1966-June 19, 2013
I remember a train journey. I don't remember either the year or the place I was going to.
Train journeys are miserable in nature due to the quality of the train berths. I avoid them as I end up getting sore backs. I always pack at least half a dozen books with me when I am going on a long expedition. I find myself hopping between different books as the tedious nature of the odyssey creeps into my reading and I end up getting easily bored.
It was on one such journey that i discovered Mitch Rapp and his creator Vince Flynn.
The book was Memorial Day. It was a conventional story of the bad guys planning to bomb the Memorial Day event to smithereens. It was the way the story was told and the character of Rapp which held me spellbound.
The intensity of anger and the impotency which any soldier feels when he finds himself mired deep in bureaucratic bullshit was conveyed perfectly by Flynn.
He was a master of the Islamic-terrorists-running-loose-with-weapons-of-mass-destruction genre. He did not put in too much technical details a la Clancy which made his books more racy. The violence unleashed on the terrorists may seem gratuitous to the so called liberals but more often than not got my blood pumping and adrenaline flowing.
I haven't read his recent books but plan to check them out real soon. I was turned off by Extreme Measures, a 2009 bestseller which seemed cliched and contrived.
I was shocked to read about his demise from prostrate cancer and the memory of a long sojourn made pleasant by a balls-to-the-wall book came floating to the front of my mind from the depths it was buried in.
Mr. Flynn, you and your no nonsense hero would be missed by your legion of fans. Once upon a time, you made my day. I hope you are in a better place now and are finally at peace.
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