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 a B.A. degree in political science at West Virginia University in 1968.[1] 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. (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 the war, Coonts served as a flight instructor for A-6 aircraft for two years, then did a tour as an assistant catapult and arresting gear officer aboard USS Nimitz (CVN-68). 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 a lawyer for several oil and gas companies, pursuing his writing interests in his free time. Coonts published short stories in a number of publications before writing Flight of the Intruder in 1986. That book, based in part on his experiences as an A-6 pilot during the Vietnam War, spent 28 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists, and later (1991) was made into a movie. This launched his career as a novelist, and he continued writing adventure-thrillers, most of them based on the main character from his first book, Jake Grafton. Coonts has also written several other series and stand-alone novels, but is best known for the Grafton books. In 1992, he was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Alumni at his alma mater, West Virginia University.[2][3] Today Coonts continues to write, having had seventeen New York Times bestsellers (out of 20 books). He lives in Colorado with his second wife, Deborah Jean. He is divorced from romantic mystery novelist Deborah Coonts. Jake Grafton Series Note: The list below represents Stephen Coonts' suggested reading order. # Title Publication Date ISBN Notes 1 Flight of the Intruder 1986 0-87021-200-1 filmed in 1991 2 The Intruders 1994 1-59114-128-1 3 Final Flight 1988 0-385-24555-6 4 The Minotaur 1989 0-440-20742-8 5 Under Siege 1990 0-671-72229-8 6 The Red Horseman 1993 0-671-74887-4 7 Cuba 1999 0-312-20521-X Also featuring Tommy Carmellini 8 Hong Kong 2000 0-312-25339-7 Also featuring Tommy Carmellini 9 America 2001 0-312-25341-9 Also featuring Tommy Carmellini 10 Liberty 2003 0-312-28361-X Also featuring Tommy Carmellini 11 Pirate Alley 2013 0-312-37284-1 Also featuring Tommy Carmellini Tommy Carmellini Series Note: The list below represents Stephen Coonts' suggested reading order. # Title Publication Date ISBN Notes 1 Liars and Thieves 2004 0-312-28362-8 Also known as: Wages of Sin 2 The Traitor 2006 0-312-32359-X 3 The Assassin 2008 0-312-99446-X Also featuring Jake Grafton 4 The Disciple 2009 0-312-37283-3 Also featuring Jake Grafton 5 Pirate Alley 2013 0-312-37284-1 Also featuring Jake Grafton Saucer Series # Title Publication Date ISBN 1 Saucer 2002 0-312-98321-2 2 Saucer: The Conquest[7] 2004 0-312-99448-6 3 Saucer: Savage Planet 2014 1-250-06198-9 Deep Black Series # Title Publication Date ISBN Co-authored with: 1 Deep Black 2003 0-312-98520-7 Jim DeFelice 2 Biowar 2004 0-752-86117-4 Jim DeFelice 3 Dark Zone 2004 0-752-87785-2 Jim DeFelice 4 Payback 2005 0-312-93698-2 Jim DeFelice 5 Jihad 2007 0-312-93699-0 Jim DeFelice 6 Conspiracy 2008 0-312-93700-8 Jim DeFelice 7 Arctic Gold 2009 0-312-94695-3 William H. Keith 8 Sea of Terror 2010 0-312-94696-1 William H. Keith 9 Death Wave 2011 0-312-67113-X William H. Keith Others Fortunes of War (1998), ISBN 0-312-18583-9, ISBN 0-312-96941-4 The Garden of Eden (2006) (writing as Eve Adams) The Sea Witch (May 2012), ISBN 0-7653-3231-0, ISBN 978-0-7653-3231-8 As editor The 17th Day (1999) Combat (2001) ISBN 0-312-87190-2 Victory (2003) ISBN 0-312-87462-6 OCLC 51322993 Non-Fiction[edit] The Cannibal Queen: A Flight into the Heart of America (1992), ISBN 0-671-74884-X War In The Air: True Accounts (1996), ISBN 0-671-88190-6 On Glorious Wings: The Best Flying Stories (2003), ISBN 0-312-87724-2 Victory (2003), ISBN 0-312-87462-6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Coonts

• published: 08 Jan 2016
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