Chains of Command

In the year 1995, hardliners have taken control of Russia and seek to reabsorb Ukraine, which has applied for NATO membership. When Russia detonates a low-yield atomic device, the U.S. dispatches a wing of F-111 aircraft, some piloted by women. Major Becky Furness has something to prove, as does Colonel Darren Mace, who has been under a cloud since a mysteriously aborted mission during the first hours of Operation Desert Storm. As the world lurches toward nuclear conflict, Furness and Mace find themselves on a last-chance air strike against the Russian high command. Brown's longstanding love affair with the B-52 ( Flight of the Old Dog ) has given way to a new passion for the F-111, which is this sprawling techno-thriller's real protagonist. The cockpit scenes ably synthesize combat action and technical description, but the novel's storyline shifts uneasily from describing the dynamics of a near-future Air Force to defending the use of women in combat to depicting Russia's resurgence. An unimaginatively nasty portrait of a First Couple clearly modeled on the Clintons does nothing to advance the plot; techno-thrillers seldom succeed as romans a clef . ( July )