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Rating: 
Summary: Technothriller Classic
Review: A secret Soviet weapon using Star Wars technology threatens to bring the free-world to its knees in Dale Brown's first novel. Operating from their highly secure base on the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Russians aim their weapons with impunity. The only chance for the west is the EB-52, a highly modified B-52 bomber using stealth, new engines and next generation electronics and weapons - probably one of the few planes capable of destroying the Russians' base, and the only one stealthy enough to get the job done and survive without starting WWIII. Flying from their secret base, "Dreamland", the hastily assembled crew of the EB-52 is essentially alone. (A terrorist strike forces their early departure, and the project and mission alone are each too secret for them to call out for help). Not until they reduce the deadly Russian base at Pavaznaya to ashes can they risk returning home.Though I'm not a hard-core fan of Dale Brown, this was still a good read, getting enough mileage to stretch over to a few books. "Old Dog" contains all the elements familiar too anybody whose read some of the past 15 year's worth of Brown novels (the bad guys either come up with some massive technological threat or otherwise threaten geo-political stability; this generally coincides with some new technological innovations of the west) when the idea was new. Also, being Brown's first novel, "Old" lacks the extraneous and redundant references to older books.
It's sort of like watching the pilot episode of a show that has long since fallen into a rut. Here, the characters seem fresher, the scenes un-recycled and novel itself is more tightly focused on the main characters (latter novels treated the fighting characters like toy soldiers on a board-game map, while the real action happened in generals' offices or in Oval Office). If you've read one Dale Brown novel, you might as well have read them all, but this one still stands out.
Rating: 
Summary: Desperation fueled this read, don't let it happen to you..!
Review: I was in a rut, hadn't read anything light in awhile. I mean, after you read "Gravity's Rainbow" and "The Enormous Room", a 300+ page diversion is almost welcome. I browsed, read a few page blurbs, and settled on an author I hadn't seen before, Dale Brown. I knew there was a reason I didn't trust the NY Times. Bad book reviews. This book is essentially a 12 year-old military schoolkid's fantasy: going off to wage war against the bad guys singlehandedly. It's actually a better book in 2004 than in 1987, since I can amuse myself with how ironic some of the premises are today: the Soviets building a ground-based laser to shoot down planes, missles, satellites, and probably sparrows. The editors must've drawn the line at sparrows, but they left in the hot woman tech who wants to be treated as an equal, the gruff superior officer who's really a good guy, and a handful of other assorted types that every techothriller needed back then. Character development? Ah, that's a negative. Lots of technology and insider jargon to make it realistic? Check. Lots of political insight, some plot twists? Ah, that's a negative. I mean, he named the enemy pilot "Yuri". I guess the editors crosshatched "Ivan". Yes, I picked up "crosshatched" from this book, so it got a second-star for augmenting my lexicon of useless jargon. And yet, I raced through the book. I didn't want to read it, but I had to finish it because I've only refused to finish two books in my life (and I couldn't recall them if you held me at gunpoint). I got through it, but now I'll never get that time back. I'm a little bitter about it, but I'll get past it. The point here, and let's not lose sight of this point while I still have it, is that this book should not be purchased by people unless they absolutely *must* divert themselves for a few hours. If you read it at the library, I suppose that's all right. If you borrow it from a friend and don't return it, you're probably doing that friend a big favor. Actually, I think that's it: someone borrow this book from me, and don't give it back. Fred
Rating: 
Summary: An all-time great
Review: If there is a series of books out there that will make you feel like you are actually in it, then its the Flight of The Old Dog series. This debuet book for Dale Brown is by far the greatest story I've ever read. It will keep on the edge of your seat the whole time. not one slow section in the book. In the wake of the World Trade Center terrorist attack, it makes me wonder what the Old Dog crew would do. If the were real of course!
Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: This book both entertains and educates as it follows a "possible" scenerio, but brings the reader inside a high tech world of military aircraft. It could only be written by a man that knows.
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