In some ways, I'm glad I read this novel with two other Vince Flynn tomes in the same week (Thank you, Christmas Vacation). This novel reminds me of everything that I really like about Vince Flynn books--why I started reading them, why I have bought all his novels, and why, until a few years ago, I would miss any of them. Unfortunately, it also dramatically illustrtates how Vince had gotten off course in the last two books.The novel is a textbook example of what Vince Flynn does best. Multiple characters in multiple settings living out multiple plot lines, all deftly brought together at the end. Good people, operating with a different set of priorities, sometimes getting in the way. Yes, there are real bad guys, but there are a few thoughful, more moderate peple around the bad guys who wonder how the violence will affect their own countries and their own people's chance for a better tomorrow.Briefly put, the villain in this set piece is the Presdient of Iran, who looks very much like the current "elected' leader of the country formerly known as Persia. The country's premier nuclear power plant, which is really a power plant that is disguised as a site for the fabrication of nuclear weapons, suddenly collapses. Eager to use this disaster to further his own political ends, he leaps to blame the US and Israel, and launches a number of plots that will 'make America pay.'Given the events of the last few years, Flynn seems prophetic. The real Presdient of Iran has acted much in the way the fictional Pres of the novel has, and thus the novel rings true.Even more interesting are two smaller characters; the first is the Mossad agent who is actually responsible for the destruction of the nuclear facility. He has penetrated the building as a janitor and has become part of the furniture; he is a bit pained by what he must do--not because he has any illusitons about the nuclear plans of Iran, but in the several years he has worked for the facility, he has been treated with kindness and respect by some of the staff members. He makes sure a couple of the poeple he knows to be good are not in the facility when it collapses.Also of interest is the head of the Iranian intelligence services, who sees how mad the president is becoming and who counsels moderation, seeking to do what is best for his country and people. Although he is not pro-American, he is not knee-jerk anti-American and insists that actions and plans be based on actual facts rather than on political agendas. Being moderate and thoughtful is a very dangerous stance in the Iran that Flynn creases.Even more interesting is the historical take on Iran since the '79 revolution. Initially, many different political factions united to overthrought the Shah, who was a pretty bad guy. But in the days since the revolution, the factions have divided and those who were the most religiously extremist have risen to power and have often persecuted their former allies, those who thougth they were building a more just, free, and open country. And, again, other information I have read and heard places Flynn on firm ground, so that his work seems more like current evetns history than a novel. He's done a masterful job.Mithc Rapp, Flynn's series hero, is more beleiveable and more likeable in ths book than he is in others. He is still headstrong, a wild card, and is totally committed to defending his country regardless of the cost. But in this case, he is also willing to listen to other people's plans, to listen to reason, and there are still lines that he resists crossing (he stops short of castrating a man but uses body parts of a cadaver to make people think he has done so). Toward the end, Irene Kennedy, the director of The Agency Which Must Not Be Namaed and one of the very few people in the world Mitch considers a friend, is kidnapped. Initially, it looks as if Iraqi insurgents are responsible, but Mitch realizes it is Iran behind the attacks. He saves Kennedy, but there are also some interesting machinations, including by a President who not only supports Rapp but who is willing to shwo the strenght necessary to combat the Iranian president's lies.This is, to me, Flynn's best book. At this point in Flynn's career, I am reminded of two authors hundreds of years apart--Daniel Defoe and Tom Clancy. Both created a character (Rodonson Crusoe and Jack Ryan, respectively) that audiences loved and responded to, and demonstrated the ability to send them on enteresting, entertaining adventures that kept readers spellbound.Yet both didn't seem to realize what had created the magic. Defoe thought it was his moral diatribes rather than Robinson's actions that kept readers coming back, and, although I don't know Tom Clancy's reason, many of his later books are marred by politics getting in the way of the storytelling. I have no problems with