The Intruders by Stephen Coonts

A war-weary Navy pilot confronts the deadly skies of the South Pacific, training Marine pilots and battling Soviets MiGs in the wake of the Vietnam War Fighter pilot Jake Grafton is adrift following combat in Vietnam. With no place in the States to call home, Grafton sticks to what he knows best: taking on the world's most treacherous skies from the cockpit of a Grumman A-6 Intruder. Now, stationed in the South Pacific on the U.S.S. Columbia, Grafton must teach the Marines aboard the art of flying from an aircraft carrier-a mission that, thanks to the unruly Marine Captain Le Beau, is as joyless as it is dangerous. But when an unexpected enemy appears from above, Grafton and Le Beau must put aside their differences and work together to save the lives of all onboard. n nEditorial Reviews n nFrom Booklist nA few years ago, the U.S. was in the throes of an aviation fad, aided by Hollywood's Top Gun and such novels as Coonts' Flight of the Intruder (1986), which spotlighted brooding navy pilot Jake Grafton's various missions dropping napalm on Vietnam. Well, the war's over and Jake's still brooding, not only about the rightness or wrongness of Vietnam, but also about whether he should have held off on marrying Callie McKenzie, his dream woman. While he's brooding, he gets into a stupid bar fight and is shipped out to the Pacific to fly with the marines, specifically Flap LeBeau, a fanatic. Jake and Flap fly sorties for about 150 pages in preparation for a possible war against the Soviet Union (remember, it's 1973), which, as we all know, never happens. LeBeau is a great character, a successful marine who rose from poverty and has all things in perspective, but Grafton as a navy pilot is an oddity. As Coonts' metaphor for Vietnam, he is a worrywart, a mass of confused contradiction--and, unfortunately, a book like this needs a more cocksure hero. What it also needs, strangely enough, is less flying; the only time things really start to heat up is when the characters are grounded (especially right at the end). But expect high demand. Joe Collins --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. n nAbout the Author nStephen Coonts (b. 1946) was born in Buckhannon, West Virginia. He is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-eight thriller and nonfiction titles, including The Intruders, The Minotaur, Under Siege, The Red Horseman, and The Cannibal Queen. A combat pilot in the Vietnam War, Coonts's technical knowledge of aviation and warfare has contributed to the enormous popularity of his novels. The author currently divides his time between his home in Colorado and a farm in West Virginia, where he does much of his writing. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. n nFrom Kirkus Reviews nPicking up where they left off in Flight of the Intruder (1986), Coonts and his inimitable Navy flyboy, Lt. Jake Grafton, coast on autopilot in this turgid novel of stick-and-rudder derring-do. Long on jargon, acronyms, and technical descriptions but short on actual storytelling, the saga begins in the days following the 1973 US pullback from Vietnam. On leave, Jake pays a visit to best gal Callie McKenzie's home. Callie's pop, a station wagon liberal embittered by the crippling injuries sustained in battle by his son, Theron, has a heated debate with the usually dovish Jake, precipitating an angry flight to a local watering hole. A few glasses later, Jake overhears a drunk taunting a crippled vet and launches the loudmouth through a window. To escape legal reprisal, our hero gladly accepts his first peacetime assignment: instructing Marine pilots in the manly art of carrier-based flying aboard the USS Columbia. Here's where the eponymous A-6 Intruder attack aircraft comes in, and any semblance of plot departs. Sure, there are many new characters: Hugh Skidmore, aka The Real McCoy, a sassy Navy instructor who plays the stock market; Jake's navigator, ``Flap'' LeBeau, a wisdom-spouting Afro-American Marine; and other types running the gamut from fun-loving to psychotic. But action mainly consists of A-6 crews endlessly executing noncombat maneuvers at sea. A difficult task to be sure, but not interesting enough to hold together a novel. In fact, with the exception of a running subplot featuring a ``line-in-the-sand'' conflict with the nearby Soviet fleet and Jake and Flap's bold escape from gunrunners near the story's end, Coonts's narrative style very closely resembles a commander's log--sans command. Those hale enough to finish this muddled flight manual cum novel in one sitting will likely possess enough knowledge about the A-6 to fly one in their sleep. A good thing, since the book certainly won't keep them awake. (First printing of 225,000; author tour) -- Copyright 1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. n nFrom Library Journal nCoonts's latest technothriller stars Jake Grafton, hero of the best-selling Flight of the Intruder (Naval Inst. Pr., 1986). nCopyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. n nFrom Publishers Weekly nA sequel to Coonts's Flight of the Intruder, this novel puts fighter-pilot Jack Grafton on board an aircraft carrier, piloted by novices. nCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.