- Flynn, Vince.
Transfer of Power.
New York: Pocket Books, 1999.
ISBN 978-0-671-02320-1.
-
No
one would have believed in the last years of the twentieth century
that Islamic terrorists could make a successful strike on a
high-profile symbol of U.S. power. Viewed from a decade later, this
novel, the first featuring counter-terrorism operative Mitch Rapp (who
sometimes makes Jack Bauer seem like a bureaucrat), is
astonishingly prescient. It is an almost perfect thriller—one
of the most difficult to put down books I've read in quite some time.
Apart from the action, which is abundant, the author has a
pitch-perfect sense of the venality and fecklessness of politicians
and skewers them with a gusto reminiscent of the early novels of Allen
Drury.
I was completely unaware of this author and his hugely popular
books (six of which, to date, have made the New York Times
bestseller list) until I heard an extended interview
(transcript;
audio parts
1,
2,
3)
with the author, after which I immediately ordered this book. It did
not disappoint, and I shall be reading more in the series.
I don't read thrillers in a hyper-critical mode unless they transgress
to such an extent that I begin to exclaim “oh, come on”.
Still, this novel is carefully researched, and the only goof I noticed
is in the Epilogue on p. 545 where “A KH-12 Keyhole satellite
was moved into geosynchronous orbit over the city of Sao Paulo
and began recording phone conversations”.
The
KH-12 (a somewhat
ambiguous designation for an upgrade of the
KH-11
reconnaissance satellite) operates in low Earth orbit, not
geosynchronous orbit, and is an imaging satellite, not a
signals intelligence satellite equipped to intercept communications.
The mass market edition I read includes a teaser
for Protect and Defend, the eighth novel in the
series. This excerpt contains major spoilers for
the earlier books, and if you're one of those people (like
me) who likes to follow the books in a series in order,
give it a miss.
April 2009 