Storming Heaven [Hardcover]

Kyle Mills (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 10, 1998

"A compulsive adventure. . . .Kyle Mills is a writer to watch!"
-- Tom Clancy

Two short years ago a young unknown named Kyle Mills took the world of thriller fiction by storm. His explosive bestseller Rising Phoenix created legions of eager fans, and elicited the admiration of such established stars as Tom Clancy and Frederick Forsyth as well as critics nationwide.

No longer an unknown, Mills is back with a powerful new story of murder, deception, and intrigue.

Mark Beamon, the maverick FBI agent introduced in Rising Phoenix, has been given one last chance by the Bureau. Shunted into a job running a sleepy Southwest office, Beamon is under strict orders to shape up and do things "by the book"--the FBI way.

There's only one problem: Crime doesn't go by the book.

Flagstaff, Arizona, is shocked when a millionaire auto dealer and his wife are brutally murdered in an apparent botched robbery and kidnapping. It's one of the bloodiest, clumsiest crimes Special Agent Beamon has ever seen. The missing teenage daughter, Jennifer Davis, who stands to inherit everything, is the prime suspect. Did she and her rock star boyfriend fake her abduction?

The boyfriend has an alibi, and Beamon has a feeling. Something is not right about this case--something is definitely not "by the book." With his new assistant in tow,and his new girlfriend all but forgotten, Beamon follows a trail of faint clues and strong hunches that lead from a remote Unabomber cabin in the Utah mountains, through the labyrinthine headquarters of the cult-like Church of the Evolution, into the shadowy, interlocking boardrooms of a high-tech communications empire.

Beamon has tossed the book aside again, and Washington is furious; for the church has powerful friends, as do companies like Vericomm and TarroSoft. Then a bombshell is dropped. The "murder" of Jennifer's parents was a double suicide. But why? What did the Davises gain by killing themselves while their daughter watched? Are their deaths part of a morbid church ritual--or the first step in a bizarre millennial conspiracy designed to bring America to its knees? Either way, time is running out, and Beamon's career--not to mention a young girl's life--is on the line.

Kyle Mills's Rising Phoenix debuted at number 12 on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list and went on to become a bestseller nationwide, winning widespread critical praise. This second thriller featuring Mark Beamon is certain to ensure Mills's place as one of the most talented new writers of adventure fiction today.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Take one outspoken, sloppy, slightly boozy FBI agent who's too smart for his own good (and never lets the reader forget it) and exile him to a field office in Arizona so he doesn't embarrass the Agency. Tie him to a short tether and bury him in paperwork. Add a double murder and a missing teenager; throw in a little New Age religion (but don't identify it as Scientology, or L. Ron Hubbard's legions will bury you in lawsuits) and you have Kyle Mills's second Mark Beamon thriller. A bit too smug to be likable, Beamon has the case totally figured out before anyone else has a clue. Shortly thereafter, he's pressured to shut down the investigation. When he persists in following a road that leads right to the front door of the powerful Church of the Evolution, he's suddenly targeted by the IRS, labeled a pedophile, and finally suspended. But with the help of an ex-member of the cult, an eager young agent, and a crusty old retired wire tapper, Beamon manages to track down the missing girl and put a crimp in the church's ambitious plans. These include a conspiracy to take over the nation's telecommunications infrastructure and extend the cult's hold over the movers and shakers of the country--including Beamon's boss and other FBI honchos. A tidy little millennial thriller with echoes of Waco, Ruby Ridge, and those comet-happy cultists in San Diego who followed their leader to a higher plane last summer, this should win Mills (author of Rising Phoenix) a legion of new fans. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly

This formulaic second novel starring maverick FBI agent Mark Beamon (after Rising Phoenix, 1997) suffers from contrived plotting, ponderous pacing and lapses of credibility. Now exiled to the rural environs of the Arizona bureau office, Beamon is called off the golf course to investigate what initially seems to be the murder of a couple by their disappeared teenaged daughter; although no federal crime is suggested until well into the investigation, G-man Beamon doesn't let details like jurisdiction bother him. And as it happens, young suspect Jennifer Davis has been kidnapped by the Kneissians, a sort of Mooney-like PTL Club, because she is in actuality the granddaughter of the sect's patriarch. The old man is dying, and he plans for her to take his place. However, his surrogate daughter, Sara, has other plans, and she uses the church's millions of members, billions of dollars and tentacular reaches into the highest levels of government and finance to ensure her own rise to power. All of which we know long before Beamon agonizingly figures it out. Suspended and thereby free to "break the rules," Beamon pursues Jennifer's kidnappers through the snowy streets of Flagstaff, with far-fetched strokes of luck and acts of derring-do better suited to old cop shows than to a novel. Shot through with cliches, inane dialogue and unnecessary accounts of Beamon's propensity for strong drink and tobacco, the novel slips along to a highly predictable conclusion. Rights, William Morris Agency.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1st edition (July 10, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061012505
• ISBN-13: 978-0061012501
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,097,200 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kyle Mills is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve books, including the latest in Robert Ludlum's Covert-One series, The Ares Decision.

