The Red Horseman - Softcover

Coonts, Stephen

4

2,283 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0752849077 ISBN 13: 9780752849072

Publisher: Orion, 2003

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As the infrastructure of the Soviet Union crumbles before the world's eyes, twenty thousand tactical nuclear weapons, once under the command of the Soviet military, are up for grabs - and US intelligence believes they may soon appear on the open market. Jake Grafton is despatched to Moscow to ensure that the weapons are destroyed before they disappear into a terrorist pipeline. But Grafton discovers that unidentified American officials want his mission to fail - and will go to any lengths to stop him. Meanwhile, off the coast of the Canary Islands, the body of a British billionaire has been found floating in the sea. Grafton's contacts tell him the man was a victim of a hit squad from within the CIA. And before long, Grafton realises he too has been targeted for assassination - and the conspiracy is clearly stamped 'made in America'...

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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.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Rear Admiral Jake Grafton, aviator-hero of Coonts's Under Siege (1990), etc., now saves the world from potential Armageddon- -and gets to meet Boris Yeltsin and Saddam Hussein in the bargain. The nearly nonstop action begins when an Israeli spy gives Jake's assistant Toad Tarkington a photo that leads Jake and Toad to suspect a CIA cabal at work in numerous evil deeds, including the murder of publishing magnate Nigel Keren (read: Robert Maxwell) by way of ``binary'' poison--poison that, because of the duo's sleuthing, may next be used on them. But despite the threat, Jake and Toad soldier on with their next assignment: to monitor the dismantling of Soviet nuclear missiles. The pair's sojourn in Russia allows Coonts to indulge in his usual soapboxing (``In case you haven't noticed,'' says Jake, ``Russia is a third-world shithole'') even as Jake and Toad meet with beetle-browed generals and try to avoid being poisoned by the CIA cabal. Meanwhile, an anti-Yeltsin KGB faction blows up a Russian nuclear-weapons site, causing a meltdown that may kill a million (```Another million,' Jake Grafton roared savagely. `God in heaven, when will it ever stop?'''). As Russia erupts in panic, Jake learns that the meltdown covered up the theft from the site of several warheads that were then sold to Saddam Hussein. After Jake confers with Yeltsin, the admiral and Toad's pilot-wife take to the skies to bomb the reactor's remaining missiles, shooting down renegade KGB jets in the process. Jake then exposes the CIA cabal and retrieves the stolen warheads through a raid on Iraq--where both the outlaw KGB leader and Saddam himself make a big mistake by getting in Jake's way. Coonts's plots are getting as overcomplicated as Tom Clancy's, but his flying-and-fighting scenes are as exciting as ever. Chalk up another red, white, and blue ace for the author and his jet- jockeys. -- Copyright �1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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