Flight of the Intruder by Stephen Coonts Review
Jake Grafton #1
Flight of the Intruder
Loved this volume. Read information technology when it came out. I put it on the same level as Hunt for Blood-red October. Great book. d.
This was interesting to me considering information technology was written past and based on the gainsay experiences of the writer who did exactly what my father did in Vietnam. He was fifty-fifty in the same squadron and might have flown some of the exact aforementioned planes as my dad. Unfortunately, I can't get my dad to read it or run into the movie, due to his as yet unresolved personal issues with his experience. As a result of his behavior, he quit later on flying nine combat missions.
What is so personally interesting to me is that the writer displays in his character the exact same political disharmonize and the resulting inner turmoil as my male parent has described his to me. The way the character resolves this personal crisis would exist to my father, I believe, cathartic and satisfying.
The second novel always published by Naval Constitute Press-- Hunt for Red October was the first.
It was an instant success bringing readers within the cockpit. From the opening scene where the mantra of "big sky, petty bullet" goes tragically wrong through the climactic scene its a fast paced, realistic story of the military past someone who knew first hand.
Stephen Coonts was another author nice enough to give me a blurb for my first novel, many years ago. I've always appreciated information technology.
Very proficient Viet Nam State of war era novel of love and combat for A-6A naval aviators. Having served with an A-6A squadron aboard an aircraft carrier during that time, I can attest to the authenticity of the colorful experiences described both in and out of combat. The description of air gainsay over Viet Nam and shore go out R&R in the Phillipines are straight-on accurate. When I returned domicile from my tour on an aircraft carrier in 1967 I thought I'd like to write a book about my experiences in that location some solar day just Coonts beat me to it and did a much amend job than I could have ever washed. The movie was a disapointment for me.
Stephen Coonts was an A-6A aviator during that war. I was on the USS Kittyhawk and I believe Coonts was on the USS Enterprise at the same time out at that place.
I don't know why, merely I had expected more than from Flying of the Intruder. I vaguely remembered the film of this novel from the early on 1990's and had the book sitting on my shelf, so I idea that I'd give it a read. Overall, it's not THAT bad, just it'southward non really that good either. Flight of the Intruder falls smack dab in the middle-of-the-road category to me. The storyline is ok but fairly predictable. The characters really don't have a whole lot of depth and the dialog is actually nix to write dwelling near. As well, for an action/adventure style of novel, the action scenes only didn't do much for me. I wouldn't really recommend this book. However, at that place is a series of ten books following this character. Maybe it just struck me in the incorrect way. I do own 1 other book in the serial, Nether Siege, then maybe I'll give information technology a attempt sometime and encounter if that changes my listen. In the meantime, I won't be holding my jiff.
Hands one of my favorite novels. I'thou a naval aviation fan boy equally it is, but this book was written past a human being that actually lived what he wrote about, (much similar Ian Flemming), and information technology shows. The material is and then well sourced and written that it'due south easy to follow, and the explanations for the technical aspects of the aircraft, carrier life, and tactics are easy for anyone to follow. Every bit a pilot, I enjoyed being able to recognize a lot of the technical aspects also, but that was actually just for me. The story is a great 1 virtually a human being that has a job to do, in spite of the pointlessness of it all. He gets tired of not risking his life, only risking his life for nothing, and finally decides to exercise something about. It perfectly expresses what I'chiliad certain a lot of other soldiers in Vietnam felt, simply using creative liberty to take information technology a trivial farther than most responsible soldiers would. The movie does this book no justice. Avoid it at all costs. But definitely read the volume.
I have a strong feeling of ambivalence with this 1. The scenes were both visceral and thrilling. Information technology brings to the forefront the horror of war and how information technology does mess with your thoughts and reactions.
This book was published in 1986 and concerns events that happened in 1972. I offset read this book in 1991 and enjoyed it very much; I gave information technology 4 stars. The story is near an American Navy pilot who flies an A6 Intruder bomber off a US carrier and bombs targets in Northward Vietnam.
I'd kind of forgotten the details of the novel, so I decided I might enjoy reading it again. Unfortunately, I was non quite equally enamored with this story equally I was in 1991. Now, I was in the Navy during the Vietnam War though I never left the state of California. So the novel is quite enjoyable but for its portrayal of life aboard an shipping carrier. The book is very much in the style of a Tom Clancy techno-thriller.
Withal, as has been pointed out past other reviews here, the main characters lack depth to make us actually intendance about them. And then the master plot, about an illegal bombing past the main characters, of the city of Hanoi merely does not ring true. The main character, Jake Grafton, the pilot of the A6 is upset when his bomber/navigator is killed while on a routine bombing mission of some non-existing truck park. Jake is shaken when his friend is killed, but we only know the friend for the first affiliate of the story, and information technology's hard to feel Jake's pain.
And then Jake and his new bomber/navigator hatch a plan to flop the city of Hanoi without authorization. Navy authorities discover the incident, and Jake and his new friend are Court Martialed, but get off on a technicality.
This did non bother me in 1991, but today I have a hard time believing that an American Naval pilot would chance his career and future with so breathy an action. Maybe a like incident did occur in the war, but the writer does not make me believe it.
Styles and tastes alter over time. Many of the ethical questions of 1972 are non-issues today and so the upstanding dilemmas no longer accept the aforementioned impact.
Today's view of women has likewise changed. I cringed as I read of the brothels in the Philippines, and how the young women are referred to every bit LBFMs, or Little Dark-brown Fucking Machines. I might have referred to the women that fashion if I had been in the Philippines in 1972, only today the term troubles me.
All in all, this 1986 Best Seller has not withstood the test of time.
An exciting novel with believable characters and extensive particular but someone who was at that place could provide. The action is tense, detailed, and almost makes you feel like you are witnessing the events yourself. I found myself gripping the book tighter during carrier take-offs and landings. The protagonist is neither good nor bad; but a existent person caught in a messy situation with conflicting duties to his task, country, himself, and humanity. The author develops the dilemma of a military officeholder struggling with self-doubtfulness and a lacking sense of purpose very well. The blowing and camaraderie among the officers is spot on and the morbid sense of humour reflects what happens in a existent gainsay zone. The technical item of the aircraft may exist a petty likewise much for some, but existence an airplane geek, I enjoyed it.
I finished this book on the style to accept a "hard hat" bout of a carrier, intending to leave the volume for another company to pick up but, alas, forgot. The book is mediocre in that information technology seems like the author is working a checklist: airplane pilot suffers personal loss when his bombardier is killed--cheque; pilot gets a girlfriend--bank check; pilot disobeys orders in very, very bad way--check; pilot gets shot downwardly and injured merely saves the twenty-four hours through personal heroism--cheque. I can merely think that parts are just completely unrealistic. You but can't take navy pilots flying off on their own missions, dropping bombs wherever.
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Source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/377425.Flight_of_the_Intruder
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