Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #301706 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

Customer Reviews

Lots of Slow-Moving Legal and Political Wrangling as Background to a Terrorist Threat

Mitch Rapp fans should be warned that Extreme Measures features Mike Nash (a counter-terrorism agent who has been trained by Mitch) as the protagonist with Mitch Rapp making occasional explosive appearances. When Mitch Rapp appears, the thrills will curl your toes. The rest of the time, however, you may feel like you are listening to either C-Span or a boring prosecutor on Court TV.

There seems to be a serious purpose behind the book: To demonstrate the advantages of suspending constitutional limitations on the government when there is a clear and present danger of immediate harm from terrorists. If you want to know more about the benefits of that approach, you will find plenty to engage you in this story that will probably strike you as very plausible.

From a thriller reader's perspective, this isn't a total thriller. It's more like a book about political intrigue with thriller scenes in it.

So what's it all about? Two terrorist cells have been stopped that had been headed for the U.S. Two well-connected Taliban leaders have been captured in Afghanistan (Abu Haggani organizes suicide operations using Down syndrome children and Mohammad al-Haq is the liaison with al-Qaeda) and are in custody of the U.S. Air Force. A group from Congress has visited the detainees and promised them rights under the Geneva Convention. The CIA desperately wants to find out if there is a third terrorist cell still functioning . . . and where it's headed. Mike Nash and Mitch Rapp descend under the pretense of being Air Force personnel . . . and get caught in the act before they can find out what they want to know. The repercussions reverberate throughout the book.

In a parallel story line, there is a terrorist cell finishing its training in South America under Karim Nour-al-Din who dreams of creating much carnage for Allah. You follow the cell step-by-step as it approaches closer to its target.

In the story, there are several sources of tension:

- will the terrorists be stopped?
- will Mitch Rapp beat the rap?
- will Mike Nash survive the pressure?
- will Mike's family deal with the consequences?
- will the CIA be able to do its job in the future?

Although that sounds pretty thrilling, the book moves slowly from its opening so that the tension merely simmers along for the first two hundred pages or so. Frankly, the story would probably have made a better novella than novel by cutting out most of the background conflicts and focusing on the more imminent parts of the threat.

If you can't get enough of Mitch Rapp, don't miss the book. If you want mostly Mitch Rapp, skip the book.

Rapp takes a back seat
Vince Flynn takes a different direction with his characters in this one. Rapp takes a background role and although his scenes are a delight, it is Mike Nash who is the main good guy. Nash offers something else, he is a family man with some domestic issues, smart but not the bulldozer that Rapp is.
Against the background of an impending attack on the US, this is a book about political in-fighting and how the rights of individuals should be balanced against the need to protect the Nation. The CIA methods being questioned by liberal politicians and slowing down the need to fight fire with fire, is the main thrust of this book.
The point is made bluntly and is made a little too obvious at times.
This is an okay thriller but not up to previous high standards.

Political-threats of present day
Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp is a wonderful character to read about. Mitch always "gets his man" and the ways in which he does it, keeps the reader (listener) on the edge of his/her seat to the very end of the book. Mr. Flynn's writing makes it hard to put the book down until it is finished.

EXTREME MEASURES finds Mitch and Mike Nash collaborating to extract information from two terrorist leaders. Mitch and Mike fear there is a third cell trying to wreak havoc on American soil. Their goal is to stop the cell before it can reach the designated target.

Making their job harder is the fact that Senators have visited the jail where the terrorists are being held and are now demanding that they be given better treatment. Meanwhile, the third cell is gathering its final information and moving on the target.

They are brought before a Senatorial hearing committee to be questioned on their methods of interrogation. During these hearings, the third cell bombs three prominent Washington DC lunch spots. Killed in one of the restaurants is one of the Senate committee member's Chief of Staff.

This loss is the turning point of how the committee thinks about Mitch and Mike. They are now supported whole-heartedly by those on the committee who wanted to stop them. This story is written with today's threat to the US in mind.

Armand Schultz brings a wide range of voices to the reading of this book. He is easy to listen to.

I have never been disappointed in one of Mr. Flynn's books and EXTREME MEASURES is no exception.