Series: Mitch Rapp #5
Author: Vince Flynn
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 450
Words: 137.5K
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Synopsis: |
From Wikipedia & Me
Intelligence gathering has indicated unusual activity in financial markets, and Rapp, back in the field after a long stint on desk duty for insubordination, unearths a bomb plot during a daring commando raid on an al-Qaeda stronghold in Afghanistan. A decision is made for the President and his cabinet to leave Washington, D.C. in early morning hours based on the bomb threat. However a United States strike force manages to intercept and disarm the nuclear weapon moments after it arrives by freighter in Charleston, South Carolina. Everyone, including series stalwart President Robert Hayes, congratulates themselves on a job well done, but Rapp is not convinced; he believes al-Qaeda leader Mustafa al-Yamani has smuggled a second nuclear weapon into the country and plans to detonate it in Washington, D.C., during Memorial Day celebrations.
Rapp, a ruthless terrorist pursuer by temperament and training, turns it up several notches this time around, following al-Yamani's scent with feverish abandon. When a missing Pakistani nuclear scientist is found to have passed through LAX on his way to Atlanta, and a truck driver turns up dead due to radiation sickness, the chase is on again. Ultimately the terrorists approach Washington D.C. by water, are spotted from the air, and killed by Rapp. The second bomb, however, has been activated and is in its countdown, unable to be deactivated. After an assessment of options, Rapp transports the bomb to a secure underground facility where it explodes with minimal human or environmental affect.
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My Thoughts: |
Oh man, I love a good “nuke loose in the United States” thriller story. It sends a frisson down my spine to even contemplate such a thing in reality, but in a book, I can handle it and it really amps up a story, that's for sure.
I found that Flynn's way of handling Rapp, now stuck between being a desk jockey and wanting to be a Field Operative, was handled well. For the most part Rapp doesn't go cowboy'ing it and laying the smackdown on the terrorists. That job is mostly left to the other Special Forces. Rapp does get into the thick of things near the end when they are chasing down the remaining nuke and have to find a safe place to let it go off.
Mrs Mitch Rapp is out of the story, as she's at her family's cabin on the lake for the Memorial Day Weekend. Kind of sneaky of Flynn to get around the issue that way but it works for this book and I know Flynn isn't ignoring the overall situation of the Rapp's as a couple. I'm sure the nitty-gritty of their relationship will pop up once again.
On an aesthetic note, the cover I chose was the only one that was even half-way “actiony”. Every single other one was boring, political logo branding. I have no idea why the covers are made that way. While not The Executioner, they should have an appropriately cool military/assassin/spy cover. Give me goodguys with guns or badguys with bombs. Or planes, trains and automobiles. Just something besides the generic “looks like a folder on the desk of a bureaucrat” that I've seen.
★★★✬☆
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