Book Review – Vince Flynn’s “Memorial Day”
Recently I finished reading Vince Flynn’s thriller, Memorial Day. This is the fifth book in his main series starring Mitch Rapp, a super commando who works with the CIA.
First published back in 2004, Memorial Day is the story about an upcoming terrorist attack here in the United States. The Muslim extremists have their sights set big in a dual attack that’s supposed to not only destroy the top level of leadership in the country but also cripple the economy and send the country into the deepest recession in history. For part of the country, the attack itself will leave the land inhabitable for hundreds of years.
Memorial Day begins with Mustafa al-Yamani, a Muslim extremist, killing the captain of a private yacht and sneaking his way from Cuba into the southern part of the United States. Al-Yamani meets with his target and successfully enters the country near Merritt Island at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The man is committed to his mission and time is of the essence as al-Yamani is suffering from advanced stages of radiation poisoning, and he literally has only a few days left to live.
In Washington, D.C., Mitch Rapp, an analyst with the CIA and expert on international terrorism, gains information about an upcoming meeting of terrorists scheduled to take place somewhere in Pakistan. The few pieces of intelligence point to terrorist chatter about a bomb, a really big bomb, and Rapp is set on flying to Pakistan and conducting a raid on the camp with other special forces soldiers. Rapp’s boss and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Dr. Irene Kennedy, clears Mitch for the secret raid into Pakistan.
The commando raid commences and five terrorists are ultimately captured, two of them allegedly had direct ties to the planning on the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Along with the terrorists, a vast collection of new intelligence into the recent terrorist actions was also captured.
Computer specialists begin accessing the captured files, and it’s quickly noted that a big terrorist attack was either in the final stages of planning, or it’s already been authorized by the terrorist leaders. The information is pointing towards a high profile bombing, something that will create a tremendous amount of damage from a single blast. One of the images shows a map with projected damage circles radiating away from a major city. It’s a similar type of map used to analyze the power of nuclear weapons.
Since time is a serious issue, Mitch and a fellow CIA specialist use brutal tactics to interrogate the recently captured prisoners. One of their techniques involves tossing the terrorists into a pen filled with dirty pigs. The most effective technique was when Rapp shot the two 9/11 terrorists in cold blood right in front of their companions. After shooting their companions and further wounding at least one of the spared prisoners, Mitch learns part of the horrifying truth about what is about to happen back home in the U.S.
Meanwhile, a Pakistani nuclear scientist named Imtaz Zubair easily enters the country through Los Angeles and then flies across the country to Atlanta, Georgia. His orders are to wait in a specific hotel and keep a low profile until receiving further orders.
Rapp notifies Dr. Kennedy of his findings at the terrorist camp in Pakistan, and she initiates an emergency evacuation of the top level of government. In the middle of the night, the president along with other top leaders in government are secretly taken to safe shelters.
The CIA learns that the nuclear bomb was placed on a container ship, and it’s due to arrive in the U.S. that very day. More interrogations and research takes place, and they learn that the cargo ship carrying the nuclear bomb is scheduled to make port in Charleston, South Carolina. The FBI takes over and identifies the container with the nuclear weapon. They wait to make their move until the truck drivers (two Muslim men) try to leave with the cargo. The men are quickly arrested and the container is taken to a secure building for further analysis.
It’s discovered that the bomb in the container is a nuclear one, but it hasn’t been activated yet. Nor is the container booby trapped. It looks like the CIA has won this time and a devastating terrorist attack has successfully been prevented. However, we, the reader, know that Mustafa al-Yamani was watching the FBI from a nearby parking deck, and he knows that part of the grand plan has been stopped. Al-Yamani though is far from giving up and dying from radiation poisoning. Not by a long shot.
