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The Tin Man

The Tin Man

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Barely Two Stars
Review: Oh my. This was my first and last Dale Brown book. I was expecting something better. It took serious effort to stick with this book to the finish. The dialog made Clancy look good. So cheesy. The only redemptive value is it's pretty face-paced. Find a better way to spend your time.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Pretty Bad
Review: It's a shame. A good author prints a couple of really good books and for whatever reason ends up regurgitating poor books with little plot but guaranteed to generate revenue at a phenomenal rate. This book had very little of substance in it. Although pretty clear from the description, the plot line is a pretty wide divergence from Brown's usual fare (hi-tech military shoot-em-up) -- a direction he should not have taken.

The plot was weak and predictable and the writing marginal. Like Tom Clancy, Steven King and John Grisham Dale Brown generated a few great books and now seems to have run out of ideas.

Truly a shame

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Splash and Style... but Substance? Eh...
Review: This review is in regard to the 5-CD set, skillfully read by Victor Garber. Mr. Garber's solo vocal dexterity is smooth and unswerving, giving each character enough distinction that the listener can easily recognize their speech patterns.

The Tin Man is a fast-paced story crafted to pull its audience in quickly then hold them in a vice grip. The tone is earnest, but there isn't much substance (ie: cohesive, compelling plot) behind the scene descriptions. The main character, Patrick McLanahan, is surprisingly shallow in this story. There is great potential for depth with his secret military background, but that is barely brushed over. His experiences as Sacramento's vigilante hero also harbor great possibilities for character examination, but they are unfortunately reduced to a sort of mad-marauder punch-em-up scenes. A little more cloak and dagger use of his technology would have been intriguing (and in character). It becomes clear by the end of the tale, the author was stretching for descriptions of super-suit inflicted pain: "It felt like his hand had been sandwiched between the bumpers of two crashing cars..." Also, there was a little more profanity than I personally prefer, and in many cases, it was unnecessary.

Overall, the story has a rather formulaic feel, but Victor Garber's fine performance makes it nonetheless entertaining.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: No plot, but very entertaining anyway
Review: I was looking for a modern english novel to write a book report on. When I first saw this book I was fascinated by its cool cover. I suppose, this is not exactly the kind of novel you would chose to write a book report on, but I gave it a try anyway.

The story is about some guy who fights a gang of drug dealers, who have injured his brother heavily. But all this is part of a plan by a super villain who wants to steal some military airplanes to sell them to Arabic dictators. He commands a elite combat force that consists of so called Nazis. The hero's only chance to succeed is a super combat suit, which a mad scientist, who happens to be a friend of his, has invented. Well, quite an unrealistic plot, I guess.

But the book is real fun to read. You don't get tired of it. You feel as if you were watching a action movie. However, when I started to write a summary of this book, I noticed that the plot was totally discontinuosly. I hardly could figure out, what had been going on the last 400 pages. So if you expect a deep storyline here, this isn't for you. But if you want to have a good laugh, get this. By the way: I got an A for my book report, although my teacher didn't like the book at all.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Don't bother...
Review: Utter crap. It just never quite seemed to tie together in any believable way, and you were left with the feeling that there were huge gaps in the storyline. It would not take long to find another book to entertain you over the coming winter months...

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Laugh? I nearly shat myself...
Review: Oh boy.

Thanks Dale, I'm writing my first novel at the moment - a financial thriller.

You have given me hope - yes! - I will be published if there is any justice in the world!

What's even more surprising is the number of 4/5 star reviews...

Sorry Dale - all writers make mistakes, but as another reviewer said pehaps these weren't yours?

Back to the charity shop tomorrow I'm afraid...

PS Loved your early stuff.

PPS thanks for the laughs - priceless!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I thought I was reading a Marvel comic
Review: The book was somewhat entertaining, but its not the novel you would expect from Dale Brown. He transforms Patrick McLanahan into Frank Castle. If you don't know, Frank Castle is the Punisher from Marvel Comics. The book is full of high-tech weapons, drug dealers, gun battles, biker gangs, and a man obsessed with revenge. I believe that fans of the Marvel Comic will find a lot to like about this book, but true Dale Brown fans will pray that he switches back to the type of novels we have come to expect and enjoy.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Entertaining... bit of Techno ...
Review: Enjoyed the recurring of the "Cast" from previous books. Loved the twisted plotting of Townsend, this is one very brillant bad guy. Tin Man is wee bit Techno, sci-fi, & thriller wrapped up in a quickly moving package. Looking forward to remeeting these courageous people again.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not Up To Par
Review: I truly hope this was a blip on an otherwise great writing career. This book is a departure from Dale's normally high standard, and also from his normal topic - the Air force and aviation technology, which I hope will not be repeated.

I found much of this book hard to believe, and the rest just plain wrong. The key character, Patrick McLanahan, just didn't seem to act like the Patrick McLanahan we have come to know and love. One minute, the BERP armour (armor for the Americans) makes him go mad and try to kill his friends, the next it's just giving him nasty electric shocks, and he's in full control.

Dale please go back to the military novels, of which you are an undoubted master.

Prospective readers, please don't judge the author by this book, it is not representative.

Cheers, Dan

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: This Tin Man's Heart Is Barely Beating
Review: I was greatly disappointed by this cartoonish effort that would have been more appropriate on Saturday mornings viewed by youngsters as they scarf down their morning cereal. Brown attempted to combine drugs, bikers, neo-nazis, military, high tech, and police and was never able to present a realistic, suspenseful plot. The story crashed and burned shortly after it began. I tried to get through it and after hours of struggle I laid it to rest after chuckling to myself that this Tin Man should have stayed in the Land of Oz.


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