America: A Jake Grafton Novel (Jake Grafton Novels) [Mass Market Paperback]

Stephen Coonts (Author)

Book Description

Series: Jake Grafton Novels | Publication Date: June 30, 2009

The USS Virginia is America's newest and most sophisticated nuclear powered submarine and hundreds of people have gathered to watch her launch. Then, the unthinkable happens: out of the cabin of the tugboat leading her out to sea emerge a band of armed men who board the submarine and man her controls. Before the destroyers nearby can react, the sub disappears: half of the men on board are slaughtered and half are put out to sea.

Admiral Jake Grafton is resting at his Delaware beach house when he gets the call that the ultimate catastrophe is at hand: who has stolen the submarine and why? Grafton's first information is that a rogue CIA group, originally trained to steal Russian technology during the Cold War is behind the operation. Soon it becomes clear that, whatever their purpose, they mean business: within hours a missile launched from the submarine destroys the top floor of the White House and an airliner crashes carrying 283 passengers is felled by a second missile. The race is on to find out where the submarine is, who is behind the nightmare scenario and how to stop it. Stephen Coonts, the author of the St. Martin's Press New York Times bestsellers FORTUNES OF WAR, CUBA and HONG KONG is back with his hero Jake Grafton for another gripping novel of international suspense.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Rear Admiral Jake Grafton, who has appeared in eight previous Coonts novels (most recently Cuba and Hong Kong), returns for another techno-thriller from one of the genre's top practitioners. The first couple of pages recount the disappearance of SuperAegis, a satellite that's the cornerstone of a new American-European-Russian antimissile defense system, on its first, much heralded trial. But Jake Grafton is only on that case for a few paragraphs before the stealth submarine U.S.S. America is hijacked on her maiden voyage. The sub quickly lives up to her reputation as the sneakiest undersea vessel in the world by seeming to vanish into the Atlantic. It takes a little while for Grafton to connect the dots between the two military blunders, by which time missiles fired from the America have devastated Washington, frying every electronic circuit in the city, and even burning the White House to the ground. Between looking for the rogue sub, searching for the satellite, and trying to get some answers about the team the CIA trained to steal a Russian sub (and then beached when the mission was canceled), Grafton's got his hands full.

Stephen Coonts describes the submarine at the center of the action so lavishly and lovingly that the U.S.S. America is much more real--and even more human--than any of his flesh-and-blood characters, including Grafton himself. The mysterious German financier who's at the bottom of it all doesn't get more than a walk-on; he's a cardboard villain, just like the brilliant female computer expert who sets up his crimes. But none of that matters if you like this kind of tale, which combines excitement and action with loads of information about computers, sonar, weapons systems, and stealth technology. America will surface quickly and take a commanding position on the summer bestseller lists. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

What could possibly go wrong if Congress manages to approve the ICBM missile defense shield being pushed by the White House? This master of the techno-thriller spins a bone-chilling worst-case scenario involving international spies, military heroics, conniving politicians, devious agencies, a hijacked nuclear sub, lethal computer hackers, currency speculators, maniac moguls and greedy mercenaries that rivals Clancy for fiction-as-realism and Cussler for spirited action. Rear Adm. Jake Grafton is shocked, as are his fellow Russian and European observers, when a satellite for the SuperAegis missile shield goes out of launch mode and is lost in seconds. Moments later, the state-of-the-art nuclear submarine America is hijacked on her maiden voyage. The sub is armed with Tomahawk missiles with "Flashlight" warheads capable of frying all unprotected electronics within miles of detonation, crippling target cities. Jake suspects Janos Ilin and his Russian bosses, and forms a shaky "alliance" to test Ilin while digging for info. Meanwhile, Tommy Carmellini, a convicted felon with a talent for burglary that got him "recruited" by the CIA, tumbles onto a dastardly agency plot and secretly cues Jake. When American Tomahawks launched on Washington paralyze the city the whole East Coast lapses into chaos, the dollar plunges, and Jake's team, led by streetsmart black marine Gen. "Flap" LeBeau, goes into overdrive. Perennial bestseller Coonts (Hong Kong; Flight of the Intruder) never lets up with heart-racing jet/missile combat, suspenseful submarine maneuvers and doomsday scenarios that feel only too real, providing real food for thought in his dramatization of the missile-shield debate. (Aug. 14)Forecast: This timely tale starring the crowd-pleasing Jake Grafton will hit the lists with a vengeance. A major ad/promo campaign is scheduled, and an excerpt will run in the paperback edition of Hong Kong.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks; $4.99 Value Promotion edition (June 30, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312365780
• ISBN-13: 978-0312365783
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,101,037 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen Coonts is the author of 14 New York Times bestsellers, the first of which was the classic flying tale, FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER.
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 began flight training in Pensacola, Florida.
He received his Navy wings in August, 1969. After completion of fleet replacement training in the A-6 Intruder aircraft, Mr. Coonts reported to Attack Squadron 196 at NAS Whidbey Island, Washington. He made two combat cruises aboard USS Enterprise during the final years of the Vietnam War as a member of this squadron. After the war he served as a flight instructor on A-6 aircraft for two years, then did a tour as an assistant catapult and arresting gear officer aboard USS Nimitz. He left active duty in 1977 and moved to Colorado. After short stints as a taxi driver and police officer, he entered the University of Colorado School of Law in the fall of 1977.
Mr. Coonts received his law degree in December, 1979, and moved to West Virginia to practice. He returned to Colorado in 1981 as a staff attorney specializing in oil and gas law for a large independent oil company.
His first novel, FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER, published in September 1986 by the Naval Institute Press, spent 28 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists in hardcover. A motion picture based on this novel, with the same title, was released nationwide in January 1991.
The success of his first novel allowed Mr. Coonts to devote himself full time to writing; he has been at it ever since. He and his wife, Deborah, enjoy flying and try to do as much of it as possible.
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 was a trustee of West Virginia Wesleyan College from 1990-1998. He was inducted into the West Virginia University Academy of Distinguished Alumni in 1992. The U.S. Naval Institute honored him with its Author of the Year Award for the year 1986 for his novel, FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER. Mr. Coonts and his wife, Deborah, reside in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars America Rocks!!!, July 1, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: America: A Jake Grafton Novel (Hardcover)

