Protect and Defend: A Thriller - Harry Potter 6 Books

Product Description

New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn returns with his most explosive political thriller yet. A tour de force of action-packed suspense, Protect and Defend delivers an all-too-realistic and utterly compelling vision of nations navigating the minefield of international intrigue. A true heavyweight in the political thriller arena (Minneapolis Star Tribune), Vince Flynn has created a flesh-and-blood hero that readers can cheer for and a finger-blistering page-turner they won t dare put down.

In Protect and Defend, the action begins in the heart of Iran, where billions of dollars are being spent on the development of a nuclear program. No longer willing to wait for the international community to stop its neighboring enemy, Israel launches one of the most creative and daring espionage operations ever conceived. The attack leaves a radioactive tomb and environmental disaster in the middle of Iran s second largest city. An outraged Iranian government publicly blames both Israel and the United States for the attack and demands retribution. Privately, Iran s bombastic president wants much more. He wants America and Israel to pay for their aggression with blood.

Enter Mitch Rapp, America s top counterterrorism operative. Used to employing deception, Rapp sees an opportunity where others see only Iranian reprisals that could leave thousands of Americans dead. Rapp convinces President Josh Alexander to sign off on a risky operation that will further embarrass the Iranian government and push their country to the brink of revolution. As part of the plan, CIA director Irene Kennedy is dispatched to the region for a clandestine meeting with Azad Ashani, her Iranian counterpart.

But Rapp isn t the only one hatching plans. Iranian President Amatullah, has recruited Hezbollah master terrorist Imad Mukhtar to do his dirty work. For decades Mukhtar has acted as a surrogate for Iran, blazing a trail of death and destruction across the Middle East and beyond. When Kennedy s meeting with Ashani goes disastrously wrong, Rapp and Mukhtar are set on a collision course that threatens to engulf the entire region in war. With the clock ticking, Rapp is given twenty-four hours, no questions asked, to do whatever it takes to stop Mukhtar, and avert an unthinkable catastrophe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10528 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-30
• Released on: 2007-10-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

From Publishers Weekly
After taking care of a loose end from Act of Treason (2006), Mitch Rapp looks into the destruction of Iran's secret nuclear weapons facility in bestseller's Flynn's predictable eighth thriller to feature the counterterrorism agent. Given the absence of any indication of either a U.S. or an Israeli air strike, Rapp takes the opportunity to persuade the U.S. administration to plot an operation to destabilize the fanatical Iranian regime by having an Iranian dissident group claim responsibility for what he suspects was an inside job by an Israeli spy. When the Iranian government sinks one of its own ships and blames the U.S., Rapp and CIA chief Irene Kennedy travel to Iraq to try to defuse the crisis, only to fall victim to an ambush (reminiscent of one in Tom Clancy's A Clear and Present Danger) that results in Kennedy's abduction. Rapp races the clock to rescue his boss before she's tortured into revealing what she knows. Despite a backstory replete with personal loss, Rapp comes across as a one-dimensional killing machine, willing to do whatever needs doing to complete the mission. (Oct. 30)
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Review
"Flynn didn't invent the post-9/11 thriller, but he might as well have....[He] is the best pure adrenalin-charged action writer out there today."

--Providence Journal

Review
"Flynn didn't invent the post-9/11 thriller, but he might as well have.... [He] is the best pure adrenaline-charged action writer out there today." -- Providence Journal

Customer Reviews

An Entertaining Read
This is the first Vince Flynn story I have read and I did like it. Like many thrillers most of the characters have the depth of cardboard and the plot line is fairly predictable it is still a good fast read and entertaining. Much is not quite plausible.
Some may be a bit queasy with Rapp's methods and I could understand that. Flynn is one of the few thriller writers who does have a firm grasp of Radical Islam and it's terrorist agenda to "unbelievers" and the dynamics. Flynn understands well the danger of the Saudi's, Wahabbis and Madrasas's ability to churn out terrorists who resort to extreme violence to kill us "infidels". Most Americans and Euros do not yet quite understand the increasing danger we face with Islamic Extremists. His hero Rapp is about as violent as they come and a good counterpoint to the terrorists violence.

This is a large continuing issue the civilized world will have to grapple with in the future and Flynn makes it quite clear that peace negotations will really go nowhere with an enemy who will resort to any means to spread Radical Islam worldwide.

One of Flynn's Best
One of the most exciting books that I have read that did not have a lot of surprises. Flynn interwove his plot with a lot of recent history that made you want to get the bad guys and save the good guys, or women. He portrayed the Washington brass as taking a hard line with Iran which I liked but was not realistic. They would not have that much guts at least in this day and age.

There were two characters that he fully described that just dropped from the radar after they did their thing. I always like for a book to not leave me thinking at the end, "What happened to them." Also whenever a hero does something illegal then there should an ending that covers it up, or a pardon, or something to explain why he/she did not get strung up. It was a real page turner that I would give five stars except for the ending which makes it a four star for me.

The ending is so important for a book that I wrote three endings for my recent book, al-Qaeda Strikes Again and got comments from my proof readers before I decided which one to use.

Is there a difference between Flynn and Thor?
Seems to me that if you did not know the character's names the books
by Vince Flynn and Brad Thor are almost identical.

I personally prefer Scot Harvath to Mitch Rapp, but both books by these
writers are good.

BTW, I think Daniel Silva is the best in the genre. Gabriel Allon is the
best!