Hong Kong

Jake Grafton #8

by Stephen Coonts

Visiting Hong Kong with his wife, who's attending a conference, Admiral Jake Grafton has come to the former British province expecting a chance to unwind. But soon Grafton is caught up in seismic political events beyond his control . . . possibly beyond anyone's contol.

First, a series of political murders shakes Hong Kong's power structure to the core. Then, when the Communist-led government shuts down a faltering bank and answers subsequent rioting with bloody reprisals, mainland China's future in the coveted city seems anything but certain. The paranoid regime acts quickly, shutting down newspapers, arresting reporters, interning anyone who looks suspicious. But once this powder keg's lit, there will be no telling how fast it will explode. Or how far that explosion will reach.

When Jake Grafton's wife is kidnapped by shadowy assailants, the battle-tested admiral will need to navigate the violence erupting around him if he ever wants to see he alive again. But when his search takes him right into the eye of the storm, Grafton will need to team up with Tony Carmellini, the high-tech super-sleuth from CUBA, and a team of Chinese patriots who are willing to die for their nation's freedom . . .

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Military Fiction, Espionage, Adventure, Action, Thriller Suspense

416 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 12, 2000

About the author

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 an B.A. degree in political science at West Virginia University in 1968. 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. After the war he served as a flight instructor on A-6 aircraft for two years, then did a tour as an assistant catapult and arresting gear officer aboard USS Nimitz (CVN-68). 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 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 an oil and gas lawyer for several companies, entertaining his writing interests in his free time.

He published short stories in a number of publications before writing Flight of the Intruder in 1986 (made into a movie in 1991). Intruder, based in part on his experiences as a bomber pilot, spent 28 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists in hardcover and launched his career as a novelist. From there he continued writing adventure-mysteries using the character from his first book, Jake Grafton. He has written several other series and stand-alone novels since then, but is most notable for the Grafton books.

Today Coonts continues to write, having had seventeen New York Times bestsellers (out of 20 books), and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with his wife and son.

Taken from Wikipedia

Learn more about Stephen Coonts on the Macmillan website.

Reviews

[May Ling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rarely do I give a book a rating this low. I could not help it with this one. The real problem is the lack of research done on Hong Kong, the way natives think and the culture. While I'm sure the actual story is no better or worse than any of his others, the glaringly ignorant depiction of Hong Kong just threw me off. For example, describing someone coming from a city just outside of Canton.... Hello... Canton is the old British name for the PROVINCE of Guangdong. That would be like describing someone as being from a city just outside of Wyoming... uhm... you mean Montana? It makes no sense.

Also, instead of calling Central, Central, he continued to call it by its full jurisdiction name. No one in HK, and I am including tourists, would ever call it that. It just sounds weird. It would be a little like calling the Nolita area of New York, the NOrth of Houston, Little ITAly district. It is also PLAIN WEIRD.

Then there is his depiction of any of the Chinese characters. It's neither how any HK person I know would think or act; particularly the rich in the area.

I think if you have never traveled out of a developed market country and have been entirely surrounded by non-Asian people, you will probably be able to suspend reality adequately to get through this book. However, if you've gone anywhere near HK, this is NOT NOT NOT the book for you. It will make you cringe too much.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has a rich cast of characters & sufficient action & intrigue to
fit it comfortably into the Jake Grafton series. However, the decision
to utilize a squad of Terminator-esque devices pegged the credulity
meter at absurd imho :-(

[Ken Schloman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent thriller that's story line is based on WHAT COULD have happened after the British turned Hong Kong over to China. This is the typical formula of the author in the Jake Grafton series --- take an event in the headlines and develop a techno thriller out many possible outcomes of the event. For today's readers these events do not reflect actual history. Rather they provide an "alternative history". Still, as thrillers of the genre go, this is a decent effort. While not the best of the series, it is a good read that is well written.

