Rating: ![2 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-2-0.gif) Summary: SO-SO Review: This is the first title by Kyle Mills that I have read, and it will probably be my last. I judge a book by the story it tells and it is a strange mixture of an FBI agent (the hero), and The Church of the Evolution (the villian). It is a unique story but it moves VERY slowly and it takes a while before we begin to care about the characters. The book starts off interestingly enough by a kidnapping and murder-suicide, but just mires around for a couple more hundred pages and that is where the book fails.
Rating: ![3 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-3-0.gif) Summary: Interesting Premise, Good Thriller Review: This is the second of Kyle Mill's books that I have read. Rising Phoenix was a good (notice I say GOOD not GREAT) thriller as well. Unlike some of the reviewers I really like Mark Beamon, the "hero" of Kyle Mills books. His sense of humor and unhealthy lifestyle are a nice change from alot of "heroes" in other books. The pace moves quickly and keeps you interested. A few times I found myself saying "Now that was dumb Mark, why don't U do this". Of course being a reader you tend to have both sides of the story so it's easy to know what to do. Glad I waited to get this book in paperback, but it's definitely worth a read.
Rating: ![3 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-3-0.gif) Summary: Interesting Premise, Good Thriller Review: This is the second of Kyle Mill's books that I have read. Rising Phoenix was a good (notice I say GOOD not GREAT) thriller as well. Unlike some of the reviewers I really like Mark Beamon, the "hero" of Kyle Mills books. His sense of humor and unhealthy lifestyle are a nice change from alot of "heroes" in other books. The pace moves quickly and keeps you interested. A few times I found myself saying "Now that was dumb Mark, why don't U do this". Of course being a reader you tend to have both sides of the story so it's easy to know what to do. Glad I waited to get this book in paperback, but it's definitely worth a read.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Couldn't get enough....... Review: This was my first Kyle Mills book but not my last...I have already ordered Rising Phoenix. Should have read it first.... The character, Mark Beamon, was believeable, funny,and sincere. The story line was also one that could actually happen (far fetched, but possible). I enjoyed the dialogue that Beamon had with his peers and associates. He kept the action hopping and the conclusion in focus. A surprise ending which was super. Great read (don't start if if you have plans to do anything else for at least 2 days)
Rating: ![2 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-2-0.gif) Summary: save your time, skip this book Review: This was the best of the three Kyle Mills books that I have read so far. That is not very high praise when you compare this title to such luminaries of mediocrity as `Free Fall,' and `Burn Factor.' `Storming Heaven' was written prior to the other two novels that I mentioned so it is a little disconcerting to see a de-evolution in Mills' work as the years go by. I haven't read it yet, but maybe `Rising Phoenix,' his first novel will turn out to be his best work.
Storming Heaven is most definitely one of those books that it written with out passion by an author attempting to mold himself to the sure fire rout towards the bestseller list. Every tired and over used method to further along an uninspired plot is used here. I felt like I had read these pages many times before. To put this work into the best possible analogy that I can come up with, it was sort of like watching a re-run of one of those 1980's private eye t.v. shows where you know how it will work out before it even starts.
The saving graces in this book are the protagonist, Mark Beamon who turns out to be better than your average hero type. This is an enjoyable character that is not fleshed out enough in my opinion in this novel. In fact that is the bothersome aspect of all Mill's characters here. It would have been nice to use the decent right wing religious conspiracy angle as a cover to explore a few of these persons in more detail. Instead Mills mistakenly believes that the Hollywood car chase cliché is where the strength of his story unfolds. It is not. Try Lawrence Block's `Scudder' series for some good contemporary tales that put Mills to shame. Or if you have not yet delved into Elmore Leonard, Dashiell Hammett's `Maltese Falcon,' any Raymond Chandler, or a good Jim Harrison, try one of these amazing authors instead.
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Excellent Review: Tight story line - Not predictable. Kyle Mills has an excellent manner of portraying sociopathy with style. His Rising Phoenix is even better. Can't wait for the next one!!!
Rating: ![5 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-5-0.gif) Summary: Storming Heaven Review: Very good book. Kept me up reading practically all night. Characterizations were excellent. The story was totally believable with only small exceptions. This was my first Kyle Mills novel, but I plan to read them all now.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Just as good or better than the first. Review: Very good read. I read this one pretty fast and enjoyed it all the way.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: Just as good or better than the first. Review: Very good read. I read this one pretty fast and enjoyed it all the way.
Rating: ![4 stars](http://www.reviewfocus.com/images/stars-4-0.gif) Summary: The Vatican gets a break Review: When it comes to pesky conspirators that cause headaches for literature's pantheon of fictional heroes, some have been around for so long that they're passe: ex- SS members, the KGB, and the Vatican. In STORMING HEAVEN, none of these are at the root of All Evil, and the Vatican gets a breather for once. This time around, our hero is Mark Beamon, the troublesome but brilliant FBI agent exiled to the position of agent-in-charge of the bureau's Flagstaff office, an out-in-the-stix outpost of the Big House down in Phoenix. Mark is investigating the gunshot deaths of Eric and Patricia Davis and the disappearance of their teenage daughter Jennifer. (It's not apparent, or ever explained, why the local cops aren't a presence and the Feds have been brought into the case. It's uncertain at the outset that Jennifer was kidnapped, much less taken across state lines, the only rationale for FBI involvement.) In any case, before the storyline progresses too far the reader knows, and Beamon suspects, that the hierarchy of the Kneissians, a global religious cult, is up to no good in the affair. Mark is the best reason to bother with STORMING HEAVEN. He's intolerant of nonsense emanating from the Front Office, unlucky when it comes to women, physically unprepossessing, and waging a losing battle with cigarettes, alcohol and a middle-age waistline. And he's irreverant. At one point in his investigation, he's asked by an ally to pray with her for their success: "She pulled at his sleeve and he sank to his knees next to her wheelchair. She squeezed her eyes shut and began moving her lips soundlessly. Not really knowing what to do, he bowed his head and waited for her to snap out of it." And he's realistic about the strengths of the character flaws laid at his door by his superiors, as when he's questioning a difficult suspect: "It was time to make a decision on how to play this. There was the smart way, of course ... But that seemed kind of boring. The other option was to shoot himself in the foot and see if he could make the ice princess sweat a little." I'd give the book three stars except for Beamon, who elevates it another click. Otherwise, the storyline is only marginally inventive, and the Kneissians aren't in the same league as the Vatican when it comes to truly insidious plotting. Where's a good renegade Cardinal when you need one?
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