(Kyle Mills, shown here, wrote Total Power as his sixth book in the Mitch Rapp series created by Vince Flynn).
The first movements of the story within Total Power introduce the political intrigue associated with the cost of infrastructure updates to the power grid in the United States, along with the vulnerability of the network if a knowledgeable actor with evil intent along with the proper knowledge planned to exploit what weaknesses exist in the system. The underlying issue of coordinated attacks of strategic execution could plunge the United States in darkness for well beyond days, weeks or months before an effective government or free market response could be forthcoming.
(Alternative covers for Total Power as written by Kyle Mills. Total Power is the 19th book in the Mitch Rapp series as created by Vince Flynn).
The second movements of the story bring Mitch Rapp, the force of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a US president nearing the end of his presidential leadership to bear on an imminent attack staged at the moment the issue is under attack. The attack, though led by ISIS, actually has a bite beyond the jihadist skill to deploy the attack. Despite an explicit effort led by Rapp and a capable team of counter-terrorists, the attempt to thwart the attack is detected ahead of the CIA trap that had been laid. The attack that both infiltrated ISIS and the United States power grid, plunged the mainland into darkness that would last for weeks or months. Effectively, the United States had been crippled with no effective ability to recover.
(Vince Flynn, shown here, created the Mitch Rapp series of books. Flynn wrote the first thirteen books in the series).
With the skills of Mitch Rapp and his team now tactically eliminated, the investigate, infiltrate and get to the knowledgeable few became the third movement of Total Power. The world of malfunctioning infrastructure, computers and communication systems down, and starvation, death and inevitable rioting with little capacity for countering the chaos became the name of the response. The means for getting to a legitimate solution that addressed the infrastructure, and those who damaged it were the odds that needed to be addressed. Would those odds be overcome? You know it would be.
That the narrative telling of Mitch Rapp moved almost strictly into ways to address a power grid attack where powerlessness to respond was at stake was unique and appreciated. This change worked for me more at a high level, though the bigger issue that I found was that there really was only one plausible way that the solution to the problem of that powerlessness was going to be resolved. That I was in tune with how things worked out earlier in the book than I wanted to know proved disappointing. As for Total Power written by Kyle Mills, I give the book 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Kyle Mills continues the Mitch Rapp series of books (book sequence here) created by Vince Flynn with the eighteenth (18th) book in the series, the fifth written by Mills. With Lethal Agent, we see a familiar Mitch Rapp book focusing on the man, the myth and the legend of combatting terrorism while facing corrupt politicians bent on fighting the apparatus intent on fighting it.
(Kyle Mills succeeded Vince Flynn in writing books with Mitch Rapp as a central character. Mills wrote Lethal Agent, his fifth foray into the Mitch Rapp series).
Lethal Agent cleverly plays upon two concepts in speaking to the subject matter addressed with plot points based in Iraq and Yemen. The threat placed in front on the good people of the world and the folks fighting terrorism at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was of a biological nature; using the fear of unleashing chemical warfare was a first concept of a lethal agent used in this story.
(Alternative book covers for Lethal Agent as written by Kyle Mills).
The second involved Mitch Rapp, continuing his role as a contractor for the CIA while at odds with himself and his current love interest over what his future is as a fighter of terrorism. When the odds get heavy during a United Statespresidential election season, the nature of the threat includes a drug trafficking pipeline from Mexico to the United States that overlaps with the biological terror storyline. The means for fighting the biological threat offers a latitude to Rapp not seen at the level presented in the Lethal Agent novel.
(Vince Flynn created the Mitch Rapp series of books, writing the first 13 books in the series).
Mitch acts with explicit and lethal authority in fighting a bioterrorism theater in Mexico that is brand new; the beauty of the approach is that old style Rapp appears again. That we’ve been here and done this, for the individual reader, is either great in getting to see this again or awful for seeing this again. Invoking foreign scientists was a positive turn for Lethal Agent written by Kyle Mills, thus helping me to rate the book 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
Kyle Mills continues the Mitch Rapp series of books (book sequence here) created by Vince Flynn with the sixteenth (16th) book in the series, the third written by Mills. With Enemy of the State, we see that the central star of this universe of books might have met his match by way of an ongoing engagement in parts of Europe, Africa, Asia the Middle East and America that have made Mitch Rapp the enemy of the state referenced in the title.
(Kyle Mills succeeded Vince Flynn in writing books with Mitch Rapp as a central character. Mills wrote Enemy of the State).
Kyle Mills speaks of Enemy of the State this way on his website: “A theme in many of Vince Flynn’s books was his distaste for Saudi Arabia—a distaste that I wholeheartedly share. Despite America’s close ties, there’s just no getting around the fact that it’s a medieval dictatorship that supplied the majority of the 9-11 attackers, it continues to spread radical Islam throughout the world, and it withholds even the most basic rights from women. While our alliance with them might be expedient, it’s a deal with the devil.”
(Alternative book covers for Enemy of the State as written by Kyle Mills).
The story more or less picks up from a point in time soon after the end of Order to Kill, as reviewed here. A tacit agreement had been taken between the previous presidential regime and Saudi Arabia‘s King Faisal to cover up the Saudi involvement in the September 11th attacks in exchange for sweetheart prices for oil consumed in the United States. Part of the deal involved Faisal bringing the culpable elements in within his society to justice. American President Alexander doubts this commitment.
(Vince Flynn created the Mitch Rapp series of books, writing the first 13 books in the series).
