Enemy at the Gates by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills

The nice thing about the Mitch Rapp series is that each successive book shows Mitch aging. Mellowing out a bit. More focused on his friends and family and less on wiping out America’s enemies. The underlying theme of Enemy is protecting his family and getting back to them. He has fortified living arrangements in Virginia and in South Africa where he spends most of his time these days.

It’s finally happened. This first trillionaire. Nicholas Ward. Made billions across multiple disciplines like tech, communications, transportation, pharma. You name it. His fingerprints can be found all over the place. Now he is focused on improving global humanity. He is financially supporting Dr. David Chism in his search for the holy grail of medicine – an antiviral that can be used to treat and prevent most every viral bug on the planet from COVID right down to the common cold.

And Chism is getting close. So close that people whose livelihood is based on treating sick people would like to delay his research. Many of the raw materials that Chism needs are in the Ugandan jungles. But that has good and bad points. Uganda is good because that kind of isolation is good for his research. It’s not so good in that a local terrorist with a god complex, Gideon Auma, has been trying to start his vision of a unified Africa (of course under his leadership) by starting a war between Uganda and its neighbor to the west, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Any terrorist worth his salt needs money. And through a complicated set of channels, Auma has been hired to kidnap Chism. A raid on the research compound nearly wipes out the research effort, but that can all be rebuilt. Chism as a hostage should bring a handsome payment from Nicholas Ward. But Chism and a couple colleagues escaped into the jungle and have yet to be found.

Because both Chism and Ward are Americans, the CIA and the White House are concerned. The new President, Anthony Cook, is one part dreamer and one part a pragmatist. He dreams of a gentler world but realizes the necessity of people like Ward who can get things done that a government can’t. He also realizes that much of the big money that got him to the White House will be severely damaged if Chism/Ward find that miracle anti-viral. He also isn’t a fan of the over-the-top methods of diplomacy that Mitch Rapp practices.

It becomes apparent that the raid on the research facility was a bit more organized. When one of Irene Kennedy’s IT nerds spots an internal breach of the CIA’s background information about Nicholas Ward, it starts to look like there is a mole within the CIA that is feeding info to outsiders that manages to reach Auma. Ergo, a well-planned and mostly successful assault on a reasonably well fortified compound.

Director Kennedy puts a really off the books plan in play. She brings Mitch (and his team of contractors) out of domestic malaise. Their job: find Chism. Use Ward (and his money) to restart the research facility, and put Auma’s army out of business. Oh, and conduct a mole hunt within the Langley headquarters from the jungles of Uganda all the while keeping the President out of the loop.

I’ve said it in earlier reviews. Kyle Mills has expertly picked up the Mitch Rapp saga following Vince Flynn’s passing a few years ago. Kudos to Simon and Schuster and Emily Bestler Books for bring Mills aboard. This story shows two sides of Rapp. His domestic side with his wife and stepdaughter at home in Virginia and South Africa (his wife’s home country). We also see the devastation he can reign down on enemies that don’t have America’s best interests at heart. And we see his cunning as he closes the net on the mole within the CIA. Hard to find any weaknesses in Mills presentation of another Mitch Rapp winner.

Thanks to the good folks at Simon and Schuster for the advance reviewer copy. Always a thrill when a package arrives with their return address. And like I’ve said over and over on this blog. Look to see who publishes a book. Of all the books I’ve read from Emily Bestler Books, each has been a winner.

Enemy at the Gates goes on sale September 14, 2021. Line up, folks.

Total Power by Kyle Mills

Governments are supposed to watch over the people. Make sure that bad things don’t happen. So they try to envision what could go wrong and plan how to keep such things from actually happening. Probably all the main offices of government are dreaming up how to bring down the country so it can be stopped before it happens. Or if it does happen, what can be done to protect the people.

The Department of Energy is doing just that. One of their doomsday scenarios is having the electrical grid go down. Not just a city or a region. The whole dang country. A Senate select committee has paraded dozens of electric company CEOs to testify. They all say it’s impossible. The DOE head of cybersecurity brings in a consultant (that’s what governments do . . . they hire consultants). John Alton, an MIT-educated genius in electrical engineering and computer networking, runs a utility security company and has gotten stinking rich in the process. In his thousand-page report, he tells Congress how easy it would be. Take out nine specific substations and the lower 48 is suddenly back in 18^th century. Projections of the carnage are in the 10s of millions. The economy? Gone. Not simply stunted. Gone. And with a little extra help, the American electrical grid could be down for as long as a year before those industry would even figure out what’s wrong. Those fat-cat senators dismiss Alton’s conclusions as unnecessarily hysterical.

