesn't feel as far out there as it might seem, and it actually felt more realistic than the previous book with manned combat robots. Much of the technology turned out to be real or under development when I did a Google search. Obviously, recent events show the Russian military probably doesn't have the resources and ability to deploy a military space station like the one depicted here, and perhaps China would have been a better choice for the book, but the story is still entertaining as hardcore military action novel with an original setting and a depiction of how a limited, near-future conflict in space might play out.
December 22, 2019
Best of Brad
This was an absolute page turner,plenty of action,flying of multiple types of aircraft.this was Dale Brown's awesome techno thriller at its best ,And a jaw dropping last page,what's next
This was an absolute page turner,plenty of action,flying of multiple types of aircraft.this was Dale Brown's awesome techno thriller at its best ,And a jaw dropping last page,what's next
December 21, 2019
Now I can't wait for next book
This was a very good book while I was on mini vacation to New York City. I would recommend this to all of my military friends.
This was a very good book while I was on mini vacation to New York City. I would recommend this to all of my military friends.
July 24, 2022
Sometimes Dale Brown spends too much time on technical minutiae. But this is a real story, as current as tomorrow, completely believable. The action is great, the characters solid. This is what a modern military action yarn should be.
May 16, 2022
Amazing telling of fiction. Keeps you engaged and you don’t want to put in down.
May 14, 2019
I continue to enjoy this series featuring future political intrigue and conflict. The year is 2021. Brown imagines technological advances like space planes capable of innovative warfare, specialized bots, advanced laser pulse rockets, hybrid engines and more. He gives readers a good idea of what might happen when a rogue enemy leader implements a secret and deadly plan to dominate space. Thank goodness the Iron Wolf Squadron and SkyMasters are one step ahead of him with their advanced technology. They battle against seemingly impossible odds. Only quick thinking and dare devil action will enable them to survive.
Brown includes a good balance of character development and space war suspense. Most of the plot revolves around saving the world and the space above it from evil domination, however. I think some of the vehicles and warfare implements could have had a little more description to help visualize them. Perhaps readers who enjoy military novels will do better than I did picturing the battles.
A good novel for readers who enjoy action packed futuristic warfare.
I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.
Brown includes a good balance of character development and space war suspense. Most of the plot revolves around saving the world and the space above it from evil domination, however. I think some of the vehicles and warfare implements could have had a little more description to help visualize them. Perhaps readers who enjoy military novels will do better than I did picturing the battles.
A good novel for readers who enjoy action packed futuristic warfare.
I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.
July 14, 2021
This was a fun book to read. It moves at a decent pace, overall. The beginning starts out slower than the end; the author sets quite a bit up in the initial chapters. The pacing noticeably picks up in the latter part of the book . I thought the characters were well-written and believable. I think he does a good job of blending in any "info-dumps" into the story in such a way they feel like they are a part of the story's flow and do not break up the pacing or narrative. I have always enjoyed how the author is able to take "today's technology" and "apply it to tomorrow." He comes up with some pretty fantastic and fun ideas; I think I would love to see him write some "hard science fiction" as a result (but perhaps he knows what his limitations are and prefers to write what he knows and does it well).
I haven't read any of his books in a while, so I knew I was jumping into "the middle" of the storylines of some of his various characters (always good to see Patrick McLanahan still alive and kicking!). That being the case, I was not familiar with how much his "main characters" have grown over the years and cannot speak to their "continued growth" in this story. However, I felt that there was good growth of the characters in the story itself, so that is a good thing. To be honest, I think there were only two character names I recognized from the last time I read one of his books, so it was fun to discover knew characters I knew nothing about. I think he does a good job, for the most part, of getting a "new" reader up-to-speed on what needs to be known to enjoy the characters in the story.
In conjunction with "new characters," he also references events from prior books (which only makes sense). I liked that he gave enough information about prior events to keep an uninformed reader who has not kept up with his books (such as myself) in the loop without bogging down the "current" story. It is funny; at one point, I thought he was referencing an earlier book of his (The Silver Tower) as having been incorporated into the "McLanahan books" only to realize he must have written a "similar story" in the "mainline series" after doing some research into his earlier books. In any case, I like how he strove to keep all readers involved in the story and tried to prevent any from getting lost if they had not kept up with his books.
