Rating: 
Summary: Interesting Plot
Review: I enjoyed this thriller. The plot is interesting; just hope no one tries to actually impliment the idea. This is my second Kyle Mills book ("Burn Factor" was my first) and he is now added to my "must read author" list.
Rating: 
Summary: Poor Start
Review: 5 Stars for the author's homework and the story's plausibility. Subtract 1 star: The author writes the "spoken" language, making "reading" the book laborious. He needs to learn how to write for the "reader." Subtract another star: The story goes on and on. Out of boredom, I had to clos the book at page 425. Subtract the 3rd star for sub-plot after sub-plot. Another case of boredom.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining read...
Review: A pretty entertaining read. While this book isn't spectacular, it still is a good read. The author takes a different spin on fighting the drug war that adds interest to this book. Unfortunately, the characters were average and didn't stand out for any reason in particular. While this doesn't diminish the enjoyment of the book, it would have been nice if stronger characters that more aptly fit the plot had been included. But you'll still find the book enjoyable, because the story moves along at a nice pace, and it is interesting to see the response to this fight against drugs.
Rating: 
Summary: AN IMPRESSIVE DEBUT
Review: No less than the thriller genre's top gun, Tom Clancy, has placed his imprimatur on first novelist Kyle Mills. After identifying the author in a eulogistic book jacket blurb as the son of "an old friend and former FBI agent," Clancy dubbed the young writer "a new genius for taut, compulsive adventure writing." That's surely a help, but also part hype for Mr. Mills hasn't reached the genius level yet. Nonetheless, Rising Phoenix is a wingdinger of a rim shot. A gripping tale that comes too close to the possible for comfort, this recent addition to the pantheon of psycho/thrillers is complexly plotted with hair-trigger action and characters that ring true. It's an adventure punctuated with swift jabs of dialogue and enlivened by knowing description. When a trek into the Columbian jungle's darkly humid interior begins, readers feel the heat. Morally corrupt figures alternately fascinate and repulse. That is the case with one of the story's protagonists, John Hobart, a diabolically clever sociopath. This villain's skewed philosophy was formed early on with the unexplained death of his abusive father. Here's the gospel according to Hobart: "Most of humanity's problems were rooted in centuries of misguided and often contradictory moral teachings. For a man with the intelligence and resolve to rise above this tangle of right and wrong, there was no problem that couldn't be solved simply, quickly, and finally." He puts his thesis to an acid test. A dismissed DEA agent and former security chief for an egotistical tele-evangelist, Hobart contrives a way to combat America's escalating drug problem - poison the cocaine and heroin supply. Not with just any poison but with a time-released attacker of vital organs, Orellanin, the lethal extract of a mushroom found in Poland. As legions of people across the country become ill and die, discovering the person behind this venous plot becomes the FBI's number one priority. Chosen to head the investigative team is Mark Beamon, an agent who has been put down for his unorthodoxy yet recognized as one of the Bureau's best. He was Hobart's partner during their days with the DEA. Columbia's drug cartel, headed by Luis Colombar, also has an interest in discovering who poisoned the drugs. Death isn't good for business. The President of the United States, with an "administration perceived as being soft on crime" wants the killing stopped, and an Eastern mafia chief needs to protect his turf. Fear of an excruciating demise does cause drug use in America to decline, but then there's a chilling shift: public favor begins to swing toward the murderous poisoners. After all, they've done something about the drug problem when government and law enforcement officials could not. A riveting cross continent pursuit ends with Hobart and Beamon face to face, each knows his adversary well. Reaching this climatic scene was a bit like attempting a 2,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. Some of the pieces in Rising Phoenix did not seem to fit, but that's a minor shortcoming in what is otherwise an impressive first novel.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT READING!!!
Review: This book is entertaining, smart, funny and, in the end it will make you think, WOW!!!.
Rating:
Summary: A different sort of thriller....
Review: I read LOTS of thrillers and, after a while, they get to be pretty much predictable. Not so with Rising Phoenix. Every time I thought I knew what was coming next, everything changed. Mills does a great job with an exciting plot, interesting characters, and a roller coaster of a story line.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting exploration of one "solution" to the drug crisis
Review: "Rising Phoenix" presents the following interesting situation: what if a former DEA agent, secretly sponsored by a right-wing televangelist, decides to stop the drug trade in the United States by poisoning narcotics? Would the public think that this plan was criminal, or brilliant? Kyle Mills presents both sides of the debate well in this fast-paced novel; the FBI agents assigned to catch the poisoner fell ambivalence about the "victims." But where the novel really shines is following John Hobart, the ex-DEA agent who implements the plan. Nominally the "bad guy," Hobart is quite cunning, and up until near the end, you can actually understand his thinking. (Namely, that the way to stop the drug trade is to reduce demand, not to restrict supply.) Many antagonists in novels are evil but stupid; Hobart is neither, at least through most of the novel. This novel is never boring, and it displays a sharp, cynical view of politics without ever getting too cute.
Rating:
Summary: Not far from the truth
Review: After reading "Rising Phoenix" I eagerly awaited "Storming Heaven." This could REALLY happen, much to the delight of the anti-drug movement, albeit to the confusion of those in charge. Kyle really gets it done, through a sincere protagonist, and supporting characters. Read it.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This is one of the best thrillers I have ever read. It is also the best FBI novel. The characters seemed real instead of cartoon-like and it was a very provacatice subject matter.
Rating:
Summary: A truly facinating story.
Review: I really enjoyed this book and "Storming Heaven". Can't wait for "Free Fall".
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