Stephen Coonts does it again! America takes you for a wild ride. The Navy's new stealth submarine is stolen from under their noses and escapes to the depths of the Atlantic ocean. Marine General Flap Le Beau saddles Jake and Toad with the task of finding the missing sub. First a lost military satellite, now a hijacked nuclear submarine. A hopeless situation turns desperate as the missles rain from the sky up and down the east coast of the US. The action is non stop and the plot will keep you guessing. Jake Grafton gets down and dirty in America.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars COONTS AT THE TOP OF HIS TALENT, August 10, 2001

By 

Kent Braithwaite (Palm Desert, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America: A Jake Grafton Novel (Hardcover)

As a mystery author with my first novel in its initial release, I admire Stephen Coonts and his work. In AMERICA, Coonts is working at the top of his talent. If you like plenty of action, a courageous lead, an ominous villian, some sexy women, and the continued existence of Western Civilization as we know it being on the line, you'll enjoy AMERICA too. U.S.S. America is the ultimate submarine. It vanishes in a hijacking on its maiden voyage, and Jake Grafton must find it. The book opens with satellite going missing, and that fact also plays into a plot that takes several unexpected twists and turns. This novel is also full of loads of technical scientific and engineering information, and it comes close to being the perfect techno-thriller.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Jake Grafton wears well, like an old shoe, September 15, 2005

By 

Daniel Berger (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: America: A Jake Grafton Novel (Jake Grafton Novels) (Mass Market Paperback)

Stephen Coonts does less character development than Tom Clancy. His hero Jake Grafton is thoroughly two-dimensional. He's a regular guy with a nice wife, neither of them drawn with any interesting quirks or depth. He doesn't have notable hobbies or interests. He doesn't have soaring ambitions, having made some bureaucratic enemies who keep him from rising above Rear Admiral. He dreams vaguely of the stereotypical middle-class retirement with his lovely wife. Little attention is paid to what he eats or drinks. A gourmet meal for him is steaks on the barbie. Grafton's jobs always seem to be intricate bureaucratic positions where he's a liaision from someone to someone else, which puts him in place to get into a technothriller plot involving the usual CIA and foreign spy types.

But that's half the book's appeal. Grafton strikes you as an Everyman who rises to the occasion through the qualities he's amassed as a good career Naval officer. His flurries of action are low-tech and plausible; he is resourceful without Coonts' pushing the limits of believability. And he wears well, like an old shoe. His low-key character recedes into the background, allowing you to enjoy the technological marvel of the state-of-the-art American sub that is hijacked, as well the complexity of the plot. Coonts' writing is never flashy or annoying, but quite even. I enjoyed the twists and turns of this one's plot, particularly the complexities created when arch-hacker Zelda Hudson masterminds the sub's hijacking while selling its services to two unrelated crooks for two different reasons at cross purposes with each other.

One of the other reviewers pans Coonts for making the hijackers' captain somewhat sympathetic despite his dastardly mission. I disagree. We spend a whole lot of time with him and would tire of a stereotypical tyrant or megalomaniac. And the novel is more plausible with a captain confronted with convincing his gang - through a combination of strength, logic and violence - to follow him after the fact on a much more dangerous mission than the one they'd signed on for. As a former Soviet sub captain, and as someone originally hired by the CIA at the plot's outset to hijack a sub for him, he would not have been convincingly drawn as a psychokiller or screwball. This is a leader of men who History, in the form of the Soviet Union's fall, has cast upon the streets - his last job was cab-driving in Paris - and who is now given a chance to use his hard-earned skills in a challenging, albeit criminal, mission. We see the action on the sub through his eyes, and so naturally Coonts must make him logical and smart enough to succeed in the sub long enough to make the plot work. Other colorful supporting characters are the knife-throwing Marine commandant, the slick Russian agent Janos Ilin, and my favorite Coonts character, the CIA cat-burglar Tommy Carmellini. I found myself liking hitman Myron Matheny, an aging, meticulous ex-CIA guy who drifted into killing for hire, a guy who can't wait to get out of the business but is forced back into it for one more hit. He comes off as a fiftyish accountant type, all planning and plodding and caution - the reason for his survival so long in a dangerous game. I found myself rooting for him to succeed or at least survive long enough to escape into the crime-free, smell-the-roses life he longs for.

One aspect of the book seems weirdly timely: how Washington and New York are paralyzed by missiles designed to knock out electronic systems. I read this book a week or two after Hurricane Katrina and that resonated significantly with me.