Stephen Coonts — The Minotaur

Harper Collins 1990 Paperback, 572pp. After flying A-6 Intruders in Vietnam and, seventeen years later, commanding an air wing aboard a super carrier in the Mediterranean, Jake Grafton--now grounded--is assigned to the Pentagon where he is in charge of developing the navy's new top secret stealth attack plane, the A-l2. Faced with political and technical problems at every turn, Jake soon finds himself drawn into the hunt for the Minotaur, a mole hidden in the Pentagon who is giving America's most precious defense secrets to the Russians. The FBI's chief spy-catcher is hot on the Minotaur's trail, or is he? Just who are the traitors in this Byzantine world of technocrats, politicians, and multi-billion dollar defense programs? Four people are dead and a test pilot is near death before Grafton hones in on the shocking identity of the Minotaur--and his even more chilling motive. Combining authentic details of weapons strategies and stealth technology with an all-to-real story of the international trade in military secrets--and featuring the classic flying scenes that are Coonts' trademark--THE MINOTAUR confirms that Stephen Coonts is a modern master of suspense. (ISBN: 9780006179146). Good.