The Tin Man (Patrick McLanahan Series)

A very technical read. I enjoyed the advanced technology devices in this book. It was a slow read for me because of all the chemical, scientific terms and the vast number of groups, gangs and different characters. It's not the kind of book I normally read but it would be a great read for people that normally read this genre of books. I did not see the ending coming although I did know it wasn't only about the drug world.

Overall, I liked Dale Brown's latest. The opening scenes, and Gregory Townsend's planning an execution of the robberies and methamphetamine lab takeovers made for an action-packed start. But what are his real motives? And when Patrick McLanahan's brother, who is a rookie cop, is shot by one of Townsend's fellow terrorists, McLanahan takes the law into his own hands with an assortment of gadgets, James Bond style! The main instrument of the story is that advanced BERP suit, which is made of a special bulletproof material and protects him from gunfire. And the local police don't take too kindly to his vigilante antics, so he becomes a wanted man by everyone while he tries to avenge his brother's shooting and discovers more than he bargained for! Some lively action, awesome technology which might be feasible one day and good characterisations. I read this book twice(as I have with most of Dale Brown's books!) in the past couple of months, and it's better the second time round. The ending might seem daft at times, but the rest of the book makes up for it.

I was looking for a modern english novel to write a book report on. When I first saw this book I was fascinated by its cool cover. I suppose, this is not exactly the kind of novel you would chose to write a book report on, but I gave it a try anyway.
The story is about some guy who fights a gang of drug dealers, who have injured his brother heavily. But all this is part of a plan by a super villain who wants to steal some military airplanes to sell them to Arabic dictators. He commands a elite combat force that consists of so called Nazis. The hero's only chance to succeed is a super combat suit, which a mad scientist, who happens to be a friend of his, has invented. Well, quite an unrealistic plot, I guess.
But the book is real fun to read. You don't get tired of it. You feel as if you were watching a action movie. However, when I started to write a summary of this book, I noticed that the plot was totally discontinuosly. I hardly could figure out, what had been going on the last 400 pages. So if you expect a deep storyline here, this isn't for you. But if you want to have a good laugh, get this. By the way: I got an A for my book report, although my teacher didn't like the book at all.

It's about a former/occasional secret agent who works for a high-tech company. When his brother, a rookie cop, is injured, our hero becomes The Tin Man--wearing a suit made of the company's new bulletproof material and enhanced with some other high-tech gadgets, he's a cross between a vigilante and a superhero.

It's not all whiz-bang high tech action--there's a human side, particularly with the brother's serious injuries. And using the suit isn't without consequences--there's physical pain, and increasing urges toward violence. An alert reader could draw parallels with the effects of vigilantism in general--but this really isn't a book you read to contemplate the human condition.

Mostly, it's a rollercoaster thrill ride, a James-Bond-ish page-turner, an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours. The Tin Man didn't turn me into a Dale Brown fan, but I won't avoid his books, either.

This is a somewhat derivative tale. Part Die Hard - ruthless European terrorists enact cunning plot with lots of fake trails mixed with a bit of the movie Tuxedo with its super suit and a bit of Dirk Pitt - well funded US agency uses technology to kill bad guys.

It is readable but not gripping. The US Agency involved are multiple and bewildering, county, state, military, federal, drug etc but they are not as interesting as the author makes out. They all do similar things but overlap too much and cost a heap of money. There are some good plot twists and a fair ending.

One of the worst examples of a thrown together, pot boiler, techno-thriller I have ever had the misfortune to read. The interesting premise, the bad guys covet a revolutionary fabric with military and economic advantages, is buried under thick layers of stilted dialogue, improbable plot twists, and one dimensional characters. I have read and enjoyed several of Mr. Brown's other books, but this is a slap dash, third rate effort that is as much an embarassment to the author as it is to his editor. Thank goodness I happened to come across this book in the library and saved myself the cost of its purchase.

I'm with the other reviewers that thought the characters and dialog in this story weren't very good. There were good points to the book, though. The good guys win and the bad guys die badly, the thought of an invincible suit is fun, and Mr. Brown does keep you turning pages with tried-and-true thriller cliff hangers at the end of each section/chapter. I wish I'd liked the characters better so I wasn't rushing through the book simply to find out what happened, though.

I was greatly disappointed by this cartoonish effort that would have been more appropriate on Saturday mornings viewed by youngsters as they scarf down their morning cereal. Brown attempted to combine drugs, bikers, neo-nazis, military, high tech, and police and was never able to present a realistic, suspenseful plot. The story crashed and burned shortly after it began. I tried to get through it and after hours of struggle I laid it to rest after chuckling to myself that this Tin Man should have stayed in the Land of Oz.

The book was somewhat entertaining, but its not the novel you would expect from Dale Brown. He transforms Patrick McLanahan into Frank Castle. If you don't know, Frank Castle is the Punisher from Marvel Comics. The book is full of high-tech weapons, drug dealers, gun battles, biker gangs, and a man obsessed with revenge. I believe that fans of the Marvel Comic will find a lot to like about this book, but true Dale Brown fans will pray that he switches back to the type of novels we have come to expect and enjoy.

This book was very disappointing to me in its lack of depth and vague plot machinations. I am used to a much higher standard being met by this author. If he is not going to do his homework, I would suggest that he stick to B52's and the Air Force. He obviously knows enough about those subjects to be convincing. The "authors name" sold me this one but I will definitely look closer at his future offerings.

