Customer Reviews

Free Fall (Charnwood Large Print)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This review's title is the end of one of dozens of spoken or silent musings, that contribute toward making this book brilliant.

The category this book is a member of is crowded. On any given day the local book superstore could pile a mound of "Political Thrillers" and measure the result by the tonnage. If the same mound were arranged by quality Mr. Mills's work "Free Fall" can stand with anyone. I enjoy Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, Dale Brown, John LeCarre, and I have not been as excited about this particular genre since I originally discovered the authors I mentioned.

If asked to say what was the best element of this book I would have to pass, for there are two, and that number could be easily expanded.

The books I read vary widely, this work has some of the best-written, crisp dialogue that I have read. There is nothing contrived, it flows naturally, and there is not a word used that isn't required. In many instances, lose a word or even change one, and the quality would be gone. The best of the verbal exchange has a regular set cadence, and when humorous an acidic edge.

Secondly Mr. Mills delivers the best female character I can remember from this genre. There are no; James Bond bubble-headed heroines or villains, this character runs on her own chemical makeup, she does not try to compete with testosterone. She does not wear psuedo-male power suits, nor does she swear like a pipe fitter. And finally, she does not wear seran wrap designer clothes a la The Thomas Crowne Affair. She is the best at her profession, makes some pretty astute observations about life (the vanity plate BMW bit is priceless), and she leads from wherever she stands.

The only detail that frustrated just a bit, were the references to the previous book. They never preempted the understanding of the plot, and in the end you will want to read the previous book.

If you enjoy this category of book, the reading does not get any better. Reccomended unconditionally.

I've read and enjoyed all three of the novels from Kyle Mills. Free Fall, however, is clearly Mills' best effort to date - very tight and fast paced. Free Fall is a page turner - with plenty of action, suspense, and plot twists. Mark Beamon, suspended from the FBI in the aftermath of his actions in the previous book (Storming Heaven), finds himself again as a bit of a lost soul battling his physical and emotional insecurities as he searches for the truth in this political action/thriller. Beamon, although a thorn in the FBI's side due to his maverick tenancies, again demonstrates the mental skills, perseverance, and apolitical perspective that make him the FBI's go-to guy. This book is clearly capable of standing on its own. Part of my enjoyment of this story, however, was the history that I had built up with Beamon in "Rising Phoenix" and "Storming Heaven." If you enjoyed the previous work, you will no doubt enjoy "Free Fall." In you have not read the others, you might want to consider taking these books in order.

Since this book was published several years ago and there are already several reviews posted on Amazon, I will attempt to provide a somewhat different perspective that might be helpful to readers interested in Kyle Mills' novels. FREE FALL is the third novel written by Mills to be published, and they all have had Mark Beamon, a maverick FBI agent, as their central protagonist, as does Mills' fifth novel, SPHERE OF INFLUENCE (see five star review 10/16/02). Beamon is only referenced in passing by his FBI associates involved in BURN FACTOR, which was published after this story.

FREE FALL involves the search for a top-secret FBI file code named Prodigy by J. Edgar Hoover and purposely misfiled and therefore "lost" subsequent to his death. Tristan Newberry, a graduate student who uncovered the file has been killed and Darby Moore, the young woman and longtime friend of his who was with him at the time is now trying to stay alive while being hunted by Newberry's killers in the belief that she possesses the file. Meanwhile, a high priced attorney acting on behalf of an anonymous client (who is aware of Beamon's past successes against extraordinary odds) contacts Mark and offers a large sum of money if he is successful in locating Darby. Beamon has been suspended by the FBI and is facing possible prosecution as a scapegoat for the political fallout from his recent exploits in STORMING HEAVEN, and thus is intrigued by the possibilty of obtaining enough cash to defend himself against the resources of the US Government. Beamon's job is made extremely difficult by the fact that most of his usual investigative techniques are useless due to the fact that Darby Moore is the top woman rock climber in the world; she lives out of an old VW van, has no address or credit cards and few worldly possessions, and spends most of her time engaged in adventures in areas of the globe totally inaccessible to the average individual.