Growing up in Oregon, Washington, DC, and London as a the son of an FBI agent, Kyle absorbed an enormous amount about the Bureau, giving his novels their unique authenticity. He and his wife live in Wyoming where they spend their off hours rock climbing and backcountry skiing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Non-stop suspense and action, a Great Read, February 5, 2000

By 

Kathleen P. McCahill - See all my reviews

This review is from: Storming Heaven (Mass Market Paperback)

Kyle Mills has created an interesting character in Mark Beamon - a suffering, slightly edgy, moral man who refuses to back down, kind of like a pit bull who will protect til the end. The introduction of a cult-like religion was a twist. This book was so well written, planned out, it had you rooting for Mark Beamon (along with a cast of characters that were irritating, frightening and endearing). There were so many surprises and the premise of our privacy being invaded by a group of people with a different agenda was definitely not a far fetched idea.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Vatican gets a break, July 31, 2002

By 

Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Storming Heaven (Mass Market Paperback)

When it comes to pesky conspirators that cause headaches for literature's pantheon of fictional heroes, some have been around for so long that they're passe: ex- SS members, the KGB, and the Vatican. In STORMING HEAVEN, none of these are at the root of All Evil, and the Vatican gets a breather for once.

This time around, our hero is Mark Beamon, the troublesome but brilliant FBI agent exiled to the position of agent-in-charge of the bureau's Flagstaff office, an out-in-the-stix outpost of the Big House down in Phoenix. Mark is investigating the gunshot deaths of Eric and Patricia Davis and the disappearance of their teenage daughter Jennifer. (It's not apparent, or ever explained, why the local cops aren't a presence and the Feds have been brought into the case. It's uncertain at the outset that Jennifer was kidnapped, much less taken across state lines, the only rationale for FBI involvement.) In any case, before the storyline progresses too far the reader knows, and Beamon suspects, that the hierarchy of the Kneissians, a global religious cult, is up to no good in the affair.

Mark is the best reason to bother with STORMING HEAVEN. He's intolerant of nonsense emanating from the Front Office, unlucky when it comes to women, physically unprepossessing, and waging a losing battle with cigarettes, alcohol and a middle-age waistline. And he's irreverant. At one point in his investigation, he's asked by an ally to pray with her for their success:

"She pulled at his sleeve and he sank to his knees next to her wheelchair. She squeezed her eyes shut and began moving her lips soundlessly. Not really knowing what to do, he bowed his head and waited for her to snap out of it."

And he's realistic about the strengths of the character flaws laid at his door by his superiors, as when he's questioning a difficult suspect:

"It was time to make a decision on how to play this. There was the smart way, of course ... But that seemed kind of boring. The other option was to shoot himself in the foot and see if he could make the ice princess sweat a little."

I'd give the book three stars except for Beamon, who elevates it another click. Otherwise, the storyline is only marginally inventive, and the Kneissians aren't in the same league as the Vatican when it comes to truly insidious plotting. Where's a good renegade Cardinal when you need one?

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kyle Mills...A new writer with guts., January 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Storming Heaven (Hardcover)

Storming Heaven was one of the best contemporary thrillers I have read in years. Whereas most current popular novels of this genre deal with such oft-used threats as neo nazism, islamic terrorism, missing weapons as a result of Soviet breakup, or conspiracies within our own government, Mills has the boldness to deal with what is to me the most insidious and overlooked threat: "Christian" fanaticism, and its desire to control the lives of others. While clearly a work of fiction (I can't say I know enough about Scientology to draw any conclusions), this book is to me, far scarier than anything even Steven King could write since it deals with events that are entirely plausible. Large ideas aside, it is also an excellent crime/kidnapping story and while it does contain potentially objectionable language, the sex and violence are comparatively minimal so the book can be enjoyed by a wide audience. Definitely a winner along with Rising Phoenix, his previous novel which also tackles religious conspiracy.