Extreme Measures: A Thriller (Mitch Rapp Novels) [Hardcover]

Vince Flynn (Author)

Book Description

Series: Mitch Rapp Novels | Publication Date: October 28, 2008

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Any hope this contrived thriller had of suspending disbelief for most readers who weren't already fans of bestseller Flynn's Mitch Rapp series (Protect and Defend, etc.) is lost early on. Rapp's CIA chief, Irene Kennedy, is on a date at a fancy Washington, D.C., restaurant when one of her aides informs her that Rapp, an Oliver North for the war on terror, has fallen into yet another jam with his unorthodox, maverick ways. Under false pretenses, Rapp has gotten access to two high-value terrorists being held at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Believing that an Islamic fundamentalist cell is about to launch an attack on the homeland, Rapp resorts to violence to get information. His actions lead to his arrest by the base commander, but with precious hours ticking down, Kennedy decides to finish her meal before intervening. Even then, incredibly enough, it takes two days to secure Rapp's release. The rest of the less than convincing plot includes a grandstanding senator's efforts to hang Rapp out to dry and the inevitable race to prevent disaster.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Vince Flynn is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of nine previous thrillers, including Consent to Kill, Act of Treason, and Protect and Defend. He lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and three children.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Atria Books; 1ST edition (October 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060515163
• ISBN-13: 978-0060515164
• ASIN: 0743270428
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (242 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,067 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The fifth of seven children, Vince Flynn was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1966. He graduated from the St. Thomas Academy in 1984, and the University of St. Thomas with a degree in economics in 1988. After college he went to work for Kraft General Foods where he was an account and sales marketing specialist. In 1990 he left Kraft to accept an aviation candidate slot with the United States Marine Corps. One week before leaving for Officers Candidate School, he was medically disqualified from the Marine Aviation Program, due to several concussions and convulsive seizures he suffered growing up. While trying to obtain a medical waiver for his condition, he started thinking about writing a book. This was a very unusual choice for Flynn since he had been diagnosed with dyslexia in grade school and had struggled with reading and writing all his life.
Having been stymied by the Marine Corps, Flynn returned to the nine-to-five grind and took a job with United Properties, a commercial real estate company in the Twin Cities. During his spare time he worked on an idea he had for a book. After two years with United Properties he decided to take a big gamble. He quit his job, moved to Colorado, and began working full time on what would eventually become Term Limits . Like many struggling artists before him, he bartended at night and wrote during the day. Five years and more than sixty rejection letters later he took the unusual step of self-publishing his first novel. The book went to number one in the Twin Cities, and within a week had a new agent and two-book deal with Pocket Books, a Simon & Schuster imprint.
Term Limits hit the New York Times bestseller list in paperback and started a trend for all of Flynn's novels. Since then, his books have become perennial bestsellers in both paperback and hardcover, and he has become known for his research and prescient warnings about the rise of Islamic Radical Fundamentalism and terrorism. Read by current and former presidents, foreign heads of state, and intelligence professionals around the world, Flynn's novels are taken so seriously one high-ranking CIA official told his people, "I want you to read Flynn's books and start thinking about how we can more effectively wage this war on terror."
October 2007 marked another milestone in Flynn's career when his ninth political thriller, Protect and Defend, became a #1 New York Times bestseller. A few months later, CBS Films optioned the rights for Flynn's Mitch Rapp character with the intention of creating a character-based, action-thriller movie franchise. Lorenzo di Bonaventura, who previously launched the Harry Potter and Matrix films as head of production at Warner Bros., and Nick Wechsler (We Own the Night, Reservation Road) will produce the films.
Flynn lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and three children.
Works by Flynn include Transfer of Power, The Third Option, Separation of Power , Executive Power , Memorial Day, Consent to Kill, Act of Treason, and Extreme Measures.
Influences: Ernest Hemingway, Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, J.R.R. Tolkien, Gore Vidal, and John Irving
Transfer of Power The Third Option Separation of Power Executive Power Influences:Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, J.R.R. Tolkien, Gore Vidal and John Irving

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 100 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not one of Flynn's better ones..., October 25, 2008

By 

D - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Extreme Measures: A Thriller (Mitch Rapp Novels) (Hardcover)

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.

103 of 116 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Little Different...but...perhaps helpful?, October 22, 2008

By 

S. Holsinger "Mrgr8avill" (Southern California, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Extreme Measures: A Thriller (Mitch Rapp Novels) (Hardcover)

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.

37 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Mike Nash Book FEATURING Mitch Rapp - Caveat Emptor!, October 27, 2008

By 

Brian Baker (Santa Clarita, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Extreme Measures: A Thriller (Mitch Rapp Novels) (Hardcover)

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.