Memorial Day
by Vince Flynn
List Price:
Our Price: $5.56
You Save: $4.43 (44%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Vince FlynnEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-07-19
ISBN: 0743453980
Number of pages: 574
Publisher: Pocket Star
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780743453981
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Memorial Day
Book Review: Somewhat entertaining, but troubled book
Summary: 2 Stars
There are lots of reviews below with details about the story line, so I will limit my comments to the pro's and con's.
On the positive side, this is a somewhat entertaining book - typical of books of the genre in terms of action, military and espionage edutainment, etc. Also, it is a very current book, concerning terrorism and fighting the bad guys from the middle east. For those with a right-leaning political bent (which I am), the book is certainly right-wing oriented. Devotees of O'Reilly or Limbaugh (both of whom endorsed the book) will generally support the political bent of the book and find in the author a kindred spirit. Devotees of Michael Moore or moveon.org will not like it at all; in fact they will hate it. It is kind of a revenge fantasy for right-wingers who want to hit hard on the terrorists, the politically correct types in the US, etc.
Now for the downsides. There are many, but I will limit myself to the big three. First, the main character, Mitch Rapp, is so profoundly unrealistic as to be outright silly. On the one hand, he is an assasin, torture specialist, and general covert ops "this never happened and you were never here" type of guy. On the other hand, he is famous for being a covert operative and assasin and beloved by many for it, and is recognized by name and face by both US citizens and the bad guys in the middle east. He is not only on a first name basis with the President; he yells at the President in meetings, demands that cabinet members be fired, threatens to kill US citizens to get them to drive away from an ops scene, orders US generals around, and everyone takes his orders and his yelling because, well, because he tortures and kills people. Or because the President trusts him. Or because he threatens them with physical harm. Or something like that. It's very, very weird. He lives in the secretive, "you never saw this" netherworld of assasination and torture, but it seems the only being that hasn't heard of him and knows exactly what he does for a living is my cat. Really strange.
Second, every other character in the book is an undeveloped cardboard characature. The cabinet members, congressmen, senators, etc., are all mind-numbingly inane bureaucrats more concerned with procedure and process than US security. None of them serves any purpose in the book other than to give Mitch Rapp someone to be pissed off at. Not a single one is developed as a character or has a viewpoint of any interest to the reader. There's an incessant returning to a sort of sub-plot about a Justice Department offical who's a sexy, blond, hot babe, but aside from about 50 references to her being a tease and showing a little cleavage, the character is never developed, doesn't figure into the plot other than as someone who Rapp hates but yet is strangely attracted to him sexually, and serves no purpose in the story. Same same for ALL of the other characters - not integral to the story, dispensable (and some of them are killed by Rapp or otherwise off'ed), and entirely without personality, complexity, or interest. Frankly, it was good to see some of the characters killed off just to get them out of the book.
Third, this book is a revenge fantasy, and frankly, there's something a little disturbing about it. Taking revenge against the terrorists can be enjoyed, as a reader, but the extent to which Rapp luxuriates in humiliating and pummeling well-meaning, but perhaps misdirected, officials in the US government, citizens, etc., is disturbing. The whole book is largely an adolescent fantasy about getting back at both the bad guys and the people who "don't get it" regarding the war on terror. There is not enough sophistication in the revenge to get it up to "sophomoric" level; we are talking high-school revenge fantasy here. Nothing more or less than grabbing a baseball bat and finally, over a course of 500 pages, hitting the 9th grade bully in the head with the bat. And as long as you have the baseball bat in hand, hitting some teachers, and some other students, and the guidance counselor, and the principal, just for fun.
Sorry to be a downer. You could do a little worse for pointless summer reading, which is why I give it two stars. But it is a weak book with extremely flawed character development to the point of absurdity.
Summary of Memorial Day
MEMORIAL DAY
CIA intelligence has pointed to a major terrorist attack on the United States, just as the nation's capital prepares for a grand Memorial Day tribute to the veterans of World War II. Racing to Afghanistan, Mitch Rapp leads a commando raid on an al Queda stronghold in a remote border village -- and defuses plans for a nuclear strike on Washington. The crisis averted, the special ops work is done. But Rapp knows, in the face of a new kind of enemy, nothing is as it seems -- and it's up to him alone to avert a disaster of unimaginable proportions.
Political Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Political Books
Spinning Dixieby Eric Dezenhall
Thomas Dunne Books; Published: 2006-12-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.69
Price in other shops:
Doing Dangerously Wellby Carole Enahoro
Vintage Canada; Published: 2011-05-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.47
Price in other shops:
The Autobiography Of Joseph Stalin: A Novelby Richard Lourie
Da Capo Press; Published: 2000-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.75
Price in other shops:
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovichby Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn
Henry Holt & Co (P); Published: 1978-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.98
The Blue Woundby Garet Garrett
General Books LLC; Published: 2012-01-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.14
Phineas Finn (Oxford World's Classics)by Anthony Trollope, Simon Dentith
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2011-12-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.22
Price in other shops:
The Woman Who Did (Oxford Popular Fiction)by Grant Allen
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1995-06-29; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Blood Kin: A Novelby Ceridwen Dovey
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2009-02-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
The Army of the Republic: A Novelby Stuart Archer Cohen
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2008-09-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.78
Price in other shops:
Citizen Vince: A Novelby Jess Walter
Harper; Published: 2005-04-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.58
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Protect and Defend (Mitch Rapp)by Vince Flynn
Pocket Books; Published: 2008-08-26; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.14
Price in other shops:
The Third Optionby Vince Flynn
Pocket Star; Published: 2001-09-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.25
Pursuit of Honorby Vince Flynn
Pocket Books; Published: 2010-08-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Extreme Measures: A Thriller (Mitch Rapp Novels)by Vince Flynn
Pocket Books; Published: 2009-08-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
Act of Treasonby Vince Flynn
Pocket Books; Published: 2007-08-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops:
Consent to Kill: A Thriller (Mitch Rapp Novels)by Vince Flynn
Pocket Star; Published: 2006-08-22; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.80
Price in other shops:
The Third Optionby Vince Flynn
Pocket Star; Published: 2010-12-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.54
Price in other shops:
Transfer of Powerby Vince Flynn
Pocket Star; Published: 2010-12-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
Separation of Power (Mitch Rapp Novels)by Vince Flynn
Pocket Star; Published: 2009-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.28
Price in other shops: