Saturday Dad Reads Week of August 16

Welcome to this week’s edition! Here’s what we’ve got lined up:

• 📕 This week’s Book Summary and Review: Kill Shot

• 🧑‍🦰 Author Bio: Vince Flynn

• 💣️ Dad’s Knowledge Bomb: The Intelligence Community Alphabet

•  📣 This week’s Dad Rant: Some Nostalgia - Steeler Camp

 Summary

📕 Review 

I became acquainted with Vince Flynn’s work, as I’m sure many did, through American Assassin, the first Mitch Rapp novel. And, like the overwhelming majority of readers, found it to be excellent. To use a term Jack Carr uses in The Terminal List, I loved that Mitch Rapp was an “apex predator” with a singular focus to bring down terrorists across the globe.

I came into Kill Shot with an expectation that it was going to be a bullet-ballet. Mitch Rapp “mano y mano” with the bad guys. Intricate fight, chase, and escape scenes all orchestrated for a maximum adrenaline hit.

At first, I was all in. The early scene where Rapp breaks into the Paris hotel to clear his objective of killing the Libyan oil minister was exactly what I wanted. Rapp can’t shake the feeling that something is off, but presses ahead with the mission anyway. Then after realizing he’s been burnt, taking out an entire squad and narrowly escaping. Although it didn’t work out in Rapp’s favor, the scene was electric and smooth yet jarring, especially when Rapp realizes he’s been hit. I liken it to watching a kick-off get returned for a touchdown, but the returner gets tripped up by the kicker just short of the goal line.

Then, I was lost. When Flynn deviated from the Rapp storyline, I felt like I became involved in an endless cycle of high-level personnel meetings where nothing gets accomplished except scheduling another meeting and the meeting participants all hate each other, but are forced to be cordial because they all have dirt on each other that could be used to bring down careers. I felt like I should just sit down and queue up Microsoft Teams. I know the dynamic between Kennedy and her colleagues was designed to heighten tension and emphasize the never-ending shell game of the intelligence community, but it drove me nuts. If you read last week’s review, you’ll know that Stephen M.R. Covey would have had a field day with the “trust debt” that had accumulated at the top of the CIA in this book.

But then, page 274 hit. This was the turning point for me. Victor, ever the bumbling idiot of an antagonist, kills Luke (who Mitch talked into casing the house where he thought he would be set up at) thinking he’s killed Mitch Rapp. From then on, I was back! Flynn orchestrated the rest of the novel flawlessly. I didn’t like that they happened, but I understood why the constant meetings between Rapp’s handlers happened. I understood who was really on who’s side. I understood the fear of his handlers in that maybe, just maybe, this dude has crossed a psychological threshold in his approach to killing that he can’t come back from. Now, this “apex predator” has been released into the wild with no hope of bringing him back.

Overall, I’m going to keep going with the Rapp series and Vince Flynn’s other books, including those that continue to be released after his passing. While this one was a slight step down from American Assassin, it was still one hell of a ride.

Rating: ☕️☕️☕️☕️

🧑‍🦰 Author Spotlight: Vince Flynn

💣️Knowledge Bomb:

Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)

Role: Coordinates and oversees all intelligence activities across the U.S. intelligence community; ensures collaboration between agencies.

Focus: Integration of intelligence from all sources, setting priorities, and briefing the President and senior officials.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Role: Staffed by civilians, the CIA is the primary agency for foreign intelligence collection and covert operations outside U.S. borders.

Focus: Human intelligence (HUMINT), analysis of foreign political, economic, and military developments, and covert action.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Intelligence Branch

Role: Staff by civilians, the FBI is our domestic intelligence and security service.

Focus: Counterintelligence, counterterrorism, cybercrime, and criminal investigations within the borders of the U.S.

Department of Homeland Security – Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A)

Role: Gathers and shares intelligence on threats to the homeland.

Focus: Terrorism, border security, infrastructure protection, and cybersecurity.

Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)

Role: Staff by active duty military personnel, the DIA provides military intelligence to the Department of Defense and senior policymakers.

Focus: Defense-related HUMINT, analysis of foreign military capabilities, and battlefield intelligence.

National Security Agency (NSA)

Role: Staffed by active duty military personnel the NSA provides signals intelligence (SIGINT) and cybersecurity.

Focus: Intercepting communications, codebreaking, and protecting U.S. government networks.

📣 Dad Rant: Some Nostalgia - Steeler Camp

In the fall of 2005 (dear god, that was 20 years ago), I headed off to college at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA. I was good enough of an athlete that I was afforded a small scholarship to play soccer, meaning I had to report to school early for two weeks of grueling 3-a-day practices (2 practices on the field, 1 in the pool to recover). At that time, our soccer training camp coincided with the last week and a half of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ training camp.

Since the mid-1960s, Saint Vincent has been the training camp home for the Steelers and by the time I got there in the early 2000s, it had emerged into quite the fan event and spectacle. Not only that, but the Saint Vincent athletic department received considerable financial support from the Rooney Family, owners of the Steelers, to make facility upgrades. Our weight room was good enough for the Steelers to lift in (although they brought all their own equipment) and our playing fields were good enough for them to practice on (because they insisted on practicing on real grass since Heinz Field was real grass).

As a result of being in close proximity to the Steelers, you couldn’t help but hear some of the stories floating around camp. Jeff Reed, who was the kicker at that time, allegedly destroyed a paper towel dispenser in a nearby Sheetz restroom after a night out. Nose tackle, Casey Hampton, would allegedly sneak out of the dorms late at night to buy snacks at the Latrobe WalMart which was then open 24/7.

We also rubbed elbows with players. I got to have a brief verbal interaction with Hines Ward on my way to breakfast one morning. Jerome Bettis would walk his bike (he was too tired to ride it) up to our practice field and talk with us while we were stretching before practice. We got kicked out of the pool during a workout because Ben Roethlisberger wanted to use the pool and he didn’t want anyone else to be in there.

However, my favorite piece of nostalgia stems from an interaction my friends and I had with a fan. One evening, walking back from dinner, fans were lined up outside the Carey Center to try to snag autographs from players as they walked into the locker rooms from their afternoon practice. Because we were there for soccer training camp, my friends and I could skirt the barriers and walk where the players walked by showing our ID badges. On this night, my friend who ended up playing left back in front of me for four years, was wearing a cut-off t-shirt, exposing his arms. As such, in that moment, he looked like, and was actually built like, someone who could have a successful career playing linebacker for the Steelers.

As we navigate the barrier, we hear: “Mister! Hey mister!” coming from a elementary-aged kid who was front and center trying to get autographs. My friend turns and responds with a “What’s up, buddy?” to the kid. The kid comes back, “Mister, do you play for the Steelers? Will you sign my football?” To which my friend all too easily agreed, proceeding to sign his name with a flourish on the kid’s football. As typical immature college freshmen, we laughed our asses off all the way back to the dorms.

So, somewhere out there, there’s a kid (definitely an adult by now) with a signed football from a guy who never played for the Steelers, but did make a solid college career as a left back at Saint Vincent College and is now a retired NCAA Division III athlete.