I'm surprised this book received so many 4s and 5s. The plotting was decent, except Flynn gets bogged down in some areas (one in particular is the description of a military operation) that I thought would never end. It read like a battlefield report, rather than a novel. My biggest problem with the book is the believability of Mitch Rapp, his main character. Flynn has set him up as a superhero of the CIA, who takes unbelievably rash actions with never a second thought, and is apparently the only one in the government capable of making the right decisions. I found myself laughing out loud at some of his dialog, especially the exchanges between Rapp and the president. I also felt like I was continually being clobbered over the head with right-wing politics, with Rapp as the club.


Although the book does have a timely subject (Islamic terrorists and US Government-sponsored torture) and an interesting resolution, I could't give the book more than a 2.