No comments about Northern Ireland's Troubles: The Human Costs (Contemporary Irish Studies).

5 comments about Run Before the Wind.

1. I really enjoyed this thriller book. I think that is is a little less suspense full than some of the other books written by Woods. This is my first time reading a Will Lee novel and greatly enjoyed this character. I think it had a good plot and good characters. This is a good book to read on the back porch during a nice night. I would reccommend it to anyone who enjoys this author.



2. I found this novel hard to get into but about half way through it does get better. I really enjoy the Stone Barrington novels so was expecting this one to be on a par with those. I didn't think this one measured up.



3. Perusing my local library this week I noticed that nearly 4 feet of shelving space were devoted to books from this author, so I figured "what the heck...if I try one of his books and like it, I'll have quite a few more to keep me entertained for awhile." I chose this one because it appeared to be one of his first books and I usually like to start at (or near) the beginning rather than randomly choosing something from the middle of an author's career.
   
   I was impressed with Woods' writing style, and will definitely be back for more. In fact, as I write this review, I'm already on my 2nd book by Woods', a novel called "Chiefs" that I'm actually enjoying much more than "Run Before the Wind."
   
   "Run Before the Wind" is a coming-of-age story about a recurring character in several of Woods' books: Will Lee.
   
   We find young Mr. Lee, the son of a wealthy Georgia politician, in law school, sitting in the dean's office. Lee isn't there to receive an "atta boy." Qutie the contrary -- he's being expelled. The dean sees much potential in the young Lee, but not enough effort and an inability to persevere. He's told to go out, take at least a year off, and come back again only when he's ready to approach his endeavors with a significant change of attitude and study habits.
   
   Lee finds himself in Ireland, where his grandparents live, and quite literally stumbles into a job as a boatbuilder, drawing on his skills as an experienced sailor. His project is a 60' racing yacht, whose owner is as mysterious as he is wealthy. While Lee befriends several of those on the boatbuilding crew, it soon becomes apparent that others on the crew are involved with the IRA -- and that they have a grudge to settle with both the boat's owner and some of the other builders. The ensuing story is more the tale of Lee finding himself than a deep mystery, but isn't withoug its action and intrigue.
   
   It was enjoyable read, but I'm afraid I can't call it a gripping read. Suspense but not thriller.
   
   The book does not have a particularly satisfying ending. I won't spoil it here for those who haven't read it, but suffice to say that "happily ever after" isn't the template for most (if any) of the characters.
   
   After finishing the book, I visited Woods' website (..) and it features a very nice tool that I've never seen before: a printable checklist that you can take the library (or bookstore) that organizes Woods' books according to year of publication and main character. Unlike many authors that have only one or two protagonists and one or two series, Woods' has quite a range that currently encompasses 9 "stand alone" novels that aren't part of a series, as well as 24 other novels that fall into 5 different series. I like this very reader-freiendly approach to organizing the author's work.
   
   As I said, this was a good book, but not a great book. And, as I mentioned, I am currently reading one of his other books (Chiefs) and although only 1/3 of the way through the book, it will easily garner 5 stars if it finishes as strongly as it has started. Seems I'm not the only one who likes it, given that a 25th anniversary edition has been printed and it was made into a CBS mini-series a number of years ago. I'm surprised I hadn't heard of this author before, given his prolific writing, but regardless of how I discovered him (in this case, just perusing the library shelves), I'm glad I did. He'll be part of my reading diet for quite some time as I work my way through his 30+ novels.



4. Another Stuart Woods book that was awesome. I have either bought every book I can find or been to the library to check them out that Stuart Woods has written. Just wish there was a site that would tell me in what order to read them.



5. Technically, the first book to feature Will Lee as a main character ( he makes a brief appearance in Chiefs as a kid) and also the only book Woods' has written in first person POV. It all begins with Lee at law school bored. So he asks his father if he can take a year off and travel to Ireland to see his maternal grandfather. It is there he finds his dream job, building sail boats. He makes friends with a couple who are going to sail a large yacht across the ocean in a race. He also has time to court two women, one who has a past with IRA. Soon, bodies start falling and Will becomes imbroiled in a sinister plot of revenge. The pacing in the novel is slow at first but picks up. The first person narrative really makes the story flow smoothly, unlike some novels.

5 comments about Direct Action.

1. This is a pretty good read. Its got a ton of detail about covert operations, spy devices, and the intelligence apparatus to make you feel like this is what really goes on. The story line is pretty good, too. It is more than slightly annoying that the authors' political views are so obviously on display.



