Plan of Attack

By: Dale Brown

Narrated by: William Dufris

Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

Dale Brown is the author of 14 New York Times best sellers, and now in Plan of Attack, he provocatively turns our attention to the threat of a nuclear attack that is beyond our imaginings.

U.S. Air Force aerial warfare expert Major General Patrick McLanahan has been demoted and moved back to a desk job. Keeping a keen eye on what's going on with old enemies, he notices that Russia's heavy bomber and tactical bomber bases are busier than ever. He tries to get his superiors to pay attention but is ignored. Russian president General Anatoliy Gryzlov is determined to punish McLanahan for a previous bombing of a Russian air base. To make his point, Gryzlov launches an all-out sneak attack on America that devastates our strategic air forces.

McLanahan has collected information he needs to plan a counterstrike that could stop the Russian war machine dead in its tracks. But McLanahan is no longer in charge of Air Battle Force, his combat unit of the future, and the Russian sneak attack has left the embattled U.S. president with few options: retaliate with every weapon in his arsenal, even if it triggers a global thermonuclear war; agree to a cease-fire on Russia's terms...or listen to a disgraced and discredited young bomber commander's long-shot plan of attack. To prevent a destructive stalemate, Patrick McLanahan may have to take matters into his own hands.

©2004 Dale Brown (P)2004 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Critic reviews

"For fans of over-the-top, gut-wrenching thrillers, this one's a winner." (Booklist)

Wow! Non-stop Action

This is not an independent book but is a sequel to "Air Battle Force". Listen to the two together. Any gap between the two will make the second not make sense. This book is action from start to finish. The author continues from the prior book when you thought all was well. Needless to say, it is not. It is fantastic.

Great Book

Narrator needs to be consistent with the voices. Hal Briggs voice changed serval times. Still good book!

Long term Dale Brown Fan

I am followed the series since The Flight of the Old Dog was first released. The hate for Patrick gets old but the flying and the overall story line is great.

Robert's Review

Overall this is a very good book. the narrative is very good. The story line is easy to follow. Do get this book.

intriguing!

very intriguing and disturbing at the same time. But good read or listen. I like the different voices.

comic book style

Endless military jargon and simplistic dialog makes it comic like...without the pictures. If there was more plot and less technical details it would be much better.

Narrator

The book was OK but the narrator ruined it. This guy cannot do a russian accent to save his life. And his female voices... forget it.

Disappointed, too far fetched

This book starts out interesting, and then begins to drag. Once that happens it's easy to notice how many things about Brown's version of warfare seem just a little too far beyond imagination to enjoy. I'm not talking about the plot - that is far fetched, but interesting. I'm talking about the military technology. Some examples are below if you want spoilers.

Also, much tedious information is provided that doesn't add to the story, and is sometimes even repeated. The reader of the book had a great range of characters, and enthusiasm, but this book was hard to finish.

Technology blunders:
- A satellite radio transceiver placed in a person's body (specifically abdomen) that allows a person to communicate world wide. (Think about the power required to get an omni-directional signal up to a satellite coming from your abdomen!)
- Instant range gate information from ESM intercept bearings.
- Nobody seems to notice powerful jamming, except the unit being jammed, so surprise is not lost. ESM receivers for hundreds of miles would light up like Christmas trees. For example a fighter's comms & radar are powerfully jammed, but the wingman and AWACS a few hundred miles away don't seem to be alerted. Hard to accept in a scramble scenario.
- ESM information should be available at past double the effective range of a transmitter, but seem to pop up at ranges like 10 miles.