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Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Separation of Power
Series:
Mitch Rapp #3
Author: Vince Flynn
Rating:
3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages:
378
Words: 133.5K
From Wikipedia
About
a month after the events in the previous book, CIA Director Thomas
Stansfield has succumbed to cancer and has chosen Dr. Irene Kennedy,
The director of the CIA's counterterrorism center, to take his place
as director. Meanwhile, Henry "Hank" Clark, a corrupt
Republican senator and chairman of the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence, is making plans to prevent Kennedy from becoming the
director of the CIA. His plan involves embarrassing her before she
can be confirmed for the position, and handpick a new director and
have them open up "ECHELON", a global surveillance program,
and give its secrets to his investors in Silicon Valley, who will
then help him get elected to become president. His original plan to
kill Rapp and embarrass the CIA failed, so he begins the process of
his new plan.
Mitch
Rapp is called in to visit Kennedy to talk about Peter Cameron, the
CIA officer who attempted to have him killed in Germany, but was
killed by an assassin before Rapp could capture him. He and Kennedy
watch surveillance footage that captured the face of the assassin.
Rapp realizes that the assassin is Donatella Rahn, an Israeli
assassin and Rapp's ex-girlfriend. Kennedy instructs him to take his
girlfriend, Anna Rielley, to Milan and propose to her, and then go
visit Donatella to learn who hired her to kill Peter Cameron.
Meanwhile, Clark visits his accomplice, Mossad director Ben Freidman
at the Israeli Embassy, who has been helping him become president in
exchange for more aid to Israel. At the meeting, Clark orders Ben to
assassinate Donatella, who he hired to kill Peter.
Later
that day, Ben visits President Xavier Hayes, Kennedy, and General
Flood, the chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of staff, at the White House.
It is there he informs them that Saddam Hussein, with the help of
North Korea, is only a few weeks away from acquiring three
functioning nuclear weapons. He also informs them that the facility
for making these weapons is hidden under a massive hospital in
Baghdad, and that if the Americans won't take action, than they will
do it themselves. Seeing as how an Israeli response could lead to
nuclear war, The President and his team start to come up with ways to
destroy the facility and the nukes.
At
the same time, Mitch and Anna arrive in Milan, and after a day of
touring the city, Rapp goes to visit Donatella. In Washington, Clark
persuades his accomplice, Albert Rudin, Chairman of the House
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, to investigate Kennedy
for corruption and promises him evidence before her confirmation
ceremony. In Milan, Rapp can't get Donatella to tell him who hired
her, but realizes they are being followed. When they arrive at her
apartment, Donatella is ambushed by awaiting Mossad operatives, but
manages to kill them thanks to Rapp's warning. After Rapp promises
her protection in America, Donatella confesses that Ben had hired her
to kill Peter. Rapp brings Donatella to he and Anna's hotel room,
where she accuses Rapp of having an affair,and she storms off before
he can explain.
In
Washington, D.C., General Flood concocts a plan to insert a Delta
Force team into Baghdad, disguised as a presidential motorcade, and
infiltrate the facility under the cover of a U.S bombing campaign
across Iraq in order to steal the nukes. But Kennedy strongly
recommends Rapp to lead the operation. Elsewhere in Washington,
Jonathan Brown, deputy director of the CIA, meets with Norb Steveken,
the head of an investigative firm hired by hank and Rudin to
investigate Kennedy. Brown hands off classified information on Orion
Team, a secret counterterrorism team led by Kennedy, who Rapp is a
member of. Rapp returns to America and is read in on the plan to
infiltrate Baghdad. He agrees to the mission and comes up with the
idea of impersonating Uday Hussein, Saddam's favorite son, in order
to gain access to the facility. As they prepare for the mission,
Rudin reveals the existence of Mitch Rapp and the Orion Team on Meet
The press and implicates Kennedy of violating international law,
throwing the confirmation process into chaos.
President
Hayes orders the bombing campaign against Iraq, which helps Rapp and
the Delta team to successfully enters Baghdad. Rapp and the Delta
team, disguised as SRG soldiers, are able to enter the facility and
steal the nukes. As they fend off enemy fire, they destroy the
facility, kidnap the head North Korean scientist, and escape Iraq
with the nukes. After they return to the U.S safely, President Hayes
reveals the success of the operation and confirms Rapp's existence by
explaining Rapp's action in Iraq. Rapp returns to his home and
apologizes to Anna, and after he does this, he retires from his role
as an assassin and proposes to her. His plan having failed due to the
fact Kennedy is looked at as a hero, Clark kills Rudin by pushing him
off his balcony, making it look like a suicide.
When
the Israeli prime minister comes to Washington with Ben Freidman and
Yasser Arafat, Rapp and the president interrogate Ben and threaten to
kill him. As a result of this, Ben reveals Clarks role in the week's
events. Several weeks after this, Clark is killed by Rapp and
Donatella at a bar in D.C, making it look like an apparent heart
attack.
This was a good wrapup to the initial Mitch Rapp trilogy. Senator
Clark (what's with bad senators? They make horrible presidents and
should know better than to try to be president. A senator is a pack
group animal, while a president is a lone wolf with the decisions
resting squarely on his shoulders) and his plans to discredit the
current administration no matter the cost fails and in the end Rapp
takes care of him. Permanently. It was satisfying to read.
The thing that I enjoyed that I didn't think I would was the
relational drama between Rapp and his girlfriend. She's a big time
reporter and has to stick her nose into everything and Rapp is beyond
secretive about everything on general principle. It comes to a head
here and they have a stormy stomp off the stage I'm not going to
marry you scene. I really liked how the author brought these
conflicting personality types and responsibilities against each
other. They are real issues these 2 are going to have to deal with if
they want their marriage to last. What I didn't like was how feelingz
and wuv, true wuv overcame all in the end as they get engaged. What
these 2 characters need is some serious marriage counseling, as their
life paths are going to continue to clash if they can't figure out
how to make it work. I wanted to shake both of them by the scruff of
their necks and tell them to go to Pastor Peckham. Here's to hoping
the author uses this dustup to make them examine the issues in their
lives and not just as fodder. * fingers crossed *
If the series had ended right here, I would have been satisfied.
However, I am very glad that the adventures continue. I need some
macho man reading without asshattery arrogance and Mitch Rapp fits
the bill perfectly.
There is a movie called American Assassin but it appears to be based
on book 10 or 11 of the series, so I'm not even tempted to watch it
yet. Who know what kind of spoilers, and probably WRONG spoilers to
boot, it contains? I'll wait til I've read the book and then see if
my library or Prime has it.
★★★✬☆
