Liberty (Paperback)

One of the reasons is that the book is so opportunistic, cliché, and appears to have been rushed as it was inspired by events of September 11, 2001. This book is fiction, but fiction does not mean that any sense of balance should be tossed for dramatic effect. This book is littered with stereotypes of the worst sort, and absolute disrespect for non-Christian religions. The black hats this time are designated by the fantastically weak name of, "The Sword Of Islam", is that the best the author could invent for the opposition in this book? I was completely unimpressed and disappointed that these persons were repeatedly described as billions of ignorant, uneducated mud hut dwellers, and other names that are unprintable here, and should be beneath a writer of Mr. Coonts' track record. Islam is not the problem the World faces, certain individuals that distort Islam, just as others distort Christianity to justify the murder of people they do not like are the issue, not the religion that is mentioned.

Another theme the author tries to sell is the ends justify any means when dealing with terrorism, and he tries to buttress his case by comparing the issue of terrorism with the Civil War and the Civil Liberties that then President Abraham Lincoln suspended, and other constitutional laws he stepped through or around. The threat is not the same; this is an international not a national issue, so I find the author's reasoning/logic/story justification flawed, and very weak.

Anyone who has read a handful of books in this genre is well acquainted with certain acronyms, FBI, CIA, and yes Mr. Coonts the NSA. The writer mentioned the NSA repeatedly throughout the book, so why does he need to tell readers on page 414 of 420 pages that NSA means National Security Agency? Give your readers a bit more credit.

The ending of the book is as satisfying as it is contrived and familiar. There were at least three good books that are hiding in this mélange of almosts and false starts. But when collected under one title they are unworthy of your time.

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I liked this book a lot. It's true that the book is colored by Sept. 11 and by the desire to have a story with real heroes doing heroic things and to paint the Islamic terrorists in as negative a way as possible. But despite this Stephen Coonts created a story that is quite thought-provoking, very scary, and featuring a fair number of "good guys" who are not as lily white as they first appear to be.

Another interesting aspect of the story is the picture that is painted of the political infighting between the politicians and the various organizations such as the CIA and the FBI and the military. Everyone should be working toward the goal of combating the terrorists, but in reality many people are working on their own private agendas.

The story is very complicated with a large number of characters and with several subplots. Unless you have a very good memory I'd recommend that you create a written roster of characters as you read the book, noting vital facts for each person and noting the pages they appear on. Then, when you realize that you're not sure if a character has already been presented or not, it's easy to look in your roster and see.

My roster of characters for Liberty ended up covering four pages with some 45 names on it! It was very satisfying being able to cross off the names of most of the bad guys as they met with violent ends. Of course, some of the good guys also lost their lives. In all, 18 entries in my roster ended with "killed on page xxx"!

In summary, a very exciting book with interesting subplots, unexpected twists in the story and good characters. My only criticism is that the lack of panic in the general population does not seem realistic - my guess is that if it became known that nuclear weapons were being smuggled into American cities that it would result in massive fleeing from the cities to the countryside.

This is the 10th and (presumably) final book in the "Jake Grafton series", with Jake announcing his retirement at the end of the book. Stephen Coonts has started a new series of novels starring Tommy Carmellini, another indication that it's unlikely that we'll see any more "Jake Grafton books".

So far I've read six of these 10 Jake Grafton books, have written reviews for all of the books I've read, and intend to read the remaining books if/when I get a hold of them. In other words, I recommend the series quite strongly.

Rennie Petersen

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