Vince Flynn
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I’ve read a couple of his books, although I couldn’t tell you which ones. He’s decent…A little too political for my tastes (I’m just tired of people telling me the R’s are better than the D’s or the other way around; neither are palpable for my tastes), and there’s a lot of special ops kinds of stuff. Mostly his stuff is fun to read, I love adventure stories. Vince Flynn is fairly well read where special ops stuff is concerned, but I catch quite a bit of mistakes. Still, I don’t expect every author to be the absolute expert on every subject, and I don’t allow technical missteps to get in the way of a good story. If he (or any other author for that matter) gets something horribly wrong, I just mentally insert the right thing, and read on. I prefer more intricate plots, but that’s becoming very much a rarity anymore (There’s no one writing the equivalent of Cardinal of the Kremlin anymore). Even Clancy has abandoned thick plots for just writing a good shoot-em up (don’t get me wrong, I still read them).
In the techno thriller genre, lately I’m left rather flat. I love the plots that LeCarre comes up with, but his writing style puts me to sleep faster than Ambien.
I just can’t remember reading a book in the last 5 years where I thought the plot was clever.
But if you’re just looking for commando fun, Vince Flynn does it about as good as you can expect. Another author that I think holds quite a bit of promise is Marcus Wynn. I’ve read No Other Option, Brothers in Arms, and Warrior in the Shadows; all were downright decent books. I’ll bet you like Wynn. I read a LOT of books, so if I remember correctly Wynn’s character is a former Spec Ops (retired) who helps the cops with very difficult cases. One was tracking down a rogue spec ops guy who’s turned serial rapist (that was a downright good read, I think that was No Other Option), or helping the cops foil a terrorist cell. What’s more, Wynn typically doesn’t make technical mistakes. I want to say that Wynn is a former Spec Ops guy himself, I can’t remember. If not, he researches his topics well.
In the techno thriller genre, lately I’m left rather flat. I love the plots that LeCarre comes up with, but his writing style puts me to sleep faster than Ambien.
I just can’t remember reading a book in the last 5 years where I thought the plot was clever.
But if you’re just looking for commando fun, Vince Flynn does it about as good as you can expect. Another author that I think holds quite a bit of promise is Marcus Wynn. I’ve read No Other Option, Brothers in Arms, and Warrior in the Shadows; all were downright decent books. I’ll bet you like Wynn. I read a LOT of books, so if I remember correctly Wynn’s character is a former Spec Ops (retired) who helps the cops with very difficult cases. One was tracking down a rogue spec ops guy who’s turned serial rapist (that was a downright good read, I think that was No Other Option), or helping the cops foil a terrorist cell. What’s more, Wynn typically doesn’t make technical mistakes. I want to say that Wynn is a former Spec Ops guy himself, I can’t remember. If not, he researches his topics well.
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Kevin is right on about both Flynn and Wynne (Yes he has all sorts of creds). I think you just read the latest of Flynn's books you should start from the beginning. Another guy who I refer to as "Vince Flynn Light" is Brad Thor. A little less of the All Right wingers are good and noble and all Left wingers are cowardly and duplicitous (as Kevin mentioned above) than Flynn but lots of action.
Someone I think who is a bit more cerebral is Barry Eisler and his "John Rain" series. I thought they were pretty good.
P.S. You can get Marcus Wynne's books fairly cheaply as self published ebooks and if you get on his mailing lists he often has contests relating to the books in which he might give away a very nice fighting knife or some gunsmithing work by Karl Sokol, etc.
Someone I think who is a bit more cerebral is Barry Eisler and his "John Rain" series. I thought they were pretty good.
P.S. You can get Marcus Wynne's books fairly cheaply as self published ebooks and if you get on his mailing lists he often has contests relating to the books in which he might give away a very nice fighting knife or some gunsmithing work by Karl Sokol, etc.
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Ed,
I’ll look into it; always looking for a good read. I’m currently reading the latest Clancy book (which actually isn’t written by Clancy). It’s a decent read, but it’s a LONG way from classic Clancy. And yeah, the my party’s better than your party stuff is getting pretty thick by now. I’m amazed someone as intelligent as Clancy is impressed with the Republican party…I can’t tell them from the Democrats anymore and I have ZERO interest in a writer pontificating about two completely failed political parties. I’d love to read about people who serve out of a sense of duty against evil, rather than some blind devotion to one of these ludicrous political parties. But I guess the core audience for most of the shoot-em-up techno-thrillers are guys on the right. Funny, I consider myself to be conservative, but I don’t identify with the Republican party anymore.
I’ll look into it; always looking for a good read. I’m currently reading the latest Clancy book (which actually isn’t written by Clancy). It’s a decent read, but it’s a LONG way from classic Clancy. And yeah, the my party’s better than your party stuff is getting pretty thick by now. I’m amazed someone as intelligent as Clancy is impressed with the Republican party…I can’t tell them from the Democrats anymore and I have ZERO interest in a writer pontificating about two completely failed political parties. I’d love to read about people who serve out of a sense of duty against evil, rather than some blind devotion to one of these ludicrous political parties. But I guess the core audience for most of the shoot-em-up techno-thrillers are guys on the right. Funny, I consider myself to be conservative, but I don’t identify with the Republican party anymore.
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Neal Boortz had Vince Flynn on his radio program last week, IIRC. Flynn related a classic story in which he met then President George W. Bush. They were in Limo 1 and Bush appears good natured, then starts "interrogating" Flynn about where he got the information he used in his books, who was "leaking" it, how it was too close to reality and there "must" be some security problem .....Flynn stated he was getting quit nervous at this point, until Laura pipes up and tells Dubya to stop it, he was only "razzing" Flynn but it was maybe going a "tad" overboard. :cryinlaugh:
I like Flynn, just got his latest "Kill Shot," and still have a few of his later works I haven't gotten to yet.
So MANY books .... so little time.......:grumble:
I like Flynn, just got his latest "Kill Shot," and still have a few of his later works I haven't gotten to yet.
So MANY books .... so little time.......:grumble:
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Mitch Rapp has used just about every caliber and high end make of handgun by now.
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I certainly caught the God Like Government Agent (Mitch Rapp), but I guess I haven't read enough Vince Flynn (I wanna say I've read two of his books, but I couldn't tell you which ones) to notice the race baiting or anti-Semitism...perhaps I just wasn't paying attention.
For the high-speed, low-drag stuff I tend to think Marcus Wynn does a better job.
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I didn't notice any particular anti-Semitism from Flynn either, although he does on occasion point out that Israel doesn't always do things in our best interest, nor should she, for that matter...
I'm reading more military sci-fi these days. I particularly like Laumer's Bolo novels, Tom Kratman and John Ringo.
I'm a pretty big Dean Koontz fan too, his Odd Thomas character is being brought to the big screen.
This one's one of the most memorable I've read, it's a fictionalized depiction of the battle of Thermopylae
I'm reading more military sci-fi these days. I particularly like Laumer's Bolo novels, Tom Kratman and John Ringo.
I'm a pretty big Dean Koontz fan too, his Odd Thomas character is being brought to the big screen.
This one's one of the most memorable I've read, it's a fictionalized depiction of the battle of Thermopylae
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