If you are a Conservative who reads “political thrillers” you’ve certainly heard of the late Vince Flynn. Vince died last year of cancer, but his fourteen best-selling “Mitch Rapp” novels will be his lasting legacy for many years to come.
In 2008, Flynn’s Extreme Measures presented the blueprint for today’s headlines re: Attack On The CIA By Political Opportunists. As I read this book six years ago I saw the deranged she-liberal politician as Nancy Pelosi. Turns out “she” is Diane Feinstein. ….. Regardless, “Mitch” prevails and America survives another day. Will Truth follow Fiction?
Vince Flynn came along in the shadow of Tom Clancy (who also died in the past year or so) but quickly outgrew Clancy’s shadow to become an “icon” of the genre. Neither Flynn nor Clancy were ex-SEALs or even former military but their respect for the military and their awesome research and story-telling skills made them “icons” of the genre.
Popular authors are like Bond Girls and barbecue….. everyone has his/her personal favorites and tends to defend “my guy” against all other pretenders. With all due respect to Clancy, Ludlum, Thor, Child, Coes, etc etc; I have never heard an aficionado of the political thriller genre NOT have Vince Flynn very high on their personal favorites short list.
How pervasive did “Mitch Rapp” become? He was the inspiration for “Jack Bauer” of “24”. Vince Flynn was a story consultant for “24”. There has never been a “Mitch Rapp” movie or TV-adaptation.
When Lee Child chose an actor to be “Jack Reacher” he went waaaaay off-the-chart to pick itty bitty Tom Cruise. Allowing that little Tom made a credible Ethan Hunt in the Mission Impossible revival, NOT ONE of the millions of “Reacher” fans thought he embodied their version of “Reacher”. Hellfire, Cruise is no bigger than the toothbrush in Reacher’s shirt pocket.
My choice would have been Jim Caviezel of Person Of Interest but Child never asked me. Feel free to share “your choice” in the comments below if you must.
A friend of mine was a friend of Vince’s. I got to speak briefly to Vince during a book tour 8-10 years ago. His previous book had Mitch marrying an “info babe” who could never ideologically accept what Mitch did and how he did it. Trying to make their relationship work simply created unnecessary conflicts for Mitch that interfered with him Saving Western Civilization. I noted that to Vince and he laughed “…. then you’re going to like what happens in this new book”.
Sure enough…. within the first few chapters, some IslamoTerrorist assassin trying to kill Mitch blew up his Chesapeake Bay cottage killing the “info babe” Mrs Rapp but not Mitch. Mitch, of course, exacted revenge with great pain for the Islamo assassin. Vince never had Mitch get romantically-involved again.
In Extreme Measures (2008), Mitch is racing against time to stop yet another IslamoTerrorist cell planning to blow up a group of Washington DC landmarks. If that wasn’t enough Mitch is the primary target of a Congressional Committee out to discredit the CIA, the NSA, the FBI, Homeland et al. Mitch’s boss – Irene Kennedy is on the hot seat. Uh oh!
As expected the self-righteous witch leading the attack on Irene, Mitch et al is a hard-core card-carrying radical feminazi-type. As noted, I immediately envisioned a Nancy Pelosi-type.
It’s insane enough to come after Mitch. He’s used to it. But really insane to come after Irene. THAT really pisses off Mitch. A REALLY pissed-off Mitch Rapp means Hell To Pay for them whats responsible.
The scheming tricks that the evil feminazi-politician resorts to follow almost exactly what Di-Feinstein and her gang are doing today to discredit America’s Intelligence Community. Again, Flynn wrote this book seven years ago.
I won’t be a spoiler if you haven’t read Extreme Measures. There are six “Mitch Rapp” novels following Extreme Measures which gives you a hint….. but several of those are “How Mitch Became Mitch” flashback stories.
IF you’ve been in some Rip Van Winkle coma the past 25 years and are not familiar with Vince Flynn and “Mitch Rapp” I recommend you google Vince Flynn and get the proper chronology of the novels.
Several years ago I chanced to meet a former CIA Director. I had heard he was an avid Vince Flynn fan. I approached him at a social event, mentioned a mutual friend, and had to ask him – “Do we have real life Mitch Rapps?” He smiled a sly smile, cocked his head and raised an eyebrow…. “maybe”. ….. I slept a little bit more secure that night.
