Total Power: A Mitch Rapp Novel, Book 19

Excellent story…always loved Vince Flynn’s writing. But Kyle is very good also. Loved the ending. I will be reading more.

A new Mitch Rapp book is always a cause for celebration! Thank you, Kyle Mills, for taking on the daunting task of following in Vince Flynn's footsteps and keeping his wonderful characters alive. I am a loyal Mitch Rapp fan: completely, utterly, and unabashedly. In advance of each new book release, I usually reread all the previous novels, and my enjoyment of Flynn’s writing hasn’t waned, despite numerous readings. I am a bit concerned, however, with the direction the last two Mills' books are trying to take the Mitch Rapp character/franchise. The main characters seem to move further and further away from the original Flynn characters. Please, give me back the fierce, patriotic, brash, honorable, instinctive, innovative, outspoken, occasionally funny and superbly competent Mitch Rapp character that Vince Flynn created two decade ago. And what has happened to Irene Kennedy? Originally, she was brilliant, incisive, insightful, dedicated and extremely methodical—a perfect foil to Mitch Rapp's instinctive approach. But in the past few Rapp books, while characters may talk about how brilliant Irene is, we do not get to see her amazing mind at work. Irene seems to have devolved into little more than Rapp’s cipher, waiting to hear what Mitch thinks needs to be done or what Mitch thinks should be the response to any particular crisis. This watered-down Irene isn’t the woman were introduced to, and while I do understand that characters change and grow, given Irene’s background, experiences, training and education, I find it hard to believe, even after divorce, single parenting, some tough congressional hearings and even tougher professional decisions that she would have wilted into such a milquetoasty CIA director. The scenes offsite at the secure location, “Seneca”, also read more like an SOP section from the U S government’s COOP handbook, rather than an actual knowledge of proceedings. For example, regardless of the scale of the national crisis, the President of the United States is not going to have to elbow his way into a secure, off-site conference room to discuss the crisis with his advisors. Just not gonna happen. I was pleased to see that (despite the red herring of the Russian sleeper agent, spy babe, Sonya), Mills has returned Mitch Rapp to solving problems relating to his theatre of expertise--the Middle East. However, the end of the book is the real reason why I gave TOTAL POWER only 4 stars. I do not believe that Mitch would take a civilian, radio broadcaster with him, out to the woods of Idaho (just to honor a promise), to help him kill another U S citizen--even a traitorous murderer such as John Alton. Why did this plot twist occur ? Despite these misgivings, Mitch Rapp and his team of eclectic specialists don't disappoint, and, once again, they defend the United States against enemies both foreign and domestic. I will read the next Rapp book, whenever it comes out, and eagerly await the return of Mitch Rapp, the ultimate, patriotic badass.

excellent read

At first, I thought the series would die out after Flynn's passing. However, Mills seems to have found his stride with this book. I enjoyed how believable the scenario was. Plenty of action.

Riveting and exciting from the beginning to the end. Kile has taken the Mitch Rapp Series to new levels. I know that Vince would be proud of the work he's done and continues to do. I have read 19 books in this series and have all the rest, including just getting the latest one. I look forward to continuing this series until Kyle decides it's time to retire Mitch and this series. I look forward to how it all ends, but I hope that isn't for a few more books at least. Keep up the good work on this Kyle.

Book Review - Kyle Mills' Total Power in the hugely successful Vince Flynn Mitch Rapp series, turned out to be another really good action thriller novel. This time out, the entire US power grid becomes an ISIS target with assistance from a corrupt and power-hungry US government power grid consultant. With preplaced malware and a few select substation attacks, the entire US is plunged into total darkness during the dead of winter. In this story, the US plays Cuban-missile-crisis-style hardball with Russia to get a lead on the attackers and Rapp stays domestic (which I thought the CIA isn’t suppose to act on US soil) as he has to contact and recover the Russian operative planted in the US and then hunt down the perpetrators. Rapp's no nonsense style works extremely well in resolving the matter and I commend Mills for exposing the darker side of what a real CIA assassin is task with doing - eliminating threats to the country! There’s even a conversation in the book where Mitch tells Irene Kennedy, the Director of the CIA and his boss, that “he is not a murderer but a government assassin hired to take care of difficult government issues.” Only discrepancy I have with this is I thought the CIA couldn’t perform such ‘activities’ on US soil but this is a fiction action thriller plus it’s Mitch Rapp so who cares...he did his job - and did it very well I might add...! The only other question in this book was the resolution of the deep cover Russian operative that Mitch was sent to find - it was left just hanging, so maybe this character may reappear again in the next Mitch Rapp novel? Overall the plot and pace of the story moved quickly and I think Kyle Mills did another great job of keeping with the character of Mitch Rapp. I also love the well placed sometimes very subtle humor amidst the dark tales. Some of the humor may go over some readers’ heads, but I found myself literally ‘laughing-out-loud’ as I appreciate well placed humor especially during difficult conversations and problematic times - but it has to be right and Mills was ‘right-on’ with his. Loved the book and pleased to hear that Kyle Mills has signed on to do more. Very enjoyable read!

Non stop action and if you like adventure fiction then you will enjoy this book. Great characters and a most unusual plot. Looking forward to the next one in the series.

El autor me gusta mucho. Su personaje està bien definido y uno conoce sus alcances. Recomiendo al autor.

Another exciting mitch book a very quick read great characters I totally recommend it I could not put it down it makes me want to read another

Decepcionante. Vince Flynn, nos livros anteriores, foi muito melhor do que esse. Talvez o assunto tenha sido mal escolhido.

Amazing story and as usual extremely well written. It's really hard to believe that Vince Flynn is no more. The writing style of Kyle Mills is so similar. Really amazing job done by Kyle in keeping the series and Mitch Rapp alive and kicking.