Deep Black

Everybody CALM DOWN!!! Who cares if this book was ghost written, or why and how Coonts developed the story? If you like fast, furious action, with plenty of plot twists and turns, then read it. It's almost like watching an action movie--you DON'T always know exactly what's going on every second, but that's the beauty--you eventually find out through the action sequences. RELAX!! Anyway, if you like this sort of thing--simple, yet action-filled, you will enjoy this book. Sometimes you just need comic-book stuff like this. Go for it!!

This is a complex and engaging thriller that weaves several different stories and plots together for a surprise payoff at the end. I especially liked Tommy Karr, a kind of fun-loving good ol' boy for modern times.

Charles Dean pays a surprise visit to his friend Dr. James Kegan only to find the body of a young Asiatic male lying dead in his home and his buddy nowhere to be found. Dr. Kegan has worked with viruses and bacteria that could be made into weapons so a concerned Charles calls Desk Three, the super high tech covert force. The director is sufficiently worried so he sends Charlie to a scientific conference that Dr. Keegan was supposed to attend.Once there he is kidnapped and sent to Austria where some terrorists demand that he hand over the antidote. It seems Charlie's friend developed a disease that resembles rat-bite fever that is resistant to penicillin. A second team is sent to Thailand where Dr. Kegan was studying plants indigenous to the area. The weapon has been sold to two countries that could use it as a weapon against the U.S. They must destroy the weapons that are in the hands of the terrorists and find an antidote before the disease gets loose in the general population.Stephen Coonts and Jim De Felice have created a techno thriller that starts off fast and by the end of the book is moving at the speed of light. Although there is plenty of action with agents using high-tech gadgets, the major question that permeates the whole book is why did Dr. Kegan, a good man by all accords, create this weapon and where is he holed up. This mystery within a thriller is a prime reason that Stephen Coonts always has his reader's coming back for the next book he writes.Harriet Klausner

Interesting collaboration by Coonts and DeFelice, seems to take Coonts' action and blend with DeFelice techno stuff (he works with Dale Brown). I thought they tried too hard in a couple of places to be snappy and ahead of the curve with their gadgets, but the read was entertaining. I wasn't looking for any big thoughts here, just a fun ride.

This was my first Stephen Coonts book and I enjoyed it.Thisbook features the NSA.An American spy plane that is gatheringevidence of a new Russian weapon is shot down by a mysterious MiG.The NSA dispatches to see what has happened to the plane.Onthis team are Charlie Dean a former Marine sniper who was featured in "Combat".Also on the team is Delta Force trooper LiaDeFrancesca.After the team's arrival a conspiracy in uncoveredabout a coup and the assassination of the Russian President.Uponarrival in Moscow the teams discovers a more far reaching conspiracy that they must help stop.This was a very readable bookthat I enjoyed. Read it.