In the last couple of months I have read Vince Flynn's two previous books, Memorial Day and Consent to Kill with fervour and looked forward to another exciting story including protagonist Mitch Rapp.

I was privy to a get-away-weekend and picked up his latest Act of Treason in paperback. It didn't take long to finish it.

Some Basics

Mitch Rapp is a character much like Agent Jack Bauer of TV's popular show 24. To give credit Mitch Rapp has been around a bit before Jack started saving the world.

Once again it is Mitch Rapp who unties the secrets behind terror. This time the bad guys are out to assassinate the new president and vice-president elect. Instead, the wrong car is hit and the president-elect's wife is killed with others. We find out that all is not what it seems with a few plot twists that keep thing interesting and the pages turning.

Rapp uses his strong armed tactics in this book as he has in previous tales as he makes haste to catch the assassin. This time though, writer Vince Flynn demonstrates even more than previously, Rapp's distrust and actual hate of politicians and press whose power is used to weaken rather than strengthen America's defense and standings in the world. When Mitch finds out that the assassin he captured is going to be put on trial immediately rather than be dealt through clandestine means while Rapp can build his case he decides to make some further covert moves that can change the outcome of the investigation and the way politicians seek notoriety. Be sure that Rapp is not a Liberal minded fellow.

Pops thoughts

I enjoyed the story that Vince Flynn brought forward. For those with strong liberal leanings this may not be an enjoyable read as the author does beat up on them.

In this book I didn't see as much of the violent means usually used by Rapp. Instead the author gives more detail to the politicians and their motives for power and tactics used to get more of it. He is at odds with many of them and it's that conflict that makes this book different than previous Mitch Rapp stories. That's not to say Rapp hasn't butted heads with like characters before. In this book it simply becomes more of the prime story line.

Flynn also continues to build on Rapp's character by pulling information and life connections of Rapps past that I have read in previous books. I find this ever-developing process of Rapp's life intriguing. The author does it in a way that should not be at all obtrusive to the anyone new to a Mitch Rapp adventure. There's just enough information given to enlighten the first time reader yet at the same time it's not used as filler or repeated in a way that becomes redundant to a Mitch Rapp fan.

Once again Flynn gave me a story that hooked me right away and was easy to follow. There was a little less character development of the assassin and cohorts but the given depth of inner workings of the US political characters more than offset that omission. This was a slightly different kind of Mitch Rapp story that I found a page turner with an end that wasn't totally predictable.

Vince Flynn has been knocking these Mitch Rapp books out at a furious pace. This is his 8th since 1999 and the pace has quickened in the last couple-a-few years. Even so, I have not found the story content or pace slow down or lose intensity. I closed this one and look forward to his next sure to be another Best Seller, Protect and Defend that will be out by the end of this month on October 30th.

Each book, like this one, can stand on its own or better yet continue one man's drive to save America from assassins and terrorists.


Flynn's latest that came out Oct 30 2007 Protect and Defend

Vince Flynn's best to date Memorial Day

Vince Flynn brings Mitch Rapp back again in a another political thriller
Consent To Kill

Recommended: Yes