Final Flight

Rating:
Summary: Good techno-thriller with real people
Review: "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.

Rating:
Summary: YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Final Flight is one of the best thrillers I've come across in a long time. The story (especially the last hundred or so pages) contains megatons of action. The one portion of the story which was never made entirely clear(probably due to a mistake on my part) was: which country were the terrorists from? But thankfully that fact does NOT hinder the storyline, which accelerates at supersonic speed to a smashing (read and you'll know what I mean)and powerful conclusion that kept me wanting to read more Coonts. Well done, Stephen!! I wish there were more thrillers like this one

Rating:
Summary: Far and away Stephen Coonts' best
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Wondeful Page Turner
Review: 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.