With unfailing honesty he puts the reader inside the hearts and minds of the pilots who "drive" these powerful, hi-tech machines to reveal a world unknown to those outside the naval aviators' fraternity. From the good-natured raillery of the ready room to the shared dangers in the air to the manic release from combat stress in the bars of the Philippines, the airmen's special brand of camaraderie--the one stabilizing force in their otherwise precarious lives--is described here as only an insider could.

More than an exciting adventure story, FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER probes beneath the glamorous surface to examine the psychological tolls of war. Through the memorable characters of Jake Grafton and his squadron buddies Tiger Cole, The Boxman, Sammy Lundeen, and New Guy, Coonts explores the ways in which naval aviators attempt to cope with the intense pressures of their profession.

For Jake, a once-innocent love of flying has given way to guilt and frustration--and an urgent need to give meaning to the deaths he feels responsible for. the consequences of his conduct lead up to a final, gut-wrenching scene that will leave readers thinking about this moving novel long after turning the last page.

Stephen Coonts makes an auspicious debut as a writer with lucid, authentic, and deeply reflective book.

1973. The skies over Vietnam have finally gone silent. America has pulled out, the war is over. But for Lt. Jake Grafton, USN, fresh from two combat cruises and a harrowing shoot-down over Laos, the personal battle is just beginning....

His country has not welcomed him home with open arms, but with closed minds and closed fists. When his girlfriend's father called him a murderer, Jake walked away. But when a stranger in a bar challenged his honor, the man was not so lucky--the guy landed in the hospital. Jake landed in jail. And Grafton's shore-duty commander, who bailed him out, has devised the perfect punishment for his ace flight instructor: an eight month cruise on the aircraft carrier Columbia teaching jarheads--Marines--the nuances of carrier aviation. Flying missions over Vietnam was a living hell; now, as a Navy man working side-by-side with Marines who have no carrier aviation experience, Grafton's about to discover another world of fresh hell.

The Marines may be made of tempered steel and brass balls, but taking off and landing from a slippery flight deck, on a choppy sea, in a pitch-black night, there is no margin for error--or for animosity. And men like Marine Captain Flap Le Beau, Grafton's bombardier/navigator, have a real gift for pushing Jake's buttons. But he's going to have to learn to live with him...or die trying. They belong to the same society of warriors, they fought in the same war, they drink the same whiskey to toast fallen comrades. Now they must fly together in the same cockpit, must lock into each other and into their multi-million-dollar machine, and make the split-second decisions which will insure that, tonight, their fellow pilots don't raise a glass to them.

THE INTRUDERS captures as never before the raw fear and exhilaration of military aviation. It is the extraordinary story of peacetime warriors who are never truly at peace: men who run on instinct and adrenaline, whose only target is the horizon and whose goals are excellence--and survival.

After a particularly long cruise, the USS United States is in port in Naples and her crew is enjoying its first liberty in months. But something's not right. Several crew members have not reported back from their leave and a beautiful American reporter who boarded the United States in Tangiers may not be a reporter, or even an American. When one of Jake's men, in a hotel in Naples, witnesses an assassination attempt led by this woman, Grafton realizes the situation is much more serious than he suspected. What he doesn't know is that Colonel Qazi, an international terrorist, plans to board the United States and steal six nuclear weapons from her heavily guarded arsenal. Nor does he know that the plot is being financed by El Hakim, the power-hungry leader of an oil-rich Arab state. And most important, he doesn't know he, Jake, past forty and recently grounded by night blindness, is the only one who can stop Qazi, in one man-to-man aerial dogfight, one "final flight."

Fast-paced, action-packed, and filled with authentic technical details of modern aerial and nautical warfare, FINAL FLIGHT is at once a gripping, all too plausible thriller and a powerful, moving portrait of life on a super carrier in our ostensibly peacetime Navy.

Jake Grafton is back! After flying A-6 Intruders in Vietnam and, seventeen years later, commanding an air wing aboard a super carrier in the Mediterranean, Jake--now grounded--is assigned to the Pentagon where he is in charge of developing the navy's new top secret stealth attack plane, the A-l2.

Faced with political and technical problems at every turn, Jake soon finds himself drawn into the hunt for the Minotaur, a mole hidden in the Pentagon who is giving America's most precious defense secrets to the Russians. The FBI's chief spy-catcher is hot on the Minotaur's trail, or is he? Just who are the traitors in this Byzantine world of technocrats, politicians, and multi-billion dollar defense programs? Four people are dead and a test pilot is near death before Grafton hones in on the shocking identity of the Minotaur--and his even more chilling motive.

Stephen Coonts' books have been widely hailed for their technical accuracy, heart-stopping suspense, and well-drawn characters. Former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman said, "Coonts' books have a unique power because his yarn is spun of real policy dilemmas, personal crises, and human failings drawn from the world and worthy of high drama."

Combining authentic details of weapons strategies and stealth technology with an all-to-real story of the international trade in military secrets--and featuring the classic flying scenes that are Coonts' trademark--THE MINOTAUR confirms that Stephen Coonts is a modern master of suspense.

