Espionage

A book that could be ripped from the headlines! Except, that cooler heads have prevailed over human history; in this case, the Iranians want to nuke a good part of the world in the name of Jihad. Our heroes Tommy and Jake prevent it. The reader gets the idea that muslims discriminate against women and want to create an islamic state all over the world. The book is well written -- Coonts is a former Naval Aviator and it shows. He should have had some joint duty--the Navy puts it all together, solves the problem. Jake Grafton is appointed by POTUS as on scene commander and the narrator murders some words, especially ship names. Both detract from the overall readability of a very interesting historical postulate. ( )

Stephen Coonts is a former naval aviator and a Vietnam combat veteran – and it shows: The Disciple, even more than his previous books, is fully-fledged dick-fic, a military techno-cum spy thriller, with the emphasis on the ‘techno’ so be warned if you prefer you books plot rather than technology driven.

Coonts is a competent writer who has produced several decent and some excellent books in the past where the story and characters have been allowed to carry readers on without being bogged down or details or constant interruptions.

Series heroes Tommy Carmellini and Jake Grafton are at it again as Iran plans to nuke the US and Israel, precipitating a holy war: Fifth Columnists try to stop the Iranian government while Israel gets jumpy and an unbelieving US stands by doing nothing. At half the length and with a rewrite The Disciple would be a thriller: as it stands, its just all a bit of a yawn. ( )

very technicle ( )

This is only the second Stephen Coonts novel I've listened to. The first was The Traitor, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The Disciple was fairly boring in the beginning with too many descriptions and not enough action or interaction between characters. It picked up later on, but had some pretty unbelievable parts like the main character, Carmellini, surviving a bomb blast where he was dug out of the rubble and then within hours winning a fight and carrying the unconscious body of the man he beat down stairs, etc.

The story itself, Iran developing nuclear warheads and firing them at their enemies, was a good concept. But for some reason, I never reached the point where I had to know what was going to happen next. I like spy novels, but this one was only so-so. ( )