The story proceeds as the presidential election of 2000 nears its conclusion, and it appears the contents of the Prodigy file might influence its outcome. The election is complicated by the presence of a third party candidate, David Hallorin, who comes eventually plays a crucial role in this book. Thus, this book allows the author to explicitly detail Beamon's views of politicians and the role of government in our lives after having indirectly addressed them in the earlier books. The action is fast paced, and the basic plot actually quite straightforward compared to Mills' earlier books, but there are enough unexpected developments to keep it interesting. And the author's knowledge and obvious love of rock climbing allow him to provide incredibly interesting detail of an activity that I previously knew little about. It is these details that form the basis of the superb character development of Darby Moore and imbue several of the essential sequences of the book with believability. (And the wisdom discovered by Darby carved into the walls of an abandoned monastery in the jungles of southern Cambodia and imparted to Mark at the height of their travails is emblematic of the details that make Mills' writing so enjoyable.)

If you have read previous books by Mills, this novel is consistent with his other works. All are action adventures, contain interesting characters and dialog, involve plots that revolve around marginally believable conspiracy theories, contain political sermonizing, recognize the flaws inherent in human nature, and in the end involve the triumph of some semblance of good over evil but always in an imperfect way and often with a heavy price to be paid. Thus, if you have enjoyed previously reading Mills, this book should appeal to you.

If you have not read other books by Mills, I would suggest you read the ones involving Mark Beamon in order. While each story is self contained, there are numerous references in the later books to the earlier incidents, and the background details will provide context as well as the history of Beamon's personal relationships. Also, I believe that the author gets better at character development as the series proceeds. If you only want to read one book, I enjoyed the last one SPHERE OF INFLUENCE the most. It is the most topical (present day foreign terrorists on US soil) and the plot actually seemed to me somewhat believable. It was the first Mark Beamon story that I read, and intrigued me enough so that I went back and subsequently read the first three in order. If you want the most original plot and the story that involves the most intriguing moral ambiguities and involved philosophical dissertations (e.g. the wisdom of the war on drugs), then read RISING PHOENIX. The benefit of reading this first is that if you like it you will have started at the beginning of the series, as I have strongly suggested.

The one outlier is BURN FACTOR. As I previously mentioned, this is an FBI story, but the key character is Quinn Barry, a young researcher who has discovered that the anomalies in an FBI computer system were not a simple programming error but an apparent attempt to bury some case files that suggested a bizarre conspiracy. This is an incredibly intense story, but the plot demands almost complete suspension of the reader's belief and is by far the most cynical and sensationalist in the implications of its conspiracy. The book was recommeded to me and I got so involved that I wanted to finish it, but several times I was totally repulsed not only by the nature of the crimes but the absolutely gruesome and stomach turning detail in which they were described. This description added to the realism of the story and its spellbinding quality, but at several points I was tempted to simply skim the remainder of the book rather than endure the horror of the sequences involved. So, if you like reading the intimate details of serial killings and the torture of the victims, you might enjoy this book. Otherwise, I suggest that you skip it since it is completely nonessential to the context of the rest of Mills' work.

As usual, I'll let you read the synopsis above and just tell you what I liked/disliked about the book. No point in being redundant.

Having read Mr. Mills' two previous works I have come to these conclusion about his books. He definitely knows how to make us like or despise the characters, and his action sequences just aren't that exciting.

This book brings back the character of Mark Beamon who the author makes most of us wish we could be to a certain extent. And almost all of us will come to despise the antagonists. He does a great job establishing his characters and making you hope everybody who survives will be involved with Beamon in future installments. The plot follows a very coherent storyline and whether the outcome is good or bad (which is your opinion), all loose ends get tied up.

My only problems with the book are the action sequences. As I said above, they don't give me that heart-pounding, feeling that I am actually with Beamon and whoever-he-is-with-getting-shot-at-with-at-that-particular moment. Fortunately they go by rather quickly and do not detract from the whole of the book. If you have enjoyed Rising Phoenix and Storming Heaven, you definitely enjoy this one.

As long as Mr. Mills keeps up his intriguing plots and characteriations, he will keep his name on my list of authors to read.

Kyle Mills didn't write a novel, he wrote an action movie in novel form. This book just has that action movie feel to it. I have to say that I enjoyed reading it, the way that I enjoy watching a summer release action movie. It was fun. Nothing deep, nothing fantastic, but entertaining nonetheless.

