Liberty's Last Stand

by Stephen Coonts

Overview

New York Times bestselling author Stephen Coonts delivers another nail-biting thriller starring CIA Director Jake Grafton and his right-hand man, Tommy Carmellini.

The president of the United States stands on an outdoor stage, flanked by powerful members of his administration and party. Television crews are preparing for broadcast. High above the stage, on a nearby rooftop, a decorated sniper adjusts the scope on his rifle.

Afterwards, America will never be the same.

Jake Grafton and Tommy Carmellini suddenly find themselves on the wrong side of the law when a public act of violence throws the country into chaos just before a presidential election. After martial law is declared and rioting begins, Grafton and Carmellini must risk everything to unravel a massive conspiracy and help a new resistance movement rise up against an unimaginable enemy…

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781621575290
Publisher:	Regnery Fiction
Publication date:	06/13/2016
Series:	Tommy Carmellini Series , #7
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	544
Sales rank:	15,929
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Stephen Coonts is the author of 17 New York Times bestsellers. Mr. Coonts' career took off with the publication of his wildly popular Vietnam War thriller Flight of the Intruder, which spent 28 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and was later made into a blockbuster film starring Danny Glover and Willem Dafoe. Flight of the Intruder was inspired by Mr. Coonts' own experiences flying an A-6 Intruder plane in Vietnam.

Born in 1946, Stephen Paul Coonts grew up in Buckhannon, West Virginia, a coal-mining town of 6,000 population on the western slope of the Appalachian mountains. He majored in political science at West Virginia University, graduating in 1968 with an A.B. degree. Upon graduation he was commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Navy, and received his Navy wings in 1969.

Mr. Coonts' books have been widely translated and republished in the British Commonwealth, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Brazil, Turkey, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia, China, Japan, Czechoslovakia, Serbia, Latvia, and Israel.

Mr. Coonts and his wife, Deborah, reside in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

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

Editorial Reviews

05/02/2016
President Barry Soetoro, the villain of bestseller Coonts's provocative thriller, is due to leave office in five months when he uses a convenient terrorist attack to declare martial law, adjourn Congress, suspend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and become the dictator of the United States. He fires CIA director Jake Grafton (last seen in 2013's Pirate Alley) and throws him in a federal detention center in West Virginia along with hundreds of conservative politicians and political commentators. Grafton's ex-CIA pal, Tommy Carmellini (also last seen in Pirate Alley), decides he's going to bust his old boss out of jail. Meanwhile, Texas secedes from the union and begins seizing U.S. military bases. Soetoro's opponents have a long list of gripes: he's a "self-proclaimed black messiah," "Soetorocare" is a disaster, and EPA regulations are "designed to save the climate at the expense of the working men and women of Texas." Coonts's excellent action scenes, which shift between Tommy's jailbreak scheme and the civil war with Texas, grind to a halt as characters stop to give fervent speeches about freedom. Those who don't care for Obama or his policies will find a lot to like. Agent: Deborah C. Grosvenor, Grosvenor Literary Agency. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Flight of the Intruder

"[Coonts'] 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

"Coonts' 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."
- The 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, bestselling author

"Packed with action, emotion, suspense, and tragedy."
- Clive Cussler, bestselling author

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

Praise for Pirate Alley

"A first-class thriller."
- Denver Post

"Swashbuckling…Thriller lovers will enjoy this one for its fast pace, colorful locale, and satisfying conclusion…Coonts takes us on a heck of a good ride."
- Kirkus Reviews

"A stomach-clenching nail-biter that will leave readers exhausted and satisfied."
- Publishers Weekly

"[With] a plot that's ripped straight out of the news…this is one for your must-read list."
- Sunday Gazette-Mail

"A realistic and frightening multilayered story...[that will] change the way you view pirates, cruise ships, and Washington forever."
- Jim DeFelice, bestselling author of American Sniper