The technology he writes about is always fun. Whenever I read his books, I constantly find myself wondering how possible it would be for something he wrote about to exist, to be created. He takes "old Star Wars tech" from the 1980s and early 1990s and creates plausible systems from them. These kinds of stories do tend to be fun, especially when it comes to Russia. The Russians are badly underestimated in this book by the Americans, and it comes back to bite the Americans pretty badly. Throughout it all, though, he does a nice job of explaining how the "old systems" would have worked and what the Russians did to make them work even better in this novel. It did get a bit hard to keep track of the multiple "space planes" and their variants the Americans and their allies used, but their uses were still fun extrapolations of what could be done with current technology and the next level or two "up" in terms of technological advances.
The latter part of the book is probably "the most crazy" (which really and only makes sense). The pace picks up quite a bit; it almost gets "breathless" in points. So, yeah, I would say the author did a nice job of ratcheting up the suspense as the book went along.
I imagine one of these days I will "finally" go back and reread his books in order; I had read most of his books up to Main Battle Force and then quit reading him for a bit; I am not sure why. I guess "life got in the way." He is a fun author to read; he knows his stuff and writes it in a way to hold the reader's attention. I know Dale Brown tends to get compared to Tom Clancy a lot; I think both authors have done an excellent job of explaining complex (military) technology in ways that are easy for non-tech-savvy people to understand. Tom Clancy probably stood out a bit more because of his non-military background, but at least Dale Brown's books never became bloated like Clancy's tended to become over time.
This was a fun book to read, and it reminded me of why I enjoyed his books when I read them more regularly. I would probably rate it 3.3-3.5 stars, rounded down (as I do not think I liked it quite enough to rate it 4 stars). That being the case, I am glad I took a chance on reading this book.
I haven't read any of his books in a while, so I knew I was jumping into "the middle" of the storylines of some of his various characters (always good to see Patrick McLanahan still alive and kicking!). That being the case, I was not familiar with how much his "main characters" have grown over the years and cannot speak to their "continued growth" in this story. However, I felt that there was good growth of the characters in the story itself, so that is a good thing. To be honest, I think there were only two character names I recognized from the last time I read one of his books, so it was fun to discover knew characters I knew nothing about. I think he does a good job, for the most part, of getting a "new" reader up-to-speed on what needs to be known to enjoy the characters in the story.
In conjunction with "new characters," he also references events from prior books (which only makes sense). I liked that he gave enough information about prior events to keep an uninformed reader who has not kept up with his books (such as myself) in the loop without bogging down the "current" story. It is funny; at one point, I thought he was referencing an earlier book of his (The Silver Tower) as having been incorporated into the "McLanahan books" only to realize he must have written a "similar story" in the "mainline series" after doing some research into his earlier books. In any case, I like how he strove to keep all readers involved in the story and tried to prevent any from getting lost if they had not kept up with his books.
The technology he writes about is always fun. Whenever I read his books, I constantly find myself wondering how possible it would be for something he wrote about to exist, to be created. He takes "old Star Wars tech" from the 1980s and early 1990s and creates plausible systems from them. These kinds of stories do tend to be fun, especially when it comes to Russia. The Russians are badly underestimated in this book by the Americans, and it comes back to bite the Americans pretty badly. Throughout it all, though, he does a nice job of explaining how the "old systems" would have worked and what the Russians did to make them work even better in this novel. It did get a bit hard to keep track of the multiple "space planes" and their variants the Americans and their allies used, but their uses were still fun extrapolations of what could be done with current technology and the next level or two "up" in terms of technological advances.
The latter part of the book is probably "the most crazy" (which really and only makes sense). The pace picks up quite a bit; it almost gets "breathless" in points. So, yeah, I would say the author did a nice job of ratcheting up the suspense as the book went along.
I imagine one of these days I will "finally" go back and reread his books in order; I had read most of his books up to Main Battle Force and then quit reading him for a bit; I am not sure why. I guess "life got in the way." He is a fun author to read; he knows his stuff and writes it in a way to hold the reader's attention. I know Dale Brown tends to get compared to Tom Clancy a lot; I think both authors have done an excellent job of explaining complex (military) technology in ways that are easy for non-tech-savvy people to understand. Tom Clancy probably stood out a bit more because of his non-military background, but at least Dale Brown's books never became bloated like Clancy's tended to become over time.
