AIR BATTLE FORCE

Major General Patrick McLanahan and General Rebecca Furness join forces with computer-savvy Colonel Daren Mace to command Air Battle Force, a wing of computer-controlled B-1 bombers, called Vampires, and their backup B-52s. All kinds of computer-controlled missiles, ships, and equipment, as well as soldiers fitted out in exo-skeletons called “tin men,” join forces to control a runaway group of Taliban fighters attempting to conquer Turkmenistan. Dufris reads every word, every military part, and every action with exacting precision. He changes inflection and phrasing when switching among U.S. soldiers, Taliban and Turkmenistan fighters, and Russians. There’s little actual gore and lots of military strategizing and seat-of-your-pants flying, and Dufris’s narration never gets in the way of the action. M.B.K. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/SEP 05]