Mitch Rapp is in Spain on the trail of the top cybermind in ISIS. Guy says he is going on holiday to tour NYC and DC. But computer nerds, be they Arab or American, aren’t trained to resist interrogation much less torture. With a little nudge, the guy divulges that he’s on the way to meet a contact known only as PowerStation.

Apparently, PowerStation also knows what Alton has predicted. But he needs some help to pull off the scheme. A sleeper Russian agent is sent to meet PowerStation to gauge his capabilities. She reports back that he seems credible, but she also thinks that he is unstable and untrustworthy. Russia isn’t interested out of concern for the eventual American retaliation. That doesn’t concern ISIS.

The sleeper agent becomes borderline obsessed with the American power grid, reading all she can about it. A few weeks later, she sees an internet article about substation security and with it, a photo with PowerStation in the background. Now she’s got a name, then soon an address. She plans to approach him about his intents and maybe even stop him, but instead ends up breaking in his home and cloning some of a laptop’s hard drive.

On a cold Christmas morning, PowerStation throws the electronic switch plunging the US into an electrical black hole. Within days, anarchy ensues. Food, medical care, dwindling water supplies, transportation, communication ceases to exist. Without electricity, nothing works. The government is hiding in a West Virginia bunker with no clue about what to do. During the shutdown, our Russian tries to get to the FBI but rioting mobs in DC prevent her getting in.

Rapp, his boss (Irene Kennedy) and Rapp’s crew of operatives work to piece together seemingly disconnected clues about what they can do about the power loss and the only real conclusion is that the person with the best information is PowerStation. Clues have them hopping from Idaho to western VA, the mountains of West Virginia, backwoods KY.

They come up with a risky plan with minimal chance of success to get PowerStation to come to them rather than try to keep chasing their own tails looking for him. 

And it’s a helluva plan.

This is #19 in Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp series. As you might know, Flynn died in 2013. His publishers, Emily Bestler Books (a Simon & Schuster imprint – and I’ve said it here before and will again. Pay attention to who publishes a book. I’ve never read anything from Emily Bester Books that wasn’t first rate) enlisted Kyle Mills, already an accomplished thriller writer, to pick up Flynn’s mantle and continue the Mitch Rapp saga. This is the 6^th Mitch Rapp book by Kyle Mills.

And it’s a whopper. Not Rapp crawling around some shithole for a dirtbag terrorist bent on bringing down the Great Satan. Rapp is fully engaged on American soil to prevent the US from plunging into a bottomless hole from which it could well not recover. If you weren't already a prepper, the thought of this scenario actually happening just might convince you to start looking at mountain property for your own bunker against anarchy.

Red War by Kyle Mills and Vince Flynn

Mitch Rapp teams up with the former Russian version of himself, Grisha Avarov to save the world from WWIII.  The Russian president, Maxium Krupin develops an inoperable brain tumor and invades Latvia which causes a NATO mobilization.  The aggression is designed as a ‘wag the dog’ style cover while Krupin secretly receives medical treatment.  But the war quickly escalates and the use of nuclear weapons is pondered.  CIA director Irene Kennedy finds out about Krupin’s condition and motive and sends Rapp and Avarov to find and ‘neutralize’ Krupin before he pushes the red button.  Scary stuff and a little too close for comfort in our modern world.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster for the advance copy.

Order to Kill by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills

With all the pre-release publicity of the latest Mitch Rapp book (Enemy of the State), I learned I was one behind the curve. Somehow I'd missed 2016's Order to Kill. Not wanting to skip over any book in this series, I had to read this one while waiting for my name to rise up the wait list at the library.

This picks up where The Survivor left off. In an effort to keep nukes out of the hands of terrorists, the Pakistani government has been moving pieces of its arsenal around to keep any would-be thieves off guard. Problem is that the politicians and the military are routinely at odds with each other. Knowing what could happen, the US tries its best to keep tabs on the whereabouts of Pakistan's nukes.

The Russian's hadn't been active participants in the war on terror and in The Survivor, Rapp learns that Moscow might be brewing up some bizarre plans. The current Russian president is hanging by a thread because the economy sucks and a cabal of businessmen aren't pleased that their cut of the economic pie is shrinking. Oil prices have tanked because the Saudi's have flooded the market with oil driving down prices. To save his own skin, the Russian president plans to steal some of the Pakistani warheads and set off a string of dirty bombs on Saudi refineries. With no Saudi oil, Russia's reserves will be in extreme demand for decades, enriching the cabal, securing his power and legacy.

