(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.
Starring in the movie Absolute Power (1997) wasn’t enough for Clint Eastwood, who produced and directed the movie based on the 1996 David Baldacci novel also named Absolute Power. This crime drama is filled with action and political intrigue involving the United Statespresident, a billionaire, a master thief and what happens when those elements collide.
(From left, Melora Hardin as Christy Sullivan and Gene Hackman as President Alan Richmond in the Clint Eastwood movie Absolute Power).
Absolute Power opens with master thief Luther Whitney having broken into the Washington DC area mansion of billionaire Walter Sullivan to steal, at minimum, from the bedroom vault of the man portrayed by E.G. Marshall. Whitney, as portrayed by Clint Eastwood, finds himself forced to hide in the bedroom vault with one-way mirror of the Virginia mansion when Christy Sullivan returns to the bedroom on a drunken rendezvous with inebriated U.S. President Alan Richmond. Whitney watches as Richmond becomes sexually violent towards Sullivan, with Sullivan wounding the president with a letter opener in self-defense. Melora Hardin and Gene Hackman portrayed Christy Sullivan and President Richmond, respectively.
(From left, Scott Glenn as Bill Burton, Judy Davis as Gloria Russell and Dennis Haysbert as Tim Collin in the Clint Eastwood movie Absolute Power).
U.S. Secret Service agents Bill Burton and Tim Collin burst in when the president screams out in distress. Christy Sullivan is fatally shot when Burton and Collin, respectively portrayed by Scott Glenn and Dennis Haysbert, see Sullivan poised to stab Alan Richmond a second time. PresidentialChief of Staff Gloria Russell, as portrayed by Judy Davis, arrives to guide the secret service agents in staging the scene to look like a burglary gone wrong. Whitney goes undiscovered through much of this staging, not being discovered until making what turns out to be a successful escape from the scene of the crimes.
(From left, Ed Harris as Seth Frank and Clint Eastwood as Luther Whitney in the Clint Eastwood movie Absolute Power).
Portrayed by Ed Harris, Detective Seth Frank leads the police investigation into the Christy Sullivan death that had been staged to look like a burglary gone wrong. Whitney becomes a prime suspect in the investigation, which brings Luther Whitney’s estranged daughter Kate Whitney, as portrayed by Laura Linney, into the storyline.
(From left, E.G. Marshall as Walter Sullivan and Gene Hackman as President Alan Richmond in the Clint Eastwood movie Absolute Power).
Luther Whitney had a mind to flee the country in the aftermath of his escape from the Sullivan mansion. Becoming angry when seeing Alan Richmond offer an expression of empathy to Walter Sullivan following Christy Sullivan’s death that points to the cover-up, Luther Whitney changes course to one of proving the duplicity of Alan Richmond to Walter Sullivan. The portrayal of that, combined with the motivations and actions underpinning Richmond, Walter Sullivan, Bill Burton, Tim Collin, Michael McCarty as portrayed by Richard Jenkins, and others, offer a compelling line of intrigue and tension around how the competing end games will work themselves out.
(From left, Laura Linney as Kate Whitney and Richard Jenkins as Michael McCarty in the Clint Eastwood movie Absolute Power).
William Goldman proved a capable screenwriter in adapting Absolute Power for the movies. The ride offered intrigue, suspense and emotional stakes to allow me to recommend this movie for viewing. I give Absolute Power as directed and produced by Clint Eastwood 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.
In returning to a five-book series by David Baldacci, available as the Camel Club series of books, it feels good to read the third in a series of books explores illuminating when shade of gray are exposed to the light. The book titled Divine Justice looks into the costs of vengeance, the accidents of exceptionally bad luck in being on the run, and a decent plot about crime in a small mining town Virginia.
(David Baldacci, pictured here, wrote the book Divine Justice. This fourth installment of the Camel Club series was published on November 4, 2008).
Divine Justice follows on the heels of The Camel Club, The Collectors and Stone Cold as reviewed here, here and here, the last picking up in the immediate aftermath of the decisive conclusion to Stone Cold. That Oliver Stone, aka the former David Carr, seeks to flee the connection to his military and secret past along with his recent past, while protecting the members of the Camel Club, sees Oliver originally heading by train for Louisiana. Circumstances lead him to Virginia instead. The corruption there runs hot, embroiling Oliver and others in a fresh thriller there that threatens his life, those of others at varying degrees of culpability, and we the readers compelled to see how escape from increasingly impossible odds will play out.
(Alternative covers for Divine Justice as written by David Baldacci).
The storytelling was entertaining. The content allowed for the thrill of escape without asking for a lot of emotional lifting from the reader. While enjoying this tale, I contend that Divine Justice was not the best effort of the Camel Club series of books. Overall, I grant Divine Justice by David Baldacci 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5 for its quality.
