Book Review: TOTAL POWER by Vince Flynn / Kyle Mills

TOTAL POWER by Vince Flynn/Kyle Mills (Atria/Emily Bestler Books, September 2020) Hardcover, 384 pages. ISBN # 1501190652/ 9781501190650 

 Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .

“Mills’s suspenseful, strikingly original sixth Mitch Rapp novel…is as riveting as anything penned by Mitch’s creator, Vince Flynn (1966–2013). Mills has really hit his stride with this franchise entry.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“One of the best thriller writers on the planet.” —The Real Book Spy

In the next thriller in the #1 New York Times bestselling Mitch Rapp series, it’s a race against the clock when ISIS takes out the entire US power grid and throws the country into chaos.

When Mitch Rapp captures ISIS’s top technology expert, he reveals that he was on his way to meet a man who claims to have the ability to bring down America’s power grid. Rapp is determined to eliminate this shadowy figure, but the CIA’s trap fails.

The Agency is still trying to determine what went wrong when ISIS operatives help this cyber terrorist do what he said he could—plunge the country into darkness. With no concept of how this unprecedented act was accomplished, the task of getting the power back on could take months. Perhaps even years.

Rapp and his team embark on a desperate search for the only people who know how to repair the damage—the ones responsible. But his operating environment is like nothing he’s experienced before. Computers and communication networks are down, fuel can no longer be pumped from gas stations, water and sanitation systems are on the brink of collapse, and the supply of food is running out.

Can Rapp get the lights back on before America descends irretrievably into chaos?

This compulsive thriller proves once again that the Mitch Rapp series is “the best of the best when it comes to the world of special ops” (Booklist, starred review).

My Four-Star Review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     I’ve had Vince Flynn on my authors-to-check-out list, so when I saw this on the new releases shelf at the local library I decided now was the time to read a Flynn novel. Sadly, upon opening the book I learned that Flynn passed away, and author Kyle Mills has been continuing the series featuring Mitch Rapp, his best known character. 

     Mills writes a fast-paced thriller that has a very timely on-the-nose feel to it. Events depicted in this novel could actually occur. One can only hope that the right people in the federal government also read this and pick up the message and take action to prevent anything like what's depicted here from ever happening: a total shut-down of the American power grid. 

     Rapp is a bad-ass, hard-nosed, take-no-prisoners type of federal agent, and exactly the person needed in this particular time of crisis. I don't want to include too many plot details, because the beauty of a good thriller novel is its' element of surprise and suspense. Also, the Goodreads summary does an excellent job of indicating what this is all about. 

     Total Power reminded me of several of the very good seasons of the 24 television series. It plays out in similar fashion, with several false starts, timing issues, but persistence that is eventually rewarded. In fact, I believe Mitch Rapp and 24's Jack Bauer have a lot in common.