Mitch Rapp and colleagues have been tracking the Pakistani nukes, but he has to run on an emergent assignment in South Africa to save a friend (from The Survivor). While successful, Rapp comes to realize it was all a ruse to get him off the Pakistani nuke assignment for a time. When he returns, his team ends up in a firefight at a warehouse where one of the nukes was being temporarily stored.  During the firefight, one of Rapp's most trusted warriors is bested by an adversary who was definitely not from Pakistan.

The hunt now takes on two dimensions. Where are the nukes (six are now missing) and who is that non-Muslim? It's a safe guess that the Russian who is overseeing the assignment won't want to hang on to the nukes for too long so the hunt on both fronts ramps up into high gear via both sigint and humint sources. Rapp has to infiltrate ISIS and the CIA has to delicately induce the Saudi's that they are under a real threat and that it's in their best interest to help in the takedown.

As with all Flynn/Rapp books, Rapp is the lethal bull in a china closet. Fail to give him the answer he wants will likely lead to a bullet in the forehead. Odds and logic are not in Rapp's wheelhouse. It's his way or the highway. Some may be disappointed in the ending. But I see it as just another way to continue characters across successive books. I'm on the wait list at the library for Enemy of the State so I shouldn't have to wait long to see which characters surface.

ECD

The Survivor

Vince Flynn, Mitch Rapp, the 12^th book in the series, The Survivor, that’s probably all you need to know. Written by Kyle Mills, nothing is lost in the continuation of this series. Is it a cliché to refer to this novel as containing non-stop action. Somehow, like the best authors of this genre, Flynn keeps his hero interesting and relevant with incredible plots, great supporting characters, and awesome bad guys both inside and outside the American government.

I keep running into clichés, but I knew this would be a barn-burner at the end of the first chapter when Irene Kennedy, Rapp's boss and the Director of the CIA talked with Mike Nash, a long time Rapp associate about his concerns for Rapp’s future, how every time Rapp went out on a mission that the odds were always stacked so heavily against him. Kennedy said, “I used to think so. And then I came to a very simple conclusion. He’s a survivor.”

Hold on tight, this is a wild ride from Washington, to Afghanistan, especially to Pakistan, and to a remote area in Siberia. I couldn to put it down. There’s a combination of high tech and low tech action as Ahmed Taj, the head of ISI which is Pakistan’s security force, plots to assassinate the president of Pakistan and become the leader of the Arab world while simultaneously taking down the CIA, Kennedy and Rapp included.

I’m guessing that my fellow blogger East Coast Don will write a more detailed review, but in the meantime, buy this book. It’s a great espionage novel.

The Last Man by Vince Flynn

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The top spook in Afghanistan has been kidnapped. DCI Irene Kennedy knows that when Joe Rickman breaks, and everyone does, the secrets in his head could endanger countless assets and the CIA’s clandestine service would take years to recover. The head of CIA operations in Afghanistan is no help because he is in bed with the State Department’s “reintegration” program that has lead to green on blue violence where former Afghan creeps are absorbed into the police training only to bite the hand feeding them by killing American troops. Then there an ambitious FBI agent who has been fed intel that Rapp and Rickman have been siphoning $$$ into private Swiss accounts.

Kennedy has little option but to send in Mitch Rapp to turn over rocks and kick ass until he finds Rickman, the sooner the better. Rickman was snatched from his safe house and the only thing left was a squad of dead guards. In tracking Rickman’s last movements, Rapp learns that Rickman had planned to take his pet Rottweiler to the local vet.

Meanwhile, a hired assassin took a shadowy assignment, for a cool $3 mill, told only to go to this address and this time and await a text with the identity of the target . . . Rapp.

When Rapp goes to question the vet, his team realizes that they are trapped by a large contingent of Afghan cops, but the firefight is one-sided leaving 21 cops dead, 1 of Rapp’s guys down, and Rapp knocked out of the game with a blast-related head injury. How in the hell could these cops know Rapp would be at the vet when Rapp didn’t even know he was going there until a couple hours earlier?

It’s up to Kennedy to step in and direct things on the ground in Kabul, Jalalabad, Islamabad, Karachi, and DC. Someone is hell bent on squashing the clandestine service. As Rapp slowly recovers his memory, he and Kennedy piece together a multilayered plot of deceit that is more reminiscent of the old Cold War, but can’t quite trace it back to its source.