novels being political, and my loyalty in readnig both Clandy and Flynn proves, I think very clearly, that I have no problem in reading books by people whose political views differ from my own. But I, and I imaginge most readers, don't buy the books (or check them out from the library) because I want to hear discussions that I could easily hear on AM radio every day. It's because ther author has created characters that engage me and send them on adventures that make me want to turn the page and read more.I hope that Protect and Defend shows that Flynn is an artist at the height of his powers and that Extreme Measures was a stumble; we can't all be perfect. My fear is that he'll be another Defoe, that he will mistakenly believe that his loyal following (of which I consider myself a member) is built on his politcs rather than on his storytelling ability. If that continues, I fear that his loyal following will be reducecd, not only by one (me), but by a great number. The many readers on Good Reads who've expressed frustration with the way what one authors calls' Flynn's "political pandering" (his words, not mine) slows down the storytelling.I'm also reminded of authors like the late, great Robert Ludlum and the still living and still great John LeCarre--authors who wrote at a consistently high level throughout their career. The reasons for their success were their ability to creat character and their abilithy to storytell. Although both were quite political at times, both always remembered they were storytellers, not political commentators. Flynn has the chance tio achieve that stature in the thriller genre--he can become to the current world what LeCarre was to the Cold War Era, the premier writer of thrillers in his time. Or he can become a Defoe--more concerned with his agenda than his reading public. As a real fan, I hope he rises rather than falls.
If you believe that the only thing that can stop a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun, then this book is for you. It isn't even all that clear that Mitch Rapp is a good man. Some of his own people consider him insolent and out of control. He doesn't care what the rules are. He will use any means at his disposal to stop the bad guys-- intimidation, beatings, torture, maiming and killing. And he actually enjoys the killing. He enjoys looking in their eyes and telling them what pieces of shit they are, and now they are going to pay. But only with bad guys. He never touches women, children, civilians, or the innocent. Unlike the bad guys, who do that kind of thing all the time. It might be a stretch to say that Mitch Rapp is a good man, but he is definitely on our side. (It reminded me of the Lion King, when Timon and Pumba find baby Simba in their territory. They recoil in fear at being so close to a predator, their mortal enemy, but Timon says, "Maybe he'll be on our side." Mitch Rapp may be a dangerous wild animal, but he's our dangerous, wild animal.)A lot of bad things happen in this book. Israel blows up Iran's nuclear facility, and Iran blames it on the US. Iran sinks one of their own ships, and blames that on the US. But mostly, the director of the CIA is kidnapped. If they don't get her back right away, she will be tortured into giving up all the secrets of all the American spies, putting their lives in danger, and threatening our whole ability to gather any intelligence in the Middle East. Fortunately Mitch Rapp is on the job.In the Mitch Rapp universe, torture works. Mitch's unapproved methods are going to obtain useful, accurate, timely information. Going through channels would take too long. So if you were captured, you would want Mitch Rapp hot in pursuit. You just might not want to think too much about how he was getting there. Or maybe you would. Because this is the stuff of fantasy for many men. They want to be Mitch Rapp. They want to be John Wayne with technology, speaking several languages, afraid of nothing, swearing and swaggering, mouthing off to supervisors, and saving the lady. If that involves leaving a trail of bodies behind him, well, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do, and they all clearly deserved it.It is not my fantasy. And I think the real world is more complicated than that. I identified more with the stoical Director Kennedy, who is kidnapped after a meeting where she had laid out a peace proposal, and Ashani, the lone moderate in the Iranian government. Although he achieves some "hero of conscience" status by the end, through most of the book he appears more like an ineffectual dupe. There were several times I wanted to stop reading this celebration of violence, but my intellectual curiosity got hooked as many times. Hmm. Mitch has a plan? Wonder what it is. Let's just see what's going to happen.
What do You think about Protect And Defend (2007)?