[John Polson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was my first (and very nearly my last) Stephen Coonts book. I lived in Hong Kong for several years - but obviously a different Hong Kong to his one! He should stick to writing carrier based flying stories. At that he's brilliant! He simply did not "get" Hong Kong - and his geography was a bit off too...

[Jay Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jake Grafton is sent to Hong Kong to see what Tiger Cole is doing. Tiger Cole was with him in Vietnam and afterwards became a very rich man and is in Hong Kong now as Consul. Carmellini has been assigned to Jake. Hong Kong is not taking Communist China well. Trouble is brewing and Jake, his wife and all the characters are in for the ride of their life. Good action book. Will it happen, eventually.

[Marcia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another Jake Grafton-with-help-from-Tommy Carmellini novel. In this story, Jake & Callie revisit Hong Kong just as rebels are about to begin an uprising. This was written just a few years after the take-over of Hong Kong by the Chinese communists. Descriptions of Hong Kong are vivid and interesting. Jake's buddy Cole from the Viet Nam War is now the American consul. The US State Department is concerned about his possible involvement in the uprising. Tommy Carmellini provides some interesting scenes of break-ins. Cole's software company has developed a robot with amazing capabilities. The author is again concerned with people making choices, sometimes selfish ones and sometimes heroic ones. Whether or not the revolution spreads to the mainland is not the scope of this book. Still, it is interesting to speculate. Even though a revolution must have broad support from the people, it still needs a single person to lead it. So, according to this novel, it may have been possible because the Hong Kong uprising was lead by such a charismatic man.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 1 out of 5]

A Jake Grafton novel, set, as the title suggests, in Hong Kong. A CIA agent has been shot, along with a Chinese 'fixer' and there are rumours the two murders are linked. Grafton and Carmellini are asked to find out what is going on, but when banks start collapsing, innocent people are shot by the army and chaos looms, they realise more is going on than they first thought. And then Grafton's wife is kidnapped...

I'm afraid I just couldn't get into this. I usually love this type of book, but found I was getting confused about the characters and places the book jumped between. I did give it a couple of goes, but didn't even make it to the kidnapping.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

interesting take on what would happen to Hong Kong after the handover. Even though its a novel, the book focuses more on the political aspects than actual mystery / suspense. would be good to see what would happen next to one of the main characters (Cole).

[Paul Lyons · Rating 2 out of 5]

Writing is not easy, especially the effort of creating a novel. Author Stephen Coonts certainly put some thought into this Admiral Jake Grafton action-thriller. Story has Admiral Grafton traveling to the city of the book's title: "Hong Kong," in order to check in on old war buddy (Virgil "Tiger"Cole) who now occupies the position of Consul-General. Word has it that Cole may be part of a secret rebellion against the oppressive, Communist government that runs the region, and the Peoples Liberation Army. Turns out that U.S. government suspicions about Cole were right, and Jake Grafton and his wife Callie were in for a whole lotta trouble. All sounds good, right?

Enter killer robots...Um, what? Yes, KILLER ROBOTS people. Well, I think the author is known for his technological bent, so...okay, fine, KILLER ROBOTS. How bout a ruthless British or American (??) Secret Intelligence Service TRIPLE agent named Kerry Kent, who is just in it for the money?? Hmmm...well, I suppose it could happen. Not the greatest profile for an otherwise undeveloped character, so...Well, alright, a TRIPLE-AGENT in it for the money. Fine. Alright, how bout a ruthless Hong Kong criminal and dealmaker named Wong Ma Chow aka "Sonny, who is also a participant in the anti-communist revolution AND wants to make a giant score by betraying the U.S Consul-General, double-crossing his revolution partners, scamming the Chinese government, betraying longtime associates like Australian newspaper editor Rip Buckingham, and incurring the wrath of a United States Admiral?? Can you buy that??? Well...maybe if the writer made the scenario and its surroundings believable enough, I could go with it.

