Arctic Gold

Deep Black #7

by Stephen Coonts, William H. Keith Jr.

In the Arctic, two American intelligence operatives are kidnapped while investigating Russian submarines - a constant, covert presence beneath the ice caps. In Washington, ex-Marine Charlie Dean and his team at Desk Three trace the abduction back to the Russian mafiya, who have their sights set on the massive reserves of oil that lie thousands of feet below the ocean's floor.

While Dean is sent to the Arctic to rescue the hostages, the beautiful Lia DeFrancesca penetrates a heavily guarded dacha on the shores of the Black Sea. Here she learns the explosive truth about Russia and its Arctic oil - one that could cost Dean and his Deep Black team their lives - and drive the world's superpowers to the brink of war.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Espionage, Military Fiction, Action, Military Thriller, Russia

448 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 3, 2009

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

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pure escapism here with the story being part Mission Impossible and James Bond adventure. Character development is razor thin but the action is fast paced with no dead spots. Worth reading.

[Nadinastiti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turns out it is a part of Deep Black series. Well, I got this book from "Blind Date" package at Books and Beyond, so I can't expect to get all of them, right. The series tell us the story of Deep Black, a high-tech National Security Agency operations team covering many cases, such as Al Qaeda, threatening e-mail in Vietnam, etc. In this book, it focuses on global warming issues, Russian mafia, and oil in Arctic. The action and storytelling reminds me of Robert Langdon series: clear, concise, and full of cliffhanger. No wonder, because the author was a Navy. The problem is that I am not really familiar with submarine's stuff and I am so lazy to open the dictionary and I just assume the new vocabularies' meaning lol.

[Mike Beason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intrigue and Surprise

Intrigue and surprise! Stephen Coonts lived up to his reputation. The Russians are at their tricks again, only now it's the mafia. Submarines have a battle, it's Red October all over again. And what's causing global warming now?

[Will Phillipson · Rating 4 out of 5]

kindle library book

[Warren Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting take on global current events and just how scary the world really is.

[James Hein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Up at the pole the story continues

[Tomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too technical in places, but overall a good story.

[Joseph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book. However the killed off one of my favourite characters! RIP Tommy Karr!!!!!! This looses at least 1 star for that move!

[M.E. Syler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a great book well written and researched. The story is at the Arctic and I felt like I was right there;I read It when snowed-in for several days, with cold air at -degrees.

[Alan Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a good/exciting read. He should have stopped with #6.

[Debra Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

The action was good but had to get thru a lot of technical talk to get there.

[Monzenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Low four stars. Almost gave it high three stars; it's an okay extension of the series just that Arctic stuff isn't that interesting to me. The last submarine action though was notable enough.

[Jan Norton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is well written the author reminds me of Tom Clancy. Charles Dean is sent to the Arctic to rescue the hostages.To American intelligent uppercase or kidnapped by investigating Russian submarines.

[Mark Easter]

Review

“Coonts knows how to write and build suspense. . . a natural storyteller.” —_The New York Times Book Review_

“The master of the techno-thriller.”—_Publishers Weekly_

__

Product Description

In the Arctic, two American intelligence operatives are kidnapped while investigating Russian submarines—a constant, covert presence beneath the ice caps. In Washington, ex-Marine Charlie Dean and his team at Desk Three trace the abduction back to the Russian mafiya, who have their sights set on the massive reserves of oil that lie thousands of feet below the ocean’s floor.

While Dean is sent to the Arctic to rescue the hostages, the beautiful Lia DeFrancesca penetrates a heavily guarded dacha on the shores of the Black Sea. Here she learns the explosive truth about Russia and its Arctic oil—one that could cost Dean and his Deep Black team their lives…and drive the world’s superpowers to the brink of war.

[Sia McKye · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot about the movement of the Arctic cap.

I really enjoyed the action, the premise was realistic, I loved his 'secret' government agency and loved the director of it. Wouldn't it be something if all this was possible?

His characters are well drawn and realistic and what I really liked is you see bad guys as more than cardboard figures, he gives some insight into them.

I hadn't read Steve's other Deep Black series, this was my first one. However this book stands alone just fine and he feeds you enough background as the story moves so you can fill in the blanks.

The book is well paced, good build up of tension, good conflict. It was a good read, I'd recommend it. In fact I'm already reading another Deep Black and will be looking at his other books to add to my library.

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Action starts early and it is packed with intrigue and unexpect cold thrill. It is mostly related to oil drilling in the Arctic Ice Cap. The USA has a Ice Cap observation post that gets invaded by the Russians and taken hostage in a submarine. The hostages are rescued by Navy Seals and a NSA Agent. One of the hostages is held back and the NSA Agent is captured. They are take to a underwater station where they escape later on. The USA has two submarines in the are and ther is constant chater "Beneth the Arctic Ice Cap, 82degrees 34 minutes north; 177 degrees 26 minutes east 11:22hour GMT minus 12" I keeps going almost minute after minute with a narration of the action.

[Felicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

America vs those sneaky Russians. Submarine battles. Navy SEALS. Dean saves the day. Not much of Lia, which I preferred. Interesting take on global warming. Better than last Deep Black, but I found the constant GPS location and time read outs annoying.

But WHY kill one of the main characters?? I assume to bring in new members to Desk Three, not to mention a potential new love interest for Dean. (Where can I order my own Charlie Dean?)

Phil Gigante does a much better narration, so Rubbins no longer sounds like a poor imitation of Thurston Howell. And my ears aren't bleeding, yeah!

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Deep Black book finds them locking horns with the Russian Mafia. As Deep Black tries to uncover who is seeking to kill a climatologist a assassination attempt that results in the death of agent Tommy Karr, it leads them into a confrontation with the Mafia and Russian Navy at the arctic circle.

[Mjoneill · Rating 2 out of 5]

An OK read for a book you pick up at the check-out aisle of the grocery store when you are stocking up on medicine for the flu the is kicking your butt. Nothing inspirational or memorable about it though.

[Donadee's Corner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so interesting. I have always known that I would never want to be in a sub and now I am very, very sure of it. But, the suspense of the water crushing them kept me on the edge of the seat. A little slow in the gate but a rush ride and finish that was unbelievable.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of technical writing, and a bit wishy-washy on the plot beyond "They're bad and we're good." I would like to get to know more about a couple of these characters, though, and will read another in this series.

[Elyse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this Deep Black novel. Refreshing to find an author who realizes there is more than one political threat in the world. And always a treat to see how Coonts will use high-tech to complement human intelligence.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok. the russian mafia has big plans to control the oil supply and thereby the world economy - but they didnt give enough credit to us clandestine agencies.(of course)

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Love this series. Totally entertaining but enough technical depth to not be fluff.

[Rob & Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rob
Quite a treat to read in the various players and how a prior event can catch with you. Shows where people must make a moral stand

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Desk Three confronts the new Russian threat to world peace..the Mob...a tragic loss for Desk Three, but a gain of a new operative as they confront the Mob on the Polar Ice Cap

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are all thought provoking in some way. The author challenges me to find the facts in his fiction.

[Norah S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good for what it was: a spy novel. I'm just not into spy novels that much.

[Horace Clinard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A complex mix of characters, locations, drama, and action without going overboard and becoming confusing. Everything began to come together in the later pages and the book finished well.