Leave it to suspensemeister Stephen Coonts to make airplane hijacking look like child's play. In his latest techno-thriller, America, Rear Admiral Jake Grafton—star of eight previous Coonts novels, most recently Cuba and Hong Kong—is once again called into action when a team of terrorists commandeers the eponymous submarine. The author's tour began the week of July 31 (the book's on-sale date) in Las Vegas, where he resides; the following week, he did a number of signings and media appearances in New York City and Washington, D.C. St. Martin's has run print ads in USA Today, along with a two-week national radio campaign on the Westwood One and ABC networks. Coonts, a former practicing attorney and naval aviator in Vietnam, has racked up nine national bestsellers since his 1986 debut, Flight of the Intruder; his most recent appearance on PW's charts was a five-week combined hardcover/paperback run for Hong Kong. PW's starred review of America (copies in print: 300,000) said, "Coonts never lets up with heart-racing jet/missile combat, suspenseful submarine maneuvers and doomsday scenarios that feel only too real."
With reporting by Dick Donahue