Okay, fine. How bout THIS? So, Wong Ma Chow aka "Sonny," kidnaps Jake Grafton wife, Callie, in an effort to get her to talk about the secret CIA recording of the recently murdered China Bob Chan hours before and during the time he was shot in the head, AND get some serious ransom money from Grafton's billionaire pal Virgil "Tiger"Cole. Okay, fine. Later in "Honk Kong," Jake Grafton easily (way too easily) finds Wong Ma Chow and has the criminal in hand, at gunpoint, okay? So, Grafton could have gotten Chow to do anything he wanted. And remember, Wong has KIDNAPPED GRAFTON'S WIFE. With me here?

So it only would make perfect sense to have Jake Grafton say to Wong, "Give me my wife, or lead me to her wherever she is!" Right? Make sense? Yet what does idiot Jake Grafton do? He simply threatens Wong to not mess with him, then blows up Wong's boat-restaurant. Wong, NOT being an idiot, jumps to the water to safety and lives on to cause more trouble, and Grafton? He became the stupidest man on the the planet, while his wife was beaten and tortured elsewhere by a giant Russian monster. Do we buy...THAT? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Sorry Stephen Coonts, ya blew it. If there's one thing I can not stand, is a writer who makes characters inexplicably (and conveniently) smart, or dumb, just to add more time, or longer lasting conflict for the story. It's bullsh*t. Why? WHY do writers do this? Clearly Coonts knew his error, as he has the big dumb hero Jake Grafton think to himself that he should have plugged Wong when he had the chance. Yeah, ya think?? So stupid. And guess what? "Hong Kong" did not even NEED that to happen! The author could have easily removed Grafton's first interaction with Wong. WHY did he and his editors allow that to happen? Ugh.

Conflicts, in general, where to easily resolved in "Hong Kong." For example, the big build up of both Wong and Kerry Kent as greedy SUPER villains was cleanly resolved because the villains became conveniently stupid when they had the tactical advantage, allowing their gloating evil blind them to dumb hero Jake Grafton getting the better of them via dish ware and a hidden gun. I DID like Grafton eventually outsmarting the injured killer robot by slowing him down and plugging the machine in to an outlet to "rest" him in recharging, so at least that.

Yeah, there WERE several beats and action sequences that were fun to read in "Hong Kong." The concept was good, and much of the execution was fairly good...though clearly not all of it. Some of the book's prose was dull, and some of it plain dumb. In too many ways, the author got in the way of himself and diluted the impact of the novel's story. Bummer. This should have been a solid story. It just wasn't.

[Thomas Chou · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first (and maybe last) Stephen Coonts book. I'll give him another shot if I come across another one of his novels seeing as he's a bestselling author and this Jake character is quite popular - I sure hope I'm not disappointed.

I hate giving a rating so low, but I just couldn't suspend my disbelief and really get into the plot and the characters. It didn't help that this was my first Jake Grafton novel - I'm sure the characters were better developed in the first book of the series so Jake fans probably can overlook this flaw.

Bottom line - too many characters not fully developed, too many geography flaws and confusing locale changes, very disjointed and unbelievable plot about a Hong Kong rebellion against the Communist takeover. The plot along with the introduction of robots that were a combination of Terminator and Robocop (this book was written just a few years after those movies were released) just required too much suspension of reality for me to enjoy the ride.

Lastly, what really put it off for me was the author's diatribe against Pinyin in his note at the end - this guy obviously doesn't speak or understand a lick of Mandarin Chinese or he would realize that Pinyin, while it has its faults as the author noted, is vastly superior to the obsolete Wade-Giles system that he's so enamored with.

I do hope this was just the weakest of the Jake Grafton series and I'll enjoy the earlier ones more.

[Hilmi Isa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seperti The Red Horseman,Hong Kong juga saya baca secara tidak mengikut kronologi yang sepatutnya. Ini adalah sesuatu yang saya amat sesali dan malang pada saya. Namun demikian,apakan daya. Atas sebab-sebab yang tidak dapat dielakkan,saya tidak dapat mengumpul novel-novel yang lain atas kekangan kewangan dan masih tidak ditakdirkan Tuhan untuk saya menjumpainya.