2. "Direct Action" is so heartpoundingly real it might as well be
   virtual reality. This book is a powerful page-turner that provides so much inside info that you feel you are right there with Tom Stafford and his buddies, every minute of the journey. If you're curious about all the dirty little secrets behind counter-terrorism and how difficult it is to do your job if you are CIA or ex-CIA, then this book is a must read. What fascinated me most was the incredibly accurate details of the locations in Paris, descriptions of exactly what they ate and drank, the restaurants, the clothes, the disguises and how they go about capturing their prey. Weisman writes about all of it in depth and so well, that you're always kept wondering what is truth and what is fiction. Yet with all of this, he still keeps the action at a breakneck pace.



3. A friend recommended a novel to me that I probably would have overlooked without his advice... Direct Action by John Weisman. A good espionage thriller...
   
   Tom Stafford is a former CIA officer who quit the agency when things became far too bureaucratic for his liking. The private firm he works for has uncovered an al-Qaida terrorist who has been a mystery figure to everyone who has tried to find him in the past. When they bring this to the attention of the CIA, they are inexplicitly told to back off. What makes this even more frustrating is that the terrorist is launching a suicide bombing plot involving designer backpacks and undetectable explosives. Unless this is stopped and the explosives analyzed, all the preventative measures in place around the world will be rendered moot. An unusual mix of private contractors with shadowy pasts and mixed loyalties have to come together to flush out the terrorist, find the explosives, and steer clear of whatever powers in the CIA are preventing them from doing what's right...
   
   Weisman writes with the perspective of someone who has spent plenty of time in the world of covert actions. The plotline of the story is meshed into real CIA personalities and activities, so it's often a little difficult to draw the line between what's story and what's actual history. He also blacks out certain names and activities in the book, much like you'd see in a declassified document. It may sound a little hokey, but it works well to make the writing feel even more real.
   
   Prior to this read, I hadn't even heard of Weisman. Now he's moved into my "so what else has he written" list... A good read to allow you to escape for a few hours...



4. This book made it past the censors and yet gives the layman an inside look at the frustrations for operations personnel in the CIA. While the detail can bog you down in the first few chapters, it's well worth it as you move through the book. Finally a book that exposes the political correctness that has hog tied our operatives in the field.
   Well thought out; detailed and true to life senarios.



5. This novel painfully points out the problems with the CIA during the terms of Directors such as Webster, Gates, Woolsey, Deutch and George Tenet. Seasoned intelligence professionals left the agency in droves or were forced to retire. Directives were issued that in effect prevented the clandestine service from spying. Positions were filled by individuals few of whom had the experience, ability or inclination to recruit agents to spy for America. Tom Stafford, a former CIA case officer, can't stand how things have deteriorated. He joins up with a group of former CIA agents who now are independent contactors calling themselves the 4627 Company. This group contracts projects that the rather impotent CIA would not be capable of handling. This plot centers around a genius terrorist bombmaker who has miniaturized parts so they can be hidden and carried undetected onto to commercial aircraft. This is really an almost impossible to put down read. My only complaint is that there were at least ten pages where portions of the text were blacked out as though by a censor. I find that rather disconcerting. Plenty of espionage tips and tricks. And plenty of excitement as they hunt down and terminate the enemy.

5 comments about Storming Heaven.

1. Review of "Storming Heaven" by Dale Brown.

   It seems almost impossible to buy a well-written action novel. They all seem to be written by people who haven't learned how to write a book with characters, real characters who stand up off the page. "Storming Heaven" is, regrettably, no exception.

   "Storming Heaven" is yet another of those books written by men who like to have their photos taken standing on military vehicles wearing baseball caps. This book is written in 'head hopping' mode, which is usually reseved for romance novels. The writer hops about from character to character. After a few pages the unfortunate reader feels quite dizzy.

   One might hope that the publisher could advise this writer on learning how to write in a focussed viewpoint. This would be a slim hope as the book seems to have been published from its first draft and without benefit of an editor. An example of the nonsense:

   (The viewpoint for the moment is supposed to be with Vincenti, a fighter pilot)
   The stress in the controller's voice was painfully obvious and Vincenti knew why. As soon as he heard a break, Cazaux interjected . . .

   In the above, it should be 'Vincenti interjected' not Cazaux, who is fleeing from the fighter. Evidently the writer can't remember which viewpoint he's in, so there's not much hope for the reader.

