Rating: 
Summary: Coonts Best book ever
Review: After reading Coonts so-so efforts over the years after The Flight of The Intruder I was begining to wonder if he would ever write another good book. Liberty is that book. This is a very good book worth taking the time to read. If you like Clancy and W.E.B. Griffin you will enjoy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: The Ends Don¿t Justify Any Means
Review: Author Stephen Coonts has written a dozen books with, "Liberty", the 8th that feature the character of Jake Grafton. The last book I read by Mr. Coonts was by no means exceptional, but this book is just poorly done. Whether misquoting one of the best-known figures of the 20th Century, Sir Winston Spencer Churchill, or just letting generalities slide by when detail is critical, this book is just badly executed. The plot winds around itself and actually shows some promise as you get past the first 90%, the problem, even then, is that the book still has not decided what story it is trying to tell.One of the reasons is that the book is so opportunistic, cliché, and appears to have been rushed as it was inspired by events of September 11, 2001. This book is fiction, but fiction does not mean that any sense of balance should be tossed for dramatic effect. This book is littered with stereotypes of the worst sort, and absolute disrespect for non-Christian religions. The black hats this time are designated by the fantastically weak name of, "The Sword Of Islam", is that the best the author could invent for the opposition in this book? I was completely unimpressed and disappointed that these persons were repeatedly described as billions of ignorant, uneducated mud hut dwellers, and other names that are unprintable here, and should be beneath a writer of Mr. Coonts' track record. Islam is not the problem the World faces, certain individuals that distort Islam, just as others distort Christianity to justify the murder of people they do not like are the issue, not the religion that is mentioned. Another theme the author tries to sell is the ends justify any means when dealing with terrorism, and he tries to buttress his case by comparing the issue of terrorism with the Civil War and the Civil Liberties that then President Abraham Lincoln suspended, and other constitutional laws he stepped through or around. The threat is not the same; this is an international not a national issue, so I find the author's reasoning/logic/story justification flawed, and very weak. Anyone who has read a handful of books in this genre is well acquainted with certain acronyms, FBI, CIA, and yes Mr. Coonts the NSA. The writer mentioned the NSA repeatedly throughout the book, so why does he need to tell readers on page 414 of 420 pages that NSA means National Security Agency? Give your readers a bit more credit. The ending of the book is as unsatisfying as it is contrived and familiar. There were at least three good books that are hiding in this mélange of almosts and false starts. But when collected under one title they are unworthy of your time.
Rating:
Summary: America beware!
Review: Coonts is a surprising novelist who can sometimes strike out with a storyline, and yet other times his books hit a grand slam. I'm happy to say that Coonts "hit it out of the park" with his latest offering "Liberty" If this story doesn't scare the living BeeJesus out of you, nothing will. What makes it so frightening is that this could really happen the way he wrote it only without the happy ending.
Rating:
Summary: Coonts does it again
Review: I have been a Coonts fan for many years. This is yet another big winner for the author. There are numerous twists and turns and the plot is full of surprises.
If you like a book full of action, I can highly recommend this one. While numerous books have been written dealing with Islamic terrorist scenarios, Liberty is unusually detailed and Coonts develops the plot really well.
Rating:
Summary: Liberty
Review: I have read all of Coont's Jake Graften books and cannot believe that this book was written by the same author. What could be said easily in one paragraph takes a detailed chapter. A simple thought is expanded into a camplex statement leaving the reader confused and rereading previous pages for clarification. After 356 pages I gave up-a first for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Action Packed Book!
Review: In this book a rogue Russian General sells an Islamic extremist
group called the Sword of Islam four nuclear bombs.Admiral Jake
Grafton is told of this transaction by his old KGB friend Janos
Ilin.This triggers a nationwide hunt for the warheads.You are
taken on an action packed hunt all over the country.You have a bank in Cairo that finances terrorist activities.You have a billionaire who sells warning devices that locate nuclear weapons
You also have two Vietnamese brothers who want to settle a score with the United States.This all makes for one exciting scene after the other.Jake Grafton has his usual supporting cast.The
hunt and capture of the bombs is very entertaining.Be sure to read this book.
