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Mark Beamon #3
Free Fall
It's bold. It's dangerous. It's the kind of maverick operation that has made Mark Beamon both the FBI's best agent and its least-likely-to-succeed screw-up.
A top-secret FBI file --- buried in an anonymous government warehouse since J. Edgar Hoover's death --- is missing. The unlucky grad student who uncovered it is dead, and now his ex-girlfriend is on the run, accused of the murder. The only man everyone agrees can find the young woman and turn up the explosive document is "off-duty," suspended and under the threat of prosecution by the bureau itself.
Beamon knows better than anyone that this is his last shot to save his career --- and his country. Tracking the young woman down, though, will be the hardest assignment he's ever tackled, for she's a gutsy world-class rock-climber who can drop out of sight anywhere in the world. And even if he finds her and the file, who can he trust when the FBI itself is under suspicion? Beamon has no room for wrong guesses --- or moves. If he blows this one, he'll free fall straight out of the bureau --- and straight into prison ...
A top-secret FBI file --- buried in an anonymous government warehouse since J. Edgar Hoover's death --- is missing. The unlucky grad student who uncovered it is dead, and now his ex-girlfriend is on the run, accused of the murder. The only man everyone agrees can find the young woman and turn up the explosive document is "off-duty," suspended and under the threat of prosecution by the bureau itself.
Beamon knows better than anyone that this is his last shot to save his career --- and his country. Tracking the young woman down, though, will be the hardest assignment he's ever tackled, for she's a gutsy world-class rock-climber who can drop out of sight anywhere in the world. And even if he finds her and the file, who can he trust when the FBI itself is under suspicion? Beamon has no room for wrong guesses --- or moves. If he blows this one, he'll free fall straight out of the bureau --- and straight into prison ...
483 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 26, 2000
719 people are currently reading
716 people want to read
About the author
Kyle Mills
33 books2,509 followersI grew up in Oregon but have lived all over—D.C., Virginia, Maryland, London,
Wyoming. My father was an FBI agent and I was a bureau kid, which is similar to being an army brat. You tend to spend your time with other bureau kids and get transferred around a lot, though, I fared better on that front than many others.
One positive aspect of this lifestyle is that you can’t help but absorb an enormous amount about the FBI, CIA, Special Forces, etc. Like most young boys, I was endlessly fascinated with talk of chasing criminals and, of course, pictured it in the most romantic terms possible. Who would have thought that all this esoteric knowledge would end up being so useful?
I came into writing from kind of a strange angle. When I graduated from college in the late eighties, I had the same dream as everyone else at the time—a corporate job, a nice car, and a house with lots of square footage.
It turns out that none of that really suited me. While I did go for the corporate job, I
drove a beat-up Jeep and lived in a tiny house in a so-so Baltimore neighborhood. Most of the money I made just kind of accumulated in my checking account and I found myself increasingly drawn to the unconventional, artistic people who lived around me. I was completely enamored with anyone who could create something from nothing because I felt like it was beyond me.
Enter rock climbing. I’d read an article on climbing when I was in college and thought it looked like an incredible thing to do. Someday, I told myself, I would give it a try. So one weekend in the early ’90s, I packed up my car, drove to West Virginia, and spent a
weekend taking lessons. Unknown to me at the time, this would be the start of an
obsession that still hangs with me today. I began dating a girl who liked to climb and we decided we wanted to live somewhere with taller rocks and more open space.
Moving to Wyoming was the best decision we ever made. The place is full of the most amazing people. You might meet someone on a bike ride and find out they were in the Olympics, or climbed Everest, or just got back from two months trekking in Nepal. In a roundabout way, it was these people who made it possible for me to write a novel. They seemed to have no limitations. Everything was possible for them and I wanted to be that type of person, too.
I was working for a little bank in Jackson Hole, spending my days making business loans and my afternoons and weekends climbing. For some reason, it finally occurred to me that I’d never actually tried to be creative. Maybe I could make something from nothing. Why not give it a shot?
My first bright idea was to learn to build furniture. That plan had some drawbacks, the most obvious of which being that I’m not very handy. It was my wife who suggested I write a novel. It seemed like a dumb idea, though, since I majored in finance and had spent my entire college career avoiding English courses like the plague. Having said that, I couldn’t completely shake the idea. Eventually, it nagged at me long enough that I felt compelled to put pen to paper. Eight months later, I finished Rising Phoenix and about a year after that I managed to get it published.
The success of Rising Phoenix and my subsequent books has allowed me to make my living as a writer, which isn’t bad work if you can get it. Other than that, my life hasn’t changed all that much. Aging elbows have forced me to replace climbing with backcountry skiing and mountain bike racing. I got the not-so-smart idea of restoring an old pickup to replace the dying Jeep. And, I still live in Wyoming...
Wyoming. My father was an FBI agent and I was a bureau kid, which is similar to being an army brat. You tend to spend your time with other bureau kids and get transferred around a lot, though, I fared better on that front than many others.
One positive aspect of this lifestyle is that you can’t help but absorb an enormous amount about the FBI, CIA, Special Forces, etc. Like most young boys, I was endlessly fascinated with talk of chasing criminals and, of course, pictured it in the most romantic terms possible. Who would have thought that all this esoteric knowledge would end up being so useful?
