The Tin Man (novel)

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The Tin Man is a 1998 novel by best-selling American writer Dale Brown.

In the novel, Patrick McLanahan, a recurring character in Brown's books, returns from overseas conflict to his hometown, Sacramento, California. There he encounters an old enemy whose evil plot forces McLanahan to take a terrible chance as he employs experimental technology to make himself a human weapon. Using BERP armor, and (chiefly) nonlethal weapons, he attacks Methamphetamine-producing Biker gangs, after his brother (a rookie cop) is severely injured.

The chief technology is a high-tech battlesuit that utilizes the newly developed BERP armor. This stands for Ballistic Electro-Reactive Process and was developed by Doctor Jon Masters, another recurring character in the McLanahan series of books. This technology essentially harnesses electricity to instantly harden whatever surface it is applied to, in this case-the fabric of a combat suit. This allows it to stop bullets or other attacks as if the suit were made of steel. The only requirement is that the item being stopped must be moving at a high rate of speed.

In later novels of the McLanahan series, the men who use this battle armor are called Tin Men. These novels include Warrior Class, Air Battle Force, and Plan of Attack. In these later novels, other additions are made to the suit such as a magnetic railgun, targeting systems, jet thrusters and so on.