Protect and Defend

Though the title makes this book sound like a police procedural, this eighth Mitch Rapp thriller turns out to be a timely reflection of the current international scene. With George Guidall behind the microphone, listeners get a dependable narration that fails to generate excitement in only a few instances. Present here is the destruction of Iran's secret nuclear facilities, the possible involvement of an Israeli spy, the sinking of an Iranian ship, and the attempted rescue of Rapp's boss, who's been abducted in an ambush. Guidall's even voice brings depth to the suspense. But because his voice is a bit ponderous, he sometimes fails to ratchet up the exciting moments. A.L.H. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

September 24, 2007
After taking care of a loose end from Act of Treason
(2006), Mitch Rapp looks into the destruction of Iran's secret nuclear weapons facility in bestseller's Flynn's predictable eighth thriller to feature the counterterrorism agent. Given the absence of any indication of either a U.S. or an Israeli air strike, Rapp takes the opportunity to persuade the U.S. administration to plot an operation to destabilize the fanatical Iranian regime by having an Iranian dissident group claim responsibility for what he suspects was an inside job by an Israeli spy. When the Iranian government sinks one of its own ships and blames the U.S., Rapp and CIA chief Irene Kennedy travel to Iraq to try to defuse the crisis, only to fall victim to an ambush (reminiscent of one in Tom Clancy's A Clear and Present Danger
) that results in Kennedy's abduction. Rapp races the clock to rescue his boss before she's tortured into revealing what she knows. Despite a backstory replete with personal loss, Rapp comes across as a one-dimensional killing machine, willing to do whatever needs doing to complete the mission.