(Barbara Kingsolver won the Pulitzer Prize for Demon Copperhead).
Demon Copperhead is both the title of Kingsolver‘s latest book, in addition to being the nickname of the central protagonist and narrator, Damon Fields. Beginning with Fields’ birth to an addicted teenage mother living in a mobile home. Kids transform his first name quickly, with his hair as red as a copper penny and last name conferring the last name. The death of Damon’s father before the child’s birth, along with the child coming to terms with the emotions and meaning of this event. An analogous storyline for the book is an affection the author aims to share largely for Virginia and Tennessee, along with lesser parts Kentucky and Georgia.
(An alternate cover for the Barbara Kingsolver book Demon Copperhead, which was first released on October 18th, 2022).
A truly difficult upbringing for Damon Fields suggests exploring a couple of redeeming themes for what largely a sad, depressing tale. The redemption rests in Damon’s ability to persevere through the trauma experienced firsthand and through those around him; strength further stands out with the example of nurse practitioner June Peggart, foster sister (to Damon) Angus Winfield, and the fate of Maggot and his mother by the story’s end. Those who might find poverty, domestic abuse, childhood neglect, foster care failures, teen pregnancy, addiction, fentanyl and oxycodone use, human death, animal death, racial prejudice, or heritage prejudice difficult subject matter might need to look elsewhere for subject matter.
(David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, from which Demon Copperhead was reimagined, was released on November 1st, 1850).
Damon’s eventual fate, and some of his experiences in the above, takes a trajectory upwards with his meeting his paternal grandmother, Betsy Woodall. While in many ways no magic solution, the effort to humanize many with this tale while getting to something of an uplifting place, echoing David Copperfield, provides that uplifting feel that will resonate for many investing the time to read Demon Copperhead. I grant Demon Copperhead as written by Barbara Kingsolver 4.5-stars on a scale of one-to-five.
(This is the album cover art that the debut album The Way It Is for Bruce Hornsby and the Range is known).
On the Western Skyline opens The Way It Is album by Bruce Hornsby and the Range. As quoted on Songfactshere, On the Western Skyline “is about imagining that there might be a future love waiting for the singer somewhere in the western skyline.”
In charting as high as 14th in the United States, Every Little Kiss is “sung from the perspective of a worker who is far away from his sweetheart,” as quoted here. Thematically, this song hits me in a similar place as On the Western Skyline.
(Every Little Kiss was first released in May 1986 as the lead single from the 1986 Bruce Hornsby and the Range album The Way It Is. The song was re-released in 1987, after the album had achieved some measure of commercial success).
Mandolin Rain charted 70th in the United Kingdom and 4th in the United States. The metaphor for heartbreak invokes “a failed southern romance between two people who enjoy the rainfall and spent a lot of intimate time in it, but now that she’s gone, the singer mourns her loss and is reminded of her when he hears the rain.”
(Mandolin Rain was released as a single supporting The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby and the Range in late 1986).
The Long Race invokes winter as a stand in for loneliness and longing for the love of another. The singer invokes an eastern gaze in maintaining the view of continued vigilance of ultimately getting to love once again.
In charting 15th in the United Kingdom and first in the United States, The Way It Is deals with the Civil Rights Movement and the 1964 Civil Rights Act in the United States. As quoted here, the “lyrics in this song deal with the need to resist complacency and never resign yourself to racial injustice as the status quo.”
(The Way It Is was released as a single in the United States in September 1986. The song was released to support the 1986 album The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby and the Range).
Down the Road Tonight is the song of the singer’s introduction to a woman acting as a prostitute, lyrically spoken from the perspective of an adolescent being introduced to the notion by older kids and young adults in his social circle.
The Wild Frontier lyrically explores the exploration for love from learning of a passionate sense of love in Down the Road Tonight to seeking love in exotic locations. The singer learns that this isn’t the proper place for love to bloom for him, so seeks such in getting back to the familiar.
The River Runs Low invokes the sense of loss raised in the song Mandolin Rain. The absence of rain metaphorically operates at the central level of longing for the love interest whose left town. The singer additionally has been down on his luck from a financial standpoint, thus diminishing his ability to follow his lady.
The Red Plains brings The Way It Is to an end with the sad tale of having built a home and life with his love, only to see the home morally, metaphorically and in reality burn to the ground in what the singer feels is a personal failing. The song is a dream lost with moral self-recrimination tacked on, setting the deal up in flames. My interpretation, though, is that the love perseveres.
(This was the first album cover released, in the United States, for the Bruce Hornsby and the Range debut album The Way It Is).
(From left, Scott Glenn as Jack Crawford and Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling in the Jonathan Demme movie The Silence of the Lambs).
