Rating: 
Summary: Mitch Rapp is back in full action
Review: AFter the slow and flat "Seperation of Powers" Vince Flynnis back on track. Fast paced, full action. Good story line. The author even left the wife of the hero out of the story this time.
I just wish Vince Flynn would bring back some characters from "Term Limits" e.g. Scott Coleman and his team etc.
The characters and plots are well thought through.
Rating:
Summary: Very impressed with Vince Flynn.
Review: Although I had heard of Vince Flynn's series of novels featuring Mitch Rapp, MEMORIAL DAY is the first one I decided to take for a test run. What I found what an action-packed thriller set at a blistering pace and a main character that may not stay inside the box that the government would like for him to, but you like him anyway. You have to...he does things the way you'd like to see them done and he gets results.
MEMORIAL DAY is also a prime example of the way that the CIA/Spy/International Thriller genre is headed in a post-9/11 world. In the 80s, the villians tended to be Russian. Now, the targets have become Al-Qaeda and those countries that harbor and support them. Not to worry...there are still plenty of Russian villians running loose in popular fiction. MEMORIAL DAY's premise begins with Mitch Rapp foiling an attempt to smuggle a nuclear weapon onto American soil, and right around one of the biggest tourist holidays on the calendar. This plot element alone makes the entire storyline plausible. This is something that every American citizen fears whenever there is a large event planned. New Year's Eve in Times Square...the Super Bowl...the World Series...name it. I won't go into any more detail on the plot...you'll just have to read it.
I was very impressed with the writing as well. Sharp, concise, and to the point but not over the top vocabulary. Everything is organized well and easy to follow for any reader.
All in all, I was very impressed with this very enjoyable read and look forward to checking out the rest of the Mitch Rapp series...not to mention the next installment.
Rating: 
Summary: What say I, Bill O'Reilly
Review: Although I never read books of this genre a Bill O'Reilly article inspired me to give this one a try. "Memorial Day" is a cold slap reminder that we are at war, and if we are ever going to put a stop to this insidious menace the politicians, protesters,lawyers and bureaucrats--along with their career concerns--need to take a backseat to folks with intuition and common sense . Flynn's damn-straight style of writing complements the hero Mitch Rapp very well. Flynn's epilogue is thought provoking and curiously ominous.
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh.
Review: As I was reading this dreadful book, I kept wondering why I continue to read Vince Flynn's novels, considering that every one I read is somehow less entertaining than the previous. Perhaps I am just getting older and his sort of "Clancy Lite" approach seems more ridiculous now to me than it used to. Flynn's version of Jack Ryan, "Mitch Rapp" (who might as well have been built out of spare parts from crappy Jerry Bruckheimer films) is a pathetic excuse for a protagonist. The dialogue is amazingly asinine ("get your [...] down here, or you'll hear about it later"), the plot disasterous (a ticking bomb as the climax? Are you serious?), the writing overall is about on a 5th grade reading level, and every last character is so one dimensional that I was seriously hoping that the bomb would kill each and every one of them, but spare the innocent civilians that had no part in the book. I'm actually amazed that this worthless drivel has received so many positive reviews here. One can only hope that Mr. Flynn doesn't get wind of all this praise, for that could only lead to one thing: Mitch's next intense mission, where he travels to Bagdad in order to thwart Saddam Hussein's breakout from prison. It will culminate with Mitch giving one of his eloquent lines that would probably go something like this: [...] Bruce Willis will play Mitch in the movie version, and Glenn Close will be Dr. Kennedy. I can't wait.
Rating:
Summary: fridgidly exciting
Review: As you read this novel all that's on your mind is the method we seem to be conducting our war on terror. Our leaders seem more concerned with rights of the enemys of our country than seeing our troops have armored equipment I hope with all my heart that there is a Mitch Rapp or a group of them that are proceeding the way this great novel discibes This will be the only way we will win this war with the cave dwellers. You must fight fire with fire.It's a wonderful novel. I have read all of them and will wait for the next.
Rating: 
Summary: Mildly interesting, but deeply flawed.
Review: I am a great fan of Flynn's earlier work, especially TERM LIMITS - where he was tight, edgy, and was using a well-worked plot. However, he misses the mark with MEMORIAL DAY.
There are several problems with this work. First, he breaks no new ground. The idea of terrorists acquiring nuclear material as a plot premise is hardly new - becoming tiring in fact. Its a far cry from the edgy plot of TERM LIMITS. Second, the characters are beyond stereotypical. There are no character dynamics at all - they will not surprise you nor engage you in any way. This is unfortunate because the topic of American/Muslim relations has potential for character depth - but I haven't found a thriller writer able to capture it yet. Third, Flynn makes several logical errors. I don't want to point out all of them and give away critical plot information in case you do read this book but for example there are several instances when Flynn flat out states that a nuclear attack on the US would likely result in the US making retaliatory nuclear strikes against Saudi Arabia - despite the fact that the Saudi government cooperates with our antiterrorism efforts and that terrorists hate that government nearly as much as they hate us, not to mention the fact that a US nuclear strike would result in the loss of tens of thousands of innocent lives. Simply, nukes can't be used against a guerrilla movement and, amazingly, Flynn doesn't seem to grasp this. Fourth, there are no plot twists. I was amazed by the amount of overly blatant foreshadowing used by Flynn and was disappointed when there was NOT ONE instance when I was surprised or taken back by a new plot twist. The whole story is so predictable you can pretty much just read the cover synapses and you will know what happens. No surprises here folks.
