Flight of the Intruder (Jake Grafton Series #1)

by Stephen Coonts

Overview

A smash bestseller that spent over six months on the New York Times bestseller list, FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER became an instant classic. No one before or since ever captured the world of Navy carrier pilots with the gripping realism of Vietnam veteran Stephen Coonts, who lived the life he wrote about. More than a flying story, FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER is also one of the best novels ever written about the Vietnam experience. It's all here--the flying, the dying, the blood and bombs and bullets, and the sheer joy--and terror--of life at full throttle.

"GRIPPING...SMASHING."?The Wall Street Journal
Grazing the Vietnam treetops at night at just under the speed of sound, A-6 Intruder pilot Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton knows exactly how precarious life is. Landing on a heaving aircraft carrier, dodging missiles locked on his fighter, flying through clouds of flak--he knows each flight could be his last. Yet he straps himself into a cockpit every day.

"EXTRAORDINARY!"--Tom Clancy
Then a bullet kills his bombardier while they're hitting another 'suspected' truck depot. Jake wonders what his friend died for--and why? Hitting pointless targets selected by men piloting desks just doesn't make sense. Maybe it's time to do something worthwhile. Something that will make a difference...

"SUPERBLY WRITTEN."?Washington Times
Jake and his new bombardier, ice-cold Tiger Cole, are going to pick their own target and hit the enemy where it hurts. But to get there and back in one piece is going to take a lot of nerve, even more skill, and an incredible amount of raw courage. Before it's over, they're going to fly into hell.

"When Grafton is at the controls of his Intruder, the novel comes alive with a jolt."
?Washington Post Book World

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781429955041
Publisher:	St. Martin''s Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/27/2006
Series:	Jake Grafton Series , #1
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	11,744
File size:	429 KB

About the Author

Author of 13 New York Times Bestsellers, STEPHEN COONTS flew A-6 Intruders from the deck of the USS ENTERPRISE during the Vietnam War. A graduate of West Virginia University and the University of Colorado School of Law, he and his wife Deborah still fly whenever they have the time. They reside in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Stephen Coonts is the author of The Disciple, The Assassin, and the Deep Black and Saucers series, among many other bestsellers. His first novel, the classic flying tale Flight of the Intruder, spent more than six months at the top of The New York Times bestseller list. A motion picture based on the book was released in 1991. His novels have been published around the world and translated into more than a dozen languages. In 1986, he was honored by the U.S. Naval Institute with its Author of the Year Award. He is also the editor of four anthologies, Combat, On Glorious Wings, Victory and War in the Air. Coonts served in the Navy from 1969 to 1977, including two combat cruises on the USS Enterprise during the last years of the Vietnam War.

Date of Birth:

July 19, 1946

Place of Birth:

Morgantown, West Virginia

Education:

B.A., West Virginia University, 1968; J.D., University of Colorado, 1979

Table of Contents

What People are Saying About This

John Lehman

Flight of the Intruder will join (the) classics....Coonts recreates...the sudden exhileration and tragedies of rare and honorable men...in the cockpit, barely controlling terror; dodging surface-to-air missles; concentrating desperately to get the riddled aircraft back aboard a tiny carrier in the black night; dealing with the frequent loss of close friends, as well as the moral qualms of legitimized killing...once begun, Flight of the Intruder cannot be set aside.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewers praised Flight of the Intruder for its vivid descriptions of life in the cockpit. "When Grafton is at the controls of his Intruder, the novel comes alive with a jolt," remarked Reid Beddow inWashington Post Book World. Some critics, however, felt the novel had its weak moments. For example, David Holahan in Chicago Tribune Books faulted the "obligatory `love interest' chapters, which are unconvincing and distracting." Holahan nonetheless applauded the author's "compelling tale of aerial warfare" and affirmed that "Coonts' accounts of the riveting drama of combat flights are first rate, as are the scenes of wisecracking camaraderie aboard ship and on leave ashore." Beddow, moreover, concluded that "Coonts . . . has written a first novel of impressive power and authority."

Gale Research

With this well-crafted first novel, the publishers of The Hunt for Red October again demonstrate a sure eye for picking winners in the thriller genre. Jake Grafton is an A-6 Intruder pilot during the Vietnam War who flies his bomber on sorties past enemy flak and SAM missiles, and then must maneuver his plane, often at night, onto the relatively small deck of an aircraft carrier. Former Navy flyer Coonts gives an excellent sense of the complexities of modern air raids and how nerve-wracking it is, even for the best airmen, to technically solve sudden problems over and over, knowing that even a twist of fatea peasant wildly firing a rifle from a fieldcould wipe out the crew. Grafton alternates between remorse over the fate of his unseen Vietnamese victims on the ground and a gung-ho ``let's win this war'' sentiment that lashes at both policymakers who select less-than-important targets for the dangerous missions and advocates for peace back in the States. The action, though, is realistically detailed and absorbing.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

"[Coonts's] gripping, first-person narration of aerial combat is the best I've ever read. Once begun, this book cannot be laid aside."-The Wall Street Journal

"Coont's pilots are the real McCoy and his compassion for them sustains his story from first page to last . . . a sometimes exhilarating, often nightmarish tale."?Kirkus Reviews

"A winner."?Philadelphia Inquirer

Kept me strapped in the cockpit of the author's imagination for a down-and-dirty novel.

-St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"Extraordinary! Once you start reading, you won't want to stop!"-Tom Clancy

"Packed with action, emotion, suspense, and tragedy."?Clive Cussler

"Coonts makes us see, smell, hear, taste, and feel battle."?Cleveland Plain-Dealer

From the Publisher