The Silence of the Lambs opens with an introduction to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) trainee Clarice Starling, as portrayed by Jodie Foster, being withdrawn from her Quantico, Virginia training by Jack Crawford of the FBI‘s behavioral analysis unit for a special assignment. Crawford, portrayed by Scott Glenn, assigns Starling to interview former psychiatrist and cannibal serial killer Hannibal Lecter, in furtherance of the investigation of an ongoing set of serial crimes occurring in the present day.
(From left, Anthony Heald as Dr. Frederick Chilton and Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the Jonathan Demme movie The Silence of the Lambs).
The visit to the so-called Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane introduces us through Starling to Lector, as portrayed by Anthony Hopkins. It is here that much of the significant groundwork is laid for aiming to gain insight into the Buffalo Bill serial killer, the complex psychology of Lecter, and the unseemly motivations of many attached to the storylines of Lecter, his stay at this hospital, and the underlying criminal behavior in play with Buffalo Bill. It is at this hospital that we are introduced to Dr. Frederick Chilton and orderly Barney Matthews, portrayed respectively by Anthony Heald and Frankie Faison.
(From left, Brooke Smith as Catherine Martin and Ted Levine as Jame Gumb in the Jonathan Demme movie The Silence of the Lambs).
A further intrigue for The Silence of the Lambs deals with the disappearance of Catherine Martin as portrayed by Brooke Smith. Martin is the daughter of U.S. Senator Ruth Martin of Tennessee, as portrayed by Diane Baker. That there’s a connection to Jame Gumb, as portrayed by Ted Levine, is part of the underlying notion of pulling Lecter and Starling into the notion of conversing in the first place.
(From left, Diane Baker as U.S. Senator Ruth Martin, Kasi Lemmons as Ardelia Mapp and Darla as the dog Precious in the Jonathan Demme movie The Silence of the Lambs).
The compelling ways that the threads of the characters tie together, along with the emotional weight of the darkness motivating and acting on multiple characters in this narrative, lend strength to the ways the personal stories of this larger narrative work together in delivering strong psychological impact to the stories. The sympathetic roles of Ardelia Mapp, as portrayed by Kasi Lemmons, and Precious further this impact. Darla portrayed Precious, the dog.
(From left, actor Anthony Hopkins, actor Frankie Faison and director Jonathan Demme on location for the Jonathan Demme movie The Silence of the Lambs).
The staying power of the underpinning story of The Silence of the Lambs rest largely with the character of Hannibal Lecter. The deviance from societal norms on multiple fronts, with a resonating portrayal of him by Anthony Hopkins, sticks with me many years after my initial encounter with him. The sensibilities of the era the story lives in are captured well, too. I offer The Silence of the Lambs as directed by Jonathan Demme 4-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.
(From left, Bruce Willis as John McClane and Dennis Franz as Captain Carmine Lorenzo in the Renny Harlin movie Die Hard 2).
With the movie Die Hard 2 having been based on the book 58 Minutes by Walter Wager, we encounter John McClane awaiting the arrival of his wife, Holly, on a flight arriving at the airport. McClane, as portrayed by Bruce Willis, uses his intuition as a lieutenant in the Los Angeles Police Department to act on his suspicions that a pair of men are behaving erratically. In following the men into a restricted space for sorting baggage, a gun fight ensues with just two of the three men in the encounter escaping with their lives. Bonnie Bedelia portrayed Holly, John’s wife.
(From left, William Atherton as Dick Thornburg and Bonnie Bedelia as Holly Gennero McClane in the Renny Harlin movie Die Hard 2).
The men confronted in the restricted area are part of a plan aimed at freeing corrupt foreign military leader General Ramon Esperanza, who is being extradited to from outside the country by airplane to Dulles International Airport. With the help of Sergeant Al Powell of the LAPD, John McClane learns that the man he killed was an American soldier who supposedly died in a helicopter accident two years previously. Airport police chief, Carmine Lorenzo, and air traffic control director Ed Trudeau find McClane’s suspicions unlikely when he reports what he knows. Franco Nero, Reginald VelJohnson, Dennis Franz and Fred Thompson portrayed Esperanza, Powell, Lorenzo and Trudeau, respectively.
(From left, Reginald VelJohnson as Al Powell, Fred Thompson as Trudeau and John Amos as Major Grant in the Renny Harlin movie Die Hard 2).
Former Colonel William Stuart, meanwhile, works with a group of ex-military sympathizers on the outskirts of the airport in support of causing chaos among the team operating the airport. Thrills, twists and turns follow the initial baggage claim scene with the motivations of Major Grant, Dick Thornburg and others coming into question. The seeds of McClane seizing the initiative, as cultivated with the original Die Hard movie, bears fruit during the blizzard and flight control issues that follow the shenanigans intended by Stuart and the team allied with Ramon Esperanza. William Sadler, John Amos and William Atherton portrayed Stuart, Grant and Thornburg, respectively.