I like Flynn and I know he can do better. If you are new to his work I would suggest trying TERM LIMITS instead. If not, you might consider skipping this one - I personally didn't find it compelling enough to be worth the time.
Rating:
Summary: Great story, Fast Paced
Review: I started reading books last year and I got hooked reading Memorial Day. Fast paced and a great plot. Mitch Rapp character goes back about four books and his stories are great. I recommend the whole Vince Flynn series and I hope he continues wiritng with Mitch Rapp in mind.
Rating:
Summary: Doesn't Disappoint
Review: I've read all of Vince Flynn's novels and this latest one certainly uses current events for his greatest suspense ride yet.
I agree with another reviewer in that the editing is very poor in this edition.
I am slightly disappointed with the almost complete absence of Anna Reilly but understand that the intensity of this story leaves the reader with little time to ponder Mitch and Anna's relationship as in the prior works. Also, it would be tiresome to hear the endless quarrelling between them regarding Mitch's job-related activities.
Although not required, I suggest that you read the prior Flynn books to fully appreciate the characters especially the development of CIA Director Irene Kennedy. Her predecessor/mentor (Thomas Stansfield) was an excellent character and understanding their relationship will give you depth to the job they face.
Without repeating the plotline, essentially this is a continuation of the Mitch Rapp story begun in Flynn's second novel, "Transfer of Power". Rapp almost singlehandedly has to deal with global terrorism on the most urgent of deadlines to try and thwart another deadly attack on U.S. soil.
The use of torture tactics to extract information from the terrorists will certainly raise a few eyebrows but, as other reviewers have noted, this is done in a very direct yet welcome manner from the perspective of the foes of radical Islamic terrorists. Flynn certainly expresses many of our thoughts using Rapp as the anti-PC rogue CIA operative.
Even though this is fiction, you are left to ponder the plausibility of the terrorist's actions and the surprising ease with which they are carried out.
Rating:
Summary: strong action thriller
Review: Intel learns that countries harboring terrorists are transferring their stock and bonds into gold while at a top-secret installation a Pakistani terrorist is being interrogated by CIA black ops agent Mitch Rapp. Intel finds out that Al Qaeda is preparing to strike at the United States, making the World Trade Towers destruction seem like a child destroying a toy. Mitch and a group of commandos raid a small Pakistani mountain town where they find proof that Al Qaeda is getting ready to attack America.Going through the documents and the computer disks, Mitch and other operatives believe that the terrorist group is trying to smuggle a nuclear bomb into the United States. Through diligent effort and good investigative work, they are able to locate the bomb which was being shipped into the country by boat. Further Intel lead Mitch to believe that a second bomb has already been smuggled into the country and it is set to go off at the White House festivities on Memorial Day if Mitch can't locate it in time. Vince Flynn is one of the best writers of action thrillers on the world scene today. His protagonist is a true patriot, willing to get his hands dirty if it means saving innocent lives. He can't stand or deal with the politics that get in the way of catching terrorists and believes the legal rights belonging to ordinary people should be suspended for active terrorists. Readers won't know until the last paragraph if the hero finds the nuclear bomb and is able to prevent it from going off. MEMORIAL DAY is more frightening than a horror tale because the premise of the story is all too plausible. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Realistic Thriller about How to Stop Terrorists
Review: Many thrillers are so abstracted from reality that they are describing a world that could never exist. The best thrillers take our natural paranoia and build from there to create a living nightmare that thrills and chills us.
Memorial Day is a rewarding addition to the gradually developing subgenre of the anti-WMD terrorist thriller. Naturally, we all fear terrorists killing millions with WMD. How might they go about it? How might we stop them? Memorial Day provides many rewarding answers to the former and fewer realistic answers to the latter.
Mitch Rapp is a one-man wrecking crew who knows no limits to his ability to protect the United States. He's very much in the vein of an American James Bond except that he is a family man with no obvious vices. In that sense, he's more like Superman without the super powers.
As the book opens, the CIA observes unusual activities and levels of terrorist "chat" which makes it look like an attack may be coming soon. Mitch Rapp learns that a number of al-Qaeda leaders are together in a Pakistani village and organizes a "black" raid on the village. That raid allows him to interrogate several prisoners and he learns that the U.S. is at risk in the near-term. Fortunately, the raid also provides documents that help pinpoint the sources of the risk and counter-terrorist efforts begin quickly and smoothly. But is there enough time?
The main false note in the story is that Mitch Rapp knowingly ignores legal and ethical limits on what the U.S. can do whenever he feels the need to accelerate responses. In the process, the book condones murder, torture and unlimited violence as long as it helps us defend ourselves. At a time when many are rethinking how far we should go in interrogating prisoners, this book suggests no limits. That point is a gratuitous one that was not required for the story to develop in an exciting and realistic way.
Many will be cheered, though, by the attacks in the book on those who pursue antiterrorism primarily for political gain. There's been too much of that going on.
The action parts of the story are the best. So if you like to read about raids and commando actions, you will enjoy this book very much.
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