In the near future a fanatical, nationalistic government comes to power in Japan with reborn imperial dreams. Their target? A weakened Russia. Who will save the day? The US Air Force, of course.

While I am not a huge fan of Stephen Coonts I enjoyed "Fortunes of War" very much. Hope you do too!!!

With some other techno thrillers, I have had the feeling that there was a little too much techno and not enough thriller (and I am a techno fan and love air fighters and warships and submarines). I have even put a few of the big-time techno writers aside when the prose seemed more a blur of military acronyms and abbreviations than a story involving plot and characters. Well, I had no problem racing to the finish of this book. Don't get me wrong - there is plenty of techno detail in this book, but it fits right into the flow of the book. It is also explained well and quickly.

Make no mistake: this one's a thriller. As I neared the end, I found myself so focused in I lost track of time and seemed to come up blinking back into the real world once I had finished. To sum up quickly, Japan has declared war on Russia in an effort to control the vast oil field of Siberia and the world nears the brink of nuclear war. What makes this novel work so well, other than a strongly plotted story served up by an excellent writer, is the way the author develops and handles the characters. I found myself turning pages not to discover the fate of "the world" but instead the fate of the individuals Stephen Coonts brought to such vivid life.

My favorite characters were the Russians: men like Captain Pavel Saratov, the commander of a Russian submarine with an Ahab like devotion to duty and mission; Marshall Oleg Stolypin, a classic, Russian man of steel, returning to soldiering one last time; and (perhaps the most interesting of all) Russian Intelligence officer Janos Ilin, cynical and crafty, alone with his brilliance and planning.

I really enjoyed this book and will read more from this author. -Mykal Banta

Evaluation: This was the first book by Coonts that I have ever read, and I must say that I am very impressed. Fortunes of War is well written and the plot: fighter craft in the near future and the pilots who fly them, doing battle over the skies of Russia, is more than intriguing. I have great respect for the military and this novel ignited the honorable patriot in me. Anyone who is a Tom Clancy fan and really enjoys military thrillers combined with technology and combat will enjoy this novel. The story is very fast paced and exciting, it is one of the only books that I (and my little sister) read for enjoyment. I found the technology aspect very interesting and complementary to the action (if a bit far-fetched at times). Just hearing about the abilities if the F-22, with its maneuvering and fictional "smart skin" camouflage technology, and the Japanese made Zero, with its "Athena" radar jamming device, made me anticipate the inevitable battle between these two air titans even more. The characters are very dramatic and fascinating: I felt Cassidy had some funny dialogue - that is funny as in sarcastic and witty with a hint of pessimism. Being an Asian American myself, I felt sympathy towards Jiro and his plight of having to fight between the country he was born in and the country he was raised in. Throughout the book I wondered who would survive a confrontation and who would not, Coonts would introduce a character only to have them shot or killed moments later. In the high-stakes game of air combat, I felt tense to see if a main character would be shot down or pull an ace from their sleeve and make it out. Every character had a personal struggle, not just with their enemy but with their loyalty to their respective countries as well. In the case of Cassidy and Jiro, not only did they have these hardships but with the fact that they may have to fight each other as well. I felt the message that came forth from the book was to never allow patriotism to a higher cause blind you from the greater truths. It should be morality, the common good of all people, and the companionship of friends and family that drive people to do what they must. Patriotism is not only doing what people want from you, but preventing the wrong thing from happening as well.

Mr. Coonts is a formidable writer. What he is able to do is to balance an exquisite knowledge of flying skills and equipment and the men and women who use them, and as well detail an exciting story sprinkled with morality and humanity.

And I admire him because while he's got a sure fire winner in Jake Grafton et al., he remains unafraid to venture into new terrain.

Here he takes three stories, much like David Robbins' gifted novels about WWII, and weaves them in and out of the reader's scope of vision much so that we're really reading three stories at once. A prodigous task that Coonts handles well.

Whether or not such a horrific series of events could occur is in the mind of the writer. Novelists like John LeCarre and Len Deighton writing of the conspiracy of omission by the ABC Agencies forged in the 1980's could never have imagined what we would experience and the cost it would exact 20 years later. But that's the free reign we give our gifted writers. I shudder to think it would happen but the Fortunes of War kept me at a high level of adreneline.

Colonel Bob Cassidy, his Japanese friend Jiro, the Russian Skipper Saretov, Agent Ju, Chernoff, Dixie . . . we root for them and wonder at each encounter if they'll come out alive.

High praise for a novelist. Absolutely worth the time. 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury

Personally, I really enjoyed reading this book. An epic thriller set in the 21st century, Stephen Coonts clearly depicts how worldwide political tensions can cause and will cause such catastrophic events in history. Chapter one turns on the readers imagination by descibing the assination of the emperor of Japan. Japan is running out of oil and is coping through yet another energy crisis: they must invade Siberia and take it for the oil. They use their new stealth jet fighters to challenge America, but Pavel Saratov, a captain in a desolate wreck of a diesel-elec submarine never gives up: he uses all the force and manpower he can muster to tell Japan where they stand.

An epic novel with a fantastic yet emotional and nevertheless gripping ending: a must read for all Coonts enthusiasts.