Well this is my first review for a couple of weeks, been busy busy busy but, admittedly, have also been letting the comments build up on my last book review. I have read all your comments regarding the formatting and style and, whilst some of you like the 'contemporary/different' aspect, the majority of you would prefer continuous prose. So, that's what I'm going to do for the next couple of reviews. I will still slip in the odd review with the bullet points, though!

Hopefully this will be easier to read and not so broken up into too many paragraphs, etc. Hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think! :)

THE AUTHOR

Dale Brown was born on 2nd November, 1956 in Buffalo, New York, United States. He is famous for his writings that majorly revolve around military, action and aviation, not solely that, but the technological details he uses throughout. The majority - if not all - of Brown's work is set in near future periods. His novels have gained him several awards, probably the most notable being New York Times Bestseller! He studied Western European History at Penn State University and had a commission in the US Air Force in 1978. He was awarded many times during his time in the armed forces. This is probably related to his famous hobby and love of space and science! He currently lives in Lake Tahoe, Nevada with his wife and son and even owns a private jet!

BASIC DETAILS ABOUT THE BOOK

I only own the paperback version of Silver Tower; it is 400 pages in length which, in my opinion, is a sufficient amount for something you just want to pick up and read as a very short-term 'project', so to speak. It didn't take me long to complete - roughly, I would say, 5 days. However, I don't have as much time as other people to actually sit down and read a book so it might take someone else a shorter amount of time to finish the novel! I must note, though, that there is a slightly shorter length of 368 pages, however, I have only read the 400 version so i'm not too sure about the differences. **UPDATE** I researched into it a little and the shorter version was published in August 1992, so the book must have been changed somewhat in the 3 or 4 years since first publication.

The publication date of Dale Brown's Silver Tower was 1 April 1989. I sort of wondered whether this had something to do with the lack of reviews by fellow Ciao members - maybe it's too old of a book to be reviewing (or even to read for that matter). However, it seems to be well reviewed elsewhere so I think it's fair to say my theory is flawed lol! The publisher of my 400 pages version is Berkley. **UPDATE** The publisher for the shorter version is HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. (1992 publication).

As previously stated, there are various versions of this book. The variations do not solely regard length and number of pages, though. This book is available to buy in both hardback and paperback (as can be expected with the majority, if not all, books), but is also available in: hardcover, hardcover with large print, as an audio CD (otherwise known as an Audiobook) or cassette, and even as an MP3 CD. I believe this is excellent because it suits most readers' preferences...the audio works may be great for those younger individuals who perhaps hate the idea of sitting down and actually reading a book, or shy away from reading for other reasons.

I would like to talk about the design of the book as I feel that is sometimes left out in reviews and, although it's not greatly important, it is sometimes one thing that initially attracts someone to a book whilst in a store. Probably the most popular design of Silver Tower is the one featured on the Ciao website: blacks, blues and silvers, large print and a space shuttle/rocket image, including a short description. However, mine is (what I believe to be) the older, original design: a cherry red background, a navy, black and silver-like, futuristic globe in the bottom right hand corner. There is a space shuttle much like the one on this review, flying over the globe. The book is headed with "A riveting, action packed, high tech military thriller". Below that is "By the author of bestseller storming heaven". The third heading is "DALE BROWN" in large silver font, underlined by a silver horizontal line/bar, before the title of the book (also in large silver font) "SILVER TOWER". I must admit, the cover of my verison looks very late 70s/early 80s, rather than late 80s. I much prefer the modern cover design (but who am I to judge a book by its cover?...lol cheesy joke, I know!).

As far as the price of the book is concerned, it can be bought brand new for relatively new. My book was a used one, borrowed from a family friend. My local charity shop also sells them extremely cheap, as low as 5p for older books - bargain! The current price on Amzon is £6.99 (with free delivery) whereas used versions can be bought for as little as 2p!

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE STORYLINE

Silver Tower was the book to follow Flight of the Old Dog and, I believe, it is mostly independent of Brown's other novels, having no references to existing characters or scenarios (see further on in the Style section). However, the book has been mentioned in some of his other stories, primarily Strike Force, and is linked to Patrick McLanahan - a well know Brown character. Nevertheless, the characters are completely different in their attitudes, and so forth (see further on under the character section).

