Extreme Measures

Customer Reviews

• Not one of Flynn's better ones...  Oct 26, 2008 (74 of 84 found this helpful)

  Having read all of Flynn's other books, I was excited to receive his latest in the mail today. After reading it cover-to-cover in one sitting, I must admit that I'm a bit disappointed. This clearly wasn't Flynn's best work. Mitch Rapp had a greatly reduced role, and far too much time was spent on the rote family life details of Mike Nash. At times it felt like the equivalent to when television sitcoms advertise "a very special episode" involving an important message about drugs or whatever. The book's overall message -- that America has become overly complacent in the war on terror -- is one that I share, but it didn't need to be delivered in such a drawn out and almost 'preachy' manner. Too many pages were devoted to changing diapers, Nash's erectile disfunction, and the laborious preparations of a rather lackluster band of cardboard terrorists; with too few involving Rapp in action, or even dealing with Rapp at all. I'm not sure if Flynn is looking to transition his books away from the Rapp character, but it certainly seemed to be the case with this one. In the acknowledments, Flynn referenced that this has been "a very hectic year" for him. Perhaps this explains why he had trouble delivering on this one. Hopefully, things will settle down and his next book will be more in line with what his fans expect and deserve.

• A Little Different...but...perhaps helpful?  Oct 23, 2008 (79 of 91 found this helpful)

  First off, I need to admit that short of a rabid stalker, there is probably no bigger fan of Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series than I. That having been said... this one is, to me, a LOT different than what I had come to expect.
  
  This time, we get to see some hardcore political wrangling that likely mirrors what is actually happening on the Hill as time passes and many lose their stomach for war. This time, the perspective is much less first-person Mitch, and much more modern-age fable. We get to see the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly lock horns over a problem that is very much real, but growing more unpopular by the day.
  
  Don't get me wrong -- there is still plenty of action and you will still want to block out enough time to read in case, like me, you can't put the book down until you are finished. But I came away from this one feeling more that I had been reminded of a very important lesson than I had read about Mitch's latest exploits.
  
  There is much less smart-alecking (some may be happy about that), and given the shift in perspective, much less from Irene and Scott. But there are other characters that Flynn does as good a job in developing. In all, there is a very important, and very timely message in this book. Though I wish I could have had more "classic" Mitch (and am disappointed that I have to wait another year for more), I think this was the right book at the right time.
  
  If this would be your first VF book, I would strongly recommend you read earlier books first. If you are a rabid (or even a casual) fan, you should love this one. If you have been kind of turned off by some of the "over the top" antics in previous novels but like the overall character and concept, then give this on a try. It will be hard to be disappointed.
  
  I give it five of five because it is timely, it is a page-turner, and it is freaking Mitch Rapp! It wasn't quite what I thought I wanted, but it ended up being what I might have needed.

• A Mike Nash Book FEATURING Mitch Rapp - Caveat Emptor!  Oct 27, 2008 (31 of 37 found this helpful)

  
  If you're looking for a "traditional" Rapp story, I'm afraid you're in for a disappointment. Rapp is a fairly peripheral character in this story that primarily focuses on his protégé Mike Nash.
  
  Terrorist cells are planning strike missions against targets within the United States. Two of the three have been "neutralized", but the last is led by a megalomaniacal fanatic bent on furthering his own ambitions by striking a crippling blow at our strategic capabilities.
  
  This story, as is usual with Flynn, is his signature unique blend of political intrigue and manipulation with shoot-`em-up thriller. But instead of focusing on Rapp and his CIA boss Irene Kennedy, the action centers around Nash and lesser lights at the CIA. Kennedy's appearance is less than perfunctory; she's barely in this story at all, and plays absolutely no meaningful part in its furtherance.
  
  The quality that makes Rapp a "superstar" is that he's virtually a force of nature; an implacable, unstoppable weapon of American policy. Nash is... not.
  
  We spend a lot of time reading about Nash's angst, family problems, the conflict of his job with his family life, etc. It was done in an entertaining fashion, but it's just not a Mitch Rapp book!
  
  And Nash isn't anywhere near as just plain deadly as Rapp. In other reviews of Flynn's work, I've written that Rapp is the American version of James Bond as originally written by Ian Fleming. That's a major part of his appeal and Flynn's popularity.
  
  At the end of this book, I was left with the feeling that Nash was lucky to still be alive, and wouldn't be if it weren't for the timely appearance of Rapp at the final showdown.
  
  So... buyer beware.
  
  
  

• Extreme Measures is a Dissapointment  Nov 13, 2008 (16 of 19 found this helpful)

  I'm a huge Vince Flynn fan, having read all of his books to date and enjoying his Mitch Rapp character immensely. I was looking forward to "Extreme Measures" hitting the bookstores, and when it did I snapped it up, reading it over a few days.
  
  I'm afraid I must agree with others that it was a disappointment, certainly not up to the standards we're used to from Mr. Flynn.
  
  A good story allows its characters to speak and act, enabling the story to emerge in a suspenseful and engaging way as a natural consequence of the characters and actions; and in the case of a thriller, the plot twists and final resolution are critical. Vince Flynn is very good at this in his Mitch Rapp stories.
  
  But not in this one.
  
  I found the plot to be utterly predictable with little of the usual Rapp action until the final few chapters. And the characters had morphed from action characters with some degree of complexity, to cardboard cutouts giving speeches, both good guys and bad.
  
  I enjoyed seeing Mitch Rapp develop as a character in the first nine novels, struggling with relationships and doubts. None of that is evident in "Extreme Measures." In this outing, the Rapp character is flat and pompous, mouthing predictable political positions while torturing the bad guys and preaching to the "liberal" opposition.
  
  And the book certainly needs a good proofreader! Inconsistencies and grammatical errors litter the pages (other reviewers have pointed out many of them), and Vince really needs to find some good alternatives for the verb "grabbed." At one point I nearly flung the book across the room as a character "grabbed" (a gun, a pack, or what have you) for about the sixth time on a single page! Arggggggh!
  
  I don't want to be too harsh, for I really do love the Mitch Rapp stories, but Vince has fallen woefully short on this one.
  
  His fans deserve better.

• Extreme Disappointment  Nov 5, 2008 (17 of 22 found this helpful)

  Having read all of Flynn's previous works, I was so disappointed with this new one. I kept wondering if Flynn had actually written it, it was such a different style. The subject was timely and indeed there is a lesson there but the development of the characters was so shallow, lost was Flynn's intelligent dialogue, replaced with more profanities per page than in all his other books combine. I miss the wit, the quick, smart plot and especially the connection with his characters.Extreme Measures: A Thriller