The most daring - and deadly - terrorist plot of all time is about to unfold aboard the supercarrier USS United States. If it succeeds, the balance of nuclear power will change for ever. And it looks as if no one can stop it - except Navy pilot Jake Grafton. Grafton is one helluva pilot and his F-14 Tomcat is one helluva plane. But some of Jake's crewmates have already vanished. And a woman reporter who boarded the ship in Tangiers may not be who she claims to be. Jake Grafton may have to disobey a direct order from the President himself for one spine-tingling, hair-raising, final flight.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The final flight of Capt. Jake Grafton will keep readers riveted. His night-flying's over, thanks to failing eyesight. But the fate of the Middle East is hanging in the balance when his F-14 tears off into Mediterranean airspace. Coonts has cast the hero of his first novel, The Flight of the Intruder , as a wing commander aboard an aircraft carrier. He has also thrust him into the bulls-eye of an Arab plot to steal the ship's nuclear weapons. Sounds absurd, as Coonts intends. But the plot's mastermind, one Col. Qazi, is an unequaled artisan in the guild of espionage and terrorism. Qazi has devised a scheme whose twists and turns alternately elude and thwart Grafton and more than one intelligence agency in their attempts to figure out what he's up to. By the time it's clear, Qazi is pitted against the carrier's crew, and the odds are believably on his side. The backdrop is Naples, and the well-detailed lives of Navy pilots. Final Flight has a long fuse, but its detonation is well worth the wait. 300,000 first printing; $150,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Publisher
The most daring -- and deadly -- terrorist plot of all time is about to unfold aboard the supercarrier USS United States. If it succeeds, the balance of nuclear power will tilt in favor of a remorseless Arab leader. And it looks as if no one can stop it - except navy "jet jock" Jake Grafton. "Cag " Grafton is one helluva pilot. His F-14 Tomcat is one helluva plane. But some of Jake's crewmates have already vanished. A woman reporter who boarded the ship in Tangiers may not be who she claims to be. And Jake may have to disobey a direct order from the President himself for one spine-tingling, hair-raising Final Flight
--This text refers to the
Mass Market Paperback
edition.
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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.
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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Genre's Best.,
This review is from: Final Flight (Mass Market Paperback)
Why Coonts gets less recognition than Tom Clancy I'll never know. Coonts' books are far less tech-laden than Clancy, and have far more complex and interesting heros and villians. "Final Flight" is the best of Coonts work. A terrifically exciting tale of a terrorist plot to hijack a nuclear weapon off of a U.S. Aircraft Carrier, "Final Flight" will keep you in total suspense until the final page. This remains the best work by the best author in the genre of military fiction.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An exciting military thriller by Coonts,
By Retired Firefighter (United States of America) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Final Flight (Mass Market Paperback)
If anyone can write great military fiction, it is Coonts. Stephen Coonts is a decorated aviator who flew combat missions during Vietnam.
Like many of his books, Coonts casts Jake Grafton as the main character and puts him, as usual, against great odds. This book is actually a sequel of sorts to his first Jake Grafton novel called Flight of the Intruder. There is a lot of mystery that surrounds the novel but as it unravels the actions begins. There is a lot of correct and technical data about aircraft characters as a lot of the story takes place aboard the USS United States. You learn a lot about the military and their heroes as well as their befuddled bearucratic messes. I couldn't put the book down and I feel it deserves five stars for sure. As a former member of the armed forces, I was impressed with his insight and technical accuracy that he applies to his writing. Jake Grafton is a delightful character that I always enjoy reading about.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great sequel to "Flight of the Intruder",
This review is from: Final Flight (Mass Market Paperback)
This was Coonts's first sequel to the unmatched "Flight of the Intruder", bringing Jake Grafton back (for the first and - it seemed in '88 when this book came out - last time). While "Intruder" took place during the Vietnam war, "Final" has "Cool-Handï" Grafton flying F-14 Tomcats in our times. Though nearly court-martialed at the end of the older book, "Final" starts off years later with Grafton on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "United States", having achieved the vaunted position of "CAG" - air-wing commander, and the highest ranking aviator a board. (In "Intruder", Grafton deliberately attacked an unauthorized, politically sensitive target; though Grafton's career appeared doomed, President Nixon indirectly spared him when he authorized the "Christmas Offensive", and the brass realized that they couldn't very well court-martial a gung-ho fighter pilot for striking back at the Vietnamese when the President declares an all-out air offensive.) Grafton's job as CAG is frustrated by the degree of bureaucracy that stands between him and getting his job done.
Unfortunately, this isn't helped by his ship's position in the Med, where it attracts the attentions of a sinister arab mastermind, Col. Quazi. Owing his services to a fanatic arab leader with whom he is at odds, Quazi nevertheless plans and executes a daring and bloody infiltration of Grafton's carrier, with an eye towards its "special" weapons (okay, its nukes! At the time, the USN's policy was to neither confirm nor deny the existence of nuclear weapons on any of its ships; given that the "United States" is a huge and modern aircraft carrier, Quazi figures his chances of spotting nukes aboard make it worth a shot). This was a great book, one that turned technothrillers on their head, even if it wasn't as much fun as "Intruder". For one thing, virtually none of the characters that made the older book fun return (like the boisterous and snobby "Razor", the craven "Rabbit" Wilson or the noble and demanding Camparelli; "Tiger" Cole, Grafton's old navigator, doesn't return and his replacement here, "Toad" Tarkington doesn't quite fill Tiger's shoes; "Cowboy" is back, but more on him later), and much of the priceless repartee that Coonts gave his fliers in "Intruder" is absent here. Grafton, who was a very approachable character in the older book is more remote here - owing to both his higher rank (fewer people can talk to him one-on-one) and the complex plot involving terrorists which keeps Grafton from becoming a character central to the book. Coonts seems deliberately dead serious, but he handles it well. Coonts also manages to save the day without relying on the typical technothriller stand-bys: instead of special forces or expert analysts or the heroic and hunky operative, Coonts has the day saved by the embattled sailors of the USS United States - working class stiffs led into battle by their grizzled chiefs. When the gravity of the crisis hits Washington, Coonts manages to avoid creating the typical scene in which the planners and generals are already gathered in front of some situation room in the Pentagon, guaging the situation from countless computer screens (instead, Grafton and company have to conference the situation over the phone with an assistant SecDef, one who ofcourse orders Grafton NOT to fly off into battle). Technothriller authors often insist that their plots are "frighteningly plausible", but Coonts uniqely succeeds here: he embraces the chaos that eludes other writers enamored or addicted to plots in which hi-tech and brilliant heroes will save the day in the end. If "Final" has one big flaw, it's the arabs - not that their evil, just boring. The plot works at Quazi's reluctance to make his master a nuclear power, but doesn't work that hard at it. Still a worthy read, and one of the great technothrillers suffering only in having been eclipsed by "Intruder".
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