(From left, Franco Nero as General Ramon Esperanza, Vondie Curtis-Hall as Miller and William Sadler as Colonel William Stuart in the Renny Harlin movie Die Hard 2).
The central appeal for the movie Die Hard is first and foremost the action and intrigue. The undercurrent of humor present with the original movie were downplayed with the sequel, though I found the movie did not require the humor to remain engaging. I grant Die Hard 2 as directed by Renny Harlin 3.75-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.
(The album Reckless by Bryan Adams was first released on Monday, November 5th, 1984).
One Night Love Affair opens the album with a straightforward song about a single night of physical intimacy. Opening the album Reckless with a style that expresses the larger meaning of the album, the song introduces a candid moment of self-memory and consideration. The notion that this night concealed deeper feelings that were felt between the couple adds to the sense of mystery and recklessness.
(One Night Love Affair was the fifth single released in support of the Bryan Adams album Reckless).
She’s Only Happy When She’s Dancin’ follows the album opener by questioning how satisfying the choices of life truly can be. The desire for independence and seeking gratification through dancing animates the sense of angst and opportunity offering this song its impact.
Run to You charted sixth in the United States and eleventh in the United Kingdom. Adams wrote the song with collaborator Jim Vallance of Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. As quoted here on Songfacts, the two originally “wrote the song for Blue Oyster Cult,” later modifying “the riff down to E-minor, later adding a capo to achieve an F#-minor tuning, which better suited Bryan‘s vocal range.” When both Blue Oyster Cult and .38 Special declined the offered song, that Bryan Adams made a go of it led brought legitimate success.
(Run to You was the first single from Bryan Adams‘ fourth album, Reckless).
Heaven charted first in the United States and thirty-eighth in the United Kingdom, actually having been written for a movie titled A Night in Heaven (1983) that didn’t amount to much. Originally a power ballad as presented by Adams, “in 2002 it was recorded by DJ Sammy, whose version went to #1 in the UK and #8 in the US.” DJ Sammy is originally from Mallorca, Spain. The song itself resonates lyrically by defining a romantic relationship that has blossomed into something meaningful and sustaining.
(The third single released for the Bryan Adams album Reckless was Heaven).
Somebody charted eleventh in the United States and thirty-fifth in the United Kingdom. While the song itself is about pursuing and maintaining romantic relationships, song co-writer Jim Vallancementioned as quoted here that “the second verse is about World War I. Said Vallance: “Adams and I are both interested in First World War history (Bryan‘s grandfather served with the British Army in WW1). As a result, lyrical references to that war occasionally appear in our songwriting. It’s not always in context, and it doesn’t always make sense.” The song itself was inspired by the success, or lack of it, that people have in nightclubs aiming to attract relationships.
(Somebody was the second song released to support the Reckless album by Bryan Adams).
Summer of ’69 charted fifth in the United States and forty-second in the United Kingdom. As the title itself invokes a pair of images, it becomes fair to note that Bryan Adams was born in November of 1959. As quoted by Songfactshere, Summer of ’69 “[is] a very simple song about looking back on the summertime and making love. For me, the ’69 was a metaphor for making love, not about the year. I had someone in Spain ask me once why I wrote the first line ‘I had my first real sex dream’… I had to laugh.”
(The fourth single released from Reckless by Bryan Adams was the song Summer of ’69).
Kids Wanna Rock offers a clear statement of Bryan Adams‘ musical sensibilities as a performer. While the song approaches a hard rock sensibility without quite landing there, the clear lyrical and sonic aim achieved here is to call out that the sound delivered is more aggressively guitar and drum based than something disco or dance-pop based.
It’s Only Love features Tina Turner, originally of Brownsville, Texas. The song charted fifteenth in the United States and twenty-ninth in the United Kingdom. As noted by Songfacts here, “[t]his song takes a nontraditional approach to healing from heartache, reminding us that it’s only love, and life goes on. Refreshing words for anyone worn down by songs that remind us that love is his towering emotion that rules our lives.”
(The Bryan Adams duet with Tina Turner, It’s Only Love, was the sixth single released from the Reckless album by Adams. The released single included a live version of the song from 1985).
Long Gone offers a production value as close to a rock & roll and country fusion as any song on the album. The notion underpinning the song is that relationships look destined for breakup, yet not all attempts at romance are lost when the need for love is viewed through the lens of a second look. While the song doesn’t call this desperation, the notion that needs are needs definitely calls this song a friend.
Ain’t Gonna Cry reflects the tenth and final song for the Reckless album. The song plays in the sandbox of one-night stands, with Adams‘ sense of worth telling him losing a night’s sleep isn’t worth the possibility of a single night of physical intimacy. The sense is no way, no how. That Bryan Adams isn’t going to cry sizes up his closing thought about how this instance, and some in general, struck even him at this point in his life as fleeting.
Matt Lynn Digital 