Books in series
#1
Flight of the Intruder
1986
Also Available in an Audio Edition from Audible via Amazon
In Flight of the Intruder Jake Grafton is an A-6 Intruder pilot during the Vietnam War who flies his bomber on sorties past enemy flak and SAM missiles, and then must maneuver his plane, often at night, onto the relatively small deck of an aircraft carrier. Former Navy flyer Stephen Coonts gives an excellent sense of the complexities of modern air raids and how nerve-wracking it is, even for the best airmen, to technically solve sudden problems over and over, knowing that even a twist of fate like a peasant wildly firing a rifle from a field could wipe out the crew. Grafton alternates between remorse over the fate of his unseen Vietnamese victims on the ground and a gung-ho "let's win this war" sentiment that lashes at both policymakers who select less-than-important targets for the dangerous missions and advocates for peace back in the States.
#2
The Intruders
1994
1973. The skies over Vietnam have finally gone silent. America has pulled out, the war is over. But for Lieutenant 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, his bombardier and 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 million-dollar machine, and make the split-second decisions which will insure that, tonight, their fellow pilots won't raise a glass to them.
#3
Final Flight
1988
The most daring—and deadly—terrorist plot of all time is about to unfold aboard the supercarrier USS United States . If it succeeds, the balance of nuclear power will tilt in favor of a remorseless Arab leader. And it looks as if no one can stop it - except navy "jet jock" Jake Grafton. "Cag " Grafton is one helluva pilot. His F-14 Tomcat is one helluva plane. But some of Jake's crewmates have already vanished. A woman reporter who boarded the ship in Tangiers may not be who she claims to be. And Jake may have to disobey a direct order from the President himself for one spine-tingling, hair-raising Final Flight.
#4
The Minotaur
1989
Jake Grafton, former Vietnam pilot and air-wing commander, has been assigned to the Pentagon. His orders are to lead the development of the navy's new top-secret attack plane, the A-12. But, faced with political and technical problems at every turn, he soon finds himself drawn into a hunt for the Minotaur - a mole hidden in the Pentagon who is selling America's most precious defence secrets. The FBI's chief spy-catcher is hot on the Minotaur's trail - or is he? Just who are the traitors? Four people are dead and a test pilot is near death before Grafton homes in on the shocking identity of the Minotaur - and his even more chilling motive ...
#5
Under Siege
1990
With Flight of the Intruder, Final Flight and The Minotaur, Stephen Coonts has established himself as one of the nation's premier novelists of technological suspense thrillers. Following the Summer '90 release of the major film version of Flight of the Intruder, the pool of Coonts fans will surely increase. Coonts' hero Jake Grafton is back in D.C. as the War on Drugs escalates to an unexpected climax.
#6
The Red Horseman
1990
Rear Admiral Jake Grafton is dispatched to Moscow to ensure that the twenty thousand tactical nuclear weapons about to be auctioned off by the Soviet military do not fall into the hands of terrorists. 250,000 first printing. $100,000 ad/promo. Tour.
#7
Cuba
1999
Stephen Coonts' bestelling novels takes readers into the heart of harrowing, pulse-pounding action, whether on land, on sea, or in the air. Now, this master of full-tilt, blockbuster suspense turns into a lush setting 90 miles from U.S. soil. In Cuba, Fidel Castro lies dying. Human sharks are circling. And one man has his finger on the trigger of a weapon that will change everything...
Admiral Jake Grafton is overseeing a shipment of nerve gas being transferred for a top-secret U.S. stockpile at Guantanamo Bay. But a power struggle inside Cuba has ignited an explosive plot and turned a horrific new weapon on the U.S. Now, Jake must strap himself into the cockpit of a new generation of American aircraft and fly blind into the heart of an island that is about to blow—and take the whole world with it...
#8
Hong Kong
2000
Jake Grafton takes his wife, Callie, along when the U.S. government sends him to Hong Kong to find out how deeply the U.S. consul-general is embedded in a political money-raising scandal. And why not? Jake and Callie met and fell in love in Hong Kong during the Vietnam War, and the consul-general is an old friend from those days, Tiger Cole. The Graftons quickly discover that Hong Kong is a powder keg ready to explode. A political murder and the closure of a foreign bank by the communist government are the sparks that light 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 operative Tommy Carmellini, in order to save his wife Jake Grafton must figure out who he can trust-both among the Western factions vying for control of the volatile situation, and among the Chinese patriots fighting for their nation's future-and make sure the right side wins.
#9
America
2001
Dispatched on a trial run, NASA's SuperAegis satellite has been created as the foundation of an international antimissle defense system. But moments after dispatch, it vanishes. Rear Admiral Jake Grafton fears something worse than a grave malfunction—he suspects sabotage... — The USS America—the world's most technically advanced nuclear submarine—is launched on its maiden voyage. Then shortly after steaming out of harbor, the unthinkable happens. Pirated by terrorists, America disappears beneath the roiling waves of the Atlantic, its Tomahawk warheads aimed directly at the United States...
An ingeniously calculated war has been waged—but the rouge enemy is far more insidious than Jake Grafton ever imagined. His mission: ferret out the core group responsible, overtake the stealth sub, and destroy it. But times is running out, and the race is on for Grafton to blow the covert operation out of the water before an entire nation is brought to its knees.
#10
Liberty
2003
On a quiet park bench in Manhattan—just miles from the ruins of the World Trade Center—a spymaster delivers a chilling secret message to Jake Grafton: A rogue Russian general has sold four nuclear warheads to a radical Islamic terrorist group, the Sword of Islam. The group intends to detonate them in America in the ultimate terror strike, the apocalypse that will trigger a holy war between Western civilization and the Muslim world. After passing the message on to his peers, Grafton is charged by the president with assembling a secret team to find the warheads before America's population centers are consumed by a nuclear holocaust.As he hunts for terrorists, Grafton soon finds himself up to his neck in power politics, techno-billionaires, money-grubbing traitors, anarchists, and spies. He also discovers that the terrorists don't all come from the Middle East. They come from places close to home. They masquerade as patriots. Some may even have the president's ear.
With the survival of Western civilization at stake, Grafton pulls out all the stops. Calling on the assistance of the indomitable Toad Tarkington, and CIA burglar Tommy Carmellini, he raids the prisons to assemble his team while the clock ticks toward Armageddon.
#11
Liars & Thieves
2004
Unafraid to walk both sides of the law to attain his goals, CIA operative Tommy Carmellini is sent to post guard duty at a farmhouse in West Virginia. When he arrives, he finds the guards shot dead and a ruthless team of American commandos killing everyone in sight. Carmellini escapes in a hail of bullets with what seems to be the sole survivor-a stunningly attractive translator, who then steals his car and abandons him after a deadly mountain car chase. But someone else survived the massacre-someone who holds the answers to a deadly conspiracy.
Catapulted into a life and death struggle, Tommy must employ all his savvy and skill just to stay alive. But to find out who is hunting him and why, he'll need the help of retired Admiral Jake Grafton. Now they must learn to tell friend from foe as they fight their way through a poisonous wilderness of intrigue, all the way to a presidential convention in New York City-and to the surprising identity of someone standing on the verge of absolute power who has jeopardized the safety of the entire nation to prevent a dark secret from ever seeing the light of day...
#12
The Traitor
2006
Abu Qasim was the perfect spy. He was the man who could bring down Bin Laden, the man who could smash Al Queda. Surrounded by fanatics in the heart of the beast, he believed in himself beyond any shadow of a doubt, believed in what he knew to be right with a faith that could withstand all adversity. He lived by his wits and played the double game to the last drop of blood. Or did he?
