Tiger’s Claw audiobook

I learned a lot about the South China Sea.

Tiger’s Claw by Dale BrownDale Brown plucks his plots out of newspaper headlines. This thriller postulates China as our new deadly foe. Obviously that is not much of a fictional stretch. One of the subtleties of Brown’s books is the need to read between the lines. The book points out that with the intertwined nature of the global economy it would be difficult for any conflict to escalate to war. Even noting that, Brown clearly details how minor events can snowball into making conflict nearly inevitable. I haven’t read any Dale Brown lately and I found this book a bit more formulistic than I recall. It could have been one I read several years ago with the names of the players being changed. I do enjoy the reoccurring characters as that provides a familiarity to the story that is quite pleasant. The nature of the plot does not provide a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings but more of a sense of trepidation. The specific details sometimes get overwhelming but overall and entertaining read. I recommend the book.

This was my first venture into this type of genre fiction in a long, long time. I had read another Dale Brown book maybe 10 years ago and have steered clear of military thrillers - not because I'm adverse to them, but because there's so many other things to read.That said, Tiger's Claw was a really entertaining book and Brown can tell a good story if you can get around the techno-jargon and excessive details on type of aircraft and weaponry. The novel begins in a real-like situation with China flexing its muscles and wanting to control the entire China sea. It does bog down a bit with discussions with weak president Kenneth Phoenix and stereotypical tough vice president Ann (forgot her last name). However, the action scenes, the aerial dogfight and ocean attacks, are well-written.I thought this was the first of a series, and I guess I was correct in that it introduces Brad McLanahan. Maybe reading earlier work with his father, Patrick McLanahan, would have provided better overall context, but it seemed to work okay. I'll consider reading more of this series down the reading line.

Been getting some fiction into my reading plan thus tried this earlier book in this series. While certainly interesting and worth a read, I found The Kremlin Strike a bit more fun and current. Tiger's Claw connects one to the tension between China and Taiwan... with the U.S. right in the middle. The author connects us to the new doctrine of the time in which the book was written as well as some details pulled out of those current events. While I question Patrick McLanahan's actions at the end of the book, overall it is well written and makes on think hard about the possibilities of a shooting war in this part of the world.