Strike Zone (Dreamland Thrillers Book 5) - Dale Brown's Dreamland

Dale Brown is a much better solo writer. In Nerve Center there are too many characters each with too many names. Very confusing at times & the story is broken up into too many short chapters. I'm hoping the next two Dreamland books are better organized & more fun to read. I've read all of Dale Brown's other books. Thanks.

The author if this novel was desperate to soar above his other novels, which most were rated my me as four or five stars. The story is too predictable in some parts, too fantastic in relation to physics. Also, each new character he has to give too much descriptive attributes to their "perfect being" in a sense that is just as fantastic as the rest of the book. The book "is" worth reading if one likes everything being too perfect, or perhaps beyond the expectations of a a young school boy, or girl.

The book has enough excitement an technology in it to keep the reader interested. Dale Brown does a good job of presenting the military culture in a way that makes it interesting and accessible to people who haven't served.

I bought this book because the the store information says it's new (released 1/31/12). But in reality, this work was originally published in 2004 by Avon books, this is a reprint by Harper Publishing. It's a good story but if you read it in 2004 you don't need to buy it again.

The book is excellent and Dale Brown and my friend Jim DeFelice just keep putting out incredible work. I used to fly B-52G's out of Guam in the 80's as a non-rated crew member and they make it real to me. Guys, keep it up!

Fast-paced and lots of action and scene changes. Can get confusing if you are not paying attention.
Likes: The scenario with Zen and Bree, and the Whiplash team ground scenes, as well as some of the aerial fights.
Dislikes: The ending seemed abrupt with no epilogue. Of course, it may pick up where it left off in the next book. Other complaint is that I've been reading Dale Brown's novels in publication order, so going from the McLanahan series in the more present time, to the Dreamland series which takes place in the late 90s is a peeve. Was hoping they could keep them both in the same realm as some characters appear in both.

To say that the "Dreamland Team" is futuristic probably is correct but I am sure that many of the weapons and equipment that are part of this novel do actually exist. This is the sixth Dreamland novel that these two authors have written. If you like military action involving soldiers with nerves of steel, modern, and futuristic airplanes, and drone-like weapons along with electronic equipment that boggles your mind, you will love this book.

Lieutenant Colonel Tecumseh "Dog" Bastien is the leader of Dreamland. The Dreamland group respects and admires Dog's leadership. There are those above his rank that think the leadership of such a powerful group should be commanded by a higher ranking officer but for now, Dog is it with all the pressures that come with that leadership. The love life of this group is one that evolves as the story progresses as members do have some loved ones in the same group they are in making military objectives extremely hard at times. But things flow quite well under Dog's command.

Twenty-five nuclear warheads have been lost during warring factions involving India, Pakistan, and China, with the United States caught in the middle, supposedly friendly with all three nations. On paper that works out well, however, in practice it becomes a game of tag and war to get those warheads before anyone else can. Dreamland was assigned to find the warheads before a nuclear war got started. Using all the modern technology possible, the Dreamland team starts their search, a search that becomes a very dangerous "game" for all involved. Airplanes, ships, drones, and land troops all search the areas that the latest technology has given them as the most likely scattered locations where these warheads might be found. The battles are carried out in a state of war at least for those on the Dreamland team and the searchers for the other nations, who all are intensely trying to find the dangerous warheads before anyone else does or they get set off and do some extreme damage.

You will be on the ships, the airplanes, in the sea trying to get rescued, or on the ground guided by your fellow countrymen and women. There is death on all sides even though there is not a war in progress at the time, but the action and out-guessing your opponents move to get the weapons is as stressful and dangerous as a full out war.

You will feel as though you are with these soldiers in their personal and group battles mentally and physically. You will feel every bullet that one of them takes. You will wish you were there to assist in their medical care. You will feel like you are a part of their family, happy when things go properly and hurting so terribly when things go wrong.