OK, let’s get it right out in the open. Flynn is at or near the top of the MRB power rotation so it’s likely this would be well received. And who are we to argue with success? 13 NY Times best sellers out of 13 books is one hellacious resume. And no doubt when this book is released for general sale on 13 November, The Last Man will be his 14^th. I’d be astonished if it doesn’t open in the top 5 if not #1. This is terrifically plotted and paced with dozens of twists that will keep any fan turning pages as fast as they can be read. Had life not gotten in the way, this could’ve been read in one sitting.  I was pleased that there is a hint at 1 or 2 characters to be developed in Flynn’s next outing. Flynn fans will not be disappointed. Absolutely first rate. How do authors like Flynn dream this stuff up?

p.s. And a big tip of the hat 

to MRB’s newest best friend at Simon and Schuster for the advance copy of The Last Man.  Wow, what a start to what we hope will be a long relationship.

Kill Shot by Vince Flynn

In American Assassin, Flynn had returned to Mitch Rapp's training and first assignment. Kill Shot picks up were Assassin left off.

After Rapp had saved his training instructor, Stan Hurley's bacon during Rapp's first assignment, you'd think Hurley would have finally accepted Irene Kennedy's star find. But Hurley still thinks Rapp is a loose cannon. Over Rapp's first year, he has performed beyond anyone's expectations. Kennedy, her boss Stansfield, Rapp, and Hurley had drawn up a list of the terrorist command structure that Rapp was eliminating one by one. Hurley tries to impress on Rapp to be invisible so the bad guys don't know he is coming. Rapp could care less if the target knows his name is up. Let them live in the kind of terror their innocent victims experience. Hurley also doesn't like that Rapp is working alone, given far more leash by Kennedy and Stansfield than any other operative gets.

The Libyan oil minister is in Paris. He is a respected minister and diplomat with a side interest in laundering money for various terrorist organizations; his name is next up on the list. An easy target for Rapp. Predictable, visible, and available for assassination most anywhere he travels. But this time, the hit is on friendly soil - Paris, France. And this opens up mega problems for the US government, if something goes wrong.

This fat minister likes his French prostitutes and Rapp as spent a couple weeks establishing the guy's patterns. On the chosen night, Rapp rappels down to the hotel's 2nd floor balcony, opens the balcony door on which he had previously disengaged the lock, sneaks in, puts two silenced shots into the minister's forehead as he slept.

An unsuspected noise in the hallway alerts Rapp who dives behind the bed just as the room explodes in automatic gunfire. Five vs. Rapp is an unfair fight. Rapp kills four, is wounded himself, and the 5th escapes the slaughter only to kill 3 other innocents on his way out.

Something went wrong, obviously. Someone knew he was coming and set a trap. And now the chase is on. The CIA is trying to get Rapp to come in, but with only 4 people knowing 'the list', someone must be the source of the leak. The group that arranged the hit on Rapp want to find him and finish the job. The Paris police have one dead foreign minister, one dead whore, 4 dead unknowns, and 3 dead innocents. To say that the domestic and foreign press are in a feeding frenzy would be an understatement. The French version of the CIA, the DGSE, is lingering around the police because an international figure is dead on French soil. And Rapp is having to stay ahead of all these competing interests.

Flynn is a favorite on mine. I've been reading his work from the very start with Term Limits. Each is a terrific tale and once the Mitch Rapp character was introduced, Flynn became the new Chosen One for outstanding spy thrillers. With Kill Shot, he maintains his place at the top of the pyramid of action-based thrillers. His work differs from more 'traditional' espionage work like early LeCarre, or my current fav, Olen Steinhauer. But make no mistake. Flynn is ground zero for what we at MRB like - action packed, fast paced, testosterone laced CIA against the bad guys. Your wife will either hate you for picking it up (puts the 'honey do' list on hold) or love you for reading it (keep you out of her hair for a couple days).

East Coast Don

American Assassin by Vince Flynn

Irene Kennedy, future DCI of the CIA, is a bit down the decision chain in this prequel. She finds a young Syracuse grad that just might be what they are looking for to join the most clandestine arm of the clandestine unit at Langley. Orion is so black that no one in any level of government will acknowledge its existence. Kennedy delivers Rapp to a rural farm in Virginia into the care of the most vile, angry, detestable, pissed off human on the planet, Stan Hurley.