Rating:
Summary: A strong effort from Coonts
Review: Liberty is another strong effort from Coonts. Torn from the pages of current events, Jake Grafton is appointed by the President to lead a small team charged with finding four nuclear weapons believed to be on their way to the US. Fighting against the clock and the internecine battles among the various US agencies, Grafton get into the heads of the terrorists and anticipate the end game. Coonts brings together a range of characters, while blending a number of sub-stories within the main story. The book moves very quickly. It will be difficult to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Liberty - More American Heroes
Review: Mr. Coonts continues to write about American heroes who get the job done in spite of adversity. I enjoyed this book so much that I could not put it down, so I finished it in less than 24 hours. Stephen Coonts is an outstanding writer who continues to write about the good guys versus the bad guys, and I am a sucker for this kind of book. Rear Admiral Jake Grafton is back, looking for terrorists who are out to decimate the United States, and he does the kind of superb job that we have come to expect of our American sailors and soldiers who put their lives in harm's way, while sacrificing much of their personal lives. Because Mr. Coonts was in San Diego signing copies of this book and his older ones, I had a chance to see him and hear him speak. He is a wonderful, warm human being who treats all of his fans as if they are personal friends. He comes across as a genuine person who loves flying, writing, and people. Although I'm sure he would have been a great admiral, he does not give off the same tough image as Admiral Jake Grafton. I assume that Admiral Jake Grafton is modeled after someone else he knows, even though most of us suspect that the Jake Grafton of Flight of the Intruder was modeled after Mr. Coonts. You will enjoy Liberty and all of Mr. Coonts' other books. They all rate a five. Good reading.
Rating:
Summary: Jake Grafton and friends save the world yet again!
Review: This book was written by Stephen Coonts after 9/11. He weaves a plot in which Middle East terrorists and a couple of disenchanted Vietnamese refugees buy or steal some old Soviet nuclear bombs and try to blow them up in major US cities. Of course, Jake Grafton along with his wife Callie, old friends Toad Tarkington and Tommy Carmellini, new friend Anna Modin, and others intervene to save the day. Even though you know that the good guys are going to win again in the end, Coonts takes you on an exciting, suspenseful ride. Whither Jake Grafton? Is he really retiring? I'm awaiting Coonts' next offering with bated breath!
Rating:
Summary: Jake Grafton retires - and does it in style!
Review: This book was written in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy, and is very much influenced by that event. The story is somewhat reminiscent of Tom Clancy's "The Sum of all Fears": terrorists are smuggling nuclear weapons into the USA in an attempt to destroy western society.
I liked this book a lot. It's true that the book is colored by Sept. 11 and by the desire to have a story with real heroes doing heroic things and to paint the Islamic terrorists in as negative a way as possible. But despite this Stephen Coonts created a story that is quite thought-provoking, very scary, and featuring a fair number of "good guys" who are not as lily white as they first appear to be.
Another interesting aspect of the story is the picture that is painted of the political infighting between the politicians and the various organizations such as the CIA and the FBI and the military. Everyone should be working toward the goal of combating the terrorists, but in reality many people are working on their own private agendas.
The story is very complicated with a large number of characters and with several subplots. Unless you have a very good memory I'd recommend that you create a written roster of characters as you read the book, noting vital facts for each person and noting the pages they appear on. Then, when you realize that you're not sure if a character has already been presented or not, it's easy to look in your roster and see.
My roster of characters for Liberty ended up covering four pages with some 45 names on it! It was very satisfying being able to cross off the names of most of the bad guys as they met with violent ends. Of course, some of the good guys also lost their lives. In all, 18 entries in my roster ended with "killed on page xxx"!
In summary, a very exciting book with interesting subplots, unexpected twists in the story and good characters. My only criticism is that the lack of panic in the general population does not seem realistic - my guess is that if it became known that nuclear weapons were being smuggled into American cities that it would result in massive fleeing from the cities to the countryside.
This is the 10th and (presumably) final book in the "Jake Grafton series", with Jake announcing his retirement at the end of the book. Stephen Coonts has started a new series of novels starring Tommy Carmellini, another indication that it's unlikely that we'll see any more "Jake Grafton books".
So far I've read six of these 10 Jake Grafton books, have written reviews for all of the books I've read, and intend to read the remaining books if/when I get a hold of them. In other words, I recommend the series quite strongly.
Rennie Petersen
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