When the kingpin of the Medellin drug cartel is extradited to Washington, D.C. to start trial, President George Bush is severely wounded by a hired assassin. Vice President Dan Quayle assumes the responsibility for directing the fight against a criminal army that now rules the streets.

Captain Jake Grafton, working for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the battle to regain control of our nation's capital, faces the dual threat of a determined assassin and an equally determined, vicious drug lord--both intent on plunging the United States into chaos.

Filled with a cast of vivid, compelling characters, and charged with the drama of the U.S. military's most deadly challenge by an enemy on our own soil, UNDER SIEGE is vintage Stephen Coonts and will resonate long in our imaginations.

UNDER SIEGE, filled with heart-stopping suspense and striking psychological depth, secures Stephen Coonts' reputation as one of our major contemporary novelists.

Rear Admiral Jake Grafton, attached to the Defense Intelligence Agency, is dispatched to Moscow. His assignment: ensure that the weapons are destroyed before they disappear into a terrorist pipeline pointed south, toward the Middle East. Unofficially, however, Grafton has learned there are those in his own government who would prefer to see his mission fail--and who will go to any lengths to stop it.

A hemisphere away, off the coast of the Canary Islands, the body of the British billionaire and media magnate Nigel Keren has been found floating in the sea near his yacht. Although Keren apparently died of natural causes, Grafton's contacts in Israeli intelligence--the Mossad--have evidence that he was the victim of a hit squad from within the CIA. It's the kind of knowledge that could prove fatal to Grafton--as well as to his wife and daughter. But he cannot back off: if the freelance operation succeeds, it could fan the flames of Middle East hostility into an international conflagration.

In a world of shifting loyalties and shifting allegiances, the rules Grafton used to live by no longer apply. The countdown to Armageddon may already have begun, and the only thing Grafton knows for sure is--as a soldier among spies--his rear flank is dangerously exposed. He has been targeted for assassination, and the conspiracy is clearly stamped: Made in America.

Stalked by rogue CIA agents, caught between rival factions fighting for the control of Russia, Jake Grafton vividly demonstrates the qualities that have captivated millions of readers around the globe. THE RED HORSEMAN is a story ripped from today's headlines, touching a raw nerve that runs from the heart of the New Russia...through a Washington seemingly out of control...straight into our living rooms.

Meanwhile, the hijacking of a freighter transporting chemical and biological warheads to the United States from the warehouses of Guantanamo Bay sets off alarms all over the hemisphere. While searching for the stolen warheads, Rear Admiral Jake Grafton is drawn into the growing Cuban crisis.

Jake Grafton, the hero of six other Stephen Coonts bestsellers, from FLIGHT ON THE INTRUDER to THE RED HORSEMAN, is one of the stars of CUBA, but only one. Tommy Carmellini, burglar and reluctant CIA agent, makes a dazzling debut, one that may well lead to starring roles in future tales.

As always, Coonts' tale is full of memorable characters, such as Hector Sedano, the priest who believes Cuba is on the verge of greatness; his sister-in-law Mercedes Sedano, a patriot who risks everything for her country; younger brother El Ocho, the fiery youth who will build a Cuban future; and Carlos Corrado, a drunken fighter pilot who finally finds something worth fighting for.

Full of red-hot action, high adventure, and enough suspense to fry nerve endings, CUBA was published in hardcover in August 1999 by St. Martin's Press in the United States and in September, 1999 by Orion Books in the United Kingdom.

A lot has changed since those days, as the Graftons quickly discover. They find Hong Kong is a powder keg, ready to explode. The closure of a foreign bank by the communist government is the spark that lights the fuse... and Tiger Cole is right in the middle of the action.

When Callie is kidnapped by a rebel faction, Jake finds himself drawn into the vortex of a high-tech civil war. Drawing on the skills of CIA burglar Tommy Carmellini, in order to save his wife Jake Grafton must figure out who is wearing the white hats among the Chinese patriots fighting for the future of China... and make sure the right side wins.

As usual with Stephen Coonts' novels, HONG KONG is full of action, high adventure, and fascinating characters. Readers will also be captivated by the Sergeant York robots, the 21st Century replacement for the main battle tank. If you think high-tech is all Palm Pilots and email, think again!

With non-stop action and an international cast of complex characters, Stephen Coonts, the best techno thriller writer in the game, once again delivers for his fans. Published by St. Martin's Press, AMERICA is now in the nation's bookstores.

Grafton soon finds himself up to his neck in power politics, techno-billionaires, money-grubbing traitors, anarchists, and spies as he hunts for the terrorists, who, as he quickly discovers, don't all come from the Middle East.

At stake is the survival of western civilization, so Grafton pulls out all the stops. With the help of the indomitable Toad Tarkington and CIA burglar Tommy Carmellini, he raids the prisons to assemble his team while the clock ticks toward Armageddon.

Peopled with the rich, vivid characters that have made Stephen Coonts famous world-wide, LIBERTY is action and suspense from the very first page. And it poses the unanswerable question, how far should civilization go to defend itself from its mortal enemies?

LIBERTY will be published in hardcover in the United States by St. Martin's Press and in the United Kingdom by Orion Books in February, 2003. Abridged and unabridged audio tapes will be published by Brilliance Corporation.