Hurley was a field officer for the predecessor of the CIA working mostly in Europe during the height of the cold war while telling anyone who would listen that the real powder keg was the Middle East. During his time in the field, he rightfully earned a reputation as a ruthless and remorseless killer. Now, new recruits were being entrusted to him so that he could harden them into the next generation of killers. Now Kennedy delivers (a couple days late) this snot-nosed college kid to Hurley instead of the special ops guys from the military that he craves.

As you might imagine, Hurley objects to Rapp’s presence, his late arrival, and everything he represents. Hurley is too dense to realize Rapp is just like he was at 23. The two form a deserved hate-hate relationship that festers until a boiling point where Kennedy’s boss, Thomas Stansfield, has to mediate. Stansfield politely tells Hurley to wake up and smell the sewage and realize that Rapp is the real deal. He can either be the conductor on the train or get the hell out of dodge.

Rapp’s first assignment is in Istanbul, where under Hurley’s direction, he is to log his first kill – a noted arms dealer. Rapp goes a bit off the reservation and kills the dealer on his own time, not Hurley’s, which pisses Hurley off to no end. Hurley is reminded that the kid sized up the situation, made his play, and got out safely, all without Hurley’s help. Get over it – this kid is a natural and Hurley grudgingly accepts a star is in the making.

Now Hurley is not only ruthless, he is also devious. He hates Middle East nutjobs and devises a plan to get the jihadist and Russians at each others throat by killing a banker who is laundering Arab-Russian money. He then wires the money all over, setting off a near war between the two. Along the way, Hurley gets snatched in Beirut and it’s up to Rapp to get him back.

The resulting rescue is creative, effective, and explosive . . . and a legend is born.

I think most authors with a continuing character have a novel in them that lets us all in on the main guy’s background. Tom Clancy did it with Clark (Without Remorse) and Lee Child told Jack Reacher’s early years (The Enemy). Now Vince Flynn tells us about Mitch Rapp’s initial training and his first missions for the CIA.

While I am a fan of Flynn and Rapp, I actually thought this story started a little late in Rapp’s recruitment. The book essentially opens with Kennedy dropping Rapp off at Hurley’s farm for training. What I would like to have seen is how Kennedy found Rapp and what was it about Rapp that made her think he’d be, not merely a player, but was capable of being the sharp end of the CIA’s sword. Having said that, this story provides welcome background into what makes Rapp, well . . . Rapp. Another testosterone-driven story from Vince Flynn that 'men reading books' should snap up.

East Coast Don

Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn

I thought ECD had already posted about this book, another Mitch Rapp novel. So, I wasn't keeping notes as I raced through this one that I could have used for a more thorough review. Suffice it to say that this may be Flynn's best Rapp book. My only frustration was that I didn't have enough time to read it in one day. It took three days to find the time and I was definitely always eager to get back to it. Rapp's wife and unborn daughter play key roles in this story about an attempt to assassinate Rapp, a plot that brings in a team of French killers and their Saudi employers. This one fits the genre and it is not to be missed.

Pursuit of Honor by Vince flynn

Flynn is definitely on my power rotation. Every new title the library gets has my name on the (long) request list. As a reminder, I sort of know his sister from some work with US Soccer. I read this during the week I was sick after returning from India. Probably read over half of this in the can.

The books opens days after Muslim extremists have blown up a power lunch restaurant filled with members of Congress and staffers. As a further insult, a second squad attacks the National Counter Terrorist Center killing dozens more until our hero Mitch Rapp and partner Mike Nash send the bad guys off to paradise. With nearly 200 dead, the nation is in no mood to coddle Islamic extremists. The President has given Rapp a green light to be if not judge and jury, certainly the executioner. The sharp edge of the CIA's sword has been let loose with few strings attached. The story takes place over the following week.

Rapp is on the trail of a liberal weenie lawyer inspector general of the CIA who has been giving out information that some consider to aid the enemy. Meanwhile, 3 of the cell that helped carry out the DC attack are hiding out in rural Iowa, waiting for the heat to die down. Hakim is the logical planner who knows about the US having lived here. Karim is the hotheaded soldier who wants a legacy as The Lion of al Qaeda. A dad and son walk up to their farmhouse asking for permission to hunt. Hakim says sure because he knows that's all they want, but Karim is convinced they are police and kills them both. Now they are on the run, trying to stay a step ahead of the police. Neither trusts the other and end up splitting. Hakim to Nassau to get money and hide somewhere, Karim and Ahmed to Washington to wreck more havoc.