The book was written in 2000 and is set in that same year. There is an election in the book which had a few overtones of reality that were potentially a bit cheesy... though they veered far enough away from reality to not be overly so. The republican candidate was a senator who had formerly been head of the CIA. While Bush-the-current wasn't in the CIA, Bush-the-senior was the head of it. The democratic candidate was the current vice president and was considered to be lackluster and dull. Hmmmm. And there was a very strong third party candidate. Another hmmmmm.

The book had a lot of detailed info about rock climbing, which is something I know nothing about and which has never particularly interested me; the fact that it did hold my attention speaks for the author's knowledge and ability to write about the topic.

The ending wasn't one I predicted, which is another point in its favor... but the ending was one of the things that made it soooo action movie-ish. A lot of things happen in the last 50 pages. Major plot changes.

I'd recommend this to anyone wanting a quick and fairly brainless read. It would make a good airplane book.

While Storming Heaven was a bit better this book still keeps you reading and doesn't slow down. Mills seems able to create characters that seem real and react in real ways without boring the tears out of readers. His plots are usually of the national crises variety but in the end it is never wrapped up to please. It satisfies yet leaves you with the feeling that this would be how things would end. I love fiction but let's face it, some writers feel that they must please their readers with the clean break. Mills skips that. Add to that the usual surprises throughout and you basically get a book that you'll enjoy. Not anything new as far as the genre but a very exciting story. Recommend reading the first two books prior to this one for more of Mark Beamon.

This third book in the Mark Beamon series gives strong evidence that the author, as Tom Clancy say, "is a writer to watch." This book continues where the previous book left off and picks up Beamon as he deals with fall-out from the previous novel. The author then keeps the action, and character development, moving as Beamon is drawn once-again into the political arena. The book is especially timely considering that we are in an election year, and have to consider who we'll vote for and why. The pacing is superb, the dialogue and action crisp, and if you liked the opening scene from M-I:2, then you'll love the rock climbing parts of this book. I couldn't put it down, and ended up staying up way past my bedtime. I'm glad Mr. Mills doesn't rush his books out once a year, the quality is staying high!

Mike Beamon, suspended FBI agent, but acknowledged master-tracker, is privately hired to locate the World's Best Woman Mountain Climber, Darby Moore, also a suspected murderer. We, the readers, know Darby has been set up by some vile government types and barely escaped with her life.

You would think the World's Best Anyone would be a snap to find, but not so in the case of climbers. They tend to be poor, with no fixed address and at any given moment, might be anywhere on the globe. The author gives us captivating information on the lifestyle of climbers, and excellent descriptions of exactly what a major climb is like.

The plot is convoluted, but moves well. Mr. Mills does an excellent job of keeping all threads firmly in hand. The story moves back and forth between Mike, the hunter, and Darby, the prey. The body count is high and the action brisk. With the exception of Darby, who is very carefully sketched, it is hard to decipher the various characters' motivations. What they say, and how they act doesn't match with what they do. As the author does not have much use for any politician, none of them mean a word they say and act accordingly; this is acceptable. But what of an almost suicidally depressed passive character that suddenly leaps up, takes charge and runs the show? Was he fooling us before and had a master plan all along? Did he have an epiphany? We never find out. The ending was ironic-I think.

"Free Fall" was a fun read, and at times very absorbing, but it needs more continuity. 3-1/2 stars.

This is another strong outing for Kyle Mills. While I liked Storming Heaven a little more than this book, it is still a very good story and I enjoyed it a great deal.

Once again in this book Mark Beamon is the protagonist, and he has as many flaws as ever. You love rooting for the guy because he isn't the 6 foot 6 ex-marine who can kill the bad guy with an olive fork. He is an ordinary guy like everyone else, just a little more gifted at putting facts together to solve a mystery.

If you like good suspense with a strong story and some action thrown in then this is a book for you. In addition if you are into rock climbing you will most likely enjoy it, and it also has a presidential election aspect so with the 2000 vote coming up that may interest you too.

I read this book when I was out of work for a week after being in a bad car accident. I really enjoyed it. The plot was great, the characters were well-developed, and it made me forget about my own mess I was dealing with. I can't believe I forgot about this author for so long.