Customer Reviews

Final Flight

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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".

This was my second Stephen Coonts, the first i read was The Flight of Intruder, a Great book too ..
Final flight is even better, i think is one of the best thrillers i have read, wondeful story, great plot and the Jake Grafton Character is very Good, Toad Turkington is a very Funny Character. The description of the flight scenes are very well done, it's almost you were in the carrier. This book is a must have. Highly recommended.

The situation - Middle Eastern terrorists led by one Colonel Qazi take over a US navy carrier and arm the nuclear weapons stockpile. Jake Grafton, CAG on board must avert their attempt to discredit the US. This was the first Coonts book I read and was swept along by the sheer fast pace of it. The characters are well portrayed and not just cardboard characters for window dressing, they contain dimension. The carrier scenes are striking and realistic and for those unfamiliar with life in the Navy such as I was, it's all explained in simple prose and not too much technobabble. The aerial scenes are as brilliant as anything Dale Brown has written and the general pace of the story is in the tradition of old hands like Alistair Maclean (RIP) and Clive Cussler. If you want an uncomplicated, thrilling read, get this one.

Say it isn't so! Jake Grafton, Stephen Coonts' hero of at least two other novels, has reached the pinnacle of naval aviation by becoming the CAG on the "United States" . . . and now age is catching up with him? He's a career navy officer, has a terrific wife, but he may have to quit flying because of a silly little problem with night vision? With all of the problems that Stephen Coonts weaves in the Middle-East, it doesn't take much imagination on the part of the reader to guess that we haven't yet seen Jake's final flight.

Stephen Coonts has outdone himself in "Final Flight." The character and plot development are superb. Jake and his wife Callie are again at the center of the story, but there are plenty of other interesting people. I'd like to read more about Toad, one of the F-14 weapons officers who flies with Jake - and that Judith! -- wow!

If you only read one Stephen Coonts book, this is the one to read. The book easily stands on its own for readers of all interests. (If you're into aviation, you'll want to read "Flight of the Intruder" and "Intruders" before reading "Final Flight." These two books will give you some very good lead-in information about Jake.

"Final Flight" really appealed to me as a techno-thriller where at least most of the people came across as real people, not shallow clichés.

Most of the story takes place on the aircraft carrier USS United States, and I found the descriptions of how a modern aircraft carrier functions fascinating. A ship like this and the aircraft on board it are an incredibly complicated yet awesomely powerful fighting machine.

Stephen Coonts describes in detail many of the procedures involved in launching and recovering the airplanes on an aircraft carrier. The level of complication is such that I found myself surprised that these things function at all, let alone function reliably.

The assault on the aircraft carrier by a group of ruthless terrorists, and its defense by the seamen and marines made great reading. I also loved the description of the dog fight between the lone F-14 Tomcat and four MiG-23 Floggers. This was a real edge-of-the-seat climax to the story.

As mentioned above, I found it appealing that most of the characters in the story actually come across as real people, with real people's problems and worries and motivations and good sides and bad sides. Also, the U.S. Navy is depicted as an organization with certain deficiencies, such as excessive bureaucracy, suppression of private initiative and lack of rewards for individual thought.

This is in contrast with most techno-thrillers, where all the characters are stereotyped and shallow "good guys" or "bad guys", and the western military organizations are the epitome of efficiency and functionality.

Despite what I've just said about the characters, I did find the top bad guy somewhat unrealistic, and this is the reason for the lack of the fifth star. Am I really supposed to believe in someone who,
- makes love to a female assistant in the locked trunk of a limousine?
- talks to a Russian General via a radio transmitter in a belt buckle?
- spends 1/2 hour burning a top secret manual for a nuclear bomb a few pages at a time in a furnace in the basement of a hotel?

But despite my problem with the top bad guy I really liked this book, and am looking forward to reading more of Stephen Coonts' books.

Rennie Petersen

This book had all the making of a best seller. A great plot exciting and doesn't let the reader go. I personally found this one of Stephen Coonts best books ever. The reality of the events of this book almost makes it seem like a real event.

This book has everyone involved. The US, Christians, Arabs, Jews, Atheist, and the rest of the world are all in trouble. The Arabs are after the US again. This time they are trying to capture one of their nuclear weapons. They are shown as experts in black mail as they "recruit" the people they need to complete their mission. They plan to use it to destroy all the religions that oppose them. They infiltrate the supercarrier USS United States. Jake Grafton is losing his vision and his pilots as problems start to occur on the planes. Still the problem falls on him. The Arabs make it into the carrier and take hostage the Admiral using him they get 7 nukes in to the coppers and fly away. It is now Jake's job to catch and destroy the Arabs before they can use the nukes. The ending is one of a kind.

From the beginning I started to read this book I couldn't put it down i spent the weekend reading it, because it was so exciting, my eyes couldn't leave the book.and when they did they would have to return because I just had to know what was going to happen.

I think this is the best book he has written yet, he did a fantastic job on the plot and he did excellent in describing the scene, making you feel as if you were really there. At the end my heart was racing when they were trying to deactivate the nuke,and when Jake had to stop them.

This was the first book I have read by Stephen Coonts, and because of it I purchase Stephen coonts books all the time now. He has got me hooked!

Overall I think Stephen Coonts is an excellent writer and the book was chilling, which means fantastic.

Exciting and love to read this Author's books in the series (order) in which they were written. Written with passion and knowledge of the subjects he writes about.