Concise book review of "Flight of the Intruder" by Stephen Coonts.

Flight of the Intruder by Stephen Coonts Overall, I would say that Flight of the Intruder is a very well crafted novel, especially for the writer's first piece of published fiction. The book centers on veteran U.S. Navy pilot 1st. Lt. Jake "Cool Hand Grafton" and later on, his BN (bombardier/navigator) Lt. Comdr. Virgil "Tiger" Cole. Coonts, having flown A-6A Intruder bombers in the Vietnam War himself, is thus qualified to tell …

…not just a typical bloody massacre war thriller, but is quite deep and though provoking. Coonts manages to do a great job in developing the characters into their colorful and unique selves, such as the perpetually calm and understating Tiger Cole, the constantly horny Boxman, Sammy Lundeen, who gets fed up with his paperwork and starts defecating in various places aboard the ship, the somewhat timid New Guy, and Jake's compassionate new girlfriend, Callie McKenzie.