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Dale Brown and his co-author Jim DeFelice continue their DREAMLAND series with END GAME. In this thriller, Islamicist militants from Iran, led up by Captain Val Muhammad ben Sattori attempt to cause Armageddon by provoking a war between three nuclear states: India, Pakistan, and China. The only thing standing in their way, albeit unbeknownst to them, is Dreamland, a secret military invention facility in the Nevada desert staffed by stalwart fighters "under the direct command of the US President." When the novel begins, Dreamland's boys in the back room are developing the perfect weapon: a system to shut down the electricity of enemy vehicles and facilities. A former US Air Force captain, Brown is known for writing technologically specific military thrillers set in an Al-Qaeda-threatened eternal present. In END GAME, the description of the gadgets will not disappoint. What contraption in Ian Fleming's arsenal is as complex yet clearly imaginable as the dreaded 'AA-12 AMRAAMsk'", which can strike another airplane at about 40 nautical miles in a head-on confrontation. The political analysis is sometimes remarkably heavy-handed. The Americans are reluctant to act militarily against Iran without proof that Iranians really did engineer the Indian-Pakistani-Chinese conflict. "Problem is ... a lot of people won't believe Iran is involved without real hard evidence, and the Secretary of State would never go out on a limb to charge them without something real, something tangible." Those pesky sceptics, with their nagging demands for evidence: the threat, though initially unverifiable, is horrifically real. In other areas, END GAME is less convincing. The top American brass speak of the Somalian Air Force. There is no such thing, though there may be a Somali one. Brown's characters rarely have as much personality as his planes, ships, subs, and projectiles. The heroes are almost as one-dimensional as the cartoonish Sattori. One of them, paralyzed vet Major Jeffrey 'Zen' Stockard, rises to two dimensions whilst struggling to learn to walk again. The heroine, Zen's wife Breanna 'Bree' Stockard, is another thing altogether. Instead of flirting, cooking, or even making love, as she does in Zen's dreams, Bree is flying dangerous missions to save the world. "Can she balance her love for her husband with the demands of her career ... and ambitions?" Brown and DeFelice's answer appears to be a resounding no. Ultimately, Zen and Bree must learn that the challenge of a much, much greater sacrifice awaits them both, and that this "is the way it should be. The only way." As an American, I thought that America was founded on the theory that there is no 'only way' to live, and to preserve life, peace, and prosperity. Unlike monarchy, democracy lets a lot of people govern together because they will come up with a lot of 'ways' to solve problems, then choose the one that makes the most sense to the most people. That is why the Constitution-writers of 1789 created a government with three branches: to prevent any individual President from exercising 'direct command' of any military body, or anything else. If you like technological thrillers, you might like END GAME. If you want technological thrillers with well-developed characters, Brown and DeFelice might not fulfill your dreams.
Reviewed by Rebecca Nesvet, May 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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