FLIGHT OF INTRUDER

Pocket, 1987. Very Good. With this well-crafted first novel, the publishers of The Hunt for Red Octo ber again demonstrate a sure eye for picking winners in the thriller genre. Jake Grafton is an A-6 Intruder pilot during the Vietnam War who flies his bomber on sorties past enemy flak and SAM missiles, and then must maneuver his plane, often at night, onto the relatively small deck of an aircraft c arrier. Former Navy flyer Coonts gives an excellent sense of the complexiti es of modern air raids and how nerve-wracking it is, even for the best airm en, to technically solve sudden problems over and over, knowing that even a twist of fatea peasant wildly firing a rifle from a fieldcould wipe out th e crew. Grafton alternates between remorse over the fate of his unseen Viet namese victims on the ground and a gung-ho "let's win this war" sentiment t hat lashes at both policymakers who select less-than-important targets for the dangerous missions and advocates for peace back in the States. The acti on, though, is realistically detailed and absorbing.