Was excited about this new series from Brown based on the goings-on at Dreamland. The opening novel takes place in 1995, not long after the events in his novel Day of the Cheetah. Basically, General Elliot is out of the picture at Dreamland, and Congress and all the other higher ups are close to closing this place down.
Enter Colonel Dog Bastian. He takes over Dreamland, figuring it will be ditched by the powers that be. This is the slow, and I mean slow part of the book, pretty much the first one half to two thirds of the book. Generally, we introduce new characters, besides Bastian, including his daughter and pilot Breanna Stockard, and her husband, who is wheel-chaired after a training accident in the prologue, Jeff. A few cameos from Dale Brown's other novels appear, such as McClanahan and Briggs. The only one that takes part in most of this novel from the past novels is Nancy Cheshire.
While they are working on projects at HAWC, tensions are mounting in Somalia, where Iranians are shipping in Silkworm missles. Also, involved is Libya. The Iranians are trying to get a "Greater Islamic League" set up against the west.
Eventually, our friends at Dreamland are sent over, in their modified EB-52 Megafortresses...along with U/MF's Flighthawks, which are unmanned planes flown by Jeff from inside the EB-52.
The novel picks up speed in the last one quarter as we have aerial and land battle scenes. Can the guys and gals of Dreamland succeed in their mission, and if so, this could save the Dreamland facility.
Also enjoyed Brown and Defelice adding some action from the Navy, and Marines in this one. If not for most of the book being slow, this would have ranked higher.
Betting the series will get better, now that the characters have been developed. Worth getting if you're a techno-thriller fan.

Dale Brown has collaborated with Jim DeFelice(check out his WAR BREAKER, by the way) to produce an excellent new novel set roughly around the end of Dale's DAY OF THE CHEETAH but tying in nicely with SHADOWS OF STEEL. In the story, Colonel Tecumseh DOG Bastian is assigned by the White House to get Dreamland, the secret base at Nevada's Groom Lake, back into shape or else defence budget cuts will force the place to close. The first half of the book deals with experimenting on new weapons systems, in particular the FLIGHTHAWK unmanned aerial vehicles and also development of the EB-52 Megafortress, another old favourite! Dale Brown has also done well in creating some new characters, such as hotshot F-16 pilot Mack Smith, paraplegic ex-pilot Jeff Stockard who is a leading player with the FLIGHTHAWK system and is also burned out, concerned about his marriage to Megafortress pilot Breanna Bastian Stockard, daughter of 'Dog'. All these personal dramas intertwine well when things heat up in the book's secomd half. As well as the new faces, we also get cameo appearances from Patrick MacLanahan, loose cannon General Brad Elliot(who I sadly miss, this character really rocks!), Madcap Magician SPECFOR operative Hal Briggs and also National Security Advisor Deborah O'Day, who is undecided about closing Dreamland. Overall, memorable characters, fast pacing, easy-to-read narrative and some interesting military technology which might be in use today(you just never know what they've got hidden away) and some pulsating action scenes in the air and on the ground with a deployment of a Marine Expeditionary Unit on a search and rescue mission make this new Dale Brown story well worth the read. I eagerly look forward to reading more in the DREAMLAND series!

I read another Dale Brown book a while back - picked this up for a light, casual read, and that's what I got. His "Dreamland" flyboys and their fabulous (also in the strict sense of the word!) technology are achieving wondrous feats on the borders of India, Pakistan, and China, in a world where it seems completely uncertain who is really allied with whom, and who may suddenly try to shoot you down.

Some nice touches about inter-service rivalries and the antics of power-grabbing senior officers. But overall the story was a bit bit too fragmented and disjointed (others have complained of this in his books too). It got hard to remember who was where and what they were doing. Some plot aspects were rather obvious - we just *knew* that the couple marooned on the tiny rock island would get rescued somehow...

Why are the place-time stamps all set in the 1990's? Was the book written then and only now published? don't think so. Is he suggesting an alternate universe? I would have expected to see 2015 or some such year. Just an oddity.

I've read the previous entries in the Dreamland series and many more of Brown's other novels, and I don't think there is any doubt that this is one of the weakest of his books. Much of the book is plodding. As usual, the air battle scenes are riveting, but much more of the book is uninteresting at best. Dale Brown is a very good author, but this is definitely collaborative effort not his best work.

