PWP Member Book Reviews

Battle Born by Dale Brown

Review by John J. Rust

Finished up another book by one of my long-time favs Dale Brown. BATTLE BORN is about a group of misfit B-1 bomber pilots being trained at the Air Force's top secret Dreamland base in Nevada to be part of an elite squadron with the capability of knocking out ballistic missiles while in flight. Perfect time for it, too. A South Korean inspired revolution in the North has finally united the peninsula. This doesn't make the Chinese happy. With war around the corner, General Patrick MacLanahan has to get his "Battle Born" group ready to stop a nuclear holocaust.

Very cool book. Brown can definitely spin a terrific story with great characters and action. Terrill Samson is still carrying on the renegade spirit at Dreamland started by his predecessor Brad Elliot. This pisses off the top brass and politicos in D.C., but when they see the results and with the Far East ready to explode, they have no choice but to accept it. Rinc Seaver was a very good character. He starts out by crashing his B-1 during a training exercise (which kills 2 crew members) which affects him throughout the book. The guy is a real enigma. Always keeping his distance, wondering if he should stay in the military, wondering if he should still continue his relationship with his CO Becky Furness (who first appeared in Brown's book CHAINS OF COMMAND). The story had a great flow. There were whole chunks of the book I couldn't stop reading until the situation was resolved, like the revolution in North Korea. Great drama and action in that one. Really dug the perspective of this one North Korean captain who is about as brainwashed by Kim Jung-Il's propaganda as you can get. Truly believes the South is using mind control to take over the North. What a loony. And he's a loony that makes off with some missiles carrying nukes and chem warheads. Oh yeah, several of those get launched throughout the book. Lots of destruction on the Korean peninsula, but I thought Brown could have showed a lot more of it, along with the effects of all the nerve gas and nuclear fallout. The battle scenes were pretty darn good and I loved some of the high tech stuff they showed off, especially the plasma-yield warheads. Once again, another winner for Dale Brown.