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A review by ja_hopkins
Day of the Cheetah by Dale Brown
3.0
Yet another technothriller from the late-80s I have revisited having read the paperback. Dale Brown takes his lead from the first three books in the ‘Old Dog’, Lt. Col. Patrick McLanahan out of the cockpit, mostly. The latest in hi-tech aeronautics (for the time, but also for now to an extent) is the basis for a new fighter plane, codename DreamStar. Revolutionary, it promises to give the US a massive edge over the Soviets. Unfortunately, the prototype has been hijacked from Dreamland, and McLanahan must find a way to get it back.
This is not a bad story. I remembered the very last page, so not much suspense this time round, but no problem. It is interesting that in some ways the tech is still cutting edge, although in others less so. The introduction, first act and ending are not too bad. However, the middle feels rather baggy – I am sure losing a hundred pages would not harm the story. Brown tends to go into a bit more technical detail than the likes of Tom Clancy and Steven Coonts – sometimes it can be a bit too much. That said, I might revisit some of the earlier in the McLanahan series, although not quite sure how he stretched it out to 19 books. Final point – there are a fair few typos/formatting issues in this book.
This is not a bad story. I remembered the very last page, so not much suspense this time round, but no problem. It is interesting that in some ways the tech is still cutting edge, although in others less so. The introduction, first act and ending are not too bad. However, the middle feels rather baggy – I am sure losing a hundred pages would not harm the story. Brown tends to go into a bit more technical detail than the likes of Tom Clancy and Steven Coonts – sometimes it can be a bit too much. That said, I might revisit some of the earlier in the McLanahan series, although not quite sure how he stretched it out to 19 books. Final point – there are a fair few typos/formatting issues in this book.