   The text is chock full of acronyms, all of which are lovingly explained - not once, but over and over. 'The Air-Force E3 Sentry AWACS (Airborne Warning And Communications System)' . . . 'The WAO, or Weapons Assignment Officer, was the overall supervisor of the section of the command center that controlled the fighters from takeoff to landing and monitored the entire intercept." . . . (yawn) and if I see one more time, 'The HUD (Head Up Display) I shall scream. Boring, boring, boring. If the author really needs to soak in acronmys then let him include a glossary of terms. Better still let him write nonfiction. He should have had plenty of practice since this book is written like a stuffy nonfiction weapons manual.

   Apart from the above, the writing style is extremely dull. When Brown introduces a character he stops the story dead, with large passages of exposition concerning who this is, where they went to school, and so on, instead of gradually releasing such information a little at a time while keeping the story alive. E.G:
   ' Hardcastle was tall and lean, with gray hair, a bit longer than he wore it in his Coast Guard days, swept gracefully back from his forehead. "Character lines" were deeply etched around his narrow blue eyes, giving him a hawklike image to match his politics. He wore lightly tinted glasses now . . "
   - and on and on and on, nearly two pages of this boring tripe. This description begins on page five. You'd think that Hardcastle, from his two solid pages of yawn-making, 'was', and 'were', and 'what he was wearing' must be a crucial character, but Hardcastle then disappears as a character and still hasn't reappeared by page 105, which is the point I was unable to continue reading this pulp and consigned it to the trash. Which is where it belongs. 'Nuff said.




2. I was glued to my chair by this book. I thought it moved well and I liked the military technology and jargon. However, I was turned off my Mr. Brown's thinly veiled dislike of the Clinton administration. Mr. Brown should keep his politics out of his books.



3. When it comes to the real thriller rather than aero techno thriller, Another Brown's perspective took the side inner country where the enemy have been there planning what we were not expecting. The Most Thrilling Action Story. Brilliant!



4. So, I haven't reviewed a book for nearly a year. And what's the first genre I review after a year's break from Amazon? Yes, it's a military book. Storming Heaven is a tale of how one very evil mastermind, the Belgian Henri Cazaux, abused as a child, and with overwhelming hatred for fellow humans, invests every breath in his body into finishing the USA's infrastructure with sheer firepower. In fact, the ex-B52 navigator Brown goes into such explicit detail of the savageness of Cazaux's attacks that I will, for once, let the reader find out what happens. Of course, the retired military chief Ian Hardcastle, being the typically macho hero Brown describes him as, tries to go in all fires-blazing, with helicopters and weapons of small-scale mass destruction, with the aim of finishing Cazaux once and for all. As is natural in such shocking, though entertaining novels, the military soon enough falls out with the security services, thinks that they have killed Cazaux when he actually is planning his worst atrocity yet...
   
   If you really aren't into bloodthirsty military novels, I sincerely recommend you to stay away from Storming Heaven. I've read and reviewed many books in my time on Amazon, and this is easily the most dark and deadly novel yet.
   
   Mr Brown, have three stars, on the basis that you lay off from the violence and gore you have shocked me with!



5. Reading this now five years on from 9/11, I can see why a reviewer might have thought Bin Laden had read this book, and it's also worth checking out Dale's blogs on airbattleforce.com, as a writer myself I know all too well the responsibility an author has to society - in my first book, published a year before the 7/7 London attacks, a terrorist takes a rucksack bomb on to a London tube train and is stopped at - wait for it King's Cross! Scary.
   
   But fictional events coming true - its happened this weekend in Marmaris, turkey, as well - is part of being an author, one of the risks you take. Dale Brown is one of the best at his game and I think with all his knowledge of military and geopolitical affairs he should run for President, he would do a better job than, say, Bill Clinton, whose administration he rips into in STORMING HEAVEN. Hilary, named only as the Steel Magnolia in his narrative, however, he always portrays very well as strong-willed and full of guts. Way to go! I'd vote for her.
   
   In the story, set in 1995, American airport and border security is under threat when a Belgian terrorist Henri Cazaux, out for blood after he was abused by American soldiers as a child, gets assistance from ex-SAS commando Gregory Townsend to launch a bloody attack on America's airlines by crashing planes laden with fuel and explosives into air terminals. First, he strikes Oakland International at San Francisco and causes massive loss of life. Then Cazaux goes for Memphis International in Tennessee, wiping out a cargo terminal. Panic sets in all across the States and reaches the White House.
   
