Product Description

The US Consul-General in Hong Kong, Virgil 'Tiger' Cole, was Jake Grafton's bombardier-navigator during the Vietnam War, and both have come a long way since: Grafton has risen to Rear Admiral, commanding a US aircraft carrier; Cole has become an internet billionaire, and a major political donor. Now something is going wrong in Hong Kong. A CIA agent is dead, as is a Chinese fixer too-closely associated with Cole. Grafton, his Chinese-speaking wife Callie, and CIA agent Tommy Carmellini are sent to find out what is going on, and what they begin to uncover horrifies Grafton. For Cole is closely involved in a conspiracy, code-named The Scarlet Team, to overthrow the Chinese communist government. Before long, Callie is kidnapped by members of The Scarlet Team, and as a revolution unfolds, Grafton faces a race against time to rescue his wife.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #266558 in Books
• Published on: 2001-08-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

About the Author
Stephen Coonts is a former naval aviator who flew combat missions during the Vietnam War. His previous novels have been worldwide bestsellers. A former attorney, he resides with his wife and son in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Customer Reviews

You've kidnapped my wife? How naughty of you!
I found this book rather disappointing, even though it did get quite exciting towards the end with the descriptions of how the rebel forces take on the Chinese Army in their attempt to take over Hong Kong.

My biggest criticism has to do with the way Jake Grafton responds to the kidnapping of his wife Callie by Hong Kong crime boss Sonny Wong. Jake knows that Sonny has Callie locked up somewhere, is having her tortured, and probably intends to kill her when he gets the information he wants and/or gets the ransom he is demanding.

So what does Jake do? He stages a raid on Sonny's restaurant, shooting a guard dead in the process. Jake then confronts Sonny and finishes up by setting fire to Sonny's restaurant. But does he demand his wife released here and now? No! Jake makes various threats to Sonny about what he'll do if Callie is harmed and then walks away!

I found that action so crazy that I spent most of the rest of the book wondering how Jake could be so dumb as to act like that. As a small redeeming feature even Jake wonders how he was so dumb: 100 pages later he's thinking of himself in the third person and saying, "He had his chance last night. He should have stuck his revolver up Wong's nose and told him he was going to blow his head off if he didn't produce Callie in a quarter of an hour."

Of course Jake eventually learns where Callie is being held captive and stages another raid in which he manages to free her. But still, how could he have been so dumb (and so uncaring?) to not exploit his first chance to get Callie freed?

I also found it somewhat problematic that the "Sergeant York" fighting robots were so advanced. This book is supposed to be a techno-thriller, but these robots were so intelligent and so powerful that it was more like science fiction.

I've read six of Stephen Coonts' books and think that he writes some pretty good techno-thrillers, although this one is definitely not one of his best. But one thought keeps returning to me: how does someone with Jake Grafton's flair for disobeying orders get promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral?

Rennie Petersen

You've kidnapped my wife? How naughty of you!
I found this book rather disappointing, even though it did get quite exciting towards the end with the descriptions of how the rebel forces take on the Chinese Army in their attempt to take over Hong Kong.

My biggest criticism has to do with the way Jake Grafton responds to the kidnapping of his wife Callie by Hong Kong crime boss Sonny Wong. Jake knows that Sonny has Callie locked up somewhere, is having her tortured, and probably intends to kill her when he gets the information he wants and/or gets the ransom he is demanding.

So what does Jake do? He stages a raid on Sonny's restaurant, shooting a guard dead in the process. Jake then confronts Sonny and finishes up by setting fire to Sonny's restaurant. But does he demand his wife released here and now? No! Jake makes various threats to Sonny about what he'll do if Callie is harmed and then walks away!

I found that action so crazy that I spent most of the rest of the book wondering how Jake could be so dumb as to act like that. As a small redeeming feature even Jake wonders how he was so dumb: 100 pages later he's thinking of himself in the third person and saying, "He had his chance last night. He should have stuck his revolver up Wong's nose and told him he was going to blow his head off if he didn't produce Callie in a quarter of an hour."

Of course Jake eventually learns where Callie is being held captive and stages another raid in which he manages to free her. But still, how could he have been so dumb (and so uncaring?) to not exploit his first chance to get Callie freed?

I also found it somewhat problematic that the "Sergeant York" fighting robots were so advanced. This book is supposed to be a techno-thriller, but these robots were so intelligent and so powerful that it was more like science fiction.

I've read six of Stephen Coonts' books and think that he writes some pretty good techno-thrillers, although this one is definitely not one of his best. But one thought keeps returning to me: how does someone with Jake Grafton's flair for disobeying orders get promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral?

Rennie Petersen

Another roller coaster
You know when you pick up one of Coonts' novels, you will not be able to put it down again. This is so true of this one.

The man that led the last act of defiance against the Chinese in Tianamen Square raises his head again. Now, the Chinese are to be on the end of a crushing defeat. This time Wu has the help of some high ranking friends. Grafton, again gets fully involved (albeit unwittingly).

Here is another bout of intrigue, political in-fighting, lots of normal fighting and of course, some space age bit of military hardware.

An excellent book.