Assigned to Paris, CIA officer Tommy Carmellini finds himself working for his old boss, Jake Grafton, who is the new CIA operations officer in charge of Europe. Grafton has a mission: He believes that the director of French Intelligence has a secret agent among the leaders of Al Queda and the Americans want access to that intelligence. Yet the director denies it!
Trying to ferret out the truth, Grafton and Carmellini are quickly entangled in a mare’s nest of espionage, deception and murder. The director has secret investments in the Bank of Palestine and a killer is on the loose. If that weren’t enough, the leaders of the G-8 industrialized nations are soon to meet in Paris, an event that would make a tempting terrorist target. Throw into the mix the very beautiful and clever daughter of the French Ambassador to Washington, an Israeli spy or two, and the stage is set for a tour de force of deception and drama in the world’s most beautiful city, graceful, ageless Paris.
#13
The Assassin
2008
The headlines only reveal half the truth. Here’s the real story...Abu Qasim, the ruthless and cunning Al Qaeda leader who nearly succeeded in blowing up a meeting of the G-8 in Paris, has escaped from the grasp of the Americans and is plotting his next move. A small band of powerful men, highly placed leaders of industry and politics in the West, have decided they need to target and destroy the terrorist and his inner circle before he can strike again. When a prominent Russian dissident is poisoned in London, however, it’s clear that there’s a very dangerous leak within the ranks of the Westerners, and that Abu Qasim has turned the tables on his rivals—-it is now he who is pursuing, and his aim is to kill.
Admiral Jake Grafton dispatches special agent Tommy Carmellini to infiltrate the plot. He tracks the gorgeous and seductive Marisa Petrou, a Frenchwoman who may be Qasim’s daughter and who has her own reasons for wanting him alive—-or wishing him dead. Qasim, meanwhile, has a trick up his sleeve—-one that he’s been planning for years.
Who is behind the methodical assassinations of the wealthy and powerful Western vigilante team? Will Abu Qasim slip the noose once again? In this pulse-pounding thriller, Tommy Carmellini must put a stop to a master of terror before he unleashes even more death.
#14
The Disciple
2009
Iran is much closer to having operational nuclear weapons than the CIA believes, and Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has a plan. With twelve nuclear warheads mounted on twelve missiles, he will make Iran a martyr nation; then he will lead the world's Muslims in a holy war against the nonbelievers. However, the Americans have a secret weapon in a group of Iranian dissidents, including a brother and sister determined to avenge the death of their beloved grandfather at the hands of the religious police. They are funneling information to Tommy Carmellini. They want to stop the attack before their leader launches a new world war. Will the U.S. government believe the information they are providing, and can the Americans prevent the Israelis from taking matters into their own hands, which could prove disastrous?
#15
Pirate Alley
2013
A luxurious vacation cruise to the exotic locales of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden turns into a nightmare for passengers and crew when their ship is suddenly attacked and captured by a band of bloodthirsty Somali pirates. An initial rescue mission ends in failure; the decks are covered in blood. Unless they are paid a ransom of $200 million dollars within seven days, the pirates threaten to execute all their hostages. But information gleaned from a captured Al Qaeda operative indicates that there is a far more dangerous conspiracy afoot.Once the ransom is paid, Islamic militants intend to swoop in and slaughter the passengers in an orgy of terror, hoping to provoke a massive American military response that will set the Muslim world aflame. Jake Grafton is assigned to negotiate with the brutal pirate chief while his right hand man, Tommy Carmellini, and a team of CIA and Navy SEAL operatives mount an undercover operation to save the hostages and keep the U.S. from being maneuvered into a murderous war.
#16
The Art of War
2016
The Chinese dragon is flexing its muscles. As its military begins to prey on neighbors in the South China Sea, attacking fishing vessels and scheming to seize natural resources, the US goes on high alert. But a far more ominous danger lurks closer to home: a Chinese sleeper cell has planted a nuclear weapon in the harbor at Norfolk, Virginia, the biggest naval base on the planet. The target: a secret rendezvous of the Atlantic Fleet aircraft carriers and their battle groups. When the CIA director is assassinated and Jake Grafton is appointed to take his place, he gets wind of the conspiracy, but has no idea when or where the attack will occur. In the meantime, a series of assassinations, including an attempt on the life of the President, shake the country and deliberately mask a far more sinister objective. Can Jake Grafton and his right hand man, Tommy Carmellini, stop the plot to destroy the US Navy?