The book is excellent and Dale Brown and my friend Jim DeFelice just keep putting out incredible work. I used to fly B-52G's out of Guam in the 80's as a non-rated crew member and they make it real to me. Guys, keep it up!

Fast-paced and lots of action and scene changes. Can get confusing if you are not paying attention.
Likes: The scenario with Zen and Bree, and the Whiplash team ground scenes, as well as some of the aerial fights.
Dislikes: The ending seemed abrupt with no epilogue. Of course, it may pick up where it left off in the next book. Other complaint is that I've been reading Dale Brown's novels in publication order, so going from the McLanahan series in the more present time, to the Dreamland series which takes place in the late 90s is a peeve. Was hoping they could keep them both in the same realm as some characters appear in both.

To say that the "Dreamland Team" is futuristic probably is correct but I am sure that many of the weapons and equipment that are part of this novel do actually exist. This is the sixth Dreamland novel that these two authors have written. If you like military action involving soldiers with nerves of steel, modern, and futuristic airplanes, and drone-like weapons along with electronic equipment that boggles your mind, you will love this book.

Lieutenant Colonel Tecumseh "Dog" Bastien is the leader of Dreamland. The Dreamland group respects and admires Dog's leadership. There are those above his rank that think the leadership of such a powerful group should be commanded by a higher ranking officer but for now, Dog is it with all the pressures that come with that leadership. The love life of this group is one that evolves as the story progresses as members do have some loved ones in the same group they are in making military objectives extremely hard at times. But things flow quite well under Dog's command.

Twenty-five nuclear warheads have been lost during warring factions involving India, Pakistan, and China, with the United States caught in the middle, supposedly friendly with all three nations. On paper that works out well, however, in practice it becomes a game of tag and war to get those warheads before anyone else can. Dreamland was assigned to find the warheads before a nuclear war got started. Using all the modern technology possible, the Dreamland team starts their search, a search that becomes a very dangerous "game" for all involved. Airplanes, ships, drones, and land troops all search the areas that the latest technology has given them as the most likely scattered locations where these warheads might be found. The battles are carried out in a state of war at least for those on the Dreamland team and the searchers for the other nations, who all are intensely trying to find the dangerous warheads before anyone else does or they get set off and do some extreme damage.

You will be on the ships, the airplanes, in the sea trying to get rescued, or on the ground guided by your fellow countrymen and women. There is death on all sides even though there is not a war in progress at the time, but the action and out-guessing your opponents move to get the weapons is as stressful and dangerous as a full out war.

You will feel as though you are with these soldiers in their personal and group battles mentally and physically. You will feel every bullet that one of them takes. You will wish you were there to assist in their medical care. You will feel like you are a part of their family, happy when things go properly and hurting so terribly when things go wrong.

Was excited about this new series from Brown based on the goings-on at Dreamland. The opening novel takes place in 1995, not long after the events in his novel Day of the Cheetah. Basically, General Elliot is out of the picture at Dreamland, and Congress and all the other higher ups are close to closing this place down.
Enter Colonel Dog Bastian. He takes over Dreamland, figuring it will be ditched by the powers that be. This is the slow, and I mean slow part of the book, pretty much the first one half to two thirds of the book. Generally, we introduce new characters, besides Bastian, including his daughter and pilot Breanna Stockard, and her husband, who is wheel-chaired after a training accident in the prologue, Jeff. A few cameos from Dale Brown's other novels appear, such as McClanahan and Briggs. The only one that takes part in most of this novel from the past novels is Nancy Cheshire.
While they are working on projects at HAWC, tensions are mounting in Somalia, where Iranians are shipping in Silkworm missles. Also, involved is Libya. The Iranians are trying to get a "Greater Islamic League" set up against the west.
Eventually, our friends at Dreamland are sent over, in their modified EB-52 Megafortresses...along with U/MF's Flighthawks, which are unmanned planes flown by Jeff from inside the EB-52.
The novel picks up speed in the last one quarter as we have aerial and land battle scenes. Can the guys and gals of Dreamland succeed in their mission, and if so, this could save the Dreamland facility.
Also enjoyed Brown and Defelice adding some action from the Navy, and Marines in this one. If not for most of the book being slow, this would have ranked higher.
Betting the series will get better, now that the characters have been developed. Worth getting if you're a techno-thriller fan.

