Deep Black (Deep Black Series #1) Book

Non-Grafton tale short on thrills & chills - why co-author??

It's beginning to look like Stephen Coonts doesn't know where to take his career now that the Jake Grafton series has been pretty well tapped out. From his first book ("The Intruders") through "America", we've watched Grafton grow from a young naval fighter pilot to an Admiral, providing suspense and thrills certainly on a par with Clancy's Jack Ryan (except in much fewer words!), with possibly a little more spin on politics (e. g. "Cuba" and "Hong Kong") and a little less focus on the glamour of technology.

In "Deep Black", in which Coonts collaborates with co-author Jim DeFelice (himself with a half dozen or so books to his credit), we find a tale about National Security/CIA intrigue fostered by a possible coup in Russia. Our leading characters, Charlie Dean, a ex-Marine sniper, and Lia DeFrancesca, a former Delta Force trooper, spend most of the book deep in Russia ferreting out various evidence of mischief by the bad guys. Activities there alternate with command and control vignettes back at the "Art Room", some sort of conglomerate spy oversight agency. [Perhaps we know now how the co-authors divided their assignments.:] At any rate, all are out to control world politics before the Russian President becomes an assassination victim, with most of the suspense leading up to the moment of truth re that event.

While the story was mildly entertaining at times, we thought the plot and writing skills on display were a departure from what we expect of Coonts. In particular the gender and sexual tension generated (or not) between the leads Charlie and Lia were barely beyond adolescent. Much of the technology used by the operatives, such as ear-embedded communications with an agency half-way 'round the globe, remote controlled drone fighters, and many other sensing and locating devices, were rather far-fetched, detracting from the credibility of the plot. It doesn't seem to us Coonts did his fan club any favor with this novel - perhaps it was just to keep his name out there while he gets ready to publish his next hardback? Our advice: wait!