Flight of the Intruder

I believe I have read this book at least ten times. It simply never gets old to me. Granted, the aviation geek in me loves all the technical details and the way Coonts put me right in the cockpit beside Jake Grafton, but what really keeps me coming back to this book is the amazing job of characterization done here. There is not a single cardboard character in this book- Cowboy Parker, Sammy Lundeen, Jake Grafton, Tiger Cole... the list goes on and on. I can't say enough in favor of this book.Too many other writers would have focused too much on the technical aspects of the writing and not spent enough time making the characters, and not just the machines, real. Coonts, on the other hand, has struck the perfect balance between technical accuracy and glorious storytelling. A must-read in my opinion.

"Flight of the Intruder" tells the story of Jake Grafton, a young naval aviator respected by his peers but slowly coming apart under the pressures of flying extremely hazardous yet useless missions over hostile territory in Vietnam. (Though carrying more ordinance than any other carrier-based airplane, none of the A-6's weaponry is for defense, and no sidewinders or cannon-shells ever arm the plane). Though the communist north would be hurt by air strikes against its power stations, air fields and harbors, and despite America's capacity to simply erase the country from the map using nuclear weapons, Intruder pilots are sent to fly through heavily defended airspace to bomb probably non-existent targets like "suspected truck parks" and ammo dumps. It's on one of these meaningless missions that Grafton's navigator is killed, and the novel begins with Jake confronting the futility of the war, especially in light of the politically imposed restrictions which put more meaningful targets firmly off limits to Yankee fliers. Short a navigator, Grafton is paired with rotating fillers until being firmly hitched up to the mysterious "Tiger" Cole. While Grafton is one of the Navy's best aviators (shipmates call him "Cool Hand"), Cole has amassed years of experience above him. Between the two of them, their frustration mounts until they plan the inconceivable - an unauthorized bombing of the North's communist party HQ in Hanoi. Resolving to keep the mission a secret, they both know that their discovery is inevitable and that they will have to answer for their actions."Intruders" is easily the greatest novel written about the air war over Vietnam, or anywhere. Coonts creates highly fleshed characters like the laconic Cole, Camparelli, the dedicated CAG, "Razor", "Boxman" and of course, Grafton himself. As a "technothriller" "Intruder" also excels not only on Coonts' thorough knowledge of the A-6 airplane but also his unique ability to work his knowledge into an excellent plot (and not the other way around as you'll see on just about any similar book). What really sets this book apart from similar stories about the airwar is its brave treatment of the political realities of the war - though we've been prepped to despise the Byzantine regulation of the war, the ultimate court battle our heroes face isn'tr afraid to look at the issue from both sides. Grafton's superiors, who'd be clueless buffoons in other books, are allowed to be dedicated and highly experienced officers here. Grafton, on the other hand, is no hero, something Cool-Hand himself would be the first to admit to you. Priceless dialog and a climax that is none-too-pat round out this novel. Avoid the rip-offs (and the movie while you're at it).

This is the story of navy attack pilots during the war in Vietnam. It is also the story of one particular pilot, LT Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton, an A6B Intruder pilot flying off the coast of North Vietnam as part of the Tonkin Gulf "Yacht Club."This is a first novel by a writer who lived the experiences of his fictional character. When I first read this book about the time the hardcover was first published, I felt as if I was in the ready room with Grafton, Boxman, Razor and the others being briefed before "going downtown" to bomb Hanoi.The feel for time and place is all here. The descriptions of the life aboard a carrier on station, the shore leave in Subic Bay and Olongapo City all ring true according to my navy veteran friends. As I read, I felt as if I could have been one of the characters Stephen Coonts wrote about.For a debut novel, this one was extrememly well done. It was the entrant to a series that I hoped Coonts would write, and subsequently did. I like Jake Grafton because he is a man all of us could only hope to be. Most of all, he is a man of honor and integrity and this is demonstrated when he decides to put his career (and freedom) on the line by going after a target "downtown" after President Johnson has called a bombing halt over Hanoi and Haiphong. Another wonderfully drawn character is LCDR Virgil Cole, Jake's B/N (bombardier/navigator). Cole has seen combat before and has the Silver Star. He trusts no one but himself but, does his job magnificently. In the movie version, the casting for this character was brilliantly handled when Willem Dafoe played the part to perfection. Although the book and the movie differ at the end, the characterization was true to Mr. Coonts' intent, in my opinion. Jake and Cole became a team and stuck together in thick and thin. Their friendship and loyalty to each other was proven when they went after their downed squadron commander, CDR Camparelli, were shot down themselves and had to survive. The two, who are bound by a well-defined sense of honor, keep their commitments to each other and their squadron. Although Coonts the writer was also Coonts the lawyer at the time he wrote the novel, he introduces a question of military ethics and obedience when the navy investigates Grafton's and Cole's unauthorized mission against the North Vietnamese capital. Senator Fred Dalton Thompson of Tennessee, in one of his supporting screen roles, does an effective job as the navy Staff Judge Advocate arguing that control of the military must remain in the hands of civilians and elected officials if the United States is to avoid the dangers of military control of the government. Again, this actor turned politician mirrors exactly Mr. Coonts' character in the novel when he and other senior officers attempt to determine the fate of the two aviators who flew side by side in that wonderful Grumman attack aircraft. Stephen Coonts' wrote a novel that begged for

I am only 14 years old, and while my friends are only reading books about horror, or no books at all, I have been reading books like this classic. This book is the one that had me start to read serious books, and it is still the best book I have ever read because of it's realism and depth.

Stephen Coonts manages to wrap up three years' of Vietnam experience into a very well-written novel. While the characters are fictitious, the mood is very real. Many pilots faced the same dangers as Coonts' Jake Grafton. Low-alt dangers from small arms fire, SAM's, explosive concussions, in-flight refueling (a very hazardous proposition in itself), carrier launches in pitch-black darkness, landing on a heaving deck on a storm-swept sea. All these are in this book. This was Coonts' break-out book, the first in a series. Hollywood turned it into a film, but as usual, the book is better (and has a different ending). A must-read for aviation fans.