KCR: The Intruders (novel) by Stephen Coonts

Cover of The INTRUDERSThe Intruders continues the career of Stephen Coonts' favorite character, Jake "Cool Hands" Grafton. After end of Vietnam War, Grafton was assigned to a carrier mainly training jarheads (US Marines) flying Intruders, and he's paired up with a marine, and together, they have all sorts of adventures on and off the carrier. It ends with an encounter against a bunch of pirates.

This is more of an adventure novel than a military novel, as there isn't much fighting. However, Coonts knows his carrier ops, and this has more stories about carrier ops, shore leave, and stuff, plus the jokes, the friendly joshing between Navy and Marines, and more.

If you read Flight of the Intruder, you should also read The Intruders.

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• KCR: Flight of the Intruder (novel) (crankyreviews.blogspot.com)

KCR: Flight of the Intruder (novel)

Flight of the Intruder by Stephen Coonts is the novel he had written, but can't find a publisher for years. When Tom Clancy managed to get his "Hunt for Red October" published, suddenly Coont's novel found an outpet.

Coonts is not a bad writer, but you can tell this is his first novel. A lot about "Jake Grafton" is almost autobiographical, describing Coonst, and characterization is a bit lacking. You don't really get a sense of what exactly drives Jake Grafton. it is as if he's just floating through life, not sure of what he wants, while doing some of the most dangerous activities on earth: being a naval aviator on a US Navy Carrier, and he's good at it.

The flying scenes are very good, but the plot is a bit of contrived high concept: what if we really bombed Hanoi... once?

It is worth reading, if you want to learn about life as naval aviator.

And skip the movie. It's a rather lousy adaptation.

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KCR: Dangerous Ground (novel, military, submarine)

Dangerous Ground by Larry Bond is not quite his usual fare. Larry Bond is probably best known for collaboration with Tom Clancy for "Red Storm Rising" (even though Larry Bond's name was not on the front cover), and later his own novels "Vortex" (South Africa) and "Red Phoenix" (Korea), both of which are in similar vein to Red Storm Rising... large regional conflict.

Dangerous Ground takes us to a much different scenario... about one sub, one special mission. The USS Memphis, 688 (Los Angeles) class sub is about to be decommissioned, but just before she did, she was sent to do one last special mission... Infiltrate the "backyard" of Russian waters, and find out what sort of nasty nuclear waste was dumped there. The crew is tired and expected to go home when this dropped in their lap. The captain is a stern taskmaster who sees this mission as impossible. The two civilian contractors are not getting along with the crew because they're civilians. Then the sub found something that they are never supposed to find, and thus may be hunted by the Russian navy...

The book is told through the viewpoint of Jerry Mitchell, former naval aviator, now a submariner. He's new enough that he's not accepted, and in fact, some are working at cross-purposes to him. The problem is noen of this feel like much of a conflict, but rather, like a slow adventure novel where nothing really happens for much of the book, and even then it's more of a complication instead of an outright conflict. The mission isn't until 2/3rds into the book, and even then the actual "big threat" didn't appear until almost to the very end. You just don't get this "collision course" feel that good techno-thrillers give you.

What this book will give you is a very good sense what it takes to be a submariner in the US Navy, like how the boat is run, who's in what department, how the rooms are organized, how drills are done, how to deal with emergencies, how to "qual" for the dolphins (i.e. get formally qualified as a submariner by passing tests in almost every department), and some underwater unmanned vehicle control stuff.

Somehow, this book just doesn't work for me, you may have better luck, esp. if you like the subject.

Rating: Try it (but it's a bit of "meh" for me)

KCR: Stealth (movie, war, terrorism, scifi)

Image via Wikipedia

Flag of North Korean Army

Stealth is one of those big-budget productions that looks good, but full of holes... typical Hollywood production. The problem is it left a lot of "reality" out and the result requires you to leave your brain behind when it is supposedly about near-future.

The short summary: US Navy has deployed 3 experimental fighters called Talons, and they are amazingly effective. They were joined by an even MORE experimental plane, called EDI, and unmanned plane driven by Quantum computer AI. They attacked a terrorist HQ. They returned, but EDI was hit by lightning, which seem to trigger a change. Later, on another mission attacking rogue warlord with nuclear warheads, EDI disobeyed direct orders and went rogue. The three fighters chased it but one crashed into a mountain, another was damaged and ejected over hostile space. Third somehow convinced EDI to fly with him back to Alaska, but plane was damaged by crash landing. It is where the pilot discovered there's a huge coverup and he must risk it all to save the pilot behind enemy lines...

Geography is a major problem in this movie. If you need details, please consult the Goof section on IMDB for this movie. Computer goes rogue and was talked down was cliche. None of the pilots actually ACT like pilots... they talk way too much. I mean, who the **** talks about her ejection, giving blow and blow accounts of her falling out of the sky? ****. Then the idea of one person outsmarting an entire patrol of North Korean military, armed with everything, with just a PDW, is just idiotic and unrealistic. Then there's the problem with of Gannon flying EDI without a G-suit.

So, remember, leave your head at the door for this movie.

Rating: Rent it