Hong Kong merupakan sebuah novel yang masih berkisar kepada universe Jake Grafton. Tetapi,novel ini juga merupakan novel pertama yang saya baca yang turut menampilkan seorang lagi watak utama baharu,iaitu Tommy Carmellini. Dia merupakan seorang ejen CIA yang memainkan peranan penting dalam membantu Grafton.

Seperti tajuknya,latar belakang cerita novel ini menjadikan Hong Kong sebagai pusat penceritaan. Dari segi sejarah,Hong Kong penting kepada Jake Grafton dan isterinya,Callie Grafton. Hal ini kerana,di dalam novel pertama,The Flight of the Intruder,Hong Kong menjadi tempat di mana mereka berdua bertemu dan saling jatuh cinta antara satu sama lain. Tambah menarik,Virgil Cole,rakan setugas Grafton ketika Perang Vietnam turut ditampilkan semula.

Di dalam novel kali ini,kedua-dua pasangan Grafton ini terjebak di dalam komplot mega untuk membebaskan Hong Kong daripada cengkaman pemerintahan Komunis Tanah Besar China. Tidak hanya terhad di Hong Kong saja,pemberontakan ini juga akan diteruskan di wilayah-wilayah lain di China jika kebangkitan rakyat di Hong Kong berjaya dilaksanakan. Gerakan ini dilakukan melalui perang siber dan robot. Ya. Robot! Juga dengan bantuan robot humanoid yang dipanggil York.

[Eric Fate · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author of this book is an amateur in the Chinese language. He thinks that Wade-Giles presents better than Pinyin while the fact is that Wade-Giles fails to correctly present the most basic Chinese pronunciations. Some Chinese pronunciations cannot be found in English -- not even with a similar alternative. Since most Americans and Europeans can pronounce /b/, /d/, /g/, /ʤ/, etc., however, it is very stupid to mark all the /b/, /d/, /g/, and /ʤ/ in Chinese as /p/, /t/, /k/, and /ʧ/. So, when a westerner speaks Chinese in a Wade-Giles pronunciation style, it would sound funny -- just like how funny it is to speak English in this way:
"Was it colt outsite?"
"Yeah. A little pit."
"Then you shoult wear your chacket."
"What are you reating?"
"I'm reating a pook."
"You look pale. Were you sleeping on the floor last night?"
"No. I was sleeping on my pet."
The author of this book has no idea how weird Wade-Giles sounds, and he considers the Pinyin something "spawned" by the Communist bureaucracy to "transliterate" the official and common Chinese language. He really needs to learn more about Chinese because misleading American readers with his absurd distortions.

[Alec · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the latest installment of the Grafton series, Jake Grafton starts his move from career naval officer into the governmental roles these series inevitably have to take in order to lengthen out (see: Jack Ryan). In this book, Admiral Grafton has been sent to look into the murder of a CIA agent in Hong Kong and allegations of bribery. There he finds himself embroiled in a nascent revolution and at the heart of intrigue among the key conspirators.

With typical Coonts flair for storytelling, the book moves quickly throughout without ever seeming frenetic. It was also plausible enough to make the reader wonder how something like this may affect the world if it happened today. Overall, an interesting gambit into the Grafton world as the potential fall of China would have serious consequences on future novels in the series.

An element of the book which I found intriguing, was the commentary on Communism and its effect on people. Through the viewpoint of the revolutionaries, Coonts finds a number of ways to make sure the costs and drawbacks of the system are clear to the reader.

[Dimitry Orlov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hong Kong – Stephen Coonts

Jake Grafton is on holiday in Hong Kong with his wife when China Bob Chan is murdered. As usual, Tommy Carmellini is accompanying Jake.
Soon after, the Bank of the Orient is beset by rumors of financial problems, and its depositors are lined up outside the door trying to withdraw their funds.
The Bank President calls his head office in Tokyo for advice. The crowd fills the square in front of the bank, demanding access. Someone throws a rock through the window, and the commander of the PLA shows up with several hundred soldiers.

