Dark Zone

Deep Black #3

by Stephen Coonts, Jim DeFelice, J. Charles (Reader)

Dark Fear In a secluded headquarters on the other side of the globe, a terrorist mission is underway – a plan to set off an underwater explosion so great, and with such hellish force, that it could shift the very foundation of the earth’s surface, causing untold calamity and world-wide disaster. The terrorists call it “God’s Revenge.” Dark Weapon A nuclear warhead has gone missing. Small in size, it packs up to ten times the kilotons that exploded over Hiroshima. It’s now in the wrong hands, ready to detonate a world war of unfathomable proportions. Dark Zone In the top-secret headquarters of the National Security Agency, a small cadre of special agents form Deep Black, designed to bring a techno-edge to covert operations and eliminate the cyber-threats to world peace. This is Charlie Dean’s world – an NSA ex-Marine sniper now enlisted to stop the unthinkable. But when his suspicions of a traitor in his shadow become frighteningly true, Dean’s race against time could mean the end of the free world. “READERS KNOW THEY CAN COUNT ON COONTS.” — *Midwest Book Review “[Coonts] is a natural storyteller [with] a rare gift.” — USA Today “Coonts delivers some of his best gung-ho suspense writing yet.” — Kirkus Reviews

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Espionage, Military Fiction, Action, Adventure, Suspense

Audio CD

First published November 30, 2004

About the author

Stephen Coonts (born July 19, 1946) is an American thriller and suspense novelist.

Coonts grew up in Buckhannon, West Virginia, a small coal-mining town and earned an B.A. degree in political science at West Virginia University in 1968. He entered the Navy the following year and flew an A-6 Intruder medium attack plane during the Vietnam War, where he served on two combat cruises aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN-65). He accumulated 1600 hours in the A-6 Intruder and earned a number of Navy commendations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war he served as a flight instructor on A-6 aircraft for two years, then did a tour as an assistant catapult and arresting gear officer aboard USS Nimitz (CVN-68). His navigator-bombardier was LTjg Stanley W. Bryant who later became a Rear Admiral and deputy commander-in-chief of the US naval forces in Europe.

After being honorably discharged from duty as a lieutenant in 1977, Coonts pursued a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree at the University of Colorado, graduating in 1979. He then worked as an oil and gas lawyer for several companies, entertaining his writing interests in his free time.

He published short stories in a number of publications before writing Flight of the Intruder in 1986 (made into a movie in 1991). Intruder, based in part on his experiences as a bomber pilot, spent 28 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists in hardcover and launched his career as a novelist. From there he continued writing adventure-mysteries using the character from his first book, Jake Grafton. He has written several other series and stand-alone novels since then, but is most notable for the Grafton books.

Today Coonts continues to write, having had seventeen New York Times bestsellers (out of 20 books), and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with his wife and son.

Taken from Wikipedia

Learn more about Stephen Coonts on the Macmillan website.

Reviews

[PamG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dark Zone by Stephen Coonts and Jim DeFelice is the third book in the Deep Black series. This can be classified as a technothriller or an espionage thriller. Within in the National Security Agency, there is a small group of special agents forming Deep Black. Their mission is to bring a technological edge to covert operations and stop cyber threats. This novel features Charlie Dean, Tommy Karr and Lia DeFrancesca. A multi-phased terrorist plot is underway and Deep Black gets hints of something big and terrible is going to happen. Will Charlie, Tommy, and Lia be able to stop it?

The main characters are actually quite interesting, including their boss William Rubens who actually has the most depth of any of the characters even though he plays a supporting role. I have read six other novels by Coonts and all of them were rated 4 stars. I never thought I would rate one less than that. However, this novel felt very disjointed. While many novels go back and forth between points of view and locations smoothly, this one did not work well for me. Despite this and a slow middle section, there is still plenty of action and an interesting plot line that kept me progressing through the book. The ending definitely requires suspension of belief.

With plenty of action and suspense, it provided entertainment. The series is best read in order.

Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date was November 30, 2004.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third audiobook in this series. It brought the same characters: Leah, Carr, Charlie Dean, and the Deep Black team. They foil two plots by Muslim terrorists: One to blow up the Chunnel with a nuke and the other to bomb the Eiffel Tower. It was four CD disks long and held my interest on two airplane flights.

I give it four stars because although I am liking the characters, they are getting a little too predictable. In my head I see Carr as Chris Farley (the voice), Dean as John Walsh (America's Most Wanted), Leah as Nana Visitor (Deep Space Nine), and the director of Deep Black as Rob Riggle (because of the narrator's voicing of him).

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

a "low rent" James Rollins "Sigma Force" imitation...a world-wide threat addressed by a US semi-techno/military force...thoroughly entertaining...love the "Dirty, rotton" terrorist lose!!!