While President Robert Hayes and other government officials are breathing a sigh of relief, al-Yamani drives to Atlanta to get Imtaz Zubair. Al-Yamani takes Zubair to a nearby construction site where they meet up with two more Muslim extremists. These two men have a special item sitting in a sealed container. It turns out that another nuclear bomb was also smuggled to the U.S., and unlike the first one, this second bomb made it into the country without knowledge by the government. An innocent truck driver drove the package from Texas to Atlanta, but the weapon was unshielded and the driver absorbed a very high amount of deadly radiation while making the delivery. He died a few hours after dropping off the package and heading back to his home in Texas.
The shielded nuclear bomb is driven up the eastern coast towards Washington, D.C. Al-Yamani continues to grow sicker and be closer and closer to death, but his determination to succeeding in his mission keeps the terrorist going.
Mitch soon learns about the dead truck driver with radiation poisoning, along with Imtaz Zubair flying to Atlanta, and he continues with his investigation and continued interrogation relating to the planned terrorist attack. One of the captured terrorists finally reveals that there were two planned nuclear bombings, and despite one of the bombs being intercepted by the government, the second bomb was on its way to Washington, D.C. Rapp puts together the evidence and realizes that al-Yamani is going to try to kill the president and take out the nation’s capital, even if it means his own death in the attack.
More evidence is gathered and the CIA gets a lucky break when some of the terrorists are caught on camera during a traffic stop in northern Virginia. The policeman was seriously injured, but the police car’s dashboard camera provided the necessary evidence that the terrorists were close to their target. The cops and FBI comb the local area, and al-Yamani and his fellow terrorists have to change their mode of transportation.
The terrorists invade a quiet home and kill the elderly occupants. They then steal their boat and make their way north through the tributaries and rivers towards Washington. The police learn about the stolen boat, and Rapp and the FBI use helicopters to find the terrorists. Rapp finds them about ten miles south of Washington. The rear of the boat has what looks like a large cooler containing a nuclear bomb.
Mitch Rapp uses his skills and fellow commandos to raid the moving boat from the helicopter. They kill the terrorists and capture the boat. Sure enough, the nuclear bomb is in the shielded cooler. He turns around the boat and drives it south, away from the capital city.
It turns out that Imtaz Zubair had successfully armed the nuclear bomb, and the countdown timer is ticking closer and closer to the bomb’s detonation. When it’s determined that the bomb cannot be stopped before the countdown timer expired, Mitch Rapp has a helicopter fly the bomb to a fallout shelter in the nearby Appalachian Mountains. The bomb is placed in the shelter, the massive doors are closed, and Rapp makes a clean getaway in the helicopter. The plan works and the fallout shelter successfully contains the blast effects and radiation from the bomb.
Washington, D.C. is saved and once again Mitch Rapp is the big hero. He debates leaving the CIA, but Dr. Kennedy convinces him to stay with the organization. Part of Rapp’s decision to stay is based on a few troublemakers being kicked out of Washington, D.C.
Memorial Day ends with Mitch Rapp flying up to Minnesota to spend a few days with his wife and in-laws.
So is Vince Flynn’s Memorial Day any good?
As a whole, Memorial Day is a decent novel and worthy of the Mitch Rapp series of books. The story itself is fairly interesting as it handles the frightening topic of nuclear terrorism. Rapp’s interrogation methods are brutal yet effective (at least here in the literary world), and it’s somewhat satisfying having a rather simple story where the protagonist can easily beat up and kill bad guys.
That’s also the downfall of Memorial Day and what appears to be Vince Flynn’s primary style of writing. While Flynn’s stories are mostly entertaining, many of them are very simple when it comes to the writing style and elements of the plot. Clues are easily discovered, puzzles are normally quickly solved, and for the most part, the good guy (a.k.a. Mitch Rapp) always wins. Most of the dialog is simple, and Rapp often has cheesy one-liners that will make you cringe and ask yourself, Did I really just read that?
Memorial Day is not a complicated novel with an intricate plot or complicated characters. This is a rather simple but still mostly enjoyable read. If you’ve been reading Vince Flynn’s in chronological order to this point, then you’ll feel right at home with this story.
