- Flynn, Vince.
Term Limits.
New York: Pocket Books, 1997.
ISBN 978-0-671-02318-8.
-
This was the author's first novel, which he initially
self-published and marketed through bookshops in his native
Minnesota after failing to place it with any of the
major New York publishers. There have to be a lot of editors
(What's the
collective noun
for a bunch of editors? A rejection slip of editors? A red pencil of editors?)
who wrote the dozens of rejection letters he received, as Flynn's
books now routinely make the New York Times bestseller list and
have sold more than ten million copies worldwide. Unlike
many writers who take a number of books, published or
unpublished, to master their craft
(Jerry Pournelle
counsels aspiring writers to expect to throw away
their first
million words),
Flynn showed himself to be a grandmaster at the art of the thriller
in his very first outing. In fact, I found this book to be even
more of a compulsive page-turner than the subsequent Mitch Rapp
novels (but that's to be expected, since as the series progresses
there's more character development and scene-setting)—the
trade paperback edition is 612 pages long and I finished it in
four days.
The story takes place in the same world as the
Mitch Rapp
(warning—the article at this link contains minor spoilers)
series, and introduces many of the characters of those books such as
Thomas Stansfield, Irene Kennedy, Jack Warch, Scott Coleman, and
Congressman Michael O'Rourke, but Rapp makes no appearance in it.
The premise is simple: a group of retired Special
Forces operatives who have spent their careers making foreign
enemies of their country pay for their misdeeds concludes that
the most pernicious enemies of the republic are the venal politicians
spending the country into bankruptcy and ignoring the threats
to its existence and decides to take, shall we say, direct
action, much along the lines of
Unintended Consequences
(December 2003), but as a pure thriller without the political
baggage of that novel.
Flynn's attention to detail is evident in this first novel, although
there are a few lapses. This is to be expected, as his “brain
trust” of fan/insiders had yet to discover his work and
lend their expertise to vetting the gnarly details. For example,
on p. 552, a
KH-11
satellite is said to be “on station” and remains
so for an extended period. KH-11s are in low Earth orbit, and
cannot be on station anywhere. And they're operated by the
National Reconnaissance Office, not the National Security Administration.
Flynn seems to be very fond of the word “transponder”, and
uses it in contexts where it's clear a receiver is intended.
These and other minor goofs detract in no way from the story,
which grips you and doesn't let go until the last page. Although this
book is not at all a prerequisite to enjoying the Mitch Rapp series,
in retrospect I wish I'd read it before
Transfer of Power
(April 2009) to better appreciate the history which
formed the relationships among the secondary characters.
November 2009 