This is, without question, the worst book I have read in memory. (Needless to say I never would have picked it up on my own - it is part of the ongoing LJK mandatory book club.) Everything about this book was terrible: the writing was laughably bad, the plot was simple in the worst way, the characters were hatefully macho, and the "moral" - if you can call it that - is that torture and violence get results, and therefore are acceptable as a means to an end. I denounce this book! And it gets no stars ("didn't like it" doesn't even begin to describe). If I had literary enemies, I wouldn't wish this book on them.
—Jenny
Vince Flynn delivers another fast-paced thriller in the 10th (chronological) installment featuring CIA counter-terrorism operative, Mitch Rapp, a highly-trained no-holds-barred lethal weapon who will go to the extremes defending his country.Iran has spent billions developing a nuclear program. Israel, knowing this is occurring, decides the only option is to destroy it. A mission is executed and the aftermath leaves Iran with an environmental disaster of magnitude. Infuriated, the President of Iran, with absolutely no evidence, places the blame squarely on Israel and the United States. In an attempt to diffuse international tensions CIA Director Irene Kennedy is sent to meet clandestinely with her Iranian counterpart, Azad Ashani, only to end up kidnapped.The US President authorizes a way-off-the-books mission for Rapp to find and bring back Kennedy before she reveals any - or some or all - of the many deep and dark intelligence secrets she holds. Meanwhile the Iranian President utilizes the top Hezbollah terrorist, Imad Mukhtar, for his operations. In short order, Rapp and Mukhtar are on a direct collision course with several possible outcomes, a few of which could mean death for millions.Once the story gets going, this is a definite page-turner. Flynn is a master at creating quite believable events and details, based upon news headlines - and rumors - of the day and his basic plot is well served with several subplots that all seem to have their own twists and turns, adding that much more to the story. The lethal Mitch Rapp is all action, defying conventional wisdom and strategically acts against whatever the odds may be to achieve his mission mandate.While it is not necessary to have read the earlier books, if you have not, you may wish to when you finish this one. If you like international political thrillers, espionage, black ops stories, you should enjoy Protect and Defend.
—Scott
I'm not going to rehash the plot here. Read the dustcover or the back cover of the paperback at your local B&N, or the synopsis on Amazon.com if that's what you're after.What I will do is tell you that Vince Flynn gets my vote for the best writer of spy novels/political thrillers in America. And that's saying a lot, given Tom Clancy and Richard Marcinko.Yes, Clancy's good. He has excellent sources in the espionage and national security business, and at least used to be able to write compelling novels (not lately). But Flynn has good sources too, and writes better! "Protect and Defend" moves at a rapid, thrill-a-minute pace that makes it difficult to stop reading till you've reached the end.He also draws his characters well - most notably Mitch Rapp. the "hero" of his now-13-book series. Rapp's motivations are so complex that they come across as simple to most of the other characters in the book, and Flynn delineates him well enough for us to understand why. The motivations of his enemies vary, and that is equally evident thanks to the time the author takes to make them three-dimensional.I will grant that Flynn writes with a definite "right-wing" tilt on matters of national security, particularly when it comes to the CIA. As Flynn sees it, our enemies are our enemies and don't deserve the same rights as Americans. Thus the CIA should be free to do whatever it takes to protect our national interest, including torture and assassinations.That's not a popular position these days, but it's one I've come to embrace after years of internal debate. I'm basically a liberal on most issues. But I have no sympathy whatsoever for the people who savagely kill innocent men, women and children and who torture our servicemen and women and drag their corpses through the streets. That's why I have no problem with drone strikes aimed at killing members of Al Qaeda wherever they hide.And yes, I even think we should have a few Mitch Rapps to go after Arab (or whatever) terrorists -- and the few remaining German Nazis still hiding out in South America.Flynn makes a compelling case. But even if you don't agree with him, you can suspend your disbelief long enough to enjoy his novel. Is it really any different from watching "The Terminator" or "Die Hard"?
—Jim Laubach
