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The Third Option

The Third Option

List Price: $32.00
Your Price: $20.16
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Third Option is First Rate
Review: Despite previous warnings, a German Count continues to secretly aid Saddam Hussein. Diplomacy has failed to cease this activity and sending the military into a foreign country is not a consideration. There is only one way to put an end to this exchange. The President exercises the third option and sends counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp to be sure the Count doesn't do this, or anything else, ever again. While on this highly-secretive mission, Rapp is double-crossed by the team who is suppose to be working with him. Unsure of who set him up, Rapp can trust no one and must find who betrayed him and why.

Using his well-honed survival skills, he eludes capture and returns to the US to put the pieces back together. He clears gravely-ill CIA Director Thomas Stansfield and his presumptive successor Dr. Irene Kennedy of any wrong-doing in the Germany fiasco and forges a plan to work back up the conspirator's chain to find the duplicitous soul. In an attempt to eliminate any link between himself and the events in the German chateau, Senator Hank Clark is erasing anyone who was involved. Rapp must find one of the henchmen alive before the trail goes cold.

I found this book to be remarkably different from the first Rapp book, Transfer of Power. Third Option replaces some of the action with a greater degree of suspense, intrigue, and emotion. Rapp's girlfriend, Anna Rielly, plays a greater role in the emotional storyline and is the root cause of inner-conflict for Rapp. His codename is Ironman for his ability to be a one-man killing machine, but their burgeoning relationship puts him in a dilemma which he must resolve. He is determined to leave the business and follow his heart but he knows he will not be able to make a clean break until he hunts down the person that sought to destroy him. I applaud Flynn's decision to add a level of intrigue to this book. I enjoyed the intertwined, suspenseful storylines while keeping the majority of the action-packed sequences. It was a noticeable improvement and shows his growth as an author.

One warning to potential readers!! The book ends with some unresolved issues. It closed enough issues to allow this book to stand on its own but definitely compels a reader to get the next book. If you must have closure or do not want to read two books to complete the plotline, I advise against this book. It would be a shame as this is very good fiction and another hit in the Mitch Rapp series.

I recommend this book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Better than average
Review: I've read all five of Mr. Flynn's books, and would rate this one as fourth on the list, but it's still a great read - Flynn is a great suspense / action writer. Even the fifth on my list of his five, which happens to be his most recent novel, is a really good read.

Much of what I would say about this book and the Mitch Rapp character has been covered by other reviewers, but I must add this: do NOT read "Separation of Power" before this one. "Separation of Power" is somewhat better than this book, but is clearly "part two." This is "part one" of a "to be continued" - it stands up well om its own, but if you read "Separation of Power" before this one, you'll kick yourself for weeks.

If you want to know whether this book and "Separation of Power" are worth your while, just pick up Flynn's second novel, "Transfer of Power." You'll likely be hooked very quickly. After "Transfer of Power," don't forget the required order - read this book and then "Separation of Power."

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The beginning of a major storyline
Review: In THE THIRD OPTION, Vince Flynn brings back his character of Mitch Rapp, whom he made famous in TRANSFER OF POWER. In this novel, Rapp is sent to assassinate a German citizen by order of the President of the United States. It is a top-secret mission for which the President will have total deniability should be Mitch be exposed to the situation. Things do not go quite as plan and Mitch manages to escape from Germany without being caught.

Flynn exposes a Washington conspiracy in which certain individuals want to embarrass the President as well as the CIA. The head of the CIA is dying of cancer and the Senate and the House of Representatives are discrediting his chosen successor. The action in this book is taut and suspenseful. I enjoyed it.

The author brings backs characters from his previous works and have them play important roles in the novel. He is preparing them up for the continuation of the storyline, which I assume will be reflected in SEPARATION OF POWER. This story does have a self-contained beginning and end, but some readers might not like that the main villain does not get his comeuppance. I think it is important just to meet the character, see what he is capable off and hope that he gets his 'just desserts' in the next book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Five Full Stars
Review: Mitch Rapp is back in the Third Option along with Anna, the girl he fell in love with in "Transfer of Power." He is sent on a mission to assignate an German industrialist who is selling nuclear weapons to international terrorists. He is planning to make this his last mission when he realizes he has been set up and nearly killed by those supposedly helping him with the hit. The suspense is intense as he returns to the United States and makes his way to Dr. Irene Kennedy and Thomas Stansfield to find out if they have betrayed him. Stansfield, the director of the CIA is dying of cancer and has arranged for Dr. Kennedy to be named his successor. She is an unpopular choice and there are conspiracies within the conspiracies as her enemies attempt to discredit her. None of the id's are foolproof and Mitch works along with his old friend and colleague Scott Coleman to find the answers. Vince Flynn prepares the way for another book in the end as one of the really bad guys...a master manipulator... outsmarts the others. Mitch Rapp will be back and it can't be soon enough. This was a great read.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: No Options Here - Just Keep Reading
Review: Oh, how we yearn these days to believe that our CIA has such people working for it as Mitch Rapp, a member of the Orion Team who has become a legend within The Agency. Code named Ironman, it looks as though Rapp has ended his service to our country, when after taking out a German industrialist who was aiding Sadaam Hussein to build weapons of mass destruction, his partner in the hit, turns her gun on Rapp and fires two bullets into his chest at point blank range.

Through the miracle of Kevlar, Rapp survives (although few others do) and spends the rest of the book trying to figure out who wanted him dead and why.

Deftly written, Flynn makes his characters very believeable and the scenarios they encounter more than plausable. His use of dialogue, something I admire in any gifted writer, is excellent and you are drawn through the pages at a pace which does damage to your sleep time, but which leaves you looking forward to the knowledge that there is a sequel to this book, Separation of Power, waiting in your "books to be read pile." I discovered the author Jan Karon, after she had written five of her books in the Mitford series and had the luxury of reading them seriatum. I am equally fortunate with Mr. Flynn and only hope that his imagination and his energy level remain high, so that he can keep drawing us through his world of danger, espionage and intrigue.


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