The Intruders
-
-
3.9 • 12 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
1973. The skies over Vietnam have finally gone silent. America has pulled out and the war is over. But for Lt. Jake Grafton, USN, fresh from two combat cruises and a harrowing shoot-down over Laos, the personal battle is just beginning.
His country has not welcomed him home with open arms, but with closed minds and closed fists. When his girlfriend's father called him a murderer, Jake walked away. But when a stranger in a bar challenged his honour, the man was not so lucky - the guy landed in the hospital. Jake landed in jail. And now Grafton's commander, who bailed him out, has devised the perfect punishment: an eight-month mission teaching jarheads - Marines - the nuances of carrier aviation.
The Marines may be made of tempered steel and brass balls, but taking off and landing from a slippery flight deck, on a choppy sea, in pitch-black, there is no margin for error - or for animosity. And men like Marine Captain Flap Le Beau, Grafton's bombardier/navigator, have a real gift for pushing Jake's buttons.
But he's going to have to learn to live with him, as now they must fly together in the same cockpit, and make the split-second decisions which will insure that, tonight, their fellow pilots don't raise a glass to them…
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Coonts's sixth techno-thriller to feature Jake Grafton (The Red Horseman) takes the heroic Navy aviator back to 1973, immediately following the events of his debut in Flight of the Intruder. Disillusioned by the killing and dying ``for nothing'' that he saw in Vietnam, Jake is at a crossroads. Should he try to find his way in civilian life, or stay in the service and make the demanding transition from hotshot jet jockey to professional Naval officer? He mulls over his decision while flying A-6 Intruders with a Marine squadron assigned to an aircraft carrier in the Pacific. As always with Coonts, the terrors and elations of flying take center stage, with Jake and his buddies bluffing death regularly during night landings and equipment failures, and in the face of mistakes that even the best pilots make. But as Jake deals with a threatening Soviet vessel, is chased by a MiG, saves his plane after it has been hit by lightning and finally is shot down and captured by Sumatran pirates, it becomes clear that the novel is comprised of episodes adrift from any solid plotline; it's as if Coonts has stuffed this grab bag willy-nilly with every flying incident he couldn't work into his other books. With its dominant question, about Jake's future, a foregone conclusion, this story stands as one of the weakest in the series, recommended only for flight-hungry armchair pilots uninterested in ancillaries like proper plot, character development and suspense. Simon & Schuster Audio; major ad/promo; author tour.