Rapp is trying to piece together disparate clues from British and French intelligence, the FBI, local police, Caribbean banking, and more I can't recall. How he does it on probably 4-5 hrs sleep is beyond me. Meanwhile, Mike Nash is worried he is becoming just like Rapp and can't deal with it. By pure luck, Rapp runs into Hakim while following the money to Nassau. As Karim had beaten Hakim to within an inch of his life for insubordination, Hakim is easy to turn against Karim. They all go back to DC just as Karim kidnaps Nash's daughter and holds her as the central figure in one last final shot at Islamic glory. Of course, he fails with Rapp taking care of business with exxxxxxtreeeeeeme prejudice.

In this story, Flynn seems to be more focused on character and logical plot development rather than body count. It's all about trying to connect the dots . . . at a breakneck pace. If there was one thing I didn't like, it's Flynn's penchant for conservative sermonizing as when Rapp confronts the treasonous lawyer, and I'm on his side. But that doesn't get in the way of a terrific read. It all seems like a re-telling of something that really could happen. I certainly hope that the realism presented isn't a look into our near future. Flynn's books have yet to let me down, but I sure hope he isn't right.

East Coast Don

Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn

This one is about a terrorist attack on the White House, the forces that bring that about, and the interplay of the politicians and CIA/FBI people who are trying to regain control. This was a very fast read, nearly impossible to put down.

WC Don

Extreme Measures by Vince Flynn

OK, I'm prejudiced. I like Vince Flynn's books. Based on his prior work, I can't imagine not liking his latest, whatever it is. When I saw that Extreme Measures was due out in late October, I immediately put my name on the reserve list at the library...I was number 5 on the list. with the library buying 70 copies of the book, that meant I was on the first group to get it. Then my travel schedule showed I'd be on the road and I groaned....now i'd be put at the bottom of the list and I might come back to the top by December if I was lucky (there are over 300 requests on the list as of today). While at the library checking out books for this latest trip, I told the librarian my dilemma and was told no problem, they'd put my request on hold until a specific date when it would go active and I'd probably be at the top of the list. Sure enough, I got home on Saturday Nov 1 and on Tuesday I got the call. Good system.

For those guys who don't know (Flynn writes man fiction, can't ever see a woman reading his stuff), Flynn's stories revolve around a CIA counter terrorist operative Mitch Rapp whose view of the world could be summed up as 'kill them all before they kill us'. Two high level Taliban operatives are captured in Afghanistan and held on a US air force base. Mitch impersonates an Air Force officer and does what he does best...convince the bad guys it's in their best interest to cooperate. problem is a limp dick panty waist AF captain doesn't like what he's doing and draws down on Rapp...not a good idea and Rapp none-too-gently disarms the guy who then decides to press charges. This sets in motion a series of congressional hearings on Rapp, the CIA, counter terrorism, while a previously unknown al Qaeda cell prepares for a big strike inside the US and Rapp is stuck on Capitol Hill rather out than finding the bad guys.

In Flynn's prior books, we follow the trail of clues and events that eventually lead to Rapp sending the terrorists off to Paradise earlier than expected, thwarting the plot and saving the day...and you silently cheer Rapp's every move, decision, and action as he gets closer and closer to the source. In this one, the main protagonist is a liberal Senator from New England who has the neanderthal knuckle draggers at the CIA in her crosshairs. As the the hearings get closer and closer, you can't wait to see the verbal sparring that will ensue with her committee. That the terror cell is getting closer and closer to carrying out their plan is almost secondary. The one difference with this book vs other Flynn books is that there is an obvious connection to the next novel. I can see the upcoming book picking up 'the next day.'

Also read that the first Flynn book to be green-lighted by Hollywood is Consent to Kill. Flynn has 9 novels out and this CTK is about novel #6 or 7, well into the character, but the only one with a love interest as a major player...guess H'wood thought that was necessary. I thought they should've started with earlier stories, but they didn't ask me. If you are new to Flynn, start at the beginning, which I think was Transfer of Power.

An interesting sidelight. When doing some work for US Soccer some years ago, the coaching/training staff were all sitting around drinking some beers when the trainer, a woman from Minneapolis, asked what kinds of books I like. i said political thrillers and crime. She asked if I had read anything by a relative newcomer named Vince Flynn and I said 'Oh yeah, Mitch Rapp is the baddest character going. It was right about then I put 2 and 2 together and realized this trainer, Vicki Flynn, was Vince's sister. Needless to say, Vince Flynn is a hit amongst the US national soccer team.

A solid 'A' in my book. but remember, I'm prejudiced.

East Coast Don