America

Starred review from July 23, 2001
What could possibly go wrong if Congress manages to approve the ICBM missile defense shield being pushed by the White House? This master of the techno-thriller spins a bone-chilling worst-case scenario involving international spies, military heroics, conniving politicians, devious agencies, a hijacked nuclear sub, lethal computer hackers, currency speculators, maniac moguls and greedy mercenaries that rivals Clancy for fiction-as-realism and Cussler for spirited action. Rear Adm. Jake Grafton is shocked, as are his fellow Russian and European observers, when a satellite for the SuperAegis missile shield goes out of launch mode and is lost in seconds. Moments later, the state-of-the-art nuclear submarine America
is hijacked on her maiden voyage. The sub is armed with Tomahawk missiles with "Flashlight" warheads capable of frying all unprotected electronics within miles of detonation, crippling target cities. Jake suspects Janos Ilin and his Russian bosses, and forms a shaky "alliance" to test Ilin while digging for info. Meanwhile, Tommy Carmellini, a convicted felon with a talent for burglary that got him "recruited" by the CIA, tumbles onto a dastardly agency plot and secretly cues Jake. When American Tomahawks launched on Washington paralyze the city the whole East Coast lapses into chaos, the dollar plunges, and Jake's team, led by streetsmart black marine Gen. "Flap" LeBeau, goes into overdrive. Perennial bestseller Coonts (Hong Kong; Flight of the Intruder) never lets up with heart-racing jet/missile combat, suspenseful submarine maneuvers and doomsday scenarios that feel only too real, providing real food for thought in his dramatization of the missile-shield debate. (Aug. 14)Forecast:This timely tale starring the crowd-pleasing Jake Grafton will hit the lists with a vengeance. A major ad/promo campaign is scheduled, and an excerpt will run in the paperback edition of
Hong Kong.

January 1, 2002
Adult/High School-This popular series continues with a novel of political terror that is no longer as far-fetched as it may have seemed before September 11th. Both a new satellite and an extremely sophisticated nuclear submarine are stolen as they are launched. Before Admiral Jake Grafton and his team can locate either vehicle, missiles burn an airliner and the White House, and leave Washington without electricity for days. It's a complicated adventure novel full of the details of stealth technology, spies, and computer hackers for mature teens.-Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA

Copyright 2002 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2001
" America"--the U.S. Navy's most advanced submarine--is pirated on her shakedown cruise by a mysterious crew of terrorists, just two months after the newly launched first satellite in an orbital antimissile system mysteriously disappeared. The missing sub then dispatches its Tomahawk missiles with magnetic pulse warheads to Washington and New York, devastating the government and Wall Street. Jake Grafton thinks these dire deeds are connected, and with various allies, he sets out to prove it and retrieve sub and satellite. Right he is, of course: an American computer maven, bought and paid for by European financiers, is behind all the plunder and destruction. It takes some time and more than some personal risk on Jake's part to get to the bottom of things. " America" plays out on a stage so large that it tilts the balance of character and hardware heavily in favor of hardware. The animating conceit of a new cold war between the U.S and Europe rather pushes the envelope of plausibility, what with sensitive and professional ex-Russian submariners, crafty financiers who seem blood relatives of Austin Powers' foe, Dr. Evil, and a German thug named Heydrich. Still, Coonts manages to wrap hardware and conceit up in an absorbing, relatively compact package that won't lose him any of his numerous readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)

August 3, 2001
An American missile has crashed in the ocean, and our nation's newest submarine, the super-stealthy USS America, is hijacked. Adm. Jake Grafton, the hero of Coonts's numerous previous novels, searches for the lethal sub as its missiles rain down on Washington and New York. Coonts delivers plenty of action and cutting-edge technologyphotonics masts on the sub eliminate the need for a periscope, and EMP warheads on cruise missiles kill power bases in major cities. Combining this with a vast conspiracy behind the hijacking, Coonts has crafted an exciting, fast-paced, and very satisfying tale. As an admiral, Grafton may be a little long in the tooth and too highly ranked for some of the mano a mano action he engages in, and there may be one subplot too many, but the latest from the author of Cuba and Hong Kong is great fun. Fans of Coonts and his hero Grafton will love it. For all general collections.Robert Conroy, Warren, MI

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.