Pursuit of Honor

Vince Flynn - Pursuit of Honor

Ahhhh, nothing like an exciting burst of right wing, testosterone laden, let’s-kill-some-bad -assed terrorists novel!  Vince Flynn has arguably become one of the most popular authors of the last decade.  Although his books are extremely one dimensional, he can pack quite a lot of excitement in a punch.  And I mean that last sentence quite literally.

Flynn is one of those authors that has chosen to focus the majority of his work around one main character (think James Patterson’s Alex Cross or Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone).  Our hero in all of these exciting adventures is named Mitch Rapp.  Even if you’ve never read one of Flynn’s works, a character such as Mitch Rapp should probably be very familiar to you.  He’s a clandestine CIA operative with killer instincts, yet a heart of gold to do the right thing.  He’s the most valuable asset our country has, yet he must spend the majority of his life in secret living in the shadows.  He knows everything about every terrorist organization on the face of the earth, yet he’s mild mannered enough to be your neighbor down the street.  Of course, where espionage is involved, this sort of hero doesn’t “follow the rules”.  You get it?

What’s a bigger headache than all of these terrorists that Rapp tracks down are those in Washington who simply don’t get it.  Yes, there’s terrorism in our world, but that’s because America is a big bad bully, and the CIA uses cruel and unconventional methods.  Mitch Rapp, these extremists insist, “needs to be kept on a short leash”.

So in just about every Vince Flynn/Mitch Rapp novel, a familiar pattern emerges.  There are some terrorists in some remote part of the world planning to destroy “The Great Infidel”.  The CIA finds out about it, dispatches Rapp to destroy these cells.  The radical members of the left-wing in congress cry “foul”.  Tensions are mounted, anger becomes imminent, and congressional inquiries are held. Rapp somehow saves the day anyway.  

Although most of his books are very similar, there is sort of a linear (albeit somewhat inconsequential) story line, so it’s probably in the reader’s best interest to start sequentially with the Vince Flynn novels.  As a matter of fact, this one actually picks off from where the last novel ended, but to be completely honest, I wouldn’t say it’s absolutely necessary to read the prior work beforehand.  That’s actually a compliment to Mr. Flynn, as he gives the reader enough background information from the last story as to not strand a newcomer.

Which begs the ultimate question, “Is this a good book?”  Truthfully, yes it is, but this material does get a bit thin after several renditions.  I’m guessing a large part of Vince Flynn’s popularity has to do with the fact that our country has, in fact, become a much different place since 9/11, and stories such as Flynn’s have only helped in terms of the books’ popularity (To be fair, Flynn started this “series” before 9/11.  He was already on the fourth book by then - so you can’t really accuse him of cashing in to make a quick buck based on the sentiments of the masses).

I’m not sure I would recommend this (or any of Flynn’s) work(s) if your politics lean far to the left as you’re bound to be offended.  To Flynn’s credit, he tries to keep the partisanship to a minimum (if I’m not mistaken, the President in these books is a Democrat and a “good guy”).  For most, though, these books are overall fun if slightly (unintentionally) silly.

To give you an example of some shenanigans from this work, there’s another character in this book who is sort of Mitch Rapp’s “Lieutenant” named Mike Nash (what is it with all the one syllable names?).  Nash is a lot like Rapp, but Rapp has to keep him somewhat at a distance from too much of the dangers in this line of work because, see, Nash actually has a sweet little wife and family of four kids.  “Family life” is not in the cards for Mitch Rapp, but he wants to make sure that his protege puts his domestic life a little higher on the priority list.  This, of course causes a bit of conflict between these two buffed-up brutes.  At one point, Rapp literally has to knock Nash “on his ass” so he can make the man comes to his senses.  Well, about halfway in this book, we’re introduced to Nash’s nice little family, and the author spends a bit too much time going into meticulous detail about and around this nice little family.  You can’t help but wonder “where is this going?”  Sadly, as the book progresses,  a group of terrorists are on the run and are heading to Washington, they just happen to, you know, show up where these kids are out playing and unprotected and....well....it really doesn’t take much of a genius to figure out what’s going to happen.

So give one or two of Vince Flynn’s books a try if you’re so inclined.  Try more if you want.  They’re fun, just don’t expect too much variety.