Into the Fire

(Reprinted from June 30th, 2010)

Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn left off with Mitch Rapp’s version of justice, an ending which brought me to tears and displayed some of Vince Flynn’s best writing to that point. In Act of Treason we pick up on Mitch’s reaction to his loss after the Prologue of an event which leads to the death of a political figure, some Secret Service Agents, and several civilians. This single event jolts Mitch Rapp from his grief and pathos and places him and his team on the island of Cyprus where they watch a man they suspect is responsible for the deaths on US soil near the White House.

Act of Treason takes place in a short timeframe. President Hayes is about to hand over the Commander-in-Chief position to President-elect Josh Alexander and VP Mark Ross, a character who returns from Consent to Kill. The new president and his running mate were significantly behind in the polls until the tragic event described in the Prologue, but Mitch discovers something telltale in his capture of the suspect which makes everything look a whole lot different than first suspected.

Meanwhile, Director Irene Kennedy examines some clandestine photographs delivered to her in person and that gnawing suspicion that Mitch is eking out in his interrogations begins to take form. Mitch loves to confound the politicians and for the most part Kennedy enjoys that approach as well but in a far more subtle way, and once again, although at first doubts crease her forehead with the little information Mitch gives her, a young agent sworn to secrecy by Mitch gives her the confidence she needs to trust her superior bull-in-a-china-shop operative.

This story gives us another look into the depravity of politics at its worst and makes it so utterly believable we’re both saddened by it and cheering on the poetic justice of Mitch and Irene as they get to the ugly bottom of things and take action to solve the perverted attempts to further corrupt the offices in government. When Irene Kennedy shows another side of herself near the end of this story, we can’t help but grin at Mitch’s reaction and Kennedy’s confidence in having done the right thing to solve this Act of Treason. What that says about me, I’m not sure. Justice is somehow extremely important to me, so these stories feed that need in me.

This time I will issue a warning to readers about content. I’ve told you before there will be some bad language in Flynn’s novels, but this one amps up both the language and the sexual content. Sexual content in previous novels has been minimal and mostly suggested. This novel contains more frequent bad language—and again it fits the state of mind for Mitch Rapp and depicts the overall character of others in the story—and there are some graphics involved in sexual episodes. So be forewarned if this will offend you. 

God, bless those who strive to serve you first and minister to those who need to know you in order to make it all count in the big picture. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.