Rating: 
Summary: Great read. Superb plot. Interesting Fed LE Characters.
Review: BOOK REVIEWby Mary Cousins in the July 1997 issue of the Grapevine, the official publication of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, Inc. Rising Phoenix by Kyle Mills The pre-publication edition of Rising Phoenix by Kyle Mills came across my desk and, as I picked it up, I read the glowing recommendation by Tom Clancy on the cover. After praising this first novel, Clancy thanked the author's dad, Darrell Mills, for sending him the manuscript. If you are looking for a good brisk read with an FBI-DEA background, you'll be glad he did too. Kyle Mills crafts a quick-step story with credible characters, plenty of action and a satisfactory denouement. Unlike many first novels, Rising Phoenix doesn't seek to show off the author's vocabulary at the expense of the story. Starting with a surprising solution to the drug problem in the United States, Mills delineates a villain worth pursuing and a somewhat disheveled and unorthodox Special Agent leading the chase. The White House, the Bureau, TV evangelists and drug dealers bring a variety of motives to this escalating tale of greed, politics, righteous anger and investigative professionalism. Mills dishes up a potent story, carried by characters that enrich and enliven the plot. The author catches the feel of the Bureau- although you may not much like some of the fictional personnel at Headquarters. Mills kept an observant eye on his surroundings when he visited his dad's office over the years. Dad is Darrell Mills (1967-93), Tidewater Chapter member of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI. Rising Phoenix should be in bookstores by August 1997 and is recommended as a lively thriller deeply rooted in the stuff of today's headlines. Publisher is Harper Collins. END 269
Rating:
Summary: Excellent novel!
Review: I really enjoyed this book. One of the main reasons I like it was there was a lot of gray area in this book and the author let's you draw your own conclusions on who was the 'bad' guy and who was the good guy. We know the main character, FBI Agent Mark Beamon, is the/a good guy because it says so on the back but what about the guy he is tracking down? The man whose solution to permanately stop the drug business is to posoin a massive amount of cocaine and heroin at the source and here in the US. Is he truly bad? I loved how the book showed people supporting him and what good he was doing (drug use and drug crimes plummetting). It also showed the other side of his crusade, innocents trying a drug dying horribly and recreational users, Senator's children, etc. also dying and the movement to stop the murder. I loved the ending and how the author didn't rush it like so many other authors do. He resolved everything at a perfect pace and the book keeps you thinking well after you are finished. Is our Drug policy failing miserably? Are we wasting money and time trying to stop them when we could use it for other things? What can we do about it? All good questions that are looked at in this book.
Highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent, gripping, morally challenging novel.
Review: I am reviewing this book as a book on tape and will make specific comments on that aspect of it at the end of this review.
I have drudged and slogged my way through a number of books and books on tape lately and this one was like a bolt of lightning - it came out of nowhere and really was a welcome surprise for me. I won't go into the plot details, since they are readily available in the book description at the top of this page - however, this is a great bit of writing. The premise is thought-provoking, to say the least. In a nice twist, the antagonist is well-developed and the protagonists are not. The story is plot-driven and by that I mean we don't get bogged down in unnecessary details, such as focusing on weapons at great length, etc. - as can sometimes happen in a techno-thriller.
Really a top notch piece of work.
As for details concerning the book on tape - it is read by Campbell Scott (known for his work in 'Dying Young' and 'Dead Again'). He does a first-rate job - he reads the characters so differently that you really don't notice that the same man is reading all of the different parts.
Good work all around.
Rating:
Summary: A solution to the drug problem
Review: Kyle Mills impressively conceived "Rising Phoenix" is a thought provoking thriller that briskly chronicles a plot to curtail the use of drugs in the U.S. by poisoning the incoming supply.
Celebrated TV evangelist Reverand Simon Blake had built up a cash glutted empire with tastefully appointed offices in a skyscraper in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Blake's current passion was a war on the drugs that had infested our society. He was determined to take drastic measures to make an impact on this plague. His head of church security, John Hobart a cold calculating ex-special forces operative in Vietnam, with a CPA had been bounced out of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Hobart was commissioned by Blake with the job of riding the society of the scourge of drugs. He devised a ingenious plan to poison the drug supply at the refining stage with an obscure lethal mushroom based substance.
