Deep Black (NSA (Audio))

Rating:
Summary: High Tech Summer Read
Review: A US backed spy plane explodes over the Soviet Union. The Russian president thinks the only way to preserve his country is to drift away from democracy and fall back on old faithful communism. The President decides to send in an NSA sponsored investigation team to ensure that the sophisticated spy plane was completely incinerated in the crash and that none of her crew has fallen into the hands of the Russians.
Welcome to the world of Deep Black. The book continues with the character of Charlie Dean who i believe was intro'd in the techno-thriller collection COMBAT, go read it. I liked the cinematic characters of Charlie, Lia, and Tommy Karr who was one cool spy, and think that nearly every male reader of this type of genre imagines himself to be.
The back story involving William Reubens head of Deep Black caught up in an imagninative murder at a relatives house doesn't really go anywhere, but the main story involving our heroes was intriguing filled with tough guy (and girl) dialogue, cool gadgets, and some old school Cold War intrigue, and a hint of romance. Its not perfect, but an ideal read while sitting in the sun on vacation. I am not very familiar with either author's work, but i will be looking more of their works in the near future. Have a fun summer.

Rating:
Summary: Boring, confusing
Review: I got this book from the library, am halfway through it, and I give up. I came over here to see what others thought, if maybe I was missing something, but it appears I'm not alone.

Usually I'll force myself to finish a book to give the author a chance. Not this one. I feel no connection to the characters and I'm having trouble keeping track of who's who. We start out with a murder and a missing person, and halfway through the book it appears nothing has been done to solve the initial case; instead we're investigating empty warehouses and castles with a side trip to Thailand and a kidnapping in between.

I'm finding myself reading pages over again to see if I missed something but sure can't find what it was...

Rating:
Summary: Passable
Review: I was looking forward to reading this book and it was a disappointment. It is passable, but that is about it. I did enjoy following the Charlie and Lia storyline. Coonts and DeFelice tried to hard to impress the reader with guns and airplane gadgets and forgot to engage the reader in the story.

Rating:
Summary: Impossible Sci-Fi Technology
Review: Others have written about how terrible this book but I wanted to add my own comments. This book is HORRIBLE, on of the worst I've read. One thing that really bothered me was the impossible technology Coonts/DeFelice describe. I found it insulting as they invented impossible gadgets on page after page. Let me give you some examples:

pg. 28-29 A USB device secreted away in a shoe is plugged in to a USB port and in a matter of seconds transfers the entire contents of multiple hard disks using a wireless link to a com system in an agents clothes and then on to a satellite in orbit OUTSIDE the building. In other words no clear view of the sky.

pg 49,54 You will love this, glasses with a speaker so our agent can hear his control center's transmissions via satellite even while underground, a microphone near the nose bridge and a microscopic camera located at the back of the glasses with a video feed in the lower part of the glasses. All of this transmits audio and video to an antenna in his belt back and then up to the satellite in the sky.

They tap into hotel and high security labs and govt installations security system video's in real time all around the world. In one case this was accomplished by attaching a small button to a video cable in a closet of a bookstore.

pg 70 The good guys field agents are tracked by radioactive isotopes embedded in their bodies that are undetectable by monitoring devices BUT CAN be detected by their satellite through 18 feet of earth.

Follks this satellite Coonts talks about, since it is always available, can't be in a low earth orbit or it would pass out of range for a period of time every so many hours. For it to be always available it has to be in geosynchronous orbit or nearly 22,000 miles up in the sky!!!

pg 106 folding opera glasses, with a video feed link to transmit to our ever-present sat in the sky, that sport 20X magnification along with an infrared sensor that is twice as powerful as the Generation 3 military units. So sensitive that it can detect and identify the heat signature of a cat through building walls.

pg 96 One item I forgot to mention, remember those fantastic glasses that had all sorts of gizmos. Well when the bad guys run a bug detector over it we are told that the total energy output of the device mimics the current inherent in the human body. Yet it can still transmit audio and video 22,000 miles away!


By now you get the idea. So.... besides having lousy character development and implausible story line, this foolish Sci-Fi technology keeps making you want to toss the book, roll over and go to sleep.

Brian

Rating:
Summary: One of the worst I've ever read
Review: Our hero Charlie Dean,and NSA operative goes to visit an old friend Dr. James Kegan.He finds a body with a bullet in the back of the head.Kegan is nowhere to be found.Kegan an expert in viruses has dissapeared.Dean and his associate Lia Francesco
undertake the mission of locating Dean. They are trying to decipher some of Dr Kegan's research.They find a killer virus
that has been dormant for centuries that is now linked to a virus that is now beginning to spread.It is up to the NSA dynamic
duo to uncover the terrorist plot.

Rating:
Summary: poor
Review: Realistic portrayal of a threat we may face in the near future. I was iffy on the love story, but in the end the thrills and spills convinced me. Definitely worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: poor
Review: The only reason I even finished this piece of trash is because I paid money for it. The basis of the story is good, but the execution was absolutely horrible. I kept waiting for some real action, but the real action never happened. This book belongs in the trash, but I may keep it on my bedside table to help me fall asleep on those sleepless nights, as it was one of the most pointless, boring books I have ever read. Because of this book, I may never read Coonts again.

Rating:
Summary: Great read
Review: This is the first Stephen Coonts book I read and it will probably be the last. A big disappointment. It took me forever to finish this book. A few chapters held me captive but overall it was a pretty boring book. The high-tech gadgetry was very unbelievable.


Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Book!
Review: This was my first Stephen Coonts book and I enjoyed it.This
book features the NSA.An American spy plane that is gathering
evidence of a new Russian weapon is shot down by a mysterious
MiG.The NSA dispatches to see what has happened to the plane.On
this team are Charlie Dean a former Marine sniper who was featured in "Combat".Also on the team is Delta Force trooper Lia
DeFrancesca.After the team's arrival a conspiracy in uncovered
about a coup and the assassination of the Russian President.Upon
arrival in Moscow the teams discovers a more far reaching conspiracy that they must help stop.This was a very readable book
that I enjoyed. Read it.