Term Limits by Vince Flynn

Before 2018 gets along much farther, here is another book I read in 2017, but just now posting a review.  The late Vince Flynn has been one of my favorite political/espionage/thriller authors.  "Term Limits" published in 1997 by Pocket Books, Simon and Schuster, although I find that comical as my copy picked up at a book sale somewhere the past year or so, is a hardback, hardly pocketbook size and 403 pages of another excellent read.  I saw on the front page another reader, initial "B" read it January 2016.  I will also initial and then donate along  to the local Goodwill or Salvation Army because the local library doesn't have the where-with-all nor space to maintain and offer much selection of decent older books for their monthly sales.  Pity as this is a good read and rather timely today as much as when written.  That is a phenomena of Vince Flynn, sometimes his novels were predictive. But you can research him yourself.  This book came without a cover so there is no scan photo. 

 As with every Vince novel I give this 5 stars *****.

I scanned three pages to share here, the first, page 91 deals with the difference between politicians and commandos, or the military especially Special Forces and politicians.  The discord is understandable, the distinction between these two professions is an understatement.  "Commandos live by a warrior's code honor and integrity and politicians say whatever will keep them in office. ."  

To give a better brief idea of the story line in Term Limits, I copied this paragraph, review from the Goodreads site, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/85392.Term_Limits
 TAKING AMERICA BACK ... ONE POLITICIAN AT A TIME 

"In one bloody night, three of Washington's most powerful politicians are executed with surgical precision. Their assassins then deliver a shocking ultimatum to the American government: set aside partisan politics and restore power to the people. No one, they warn, is out of their reach—not even the president."

A joint FBI-CIA task force reveals the killers are elite military commandos, but no one knows exactly who they are or when they will strike next. Only Michael O'Rourke, a former U.S. Marine and freshman congressman, holds a clue to the violence: a haunting incident in his own past with explosive implications for his country's future ..

And copied this from the Vince Flynn site.https://www.vinceflynn.com/term-limits/  

"What if America's leaders were held accountable for their broken promises -- and made to pay for their corruption?   Vince Flynn brings to life a chilling scenario of Washington under siege -- in the provocative, edge-of-your-seat political thriller that stormed onto national bestseller lists..."

Pg 197 reflects interesting thoughts  about the complicated corrupt political system system we have endured.  And I believe this is why men and women with good intentions, honor, integrity do not make it in today's politics, in fact they avoid it like the plague. 

And the last page I scanned pg 222 below has a very true statement that is useful in many areas of life and could be remembered.  The through that it is easy to say you understand something but the truth is you cannot really understand unless you have experienced it.  

The Survivor by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills

Published in 2015, this was the last Mitch Rapp book that  author, late Vince Flynn had underway before his untimely death in 2013.  Kyle Mills continued it to  produce  another Rapp thriller.  Kyle melded this with characters from his own thriller novels apparently.  It was just as good as the Flynn created Rapp series bringing the Afghanis and that rugged country along with Pakistanis  and nuclear powers head to head.  In this thriller packed with action and intrigue, Rapp, CIA operative will face an old long time nemesis, lose his mentor Stan Hurley and battle cyber threats while fighting on the ground in the same rough physical pace this character portrays best.  Irene Kennedy may face the end of her career in humiliating circumstances. 

Some of my favorite passages are as follows. Page 69, "Rapp was the pinnacle.  Most people had become resigned to the fact that he was unkillable.  Gould was one of the few people on the planet who had tried and lived to tell the tale and even he had to admit that he'd been lucky.  Twice.....Rapp wasn't just unkillable, he was in many ways unstoppable..."    Page 264, reveals a chilling consideration, likely more truth than fiction,  "It was shortly thereafter that he had joined with Mitch Rapp and the Americans.   Not because he believed in their futile and unwelcome efforts to turn Afghanistan into a modern democracy.  No, he'd simply seen them as a powerful ally in his quest to kill the men responsible for taking away his life.....The Americans were a confused and naive people, but generally the champions of peace and stability.  Occupations were not in their nature.  Unlike the fanatics who had converged on his country, the Americans could be counted on to leave." 