Jake confesses to Tommy Carmellini that he has been sent to Hong Kong to assess the seriousness of the public unrest.

This is a typical Jake Grafton novel, where Jake takes charge and Tommy Carmellini assists him.
Tommy Carmellini is an interesting character. He is a spy and a thief. His expertise is picking locks and safes under Jake Grafton's direction.

There is a lot of action and many plot twists.

This is a good read if you are a Jake Grafton fan.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Hong Kong and was planning to give it five stars. But when the York units were introduced, my rating dropped to four stars. Throughout the Jake Grafton series of books, I've enjoyed the realism provided by Stephen Coonts. Yes, history gets altered in 'what if' scenarios like in Cuba and Hong Kong but these scenarios were presented in ways that could have been real. While I do enjoy science fiction movies, I didn't like how Coonts included science fiction based York units in Hong Kong. It detracted from the realism of the story.

[Gary Furrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book

Grafton is still a hero. He hows to Hong Kong to resolve some issues concerning an old shipmate and becomes a part of an Chinese insurrection. You never learn what happens to the insurrection; but there is a great of action involving Grafton and his wife.
This is the second book that Tommy Carmenli has a part in. His part is more than he did in Cuba, but, he is not yet the partner that he becomes in other books. If you like books written by Coonts with Grafton as the hero, you’ll enjoy this book.

[Jane Dow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jake and Callie Grafton are in Hong Kong. Jake is an Admiral in the Navy and he and Callie met in Hong Kong during the Vietnam war era. Jake is in Hong Kong to check out the political situation between the previously free society when ruled by the British and the now Communist society ruled by the Chinese. A group of revolutionary people are trying to overthrow the Communists. Is Tiger Cole, Jake’s friend from the Vietnam era who is now the ambassador in HK involved?

[Grada (BoekenTrol) · Rating 4 out of 5]

An action-packed but also interesting book. With the current situation in Hong Kong it is quite topical, although this easily readable book does not resemble reality at all.
The main characters have won the battle, while the war still needs to be faught. This book is not about that, it has an open end. And that's a good thing (although I normally like tied off storylines more). In this case, that means the book is more realistic than it would otherwise have been.

[Paul Parsons · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was a little weird. Coonts' novels to this point, year 2000, were believable. This one strayed into science fiction with seven foot tall super robots used by the rebellious populous of China against its government. Jake Grafton felt almost forced into the story. I'll continue on with his next one, "America" and I hope he gets back on tract.

[Gary Hahn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, but not the best of series. Seemed long at times. Several good twists in the later chapters. Learned some things about China and Hong Kong I didn't know before. Would definitely recommend though.

[Charmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually a surprisingly well structured and adjective strong book. A wish list for all of us political junkies that wish the people of Hong Kong were granted the right of liberal freedoms. Right from the get go you knew what was going to happen but every turn was a surprise. Riddle me that.

[Michael Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read!

I found the story and plot to be very engaging and enjoyed the "yorks" role. I look forward to more Carmallini.

[John Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent summer read. It's one that you know the ending before you start the book. We keep interested by how the author gets there.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Jake takes his wife Callie to Hong Kong as he investigates a scandal involving the American consulate. A political murder occurs.

[Mr Roy Davidson · Rating 2 out of 5]

404 pages

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great as always

[Dick Pilskog · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe I read this book selectively. I could not keep the names straight. I felt Wu was a bad guy and it turned out that he wasn't.

[Will Phillipson]

kindle library book

[Tani Garberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the Jake Grafton books. This one was great until the whole York thing. Too sci-fi for me. Still glad that Callie was safe and all was good in the world of Jake Grafton.

[Miles Pharaweigh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast furious action and believable scenarios.