Jim DeFelice and Dale Brown’s
latest book, Collateral Damage, is another story
in the Dreamland series. After the fall of Muammar Gaddafi,
Dreamland’s Whiplash is sent into the Libyan conflict
as part of an intervention team. It decides to deploy the
latest weapon, the Sabre, an unmanned highly advanced aerial
drone. The plot takes off from the very first chapter when
one of the Sabres goes rogue and attacks a civilian complex.
Although the main plot involves the investigation into what
went wrong there are many interesting sub-plots as well.
The theme of the book can be summarized in one word: conflict.
The authors explore a number of different conflicts, many
of them based around the characters. Colonel Ginella Ernesto,
a US pilot, decides to use her power to sexually harass a
pilot under her command, Captain Turk Mako. She makes sexual
advances to the young captain and they eventually land in
bed. Defelice stated, “I wanted to allow the reader
to question, ‘if she was a man and Turk was a woman
would people have reacted differently? Was she allowed to
get away with stuff because she was a woman?’”
There is also the conflict of Turk being involved in a love
triangle. After asking out a fellow pilot, Captain Li Pike,
he hoped to avoid Ginella. After she found out about Pike
she wrote a report that would have a negative effect on his
career if she decided to pursue it. The reason was evidently
clear: jealously.
Some characters had to fight their own inner self, battling
a conflict within. The potential villain, Neil Kharon, battled
the desire for revenge; yet, could not bring himself to hate
the person he plotted against. DeFelice wanted to show that
“revenge is a huge motivator. All it does is destroy
whoever is encompassed by it. I wanted to show that revenge
never pays.”
Ray Rubio, who Defelice described as a “geek’s
geek, the scientist behind Whiplash’s technology,”
had two inner conflicts. The first came when he could not
help a fellow scientist escape a fire set by a saboteur, and
the guilt that ensued. The second conflict came when he had
to reconcile in his mind why his invention went rogue. A quote
from the book, “the simple reason that science and war
coexisted: science opposed evil.” DeFelice wanted to
show the conflict of scientists “…who want to
make the world a better place. They feel science can change
the world for the better. The technology would save pilot
lives since they would not be put in harm’s way.”
Any DeFelice and Brown book will have an abundance of technology
and this book is no different. The technology in the book
seems very realistic since there is already a pilotless drone
being unveiled by the navy. They explore the differences between
a pilot, who flies an old school plane, the “A-10E”
that the pilot maneuvers by himself with a stick and rudder,
versus the remote pilot system of the Tigershark, that takes
instructions from the pilot but does the actual calculations
and targeting. Defelice gives the example of a new car, which
has an auto mechanism that turns on the headlights. He describes
the conflict, “Is it an intrusion into the decision
making where you don’t actually do it yourself? We have
to confront those decisions where we actually lose some control.”
The authors also confront the rules of engagement issue. A
very powerful quote from the book describes how the Islamic
extremists use “woman and children to shield themselves,
making it difficult for them to be attacked without killing
innocent lives.” The conflict for any military person
engaged in a fire fight is the decision to attack the enemy
when surrounded by civilians, and if they do not, will that
cost them the mission or deaths to their comrades.
Collateral Damage allows the reader to think about
the many conflicts those in the military must face. It is
authentic, insightful, and very gripping. During the holiday
season sit by the fireplace with this must-read book.
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