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fast paced plot which starts out in North Korea where Lea, one of the NSA agents gets beat up and returns to USA. Meanwhile Tommy and Dean, NSA agents, follow leads of a case un Great Britain and then off to France. The basic plot is an Arab, Musa, who is going to blow up the Eifel Tower and the English Channel train tunnel in vengance for the death of his father. Tommy aborts the Tower bomb through an audacious climbing and shooting. Lea and Dean take care of the Tunnel bomb. As usual there is lots of tech talk to the "Art Room" which is in the NSA headquarters.

[nx74defiant · Rating 3 out of 5]

It got off to a slow start. It goes back and forth between different characters. One of the women is raped. The rape is off page so no details. Then on she is trying to work while dealing with her trauma and flash backs. Through most of the book you know it is building to something, but you have no idea what.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great action and suspense.

[Syed Saqib Mumtaz Hashmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good military thriller.

[Nigel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent terrorist thriller that sees the Desk 3 team operating for the most part in France. It starts of with the end of a mission in North Korea for Lia who for some reason is picked up at the airport on her way out of the country and severely roughed up by airport security. For the rest of the story she is obviously troubled by her experiences and being Lia responds by pushing people away. I am somewhat torn by this element of the story as on the one hand it is refreshing to see a special ops person experience normal human reactions to a problem and not simply brush it off. On the other hand there was no real reason for this plotline as the interlude in North Korea has no impact on the main storyline and showing Lia's vulnerability doesn't add much either.
The main plotline is the team trying to track down computers that are being piggy backed and used by terrorists in planning operations. This leads to the discovery of a plan to plant explosives on the Eifel Tower and to explode a stolen nuclear warhead in the Channel Tunnel. The are a racing to try a prevent both occurrences and the question is, can the team save the day!

[Carl Alves · Rating 2 out of 5]

In this novel, Deep Black is a top secret agency within the umbrella of the NSA, which acts as operatives for the organization. This novel goes all over the police and not often times coherent. Operatives Charlie Dean and Tommy Karr go from rescuing an ambassador’s daughter to chasing an Algerian terrorist who is planning on attacking France. A nuclear warhead capable of unleashing massive devastation has gone missing. Deep Black is also being attacked from within when it is being attacked from a legal standpoint.

This novel wasn’t especially well written or well organized. There is too much jumping from place to place. There is also a real lack of believability in the novel, including some real groaning moments. There was a good deal of action and the pace was fast, but overall this was a weak action/thriller. This is not quite at the Tom Clancy level and I would advise skipping it.

Carl Alves – author of Blood Street

[Chad McCauley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot was interesting, but seemed to take forever to converge all the differing points of view.

There was some focus on things that were completely irrelevant to the plot (like the fate of the General in hospice), which made me question why it was even included.

At times I was confused over the “tech-talk” when it came to computer networks, which made for slow reading at points.

Otherwise… it was a good read.

[Stuart Austwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Difficult book to put down.

Yet another triumph for Stephen Coonts. I have finally dared to move from his earlier engaging novels,to these more recent ones and have not been disappointed at all.

[Monica Willyard Moen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fast-paced action all the Way, as is usual in this series. I especially like how the author slowly reveals who his characters are, slowly stripping back the layers throughout the books in the series to make them seem more human in each book.

[James Hein · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure how I missed this series for so long but reading through therm now enjoying the stories.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was OK. Some exiting parts. Tommy is always entertaining! Some uncomfortable parts that were not necessarily solved or addressed. Could have been so much more

[Edward Maroncha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read

[Monzenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't get me wrong, the action was still nice. It's just that the topic is just all right to me this time, and what one of the characters went through wasn't well presented. The coarse nature of the character didn't help either. In any case though it's an adequate addition to the series.

[Mark Easter]

The mission seems routine: go to London, meet someone in a park, obtain a list of computers that are being used secretly by terrorists to pass messages. But just as Deep Black operatives Charlie Dean and Tommy Karr are about to meet their contact, a sniper guns the stranger down. A Deep Black investigation begins. Former Delta Force trooper Lia DeFrancesca, a sexy ass-kicking woman and Dean's only weakness, gets called in to help. The investigation kicks into high gear when the murder is found to be connected to the disappearance of a 1960s French atomic warhead. Soon it becomes apparent that what was thought to be an elaborate plan to blow up the Eiffel Tower is only a diversionary plan for the real target: the Channel Tunnel. A nuclear warhead going off in the tunnel will create an earthquake, triggering a tsunami powerful enough to wipe out the coasts of France and England, killing hundreds of thousands. It is up to Deep Black to expose the plot and thwart the terrorists' plans on this, their most dangerous mission yet. It will require all their talents and teamwork to make sure that things go right and that justice is served.

