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Extreme Measures: A Thriller | 
 enlarge | Author: Vince Flynn
Publisher: Atria Books
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $9.00
You Save: $18.95 (68%)
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Rating:  136 reviews
Sales Rank: 630
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.5
ISBN: 0743270428
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780743270427
ASIN: 0743270428
Publication Date: October 28, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the newest devastatingly intense thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling phenomenon Vince Flynn, his deadly and charismatic hero Mitch Rapp wages a war against a new enemy with the help of a fellow soldier as dedicated and as lethal as they come. Vince Flynn's thrillers, featuring counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp, have dominated the imagination of readers everywhere. In them, Flynn has captured the secretive world of the fearless men and women, who, bound by duty, risk their lives in a covert war they must hide from even their own political leaders. Now, Rapp and his protege, Mike Nash, may have met their match. The CIA has detected and intercepted two terrorist cells, but a third is feared to be on the loose. Led by a dangerous mastermind obsessed with becoming the leader of al-Qaeda, this determined and terrifying group is about to descend on America. Rapp needs the best on this assignment, and Nash, who has served his government honorably for sixteen years first as an officer in the Marine Corps and then as an operative in an elite counterterrorism team run by Rapp is his choice. Together, they have made careers out of meeting violence with extreme violence and have never wavered in the fight against the jihadists and their culture of death. Both have fought the war on terrorism in secret without accolades or acknowledgment of their personal sacrifices. Both have been forced to lie to virtually every single person they care about, and both have soldiered on with the knowledge that their hard work and lethal tactics have saved thousands of lives. But the political winds have changed in America, and certain leaders on Capitol Hill are pushing to have men like Rapp and Nash put back on a short leash. And then one spring afternoon in Washington, DC, everything changes. Using his insider knowledge of intelligence agencies and the military, Flynn once again delivers an all-too-real portrayal of a war that is that is waged every day by a handful of brave, devoted souls. Smart, fast-paced, and jaw-droppingly realistic, Extreme Measures is the political thriller of our time.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 131 more reviews...
 A Little Different...but...perhaps helpful? October 23, 2008
54 out of 63 found this review 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.
Timley message, more political intrigue, outstanding action December 14, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have read all of Flynn's works. I have liked every one of them and not been disappointed.
This book was no different, though it was less a front to back barnstormer about his principle character and action hero, Mitch Rapp, than others have been.
But that's okay, I believe Flynn did that on purpose to make some other points, and the book is nonetheless a great read.
It was, for me, still a captivating thriller with enough action, and delivering a very important message for our society which I believe was the thrust of Flynn's effort here...as well as showing some of the personal cost warriors such as Rapp and Nash pay in the clandestine services while defending our nation against its enemies.
All in all, I believe the novel is a very exciting one, mingling all of these goals together into one, and I give it five stars.
Importantly, I also believe it is an excellent expose about what manner of enemy we are fighting in the Islamic Jihadists, and what measures it takes to stop them...and an equally well done expose on how the political correctness of the day, and wrangling of our current politicians can not only impeded the effort, but invite the carnage to our shores.
I would recommend "Extreme Measures" for anyone wanting to see into the mind of the enemey, and for anyone wanting to see what manner of heroes we have fighting to stop that enemy against all odds, the largest of which that are stacked against them residing right here within our own borders and within the halls of our own political institutions.
Vince Flynn maintains his reputation as the top America-first thriller writer November 3, 2008
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
I freely admit to being a Vince Flynn fan. Since finishing his first Mitch Rapp novel, I have eagerly awaited the next and devoured it with undisguised glee.
Each has been an improvement upon the last as Flynn and Rapp gather the lay of the land. I have no idea if Flynn reads his fan mail or reviews like this one. I have no idea of where Flynn's very apparent patriotism for the United States of America and its Constitution stem from. No one needs to guess, however, where Flynn and Rapp's disdain for American poliitcians comes from: all you have to do is read or watch the non-adulatory media.
Hypocrisy? A left-wing Congressman goes on a virtually Saddam Hussein paid trip to Iraq and the mainstream media says nothing of the man's motivations when he criticizes the United States. The smallest error on the part of someone not of the left is trumpeted, distorted, exaggerated and lied about for days, weeks, even months and sometimes years. In some cases, of course, the left even manufactures the lies that disparage the United States.
It is against this endless din raised by the hate-America crowd that Flynn plays to with Mitch Rapp.
Mitch Rapp is simple and direct in his approach: any enemy of the United States and its Constitution deserves, in most cases, to die.
"Extreme Measures" is more nuanced than any of the previous Rapp novels. This may, in fact, disappoint some of Flynn's fans. For the first time, the prime focus is not Mitch Rapp and the constant flow of mayhem, death and destruction he leaves in his wake.
Instead the central character is Mike Nash, another CIA operative who is effective in his own way, but has qualities Rapp lacks. Like scruples, an obsession with following the written law, a wife and family, emotions about the pain he has inflicted, even erectile dysfunction.
