Deep Black

Deep Black, Book 1

By: Stephen Coonts, Jim DeFelice

Narrated by: J. Charles

A spy plane gathering data on a new Russian weapon is blown out of the sky by a mysterious MiG. Is it an accident, or the start of the next world war? One U.S. agency has what it takes to find out - the National Security Agency and its covert operations team: DEEP BLACK.

Working for the NSA, ex-Marine sniper Charlie Dean is dispatched to Russia, hooking up with former Delta Force trooper Lia DeFrancesca to find out what happened to the plane. The Deep Black team stumbles across an even more alarming secret - a plot to assassinate the Russian president and overthrow the democratic government by force. The coup could have dire consequences for Russia and the world.

With no clearance from the government it's called on to protect, the National Security Agency goes to war. But before Lia and Dean can unravel the conspiracy, they learn that one of the spy plane's passengers - an NSA techie - survived the crash. Critical information could fall into enemy hands. And that enemy is playing to the death.

Special ops: listen to another Deep Black thriller.©2004 Stephen Coonts and Jim DeFelice (P)2004 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Coonts knows how to write and build suspense." ( The New York Times Book Review)

Grossly excessive repetition

A very good story was ruined by useless and annoying excessive descriptions of pseudo air battles along with “nose in the air” descriptions of behind the scenes political machinations. The writer is talented but the editor should be ashamed

Much armament detail; little character development

This is good story, but it was underdeveloped. Maybe those who enjoy endless details about the characters' firearms, ammunition, and high tech military devices will appreciate this book, but I prefer getting to know the characters themselves. Unfortunately the narrator's tendency to make many of the characters sound inappropriately arrogant compounded the problem.

Great espionage thriller

Listened to by my husband: Really enjoyed the plot, the characters, and the complexity of the missions. Only complaint was that the narrator read the book way too fast, and had to slow down the playback to catch everything and everyone in the story. Planning on getting all the Deep Black Books after this first sample.

Constant Childish Banter Between Characters

Story was good but childish banter between characters got old very quickly. Real people don’t interact that way 24/7 like the characters in this book. The banter is a distraction.

Loved it

I totally enjoyed this book. Great cast of characters. The performance was ok but Tommy Carr sounded like Peter Griffin from family guy.