The United States build their first military space station which is referred to as Silver Tower, though the given name is Armstrong Space Station. The objective of this space station is to defend the country against ballistic missiles, delivered by enemy groups and countries. These are referred to a lot in the book: basically, they are missiles that have what is known as a sub-orbital flightpath - they can be launched into the air, up to heights of approximately 100km above sea level, but instead of reaching space, they fall back to earth level. Silver Tower is a somewhat "one-of-a-kind" station and a siginificant utility to have when space 'war' and advances are concerned. It has state of the art technology: anti-ballistic missiles, a 'famous' high energy laser known as Skybolt built by Dr. Ann Page, and a large team of specialised scientists and engineers. General Jason Michael leads the team.

The Soviets invade Iran in an attempt to control the Persian Gulf. This sees Dr. Page thrown into one of the most high-tech conflicts in all space warfare: because the Soviets carried out an air attack on Iran, the United States decides to assist Iran by sending USS Nimitz - a Navy supercarrier and lead ship of its kind - to help, and using Silver Tower to watch over the supercarrier and keep it safe. Of course, this angers the Soviets and they attempt to destroy Silver Tower using a ground laser; however, to their horror, the crew - and the station - survive and continue guarding Nimitz as normal.

A second attack is made on the station using Elektron Spaceplanes and it turns out to be successful. The station suffers serious damage and some of the US crew are forced to sacrifice their lives by launching missiles at the Spaceplanes by hand. The Space Shuttle Enterprise is used as the new workplace after Silver Tower is evacuated, being deemed highly unsafe. Meanwhile, the battle on ground begins to heighten...

* I can't write any more than this because it would spoil the outcome of the book and one major cliffhanger! However, it involves much more action and tense elements!! *

PLOT

Silver Tower is a Thriller revolving around war and war-type situations. It is also heavily related to the armed forces, specifically the air force. The large majority of the book concentrates on near-future war, rather than referring to the past or present day. This is illustrated by the cover design - the futuristic globe, space shuttle, and so forth. Therefore, written in the mid to late 1980s, this book focuses on the 1990s-2000 era - as mentioned above, not in the distant future, but in the near future.

With regard to the description of violence and 'chases' in this novel, there is, I would say, just enough for this particular type of book. In other words, it's not overly written about to the point where you'd get sick of reading about it or where it gets predictable, but on the other hand there's enough to keep you informed whilst still "guessing". If I had to give an estimate, I'd say roughly a quarter of the book involved violence and chases. Being another thriller novel, there is quite a lot of detail concentrating on the main chacacter planning and preparing his evidence, figuring out events that may have occurred, discussing puzzles and motives; all in all, I would estimate that a third of the book focuses on such aspects. Again, like the violence and chases point, it is a good amount. However, admittedly, I wasn't expecting as much as there was...my first impression was that it wouldn't include much - if any - detective-like storylines!

As with most books, the emotions of people and physical descriptions of places are majorly concentrated on. Here, the development of characters and their 'biographies', feelings/emotions, in addition to relationships, are written about in some detail and give an excellent impression of the people I'm reading about in Silver Tower. I felt that about a quarter of the book was spent talking about such aspects and, although that sound quite a lot, it isn't really! It was the perfect amount in my honest opinion :) Unlike some thriller books, this Brown story seemingly focussed more on the physical description side of things rather than the characters. Maybe the reason for this is because the other thriller books I have previously reviewed tended to be more about spying and interrogation of characters. Thus, I found, the physical description of people, places and objects along with how society operates in general, was covered by around a third of the book.

Finally with regards to the plot, I would think that the target age group/audience of Silver Tower is that of adults and young adults. It is not too technical for the younger individuals to read and understand, either.

MAIN CHARACTER

The gender of the main character in Silver Tower is female and is aged between 20 and 30 years; from what I gather, she is in her mid to later 20s. Can I just add, I was actually suprised at the main character being a female, primarily because most of the thriller books I have read have featured a male main character. Not solely this, but the 'secondary' character always seems to be male, too! So, this was a nice suprise :) I also love how Brown has given her the profession of scientist. I think it's great when women are noted for their involvement in such fields because, like medicine, it was seemingly male dominated in the 1980s/1990s. She is rather intelligent and displays a mostly serious attitude. However, the occasional humour is slipped in here and there, dotted around the book. With regard to sensitivity and emotions, she is half-and-half: sometimes she is sensitive to others' feelings and events, whilst at other times she doesn't seem to care much (or at least it doesn't impact on her, anyway). Her physique is desribed as being average and not overly athletic.

Despite being the main character, this individual just appears to be another everyday, average person who simply happens to get caught up in all the events and goings on. A sufficient amount of violence is used by tis chracter during her involvement in occurrences.

MAIN OPPOSITION

The gender of the main character in Silver Tower is male and is aged between 40 and 50 years; I couldn't quite work out what the exact or approximate age was and it was not mentioned in the novel. They are stated as being a mastermind genius and, as an antagonist, is present in pretty much all of the book. I would say about 80% of this book features this character. A communist, he is motivated mostly by the thought - and aim - of power and domination. Sometimes, I got the impression that he had average intelligence, though I don't see how that would be possible if he is a so-called mastermind. However, it might just be the case that he is a mastermind in specific areas and fields. He is extremely hard-edged, again a serious character displaying only occasional humour. His physique is average, too.

I don't like how this character often came across as being highly ignorant as well as simplistic. I know that he is supposed to be an antagonist and enemy with a hard-edge to his attitude, but it got a little irritating at times, as if it was included too much in the book. Also, he is supposed to be a mastermind yet is described as being simplistic and of lower intelligence than he really would be!

SETTING

The surroundings are described quite well in Silver Tower and, if I had to rate on a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate the story a 7 or perhaps an 8 for descriptions. A good explanantion of the setting and scenery as well as the appearance of the technology, though not as much as some other novels. However, I find that this is somewhat typical of thriller books. There are various settings and areas used in Silver Tower. The United States of America and European areas are used. The American areas used are primarily the Southern and Southeastern states. This includes the likes of Atlanta, Tennessee, Kentucky and so on. The European country of choice is Russia. Other somewhat important and/or common settings in the novel include scientific laboratories (primarily because of the scientific professions) in addition to forts and military installation units. Iran is also mentioned a lot.

STYLE

I don't think Silver Tower is part of a series by Dale Brown, although I know he has similar books such as Flight of the Old Dog. I'm not entirely sure if they are related to each other or are simply of the same genre and subject. I will look into it and update this, or someone please tell me in comments, etc. if you happen to know! :)
Brown primarily uses the 3rd person in this book and with regards to dialogue, there is an even amount of description as there is dialogue; as previously stated, a good amount of description is used.

Brown uses a lot of technological jargon, mainly that related to military technology. It isn't too confusing, though which is good for some readers who may struggle a little to get their heads round such storylines. One thing I'd like to mention is that Brown's technological knowledge does seem somewhat limited, or a little flawed at least. For example, in parts of the book, the situatuion will be very realistic, then all of a sudden, it will either turn into a far-fetched scenario or his knowledge becomes that of someone who doesn't have a clue about space or science, to be honest! I could understand the "far-fetched" element if this was a book set in the very distant future or was of the fantasy genre, but not when it is supposed to be near present day and already has "normal" space characteristics and stories involved. This comes across as very strange for an author who claims to be a "space fan" and who actually spoke to NASA whilst making this book! Thus, I have taken a star off the rating and mentioned this as a disadvantage. Sorry Brown!

There are very 'unusual' forms of death, i.e. not an everyday or typical cause. The chief causes in the book include: perforation and impact through the use of guns and bullets; killed by flames and fire; a third cause is that of explosions. This aspect of the novel may make this suitable for the more mature younger readers, as some of the detail is rather upsetting and gorey. The actual number of deaths in total throughout the novel is not mentioned, though it is stated as being in the hundreds. With regard to the accounts of torture and death, there is a medium-high number of descriptive and detailed references to death and punishment. Gorey references are made to dead bodies and corpses, also.

Moreover, "sexual" details and references were included in this Brown novel. There are only minor details given and it is solely kissing-related, however, I believe this still comes under the sexual category when reviewing books, and so on.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* THANKS FOR READING - HOPE YOU ENJOYED! *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~