Nash is useful to portray the follies of do-gooder left-wingers like Senator Barbara Lonsdsale, a vain, egotistical, self-seeking, self-serving left-wing partisan who believes the rights of terrorists (not that a Londsale would ever use such a judgmental word!)are far more important than the lives of murdered innocents.
In Barbara Lonsdale, draws his most penetrating indictment yet of the left-wing mentality that threatens the destruction of the United States. People like Lonsdale who believe that terrorism is merely a law enforcement problem - as if law enforcement has ever controlled criminal acts of any kind, much less the daily beheadings, bombings and other terrors inflicted around the world by certain religionists. You need only read the daily mainstream media to read the words of the Lonsdales people have foolishly put it office.
Mike Nash represents the mythical Everyman of government servants, particularly those we might wish populated the CIA and other intelligence, law enforcement and military agencies.
Poor Nash, wanting to do his best to protect the nation, recognizing that foolish politicians block him at every turn and seeing that there is such a thing as terrorism and that it must be stopped. But the Senator Lonsdales are the allies of the terrorists and the enemies the nation.
I may open myself up to criticism on this interpretation, but that is what I see Flynn as attempting with transferring prime focus to Mike Nash in this novel. I think the experiment failed because not enough of Flynn's fans will pick up on it - and those of us who do may not care for it.
I for one prefer the flat out Mitch Rapp, take no prisoners, mayhem.
That said, "Extreme Measures" is the best of the Mitch Rapp novels to date.
It opens in Afghanistan where two major terrorist leaders are being held. Senator Lonsdale and colleagues visited the Air Force Base where they are being detained and a ladder climbing Captain arranged for the Senators to meet the terrorists. Needless to say, the left-wing Senators promised the terrorists thst not a hair on their heads would be tussled. The terrorists, murderers of the innocent, have rights you see.
After dark, Mitch Rapp arrives on the scene and despite the terrorists recitations of the promises received from Senator Lonsdale, Mitch Rapp proceeds with his brand of interrogation. ACLU members will not approve.
Things go astray and shortly Congress is out for the scalps of the CIA, Irene Kennedy, its Director, and Mitch Rapp. While the politicians mouth their obscene nonsensities, terrorists are plotting on bringing a bit of their version of "law and order" to the United States, meaning of course that mass murder is being planned.
Rapp and Kennedy play second fiddle in this book to Nash and his domestic life. It works to a degree, but not very well.
Flynn builds the suspense as the terrorists make their way into the United States while Lonsdale and colleagues plot the destruction of not the terrorists, but those who fight against them The senior Senator from Illinois is neatly parodied in "Extreme Measures" which amused me greatly because my state is embarassed by his presence in Congress,
Rapp does the inconceivable: he promise to tell the whole truth to Lonsdale's Senate committee, while at the same time he and Nash are trying to stop a terrorist attack.
Everything comes together quickly as the terrorists make their presence known in the United States. Lonsdsale is unphased by the death and destruction the terrorists begin to unleash. Her focus is on the CIA, Director Kenendy, Nash and the perfidious Mitch Rapp who have dared to "violate" the "rights of the terrorists. Aiding Lonsdale are a motley assortmentt of political appointees, hacks and so-called journalists.
For a Mitch Rapp cheerleader, the ending is a bit of a let down. There's plenty of tension, violence, gore and rough justice, but some of the elements - I won't tell you which for fear of spoiling - didn't seem to fit well.
I'll leave it to the reader to decide if Flynn didn't go a bit too far in pushing Mitch Rapp to the sidelines in "Extreme Measures". I can see why he did and the points he makes are worth making, but I prefer the far less subtle personna of Mitch Rapp making the United State through his unbridled intellect and violence.
Given all of the above, Flynn remains the best All-American thriller writer out there and I really do wish we had dozens, if not thousands, of Mitch Rapps out there defending the United States.
Jerry
extreme measures December 16, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I love it when the "bad guys" get their due! And Vince Flynn has created such a strong, patriotic hero, woven into plots with the latest techno-tools and weapons... give us more!
Another winner from Vince Flynn November 20, 2008
I am a big fan of Vince Flynn, and always look forward to the no nonsense approach of his protagonist, Mitch Rapp, who tolerates no political excuses or bureacratic requirements in acting to keep his country safe from terrorists.
As other reviews have noted, in this book Rapp plays less of a role than in Flynn's other novels. But that does not stop this book from being a fast paced and well written political thriller that vividly shows the naievete and recklessness of politicians who refuse to recognize that "extreme measures" are often necessary for interrogating terrorists in order to prevent catastrophic events.
I don't want to give away what happens in this book, but suffice it to say that a politician who initially is bent on destroying Rapp and the covert group he works for, ultimately becomes his staunch ally.
This book is a page turner and will not disappoint you if you are already a Vince Flynn fan, or are reading him for the first time. Flynn skillfully brings together the different plot lines, and provides interesting insights into both sides of the political divide on how to properly interrogate terrorists, as well as insights into how those terrorists view and manipulate the safeguards under the American legal system.
This book is both great entertainment and a timely story that you will recognize as all too real once you finish it.
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