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Title: Not as realistic as it thinks
Review: Sweetwater and Gunslinger are the cllsigns of the crew of an F-14 fighter which was, when this book came out, the US Navy's top interceptor. While two-man aircews should be enough to generate the structure around which can be built a great aviation novel (like "Flight of the Intruder"), it's wasted here as we watch the two engage in the sort of antics popularized in Top Gun while the top brass watches powerless, and aged admirals watch wishing they could be young nuggets again. Much of the novel is episodic, and not written very well, following the boys as their aircraft carrier charts the expected hostile waters, but we never feel as is we are actually there. The airplanes aren't fully realized, nor are the struggles of becoming a proficient aviator made out well enough to describe the charachters and why their superiors tolerate them. Ditch this book for anything else by Coonts.
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