I have many varied interests. I am also very opinionated AND I like to write. I may write about anything. Anything that interests me or anything that bothers me. I might write about the world of politics, I might write about books, or movies, or TV shows, or cigars or whatever interests me. Who knows a random thought or two might even show up. ENJOY!

Thursday, September 23, 2004

Book Review: "Trasfer of Power".....

"Transfer of Power" by Vince Flynn is an exceptionally well written, well paced action novel that is literally impossible to put down. "Can't put it down" is one of the most overused cliches in publishing but in this case it happens to be true. I devoured it in a handful of sittings. Rarely have I enjoyed a political thriller more.
The plot, which in a post September 11 world takes on new significance, involves the capture of the White House by a group of Middle Eastern terrorists and the efforts made to take back the presidential mansion. What comes in between is enough political intrigue and special forces action to satisfy even the most jaded of techno thriller fans.

My only criticism is that the character's that populate Flynn's book are a fairly standard lot for his type of novel. The protagonist of "ToP" Mitch Rapp, while a very engaging and likable character, is nearly indistinguishable from Tom Clancy's John Clark or Jack Ryan or any of the other black ops super spy's that are so common in this genre. Other character's suffer from the same sense of familiarity. The exception being the villain. Terrorist mastermind Rafique Aziz is a very well crafted foe for agent Rapp and is one the reasons the novel is so entertaining. I should note that while the characters are fairly standard I still found myself making a significant emotional connection with them

It's minor character flaws aside "Transfer of Power" is an example of the political/techno thriller at it's finest. It moves at lighting speed with not a single wasted page or sentence and packs a number of very satisfying moments. I highly recommend it!

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