Dale Brown has collaborated with Jim DeFelice(check out his WAR BREAKER, by the way) to produce an excellent new novel set roughly around the end of Dale's DAY OF THE CHEETAH but tying in nicely with SHADOWS OF STEEL. In the story, Colonel Tecumseh DOG Bastian is assigned by the White House to get Dreamland, the secret base at Nevada's Groom Lake, back into shape or else defence budget cuts will force the place to close. The first half of the book deals with experimenting on new weapons systems, in particular the FLIGHTHAWK unmanned aerial vehicles and also development of the EB-52 Megafortress, another old favourite! Dale Brown has also done well in creating some new characters, such as hotshot F-16 pilot Mack Smith, paraplegic ex-pilot Jeff Stockard who is a leading player with the FLIGHTHAWK system and is also burned out, concerned about his marriage to Megafortress pilot Breanna Bastian Stockard, daughter of 'Dog'. All these personal dramas intertwine well when things heat up in the book's secomd half. As well as the new faces, we also get cameo appearances from Patrick MacLanahan, loose cannon General Brad Elliot(who I sadly miss, this character really rocks!), Madcap Magician SPECFOR operative Hal Briggs and also National Security Advisor Deborah O'Day, who is undecided about closing Dreamland. Overall, memorable characters, fast pacing, easy-to-read narrative and some interesting military technology which might be in use today(you just never know what they've got hidden away) and some pulsating action scenes in the air and on the ground with a deployment of a Marine Expeditionary Unit on a search and rescue mission make this new Dale Brown story well worth the read. I eagerly look forward to reading more in the DREAMLAND series!

I read another Dale Brown book a while back - picked this up for a light, casual read, and that's what I got. His "Dreamland" flyboys and their fabulous (also in the strict sense of the word!) technology are achieving wondrous feats on the borders of India, Pakistan, and China, in a world where it seems completely uncertain who is really allied with whom, and who may suddenly try to shoot you down.

Some nice touches about inter-service rivalries and the antics of power-grabbing senior officers. But overall the story was a bit bit too fragmented and disjointed (others have complained of this in his books too). It got hard to remember who was where and what they were doing. Some plot aspects were rather obvious - we just *knew* that the couple marooned on the tiny rock island would get rescued somehow...

Why are the place-time stamps all set in the 1990's? Was the book written then and only now published? don't think so. Is he suggesting an alternate universe? I would have expected to see 2015 or some such year. Just an oddity.

I've read the previous entries in the Dreamland series and many more of Brown's other novels, and I don't think there is any doubt that this is one of the weakest of his books. Much of the book is plodding. As usual, the air battle scenes are riveting, but much more of the book is uninteresting at best. Dale Brown is a very good author, but this is definitely collaborative effort not his best work.

Fair to partly cloudy. And a bit overly complicated. The constant switching back and forth between actual character names and "handles" made it more difficult to follow especially with a large cast. Not a bad yard though but, as noted by others, it helped if you had been in the Air Force (which I was) to grasp the terminology. My biggest disappointment was the end,. It seemed that the authors got tired of wring after 400 pages so you were left hanging as to the fate of many of the major characters. Something in the way of an epilogue would have been nice.

This book should have been named as End Game, part 2. As a story, it is somewhat below Dale Brown's average level. In the same time it tries to be traditional techno thriller and personal drama (from Zen Stockard's view). But does not succeed in mixing those.

Dale Brown started off with some good novels like the Flight of the Old Dog.

This continues in the same vein as his recent novels. Looking for a new idea but quickly falling back on the old structure.

Time for something new and original.

This particular entry in the Dreamland Series picks up where the previous book ended and if you have read End Game, the specifics are already established. Action packed and suspenseful, it is a typical Dale Brown adventure and will not disappoint. If you are new to this series, plan to read END GAME before reading this to make better sense of the story line. Highly Recommended.

As always, a well researched and thoughtful tale told by the master of flight novels, Dale Brown. This is typical of most of the books in the Dreamland series and is sure to keep your interest throughout.