   Action is taken by Rear Admiral Ian Hardcastle, who first appeared in HAMMERHEADS - read this, this book is ahead of its time - Patriot missile launchers at airports, talk of chaff (defensive countermeasures to distract surface to air missiles) on airliner wings, unauthorised flights shot down by F-16s or ordered to land, which has happened recently, and then terror hits Washington as Cazaux decides to attack the White House . . . Dale Brown did reuse this scenario well for ACT OF WAR too recently though the strategy was a bit different. The ending as well is not what you think - paved the way for character continuation in THE TIN MAN, which is also well worth a read.
   
   Brown surpasses himself here - this book now was not speculation, it seems like a prediction of events to come. With recent security scare threatening air travel and the tourism industry in general, it all seems like essential reading now. I would love to see this book made into a movie, but I think it might be too shcoking for the nanny state we are forced to live in. But overall, this is a MUST READ. Especially if you are an aspiring author and/or historian! If you are new to this author, then this is a great place to start.

No comments about U.S. Army Counterterrorism Manual.

No comments about Understanding Terrorist Innovation (Contemporary Terrorism Studies).

1 comments about Criminal-States and Criminal-Soldiers.

1. This book consists of a collection of essays that examine conditions that today we tend to think of as new: gangs, terrorists, and rogue states that have the power or potential to influence the world we live in at the macro level. The thrust of the articles is that criminal-soldiers and criminal-states represent a new phenomenon, one that requires an attitude adjustment at the level of strategic thinking, and perhaps at the level of the just war tradition. This may well be true, but one essay in the book in particular emphasizes that Clausewitz's theory in On War remains valid for analyzing the current operating environments, including any conflict against criminal-soldiers or criminal-states. Mark Clark, the author of this contribution, suggests that authors such as John Keegan and Martin VanCreveld do not really understand Clausewitz's descriptive project as a holistic theory of war. He sees both of these distinguished authors as misaprehending Clausewitz in a critical way by attributing prescriptive advice to On War that has no relevance to post-modern struggles against non-state actors. Clark does a good job of demonstrating how On War can illuminate the struggle against terrorism and gangs, and that some modern critics simply don't get the philosophy at the heart of Clausewitz's analysis. The preface of the whole volume, by Dave Grossman, is a succint parable of the need for a competent and alert defense against non-state actors. He briefly lays out a domestic analogy that screams common sense and makes the urgency of confronting the forces at work undermining our civilization. Also outstanding is an article by Max G. Manwarring whose philosophical reflections on legitimacy and strategic awareness are really the center piece of the book. Great collection--great editing. Highly recommended for professionals in Defense and State.

No comments about 21st Century Complete Guide to Biosafety and Biosecurity.

No comments about Why Terrorism Works Understanding the Threat, Responding to the Challenge).

5 comments about Shadow Wars: Special Forces in the New Battle Against Terrorism.

1. Lots of information on SOF units in Iraq and Afghanistan, this book reads well and is jammed with pretty interesting photos. It includes almost 100 images including never before seen photos of Canada's Joint Task Force 2 (JTF2) in Afghanistan (which for me as a Canadian was worth the price of the book). Also included are pics of JTF2 Hummers and mountain operations,descriptions of their operations as well as Navy SEALs, Grom and a large chapter on the Aussie SAS (who come across really well as no-nonsense professionals.) There is also a good blow by blow account of the Moscow raid against Chechen terrorists in 2002. Up to date and worth the price.



2. As an overview of foreign forces, not bad. So far, I have yet to read a better written and narrated book than Erick Haney's Delta Force and Warrior Soul by Chuck Pfarrer.



3. David Pugliese gives you the P.D.B. (Presidential Daily Briefing) digest of Special Operations in the recent campaign aginst terror. While the closing chapters are peppered with his political commentary on America's incursion into Iraq, his reporting on operations conducted by the elite forces of the world is a nice, tiddy historical record. The photos are interesting and it is an entertaining read for the history, military and special operations enthusiast. I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it- a fine addition to your military library.



4. This book is a good read. It does an excellent job of comparing SOFs from several countries, particularly the U.S., Canada, and Australia, including discussing differences in their equipment and operating philosophies. It told me several things about SOF operations in Afghanistan and Iraq that I had not read about elsewhere, and did a better job of describing a couple I knew about than I have read elsewhere.



5. This is one of those books that the so called main stream media journalists in the "green zone" should read before they ever leave the US. At a minimum it would spark them to get away from their peers and pursue stories like those filed by Micheal Yon. These are not the same old "bad news stories from Iraq" as seen on the main-stream "news" channels.