From Booklist

Deep Black, a super-secret subagency within the National Security Agency (and a figment of Coonts' and DeFelice's imaginations), is intended to give NSA some field capabilities. Operatives Charlie Dean and Tommy Karr appear in the process of rescuing an ambassador's daughter and are soon on the trail of an Algerian terrorist who possesses extensive knowledge of France, some sophisticated chemical explosives, and the plutonium from a miniature A-bomb. In the wake of an ordeal of her own in Korea, colleague Lia de Francesca soon joins Charlie and Tommy, while their boss, Reubens, fends off legal challenges that could endanger Deep Black's security. The suspense, action, knowledge of weapons and methods, and characterization are all up to par and frequently better, and the opposing sides are fairly well matched. The outcome remains uncertain right up to the final death duels on the Eiffel Tower and in the Chunnel, and for once a reasonably balanced depiction of the French is given to the often Francophobic thriller audience. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"The Master Of The Techno Thriller." -Publishers Weekly

"Move Over Clancy...Readers know they can count on Coonts."-Midwest Book Review

"[Coonts] is a natural storyteller [with] a rare gift." -USA Today

"Coonts delivers some of his best gung-ho suspense writing yet."-Kirkus Reviews

[Kat (Ginger Bibliophile on YouTube) · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a lot of crisscrossing story lines here. If you have a hectic life, I wouldn't recommend bothering with this one. I had to put it down for a long time, til I had time to focus on about 6 different character POVs and follow it. In the end, it is an interesting story, but a lot to try to keep track of at times. The chapters are relatively short, some just a paragraph or two, from one of the characters. Basically, some Algerian guy pretending to be French has a plot to destroy the Eiffel Tower and the Chunnel to avenge his dad for losing a fight. The NSA gets mixed up in it in a botched attempt to get info from a guy that ends up dead before their meeting. That seems to be a theme. Everyone dies before passing on their Intel. In the meantime, the NSA head is also battling over the care of some retired Alzheimer's guy, which seems to be a huge subplot even though it adds nothing but showing Reubens is distracted on multiple fronts and Lia is even bitchier than normal because she lost of a fight and was possibly raped in the first chapter on a different mission she botched. Doesn't make much of a difference since apparently she was hell to,work with and hated beforehand, now folks are just more understanding of her behavior as a coping mechanism since she supposedly has never lost a fight until then and is terrified of everything now. I get the whole trauma and coping thing, but somehow instead of empathy, she just annoyed me. It felt like an attempt to widen the audience with some female psycho babble with an otherwise unkikeable character. The action was good for the most part, if a bit flowery and unbelievable at times. During the fight on the Eiffel Tower, Karr was constantly "out of his body" or "time slowed down" because that's what happens when you fall a few feet or hit something hard apparently. Basically, tried so hard to make it blockbuster material that it made no sense and the agent just sounded like an inexperienced pansy in need of coddling instead of a guy that took a hard blow to the head. Thankfully, most of the scenes weren't as over the top. Overall, good book, but if I'd paid full price instead of grabbing it at the thrift store, I'd be a little annoyed.

[James F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stephan Coonts remains one of my favorite authors who writes in the techno-thriller genre.

His novel, Deep Black: Black Zone, is the second to a new series; like the first in the series, this is one based on the premise that American technology combined with American individuality and mind-set can successfully thwart efforts by the forces of evil, even if only by the slimmest of chance.

As evidenced in the first novel, one can only pray that the technology, that is showcased in this book and is likely in play by various federal agencies, is being used to protect the "ignorant masses" of modern society that is living in a state of "1984 and Big Brother."

[Chuck · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've enjoyed several of Coonts books, but I couldn't get into this one. I read 11 chapters (75 pages). Each chapter seemed to involve a different crisis in a different place. I was introduced to so many characters it was impossible to keep them all straight. There seemed to be no immediate connsction between these events (although I'm sure they would converge eventually). I gave up and went to a different author.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

US Government Black Ops group sends agents around the world to fight international crime using brains, guns and high-tech gadgets while being supported by larger-than-life computer hacking tools.


Not as complicated as Oregon files, but I found it generally a better read - fairly quick and easy and keeps your attention.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the Third Deep Black book by Coonts and finds the team trying to prevent several catastrophe’s in France. It starts in London when they prevent a mugging and the contact they are trying to meet is murdered and then continues on the other side of the English Channel when they discover a bunch of Muslim extremists are going to attack the Eiffel Tower. Ok read.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first Stephen Coonts book I've read and was pleasantly surprised. There was plenty of action. It made for a quick read. No bad language was a plus. I'm looking forward to other Stephen Coonts books.

[Ralph McEwen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Once in paper and once as a Audio Book CD. Read by J. Charles

[Jeff Crosby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Work commute listen.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

although a little confusing at some points, the story progressed well and was an enjoyable read.

[Bill Donhiser · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast paced good Action very enjoyable

[Cyvil B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

good read.

[Toby · Rating 4 out of 5]

2011-03

[Lethal Shadowz]

awesome