The INTRUDERS

Rating:
Summary: Grafton returns to form (almost)
Review: "Intruders", another of Coonts' books based on the misadventures of naval aviator Jake Grafton, takes place right after Grafton's debut in "Flight of the Intruder".

Finding himself stateside in the immediate aftermath of the war in Vietnam, Grafton feels a growing malaise, hamstrung to win the hand of Callie Mackenzie. (Though Grafton fans know the romance turns out okay, Coonts shows us how far from certain the romance was). As punishment for getting into a bar fight, Grafton is shipped to sea so he can tutor a new generation of aviators in flying the new generation of Intruder, the A-6E. Though he'd jump at the chance to fly the new plane, the fliers themselves are Marines - considered ham-handed apes not up to flying complex hardware. To add to the mix is Grafton's new commander, an ernest type hungry for action. With no airstrikes to keep them occupied, the new CAG spends his time planning attacks against soviet ships (Coonts makes the point that air-launched anti-ship missiles have not yet made it to American inventories, requiring planners and fliers to fall back on more reckless tactics). Is the new CAG in control or does he have an itchy trigger finger? And can Grafton get his cadets up to speed?

Unfortunately, while episodic takes that drive "Intruders" worked on "Flight of the Intruder", there isn't a central story to bring it together as that older book had. Planes crash, men die, carrier ops is just the most damgerous job in the world. Also, the green marines are cardboard characters who are not only less capable at flying then the characters of "Flight of the Intruder", but simply less interesting as well - like Razor, Boxman (who died in that older book), Cole and Cowboy (who lost his life years later in "Final Flight"). Even the postwar setting seems to work more against the novel then for it - there's no war to add to the dynamism of the situation. But at sea, there isn't any sense of the relief or shame or anything for the sacrifices of the war and its perceived results. Coonts wraps things up with an completely implausible tale involving a showdown with modern day pirates. This really kills the book which had started out as a return to the seeming homespun honesty (for a technothriller) of the first book - eschewing the villains, plots and schemes, and hidden agendas of Dale Brown, Clive Cussler and the latter Grafton books. Still closer to that spirit of the original "Flight" than Coonts' other books, and still well ahead of any competitors.

Rating:
Summary: A Vietnam Veteran
Review: Being a veteran of the 1st Cavalry Division in 1972, I was in Vietnam when Stephen Coonts was flying missions off carriers. Many times the Navy was there to help our missions.

I like reading Stephen's novels, because he tells it like it is, and like it was. Too many have misperceptions about our war. We were just young, American kids who answered our country's call, as in every war that we have ever fought. Stephen takes the reader right into the cockpits, and the minds of the fliers. I am forever in his debt.

Rating:
Summary: Great flying Scenes, but no story
Review: If you are into NavAir, read this book. Carrier AirOps are described in detail. I am a pilot, so I loved those parts of the book. That's why I gave it 3 stars

As a Story, I found this book lacking. I get the feeling that Mr. Coonts wrote some high detailed, fast paced, adrenilin pumping flying scenes and then said, "I need a story to put them in."

The climax of the story came out of left field and left me Asking, "How did we get here?"

Read it for the NavAir Blue Water Ops. Just don't expect much of a story. If it was a video, I'd buy a copy, but I'd be doing a lot of fast forwarding

Rating:
Summary: A 5 star script ready for the movies!!! Exciting !!!
Review: In this book Coonts concentrates on action on an aircraft carrier with plenty of naval aviation action. Naval Air being the long arm of American Foreign Policy is depicted here in action. Jake Grafton the main character is interesting and at times reflects upon himself to see whether or not to get out of the navy of not, marriage with his sweetheart Callie is on his mind. Flap Le beau his Bombardier/Nav. puts a bit of fun and flare into the story. Although I'm not a pilot but an enthusiast, Coonts puts a lot of emphasis on what the pilots are thinking of while in the cockpit, no matter at night or during the day, as a reader you get to feel what the pilot and his Navigator are really feeling at the time.

THIS STORY WOULD MAKE A GREAT MOVIE about the life for an aviator living on an aircraft carrier, we have enough movies about the grunts on the ground,here is a chance to make a movie about aviators on aircraft carriers as they are America's long arm of Foreign Policy.

Rating:
Summary: Some OK plottting, Interesting insights.
Review: The Intruders follows Jake Grafton shortly after the end of Flight of the Intruder, to 1973 on a cruise on the U.S.S. Columbia flying A-6E Intruders. In this book Grafton flies with a Marine captain Bombadier/Navigator (BN) named "Flap" Le Beau, who is ex-Marine Recon, and has some very interesting jungle/guerilla warfare skills, as well as an assortment of custom-made slashing and thrownig knives ("What are you, a walking cutlery store?" Jake asks at one point). There is not too much action for the first while, just mainly a series of carrier accidents and mishaps, but there IS some action and plotting toward the last 80 or so pages where Le Beau is truly in his element, along with Grafton. A must-read for all fans of Stephen Coonts and carrier aviation

Rating:
Summary: Worst of the bunch...where's the plot?
Review: Too much flying! Too little plot. This book just fills in some details missing from other books in the series. Fill. That's it. It was an enjoyable read, but only because I had read (and enjoyed, more or less) the other books in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Worst of the bunch...where's the plot?
Review: Too much flying! Too little plot. This book just fills in some details missing from other books in the series. Fill. That's it. It was an enjoyable read, but only because I had read (and enjoyed, more or less) the other books in the series.