I like techno thrillers and ones with aircraft. My first job was programming avionics and weapon systems. I love this type of book especially Dale Brown's Flight of the Old Dog. In both are teams that are forced to take on a mission into a foreign country (North Korea in Able One) when they should have been testing.I remember a speech at a convention about the Airborne Laser System by a female Air Force Colonel. The data I saw there is reflected in the book. Perhaps Ben Bova saw the same show.I wanted to really like this book. it fits with what I know and have worked on. I like the fact that women do feature in the crew of this story (note that there was a woman engineer in FOTOD). However this book falters in some ways that are hard to define. The writing is good, but the motivations are slim. I understand the underlying layers, but it's a story I have heard before. And Flight of the Old Dog did it so much better. Halfway through this book it is painfully (as in hit you over the head with a cast-iron skillet) obvious that while Bova's technology is up-to-date, his cultural and emotional references are stuck somewhere between the 1950s and early 1980s. I'll finish it because I always finish books I start (it's my *thing*), but the hideously racist anachronisms are getting to me. Yes, absolutely, racism still exists, but in a different form than Bova portrays. Gooks? Spics? Really? Then there's the woman who is a "preppy socialite" and my favorite so far: a "Buck Rogers fantasy." He really should have used a Star Trek or Star Wars reference there. As I said before, Bova is out of date and has clearly failed to keep up with culture in this modern age and it's ruining what could be a good story. This reads like a script for a really bad D-List late night SyFy movie. What worked well for him 30 years ago - and all the other great writers during that time period - just doesn't cut it any more.Update: Finished. The book is disjointed, unsympathetic and so riddled with stereotypes, cliches and outdated cultural references it's impossible to enjoy.
What do You think about Able One (2010)?
Bova always writes well enough to keep you turning pages, but still, this was just OK.
—meghu
Pretty good, quick read and at least it wasn't a frickin' serial.
—Lucylavender
Good read. Predictable, but still entertaining.
—pgujral