This was a fun book to read, and it reminded me of why I enjoyed his books when I read them more regularly. I would probably rate it 3.3-3.5 stars, rounded down (as I do not think I liked it quite enough to rate it 4 stars). That being the case, I am glad I took a chance on reading this book.
September 21, 2019
This is the first Dale Brown book I've read. His attention to technical details in alignment with keeping a plausible story line together is most admirable! I didn't realize there was a list of acronyms at the end of the story, but didn't find it necessary due to the captivating thrill of the plot. My takeaway was the importance of speed and flexibility as a space war's comparison to hand-to-hand combat.
May 30, 2019
Nice to read a well conceived story written cleanly and delivered in an entertaining way.
Great entertainment. Dale Brown is a master of this genre. His story telling prowess is just as impressive as it was 30 years ago!
Great entertainment. Dale Brown is a master of this genre. His story telling prowess is just as impressive as it was 30 years ago!
June 16, 2019
As usual Dale Brown has written another very good book with a lot of high tech gadgets and a very active high tech imagination. It always seems to be the Russian or Chinese that we are fighting. He does leave us with a small hook into the flavor of his next book.
July 26, 2019
It's been a long time since I've read a Dale Brown/McLanahan and this was up to its usual excellent standard. Good plot line, good character development, tense sometimes, great story. Good guys vs bad guys and the good guys win. Yeah, I know, but that's the way I roll.
September 19, 2019
I found this to be a very exciting and adventurous novel. The Iron Wolf Squadron has a dangerous mission to face with uncertainty of success. It is very riveting.
I hope it sets up future Brad McLanahan novels from Dale Brown.
I hope it sets up future Brad McLanahan novels from Dale Brown.
May 25, 2019
Another gripping Dale Brown novel. Hard to put down.
June 14, 2019
Enjoyable
This was another wonderful book from Dale and as always it leaves you wanting to get the next installment. Thanks Dale
This was another wonderful book from Dale and as always it leaves you wanting to get the next installment. Thanks Dale
July 10, 2019
Exciting futuristic action in outer space where one weapon can emasculate earth bound weapon systems!
July 24, 2019
Chilling.
September 3, 2019
A fast read. A lot of space talk and many things to think about in the fast moving world of technology. War in space would be a terrible thing.
September 3, 2019
Fun Labor Day adventure. I’m exhausted!
September 5, 2019
This was just another fun exciting adventure with Brad McLanahan and his team. The action was good, the plot was good and the pace was good. Overall it was a good solid read. It was probably closer to 4.5 stars as opposed to 4 stars.
November 19, 2019
Space War
Interesting read with exciting twists on almost every page. Keep them coming ! Lasers and plasma rail guns are the future.
Interesting read with exciting twists on almost every page. Keep them coming ! Lasers and plasma rail guns are the future.
November 22, 2019
Once again, the McLanahans and their colleagues have to fight the maniacal President of Russia who is determined to control space by any means possible. This was a taut, exciting book. Dale Brown has created another masterpiece!
May 27, 2019
Sky masters !
OMG War in space has arrived & the USA is victorious .
Dale Brown has again given readers more stories about
Spaceplanes -Rail guns & hi-tech Laser and I can’t wait
to see what he comes up next year !
OMG War in space has arrived & the USA is victorious .
Dale Brown has again given readers more stories about
Spaceplanes -Rail guns & hi-tech Laser and I can’t wait
to see what he comes up next year !
July 8, 2019
Hooyah!!!
Holy smokes! I read this over the course of days because I just couldn't put it down!!! I've read all.if the books as they've been released since the first and this story is proof that they just keep on getting better.... Charlie Mike!!!
Holy smokes! I read this over the course of days because I just couldn't put it down!!! I've read all.if the books as they've been released since the first and this story is proof that they just keep on getting better.... Charlie Mike!!!
Read
August 9, 2019Liked it. Fast pace reading.
July 21, 2019
Again enjoyed the great mix of tech-boardering on sci-fi-great characters, and suspense. Dale Brown never fails to entertain with a good yarn.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews