From Publishers WeeklyBestseller Brown (Edge of Battle) takes the subject of his latest from current headlines—the rapprochement between Iran and Russia (the former wants to secure nuclear technology, the latter a new foothold in the Middle East). The emergence of an Iranian nuclear arsenal sets off a crisis, which the usual high-tech weaponry and clean-cut American flyboys (and now girls) deal with as effectively as ever in Brown's fictional world. The author presents his Iranian characters as more than cardboard villains, skillfully showing the influence of Islamic culture on their motivations. Of course, Brown also provides plenty of fast action and exotic hardware, like the XR-A9 space plane, plus such nice touches as a U.S. president who wants to make a space flight. Techno-thriller fans and aviation buffs will be well rewarded. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistAll but Brown's most avid fans, of whom there are many, are likely to give up on the latest Patrick McLanahan adventure. Although recent efforts have indicated a general smoothing out of the author's clunky prose style, this one makes it look as though he has gone downhill. Turgid is an understatement for this bloated, slow-moving opus. Dialogue scenes go on way longer than they need to, and the dialogue is painfully inept. Expository paragraphs and narrative descriptions are dull, as though Brown got the information down on paper as quickly as he could, intending to go back later and make it readable. On the other hand, the thriller plot will draw action fans—a Middle Eastern rebel leader calls on Patrick, his old nemesis, to help him defend himself against a terrorist army—and those who can't get enough high-tech gimmickry will enjoy Brown's latest inventions, including a suborbital space plane that sounds really cool. But wading through the book is like wading through rain-soaked mud: painful and exhausting for all but the truly motivated. Pitt, David Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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