Hobart's plot was successfully undertaken resulting in a massive wave of deaths due to poisoning by user of both cocaine and heroin. The FBI, early on, put their top investigator but loose cannon Mark Beamon in charge of stopping this plot. Beamon, a former colleague of Hobart's, was stymied politically in his investigation as public sentiment indicated that people were not displeased by the decrease in drug use and death of the users.
The plot interestingly proceeded as an investigation into a crime that nobody really wanted stopped went forward.
Rating: 
Summary: too much wish fulfillment, not enough hard reality
Review: Rising Pheonix is an ambitious novel; unfortunately, it just doesn't have the ring of authenticity of, say, someone like Frederick Forsyth or Richard Herman, Jr. I believe the problem is that the author is still too young and experienced to tackle the characters and subject matter and make the story real. The characters aren't mature or complex enough, the locations don't come alive like they should, many of the descriptions are off-kilter, and events seem shoehorned into the story to make the plot work (Hobart's escapades in Colombia, especially, are hard to swallow). Another major flaw is the fact that we get very little in the way of technical details, the nuts-and-bolts operations of the various organizations that come into play here. When I read a political thriller, I want insight that encompasses the big picture, not endless details into the pointless quirks and habits of the characters.But I think the main problem is that the basic premise is flawed. To poison a large shipment of drugs would not solve the drug problem in this country-- too many addicts would keep using or switch to other drugs, and such a ploy would not bring the multi-billion dollar drug industry to its knees. Not only that, we really don't get a sense of the huge tragedy that tens of thousands of drug deaths across the country would be (Noone who is rich and famous becomes a victim? Hmmm.), not to mention the myriad social ramifications such an event would cause. And finally, no FBI agent-- no matter how good he is-- would accept a gift from a drug-dealing Mafioso, or he wouldn't last long with the Bureau. Pet Peeve Dept: "Ahold" is not a word.
Rating: 
Summary: "Good Story That Poses A Great Moral Dilemma"
Review: One big aspect of this book I liked was all the planning that went into pulling off the operation to poison shipments of cocaine and heroin to the USA. So many details, so much time trying to cover one's tracks. If THE DOGS OF WAR showed us how to put together a mercenary operation, RISING PHOENIX teaches us what it takes to pull off an operation like this. Ex-DEA agent John Hobart is a very formidible foe. He may be a stone cold sociopath, but he has a very low key approach about him. He's also very smart and very meticulous (I hate stupid bad guys in situations like this). FBI Agent Mark Beamon was a pretty decent character. Middle-age, not an impressive physical specimen and someone who bucks the system on a regular basis. I felt the one reviewer made a good observation comparing Beamon to NYPD BLUE's Dennis Franz. However, I thought there was quite a bit of untapped potential in Beamon. Though my biggest complaint is how Mills pretty much glossed over the death of Beamon's nephew from tainted cocaine. It just suddenly appeared in the middle of the book and not much is made after that. Something like this would have really given Beamon a lot more motivation and emotional turmoil. I will say the book offered a great moral dilemma that kept you thinking. While the poisoning sends drug use plummeting in the U.S., the body count rises to staggering levels. The story has you constantly wondering if the ends justify the means.
Rating:
Summary: Good premise, only ok story
Review: I thought the premise of this book was very interesting and that is why I decided to read this. However, the story that was delivered around that premise is only just ok. Beamon is a little tough to believe as a hero or mastermind. He really doesn't do any of the work himself anyway, he just takes the credit. This book is ok, mostly based on the premise and the moral implicatons of it. If you don't analyze it too much, it's not bad.
Rating:
Summary: Eye Opener
Review: This book is scary in a lot of ways. I saw the cdfs as heroes and murderers at the same time. I like the way this book displayed the pros and cons to poisoning the drug supply. The usage went down, but the death toll went up. On one had you can see that the poisoning had a positive affect on the war on drugs. However, it would open a pandoras box. For example, if they got tired of overweight people and started tainting junk foods. I know that sounds outrageous, but it is just a hypethetical example. I look forward to reading Storming Heaven. This one of the best books I have read yet.
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