Dale Brown's puts Patrick MacLanahan at the center of the actions when his brother, a rookie cop, is hurt in a senseless and brutal attack. Vowing to get even, he enlists the nerdish Dr. Jon Masters to develop the BERP suit (only Jon Masters could come up with a name like that).
Patrick then confronts Townsend's formerly Cazaux's right hand man and proves himself to be the indestructible man.

Having recently become a fan of Mr. Brown's work (Fatal Terrain was the first title of his that I read, and I have since read all but two of his books), I was eagerly looking forward to the newest tale involving Patrick Mc Lanahan.
Dale writes extremely well, keeping his characters real within the genre (recommended suspension of disbeleief included), and you want to care about them, even the not-so-nice characters (like from Flight of the Old Dog).
I read this book in one sitting in approximately three hours, and will read it again in approximately 3 months.
Dale is proving himself to be worthy competition for the likes of Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler.
Enjoy!!

Plot doesn't hang together. Characters are one-dimensional at best. Dialogue is unrealistic. I've found Brown to be somewhat entertaining before and was really disappointed.
I finally quit trying to read it and just tossed it away. Didn't even have the heart to donate it to a charitable cause.

Admittedly I am writing this review before finishing the book -- but if I waited I might not be able to complete this review before 2000. At some point - I am sure (and this is based on trusting the author) this will turn into a typical Brown action thriller. But so far I am completely bored with the tedious explanations of child birth, Dr. Laura advice for the lovelorn, etc. ad nauseum. It seems like Brown is trying to attract women readers at the expense of his historical and lyal audience. Maybe I'll get past another two pages tonight. Hopefully I can reutrn to give this the ususal Brown glowing review - but not so far.

Certainly one of Brown's finest books. I couldn't put it down. I loved this book, because, well the reasons are to numerous to list them all! Patrick Mclanahan is back, and on the warpath agian, this time he's out for revenge. It's hard to figure out the ending until the whole plot unwinds, what a thriller!

Dale Brown made a mistake. He should have stuck with air combat, but instea tried this foray into action. No! I like his other books, but this one I shouldn't have spent my moneyon. The best part of this book was his preview for Battle Born. I look forward to his return to his original genre in Battle Born

Enjoyed the recurring of the "Cast" from previous books. Loved the twisted plotting of Townsend, this is one very brillant bad guy. Tin Man is wee bit Techno, sci-fi, & thriller wrapped up in a quickly moving package. Looking forward to remeeting these courageous people again.

Dale Brown is moving the boundary of the techno-thriller forward which is what other writers in the genre should do rather than redo the same old tired stuff. Well done. Also recommend Bob Mayer's SYNBAT; THE TRUTH MACHINE; and R. Doherty's AREA 51 series.

The difficulty in starting with a top first effort is that following efforts have much to live up to. Unfortunately 'Tin Man' doesn't.
Although many of the same characters appear, introduction of new characters gives them a limited dimension in Tin Man. The limited dimension limited the enjoyment and buy in for me. I'd looked forward to this, I less sure about the next.
This tin man should have stayed in Oz.

I was disappointed with this book. Did no one else seem to notice that the execution of the drug gangs has NO connection to the terrorists final mission? This book was thrown together, with little attention to content.

Not your typical Dale Brown techno-thriller. This book was similar to a James Bond story with the gadgets used. Not much aircraft use until the end but maybe Dale is heading in a new writing direction, however, it does look like his next book "Battle Born" heads back to the military skies. Tin Man started slow but picked up the pace midway until the end. Enjoyed the conflict between the Tin Man and the local law enforcement.

"The Tin Man" appears to have been thrown together at the last minute. It starts off as a decent, if formulaic thriller, then quickly deteriorates into a state of complete un-readability. The inane plotting, wooden dialogue and non-existant character development combine to form a shockingly lame final product. This is only book I've read by Dale Brown, and if he indeed does have talent, then this wretched offering must be a source of considerable embarrassment to him. Complete garbage.

Although I was a little disappointed in the beginning with how Muck was "handled", the more I read the better I liked the plot. It flows smoothly and the storyline is one of Mr. Brown's best.
In the previous stories, Muck was viewed as a military machine, precise and logical. Here we see him as a person, with feelings and concerns outside a Megafortress.
I never imagined the ending and am looking forward to the next several books that are set up here.

This is a badly written, badly plotted novel. The characters aren't sympathetic or heroic. There is no character development and all of the plot has to hang on the equipment of the Tin Man. The technology described here may be possible and even interesting but it cannot sustain a 400+ page thriller. Much like Tom Clancy's latest Rainbow 6 a disappointing addition to worthy previous works.

This is a badly written, badly plotted novel. The characters aren't sympathetic or heroic. There is no character development and all of the plot has to hang on the equipment of the Tin Man. The technology described here may be possible and even interesting but it cannot sustain a 400+ page thriller. Much like Tom Clancy's latest Rainbow 6 a disappointing addition to worthy previous works.

I have bought and read every Brown book and loved them...they were impossible to put down. "Tin Man" was easy to put down! I have tried to read this book 3 times since I bought it and have yet to get through the second chapter. Thank goodness "Battle Born" is a return to the "tried and true" Dale Brown genre!

This book was exciting, well written, and had an great plot! The end ended up a lot different than i thought it would be, and started to seem a little like a TV show, which was kinda dissappointing, but still great. This is one of, if not the, best books I have ever read!

I've really enjoyed Dale Brown's previous books but this one is not in the same category. He used the same names as those of characters in previous books but they weren't the same people. I was really disappointed in it.