My second Flynn novel and I will be reading more!

I normally do not buy hardback books, mostly because I am cheap, but also because I like to have the smaller paperback with me for those times when I am sitting around with nothing to do--and I’m not with my wife-- such as airports, restaurants, doctor offices, or with my wife at the Mall (I find a nice chair and enjoy the book). So it says something that I paid $14.95 at Costco for this one because I didn't want to wait for the paperback.

There are no spoilers here, so if you decide to read the book, you may read this review without fear!

This is my second Vince Flynn novel, following my reading of Memorial Day. In that novel, a terrorist plan to nuke Washington DC is the focus of our hero, Mitch Rapp. What I enjoyed about that novel was the fully developed character of Rapp, and his frustrations over having to do what needs to done while being leashed by politically correct bureaucrats that populate our government. I won't review that novel here, but I highly recommend it as well, because it gives you a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to fight the present war on terror. I only hope what I am reading is more than just fiction, because if we aren't doing it the way Rapp wants it done, we are in a lot of trouble.

In this next installment, Rapp is targeted for death by the wealthy Saudi father of a terrorist he killed. This "good" son was a real scumbag terrorist. While the prior novel focused on the darker side of interrogation, this focuses on the business of contract killing, and gives us an insight into the personality of the expert assassin. It's an intriguing concept: what does it take to assassinate Mitch Rapp, who is also an expert assassin.

In Memorial Day, I was not given much about Rapp's wife, who is a television news correspondent. In this book, we learn a lot more about her and, of course, she is an integral part of the story. However, I found their relationship to be somewhat superficial. I know that opposites can attract (Mary Matalin, ultra conservative and James Carville, ultra liberal, who seem to have a perfect marriage). However, I did not find the back and
forth between Rapp and his wife to be convincing.

Rapp has an interesting relationship with his boss, Irene Kennedy, the director of CIA, and has to deal with a newly formed agency that want to reign in the CIA. In keeping with his character, Rapp does not suffer fools and desk jockeys, so he does things that make him enemies in high places. Fortunately, having saved the President in a prior novel, and the city of Washington DC in Memorial Day, he has a lot of political support where it counts and he gets away with a lot.

The previous review by Trailhound is very complete, and adequately explains the plot, so I will focus more on my observations regarding the writing style of Flynn. To explain what I like, let me talk about one of my favorite authors (I can say that because I read ALL his books). Michael Connelly wrote a series of novels about a detective named Harry Bosch. Like Rapp, Bosch is a renegade who is constantly in a struggle against those who will not, or cannot, do what needs to be done. In the case of Rapp, it’s PC types in Washington DC, and in the case of Bosch, it’s his superiors who are afraid of bad publicity for the police department. Flynn and Connelly do a good job of developing the main character so that we begin to feel as he feels and we experience genuine frustration at the obstacles placed in the way. If you do decide to try the Connelly novels, I suggest starting from the earliest published and going forward so you can enjoy the development of the Harry Bosch character over the years.

In summation, I also can give this novel a strong recommendation. It is an eye-opening look into the world of contract killing. Flynn has apparently established himself as a pre-eminent spy novelist.