Page 275 rings true especially with this current inept cowardly federal regime aka administration.  " The problem was that unimaginably stupid had become a job requirement in Washington.

It's a 5 ***** read and  hopefully Kyle Mills will continue this Rapp series, a character ala Jack Bauer of the former TV show 24, something of a marvel in this time of political correctness and wussiness.  .  

Inside Flap

Continued and ended Part 2 7 more

Way back in May I tried to play catchup listing books I have read, reviews, etc..Never happened and as time keeps rolling along and so much else takes time from keyboard, the stack of books I need to post grows.  This creates issues with me, because I dislike clutter and would prefer to get these books out of here and donated.  Finally in one of my talks to myself, I said, "Loook here Patty Lou, just list the  books, forget about scanning covers, reviews, quoting from the  pages and all that other stuff you used to do.  There is no time for it and besides, nobody but you reads this blog anyway.  All you need it to do is be a reference to books you have read which was your very original intention.  So knock it all off with thin king  that someday you will get around to it.  "  And so today here are the rest of my reads from 2014 and  2015, with exception of those books I have read on my Kindle.  Now I will get this stack into a box and donate them to  the local library book sale  The stack will be gone and will no longer bother me.   I  had scanned the photos here but no others and now I am anto my next project, most of which involve  physical activity outdoors. 
Author                                          Title                                       Brief and  rating

Elizabeth George                           For the Sake of Elena                     This is the most different take  by George who is a go to favorite writer of mine for plot and character.    The tales are British and always an intriguing read.  Several others by this author sit on  my to read shelf.  Each summer try to get to at least one and so far 2015 hasn't had it's George read, yet.     4 ****

Elizabeth  George                    Payment in Blood                     Another inspector Lynley adventure.  Great character, plot and British wit.    Pg 195, "..reveal a face upon which grief played subtly, the way it often does when an initial shock has been lived through an the immensity of a loss begins to be measured against the endlessness of time."                                              5 *****

Vince Flynn                          Memorial Day                   Always the intrigue in these action espionage books by a now deceased and  thereby lost author who I really will miss more  and more.  He was a master of the thrill, terrorist, action, espionage genre with his main character, Mitch Rapp,  who rivals Jack Bauer from the former tv series  24.    This quote in dealing with terrorists, is a philosophy I would like to see adopted today in our so lenient system.  Pg 25  "...Rapp simply wanted to hunt them down and put a bullet in each ofe of their heads.....expediency saved lives...."                           5 *****

Edward Rutherfurd             The Forest                          Excellent saga of historical fiction by a revered author who blends history and characters over centuries and weaves the tales by interrelating all the  lineages.  He was recommended to me a couple years ago when we were in Alaska, I don't know  how I missed this author.  Thoroughly enjoyed following and losing myself in this tale.  Will find more of his works, similar to Ken Follett or perhaps Follet used Rutherfurd as his model.                                           5 *****

Jodi Picoult              The Storyteller                 Some contradicting historical references, trudged through reading this, but  read it along with another book and did set  it aside many times.  It’s barely  OK, a fictional episode, there are no surprises for anyone who has read or studied history extensively.  Sent to me by a friend, else I would not have purchased anything by this prolific writer, I am more selective.                      2**

Barrbara Martin,                     When the East Wind Blows         Purchased Feb 2015 in Leesburg FL from the author, whom I met at a craft show.  This is  her mother’s story of growing up in Nazi Germany, her escape, her survival.    Very good biography    Nothing new in the history or the atrocities, but I enjoy meeting authors.       3 ½ ***

Lewellen Povich       From Pigtails to Chin Hairs         The biggest purchase mistake I have ever made on Amazon and proof that I am better off to scan a book before buying.  I barely could stand to read 20 pages.  So trite repetitive, the title is far better than the book  and shows what happens when you fish blindly often.  As if I don't have so much more to read.   Not worth the money or  any rating, buyer beware.                       No stars