Rating: ****
Tags: Thrillers, General, Espionage, Fiction, Lang:en
Summary
Taking America back . . . one politician at a
time.
In one bloody night, three of Washington’s most
powerful politicians are executed with surgical precision.
Their assassins then deliver a shocking ultimatum to the
American government: set aside partisan politics and restore
power to the people. No one, they warn, is out of their
reach—not even the president. A joint FBI-CIA task
force reveals the killers are elite military commandos, but
no one knows exactly who they are or when they will strike
next. Only Michael O’Rourke, a former U.S. Marine and
freshman congressman, holds a clue to the violence: a
haunting incident in his own past with explosive implications
for his country’s future. . . . Adequate production values and a serviceable reading by
James Naughton cannot save this audiobook from a truly awful
story that tries to pass off a rightist political manifesto
with Fascist underpinnings as an entertaining thriller. The
silly plot focuses on our hero, a macho U.S. Congressman, who
punches out the National Security Advisor in the President's
presence, spouts that slain U.S. Congressmen got what they
deserved, calls Congressmen who oppose his agenda "pansies,"
and, finally, joins a plot to kill another Fed with assassins
who just happen to include an old Marine buddy and the
Congressman's own grandfather. The assassins are all just
good Americans, demanding at one point that the President
sponsor a crime bill, of all things, or else! They are noble
reformers, with a dirty job to do, rubbing out corrupt
politicians. This reactionary diatribe is not
recommended.?Mark Pumphrey, Polk Cty. P.L., Columbus, NC
An underwhelming first technothrilleroriginally
self-published.
From Library Journal
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Kirkus Reviews
One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter,''
says Michael O'Rourke to his girlfriend, thus justifying the
triple murder of a US senator and a pair of congressmen. They
didn't deserve to live, he further insists, guilty as they
were of mismanaging their country's business. In fact,
virtually all politicians--Republicans and Democrats
alike--are similarly guilty. Still, the assassinations are
meant not merely as punishment but as a warning. Politicians
had better shape up, be upright, set aside partisanship, and
balance the budget. Or else. Young Michael, the hero of
Flynn's dismal fable, is himself a congressman--the exception
that proves the rule. He's sore at his government and has his
reasons. His parents were killed in an automobile accident;
the driver of the other car, it turned out, was a drunk, a
repeat offender, who should have been off the streets, in
jail. Due to the aforementioned mismanagement, however, the
government can't build enough prisons. Nor is this
mismanagement accidental; rather, its the inevitable result
of self-serving cabals and wicked conspiracies. And as a
variety of the aforesaid cabals maneuver to stop the
terrorists, Michael finds himself caught squarely in the
middle, very much on his own. While there are conspiracies
galore here, much of the novel has an undercrafted feel to
it: one-dimensional types, clumsy, often careless writing.
(Flynn's heroine has
big brown eyes''; a
freedom fighter'' has
bright blue
eyes''--information delivered frequently, each time as if
newly minted.) At length, the cabal is thwarted, the once
misunderstood terrorist vindicated. ``You're not going to
believe what's on this,'' Michael says, handing over the tape
that reveals the depth of the conspiracy. He's right. A
sure-fire hit for readers who share Flynns political
outlook--the government as ogre. (Author tour) --
Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights
reserved.