#17
Liberty's Last Stand
2016
New York Times bestselling author Stephen Coonts delivers another nail-biting thriller starring CIA Director Jake Grafton and his right-hand man, Tommy Carmellini.
The president of the United States stands on an outdoor stage, flanked by powerful members of his administration and party. Television crews are preparing for broadcast. High above the stage, on a nearby rooftop, a decorated sniper adjusts the scope on his rifle.
Afterwards, America will never be the same.
Jake Grafton and Tommy Carmellini suddenly find themselves on the wrong side of the law when a public act of violence throws the country into chaos just before a presidential election. After martial law is declared and rioting begins, Grafton and Carmellini must risk everything to unravel a massive conspiracy and help a new resistance movement rise up against an unimaginable enemy…
#18
The Armageddon File
2017
The next exciting thriller from New York Times bestselling author Stephen Coonts!
Jake Grafton and Tommy Carmellini race to solve the mystery of a potentially stolen election before Americans' faith in our democracy, sovereignty, and federal government become completely undone.
#19
The Russia Account
2019
Stephen Coonts’ newest novel The Russia Account pits CIA officer Tommy Carmellini against a murderous, international financial conspiracy that leaves a trail of death and corruption, extending from a small bank in Estonia, to the highest reaches of the Kremlin, to the halls of the Congress, and perhaps even to the CIA itself—putting Admiral Jake Grafton, the head of the CIA, in the crosshairs of an assassin.
Burglar turned CIA warrior Tommy Carmellini has starred in eight previous Coonts’ thrillers, from Liars and Thieves to Coonts’ latest from Regnery, The Armageddon File. Realistic, passionate, in love with life, Tommy struggles in our turbulent age. Critics have labeled him a “hip, modern hero.” With the help of his mentor Jake Grafton, up to now Carmellini has always managed to foil his enemies. Discovering and defeating the powerful forces behind this massive, blood-stained financial conspiracy that threatens the very foundations of the United States government will be his most difficult challenge. Perhaps, he suspects, an impossible one.
Author
Stephen Coonts
Author · 45 books
Stephen Coonts (born July 19, 1946) is an American thriller and suspense novelist. Coonts grew up in Buckhannon, West Virginia, a small coal-mining town and earned an B.A. degree in political science at West Virginia University in 1968. He entered the Navy the following year and flew an A-6 Intruder medium attack plane during the Vietnam War, where he served on two combat cruises aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN-65). He accumulated 1600 hours in the A-6 Intruder and earned a number of Navy commendations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war he served as a flight instructor on A-6 aircraft for two years, then did a tour as an assistant catapult and arresting gear officer aboard USS Nimitz (CVN-68). His navigator-bombardier was LTjg Stanley W. Bryant who later became a Rear Admiral and deputy commander-in-chief of the US naval forces in Europe. After being honorably discharged from duty as a lieutenant in 1977, Coonts pursued a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree at the University of Colorado, graduating in 1979. He then worked as an oil and gas lawyer for several companies, entertaining his writing interests in his free time. He published short stories in a number of publications before writing Flight of the Intruder in 1986 (made into a movie in 1991). Intruder, based in part on his experiences as a bomber pilot, spent 28 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists in hardcover and launched his career as a novelist. From there he continued writing adventure-mysteries using the character from his first book, Jake Grafton. He has written several other series and stand-alone novels since then, but is most notable for the Grafton books. Today Coonts continues to write, having had seventeen New York Times bestsellers (out of 20 books), and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with his wife and son. Taken from Wikipedia Learn more about Stephen Coonts on the Macmillan website.
