(Reprinted from April19th, 2010)
You can see I’m on a Vince Flynn reading spree—or binge if you prefer— here. It’s not often someone hands you a bag of books by an author you’ve just discovered and tells you to take your time with them, but that’s exactly what happened to me via an associate of my husband’s—all of Vince Flynn’s novels almost immediately after I read my first one, his latest, Pursuit of Honor (reviewed here). What a thrilling opportunity! And since I only had two novels to review for April, this opened up several days to begin pouring through the history of contemporary political thriller hero Mitch Rapp.
Separation of Power (published in 2001, pre 9/11 I presume) opens at the graveside of CIA giant Thomas Stansfield. His protégé Dr. Irene Kennedy knows she has lost not only her mentor, her friend, and even her father figure, but her biggest ally and the greatest leader the CIA has ever known. However, on the Beltway there is trouble brewing in the form of one Congressman who has always hated not only the CIA but Thomas Stansfield and Dr. Kennedy and has made no bones about it. The slimy world of politics played on both sides of the aisle is making ready to thwart the historical ascension of Dr. Kennedy, the favored presidential nominee, to the position of the new Directorship of the CIA and in this process bring down the President.
Meanwhile Mitch Rapp is ready to settle into the proffered position in Langley that Thomas Stansfield arranged for him, but doubts plague his outright acceptance of the position for a couple of reasons. The main reason is his ongoing love relationship with Anna Reilly, the reporter he rescued at the White House terrorist attack, due to her desire for them to live a “normal” life which Mitch wants more than he ever imagined but deep down fears will not become a reality. The second reason is because he was trained to be a lone wolf, defying orders from anyone and everyone when they didn’t mesh with the objective and getting away with it because he always produced results. The thought of blending in and taking orders doesn’t hold even a vague semblance of desirable to Mitch.
But first, Mitch has unfinished business in discovering who tried to have him killed not once but twice. The only person who can begin to unravel the mystery is his beautiful ex-lover and fellow Italian assassin. Deciding to take Anna to Milan so he can give her an engagement ring and take care of “business” with his former girlfriend who killed the man he intended to “question”, as only Mitch can do, as to who was paying for the attempted hits on him, the wisdom of this combined effort proves disastrous in the worst possible scenario, leaving Mitch wondering how it all could’ve happened the way it did.
Forcing himself into compartmentalization on his return to the states with his former lover Donatella and sans the love of his life Anna, Mitch learns of a critical new development in the Middle East involving Saddam Hussein. Agreeing to participate in this adrenaline-charged, Special Forces high risk adventure, he fights to release his thoughts about leading a normal life with Anna and is successful until the mission is accomplished and he returns to his empty home.
The tangled web of discovering who hired Donatella (and why) results in finally gaining the answers to Mitch’s questions and brings a satisfying conclusion to the intricacies of politics in D.C.
As with all of Vince Flynn’s novel titles, Separation of Power carries the added innuendo. Perfect.
A side note to this review . . . I’m not of the opinion that the Press is entitled to inform the people of any country of every single endeavor attempted by their governments. Deep caverns exist between political ideologies and practices, and in despot led countries there’s no such thing as a “free press”. I believe in the United States of America’s government ideals, torn asunder as they have become in past and recent days. I believe in elite forces that must do the unthinkable because of horrendous fanatics who only seek to destroy all that they cannot embrace as their own. The lusts for power exist in city, state, county, and country governments all over this world. Coupled with the love of money which is at the root of all kinds of evil, power and money rule those with no consciences who pretend to have them. I’m not naïve enough to think that our country’s agencies are without flaws and defectors and heartless individuals, but I think that the invincible code of right and wrong eventually rises to the top in the big picture, and I applaud those who strive to insure that evil fails and is punished.
For this reason, I failed to like either of the female reporters/characters in this ongoing story. I could feel the love Mitch gave to Anna—she touched this untouchable man so deep he didn’t know how to react to the love dynamic. When he assessed her character after their altercation, I thought he was right on, but as I noted in a previous review “You can’t help who you fall in love with” . . . and she owns Mitch’s heart.
Flynn’s writing keeps tension amping up at a gradual pace until he wreaks havoc in specific incidents. His ability to alternate and grind out the intrigue in the plans of both the bad guys and the good guys keeps the pages turning.
Again, Lord, I ask that Vince Flynn know you as you desire to be known. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.