Praise for The Disciple

"Coonts carefully builds his plot using a wide cast of characters, from insider Iranian spies to cutting-edge aircraft pilots and government officials both high and low. Hardly a page passes without nerve-stretching tension or flat-out action. One can only hope the U.S. president, the head of the CIA, and the Israeli prime minister will have this book on their nightstands for easy reference in case fiction turns to reality, an all-too-real possibility as evidenced by recent headlines."
- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Praise for The Assassin

"Exciting…. The action moves swiftly to its Hollywood ending."
- Publishers Weekly

Praise for The Traitor

"An assured international thriller."
- Publishers Weekly

Praise for Liars and Thieves

"Coonts knows how to write and build suspense…this is the mark of a natural storyteller."
- The New York Times Book Review

"Former Grafton sidekick Tommy Carmellini, ex-burglar and CIA operative, has been promoted to star in what's sure to be another excellent, long-lived series…Tommy is smart, brave, skilled, and possessed of enough self-deprecating, wise-cracking wit to endear him to readers…readers of the Jake Grafton series will easily make the leap to Tommy Carmellini, and new readers can be expected to sign up for this hipper hero."
- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Tommy is a self-deprecating and wise-cracking narrator who brings a welcome energy to the genre. And fans will be pleased to see a now retired Jake Grafton and his wife, Callie, make an appearance."
- Library Journal

Praise for Liberty

"Gripping…Coonts's naval background and his legal education bring considerable authority to the story, and the narrative is loaded with detailed information about terrorist networks, modern weaponry, and international intrigue…the action is slam-bang."
- Publishers Weekly

"An action-packed thriller…[a] high-octane tale."
- Midwest Book Review

"Frighteningly realistic."
- Maxim Magazine

Praise for America

"This master of the techno-thriller spins a bone-chilling worst-case scenario…[Coonts] rivals Clancy for fiction-as-realism and Cussler for spirited action…[He] never lets up with heart-racing jet/missile combat, suspenseful submarine maneuvers, and doomsday scenarios that feel only too real."
- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Coonts' action and the techno-talk are as gripping as ever."
- Kirkus Reviews

"Give a hearty 'welcome back' to Admiral. Jake Grafton….Thrilling roller-coaster action."
- The Philadelphia Inquirer

Praise for Fortunes of War

"[Coonts is] a natural storyteller [with] a rare gift....Fortunes of War is crammed with action, suspense, and characters with more than the usual one dimension found in these books."
- USA Today

From the Publisher

2016-05-17
An action-packed thriller and political rant featuring series standbys Jake Grafton and Tommy Carmellini.Islamic terrorists have snuck across the Mexican border and carried out vicious attacks that have killed hundreds of Americans. President Barry Soetoro (the name Barack Obama really used until he was 10) suspends the Constitution and declares martial law. Barack—er, Barry—is a gun-confiscating dictator, an emperor, and most likely a closeted gay man who needs the welfare-seeking, baby-popping Mexican illegals as future Democratic voters. Every right-thinking citizen is simply fed up to the gills with him. "It's a miracle someone hasn't shot at him before now," a character says. "But why shoot him?" thinks Carmellini—the Republicans would win in November in a landslide anyway. But Soetoro cancels the election and arrests many prominent conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh. This is the crisis Carmellini has been waiting for. "If you live in America, you gotta have some guns," he says, "so when the political contract falls apart…yeah!" So it's no wonder that the good people of Texas decide to secede and re-form the Republic of Texas. Oba—sorry, Soetoro—intends to crush the rebellion at any cost. That means civil war, with civilians at grave risk on both sides. Power plants and bridges get destroyed, and hardly just in Texas. Evil Muslims play a dramatic role both in provoking the national crisis and in bringing about its dramatic resolution. "I am America's hope," declaims Soetoro in a final explosion of ego. The author doesn't even bother to invent a completely fictional villain—no need, when he has the current president to slur. This bilge is a middle finger in the face of most Americans, but if you happen to think Barry Soetorobama is the devil incarnate, then by all means buy it. The government knows where you live, though, so keep that AR-15 loaded and by your nightstand.

Kirkus Reviews