A rogue wing of the royal family, Faisal’s nephew Prince Talal bin Musaid, has begun funding ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq). The prince’s thinking has been to position himself as the likely successor to leadership in Saudi Arabia when the king, of deteriorating health, eventually dies. The means and ends to getting to this result, with Scott Coleman still struggling to regain his former health alongside core themes of distrust for political motivations, lead to the core storytelling of Enemy of the State.
(Enemy of the State is the third book written by Kyle Mills in the Mitch Rapp series of books).
Most of the twists and turns of the story of this book offer the cliffhanger qualities that one should expect. There were a couple of a pleasantly surprising nature that particularly pleased me, including part of the story that dealt with a character who had been in North Dakota. The novel’s conclusion was a bit on the mundane side for my liking, though where the larger outcome landed was as good as it needed to be. I rate Enemy of the State as written by Kyle Mills 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
(Graham Sibley as Abraham Lincoln in the 2022 Malcolm VenvilledocumentaryAbraham Lincoln).
The three episodes of the documentary star Graham Sibley in the title role of Abraham Lincoln. Frederick Rendina had writing credits for all three episodes of the documentary, including The Railsplitter, A President at War and Saving the Union. Sundi Lofty had writing credit for A President at War. Rebecca Sue Haber had writing credit Saving the Union. The three episodes sought to offer insight into the formative and political thinking of Abraham Lincoln, the man, on the notions of slavery, race and the notion of equality. The record is not as romantic in this regard as one would hope, which is the mixed bag of truth about Lincoln and the country both then and now.
(The historical Abraham Lincoln before he grew his beard).
The Railsplitter episode that began this documentary looked heavily into the life of the sixteenth president of the United States during his formative years. As mentioned by the Internet Movie Database, the episode seeks to articulate Lincoln “[t]hrough a poverty-ridden childhood on the American frontier, [wherein] Lincoln is determined to leave his mark on the world.” Among other things, we are introduced to the president’s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, as portrayed by Jenny Stead. It is of interest to learn of the dynamics of the president’s childhood, including the relationships with his father (Thomas Lincoln as portrayed by Steve Larter), his mother (Nancy Hanks Lincoln), his stepmother (Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln as portrayed by Lucy Tops) and his neighbor Josiah Crawford. Deon Lotz portrayed Josiah Crawford, whose inclusion in the documentary offered an insight into personal responsibility for the young Abraham Lincoln. The history of lost political campaigns and the debates with Illinois senator Stephen A. Douglas, as portrayed by Richard Lothian, were insightful.
(Graham Sibley as Abraham Lincoln in the 2022 Malcolm VenvilledocumentaryAbraham Lincoln).
The threat of disunion drove much of the politics through the war, as portrayed through friction evident between the president and abolitionist Frederick Douglass as portrayed by Stefan Adegbola; Douglass‘ escape from slavery to the north, as assisted by his future wife Anna Murray Douglass, was told during the opening two episodes of Abraham Lincoln with the portrayal by Nancy Sekhokoane. Friction between Lincoln and his generals, as this episode took pains to demonstrate included Lincoln learning to be commander in chief, included frustrations with getting George McClellan to take the military initiative through the course of the war. Sven Ruygrok portrayed McClellan. The portrayal of Elizabeth Keckley (alternatively spelled Elizabeth Keckly) by Megan Alexander gave depth beyond the Lincoln family anguish at the death of Willie Lincoln, as portrayed by Ben Smollan. Context for the Emancipation Proclamation was presented in this episode.
(Graham Sibley as Abraham Lincoln in the 2022 Malcolm VenvilledocumentaryAbraham Lincoln).
The documentary episode Saving the Union began with the second day of the Battle of Gettsyburg in Pennsylvania, having picked up from the recounting of the first day’s conflict with generals George Meade as portrayed by Nicky Rebelo and Robert E. Lee leading the competing armies. In Lincoln‘s estimation as demonstrated in the documentary, it was Meade‘s failure to promptly pursue Lee‘s defeated army before they crossed the Potomac River that prompted Meade‘s removal as general following the victory at Gettysburg. With the victory of forces led by Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Vicksburg granting commercial control of the Mississippi River to the north, Lincoln‘s perspective about ending the war then and there has merit.
(The historical Ulysses S. Grant).
Justin Salinger portrayed Grant, a future United Statespresident who would assume command of the various armies of the Union war effort. The notions of slave emancipation, African Americans fighting in the army with delayed equal pay, and other abolitionist ambitions advocated by Frederick Douglass and others were given further context, with the narrative interpretations offered throughout the three episodes of this documentary, offered throughout. Other major themes addressed include the Gettysburg Address, the election of 1864 within the context of Grant‘s military leadership, Lincoln‘s second inaugural address, the president’s thoughts on Reconstruction and the period following the end of the America Civil War and finally the assassination of Abraham Lincoln five days after the surrender of Robert E. Lee‘s army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, in Appomattox County, Virginia.
(The historical Abraham Lincoln after he grew his beard).
Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, offered commentary and context interspersed with the dramatic presentations by actors. Historians Allen C. Guelzo, David S. Reynolds, Christy S. Coleman, Harold Holzer, Ted Widmer (aka Edward L Widmer) and Catherine Clinton, among others, added additional commentary and context through the three episodes of this documentary. The tone throughout the documentary felt even-handed and thoughtfully considered without being preachy, without reaching too far and offering context for where clear criticism and contextual problems with worldviews of the present day clearly exist. I give the documentaryAbraham Lincoln as directed by Malcolm Venville 4-stars on a scale of 1-to-5 for its quality.
Matt Lynn Digital 