Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Book Review: Pursuit of Honor


I recently finished reading Vince Flynn's latest novel, Pursuit of Honor, and I would like to tell you a little bit about it.

Flynn's main character, Mitchell Rapp, is a CIA counter-terrorist operative who spends his time covertly doing violent and bloody things that most people can't imagine themselves doing. What I mean by that is the Rapp finds out where terrorists are and he kills them. Sometimes he kills them after using "enhanced techniques" to interrogate them... which is to say he sometimes tortures them. If you are waiting for me to get weepy about that, keep waiting.

Anyway, in this novel, which picks up immediately after the end of the last, is about finding the terrorists that got away in the last book, so that Rapp can do what he normally does, but there is a fly in the ointment (isn't there always?).

In this story, Rapp's fellow operative, Mike Nash, is starting to burn out, and his family life is suffering along with him as he wrestles, morally, with the things that his job requires him to do, and living the secret life that he does. These feelings are not only affecting Nash's marriage, but also his ability to think clearly in the field.

I won't give any spoilers as to how Rapp and Nash go about dealing with the terrorists who are still at large America, other than to say that you'll like that part of the story if suspense, action, skulduggery, and cloak & dagger adventure are your thing. Nor will I give anything away as to how Rapp is able to help Mike Nash find a solution to his personal woes, but he does both with great effect.

Vince Flynn writes a good story most of the time, and he has done a fair job here, but as a reader, I would warn him that he should probably leave off with his political tirades masked as soliloquies by Mitch Rapp. Truthfully, Mr Flynn, it gets tiresome... so give it a rest, because you are beginning to sound like something of a crackpot.

Recommended

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