I came into writing from kind of a strange angle. When I graduated from college in the late eighties, I had the same dream as everyone else at the time—a corporate job, a nice car, and a house with lots of square footage.
It turns out that none of that really suited me. While I did go for the corporate job, I
drove a beat-up Jeep and lived in a tiny house in a so-so Baltimore neighborhood. Most of the money I made just kind of accumulated in my checking account and I found myself increasingly drawn to the unconventional, artistic people who lived around me. I was completely enamored with anyone who could create something from nothing because I felt like it was beyond me.
Enter rock climbing. I’d read an article on climbing when I was in college and thought it looked like an incredible thing to do. Someday, I told myself, I would give it a try. So one weekend in the early ’90s, I packed up my car, drove to West Virginia, and spent a
weekend taking lessons. Unknown to me at the time, this would be the start of an
obsession that still hangs with me today. I began dating a girl who liked to climb and we decided we wanted to live somewhere with taller rocks and more open space.
Moving to Wyoming was the best decision we ever made. The place is full of the most amazing people. You might meet someone on a bike ride and find out they were in the Olympics, or climbed Everest, or just got back from two months trekking in Nepal. In a roundabout way, it was these people who made it possible for me to write a novel. They seemed to have no limitations. Everything was possible for them and I wanted to be that type of person, too.
I was working for a little bank in Jackson Hole, spending my days making business loans and my afternoons and weekends climbing. For some reason, it finally occurred to me that I’d never actually tried to be creative. Maybe I could make something from nothing. Why not give it a shot?
My first bright idea was to learn to build furniture. That plan had some drawbacks, the most obvious of which being that I’m not very handy. It was my wife who suggested I write a novel. It seemed like a dumb idea, though, since I majored in finance and had spent my entire college career avoiding English courses like the plague. Having said that, I couldn’t completely shake the idea. Eventually, it nagged at me long enough that I felt compelled to put pen to paper. Eight months later, I finished Rising Phoenix and about a year after that I managed to get it published.
The success of Rising Phoenix and my subsequent books has allowed me to make my living as a writer, which isn’t bad work if you can get it. Other than that, my life hasn’t changed all that much. Aging elbows have forced me to replace climbing with backcountry skiing and mountain bike racing. I got the not-so-smart idea of restoring an old pickup to replace the dying Jeep. And, I still live in Wyoming...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
November 4, 2014
There are several things that, in my opinion, make a good book a good book:
1—Plot twists. I enjoy a book that keeps you guessing and that provides unexpected plot twists and turns. I love when I say “Oh, s**t” to myself when reading something unexpected.
2---Character development. I want to be able to feel for the characters, to identify with them on some level. I want to be able to cheer the good guy and boo the bad guy
3---Vested interest. I like a book that pulls me in, where I am drawn in and rooting for a good outcome.
4---New ideas. I don’t like to read the same worn out plot and tired stereotypical characters.
5---A quick read. No, not necessarily an easy read but rather something that moves along at a steady pace. A page-turner
Kyle Mills’ Free Fall does not meet ONE of these criteria. I am surprised to see how many 4 and 5 stars this novel has.
I’d never heard of Mr. Mills until recently. My favorite novelist is Vince Flynn and when I recently read that Mills will be finishing Vince’s last book, I immediately wanted to check out one of his novels and so I picked up Free Fall.
I REALLY wanted to like this book—and this author. However, I simply could not. I tried to get into it, tried to like it. But it left me flat. It takes a LOT for me to stop reading a book once I start but after 120 pages (a little less than one third) I’d had enough.
There was nothing exciting, entertaining or interesting. The characters were, in my opinion, boring and lifeless. I feel that good authors (Vince Flynn with Mitch Rapp, Brad Thor with Scot Harvath, Connelly with Harry Bosch, Baldacci with Sean King and John Puller) write their novels and bring their protagonist to life. Heroes that ya just gotta love. However, the hero of this book, Mark Beamon, was…well, kind of a jerk. He is not ‘cool and collected’ but rather an emotional roller coaster. One page he’s proclaiming his love for his girlfriend and her son. Then, 40 pages later, he walks out on them cause he may be losing his job with the FBI.
Another thing about Beamon that I found…well, infantile, was his repeated cursing. Believe me, I’m no prude and cursing, rightly or wrongly, is part of most books. However, the way Beamon uses the F-bomb all the time when he gets upset—to his boss, to his girlfriend, etc---gets kind of old.
As for Mr. Mills writing style, I found it overly descriptive. Yes, sure, some description is necessary. A good author has to set a scene. However, he takes it too far. In the 120 pages I read, I cant tell you how many times he spent one paragraph describing a characters face, another paragraph describing the character’s clothes. And then 2 pages later, the character is killed or out of the book for good.
Apparently Mr, Mills is an avid rock climber. Good for him. However I am not. At times this NOVEL turned into a rock climbing handbook. Instead of reading like a thriller, it read like a manual. Plus, he also used terminology that is probably familiar to him and other people who rock climb but was alien to me.
***SPOILER****One part of the novel was laughable. Tristan, a somewhat unimportant character, has a (girl)friend Darby. Darby becomes important after Tristan is killed. I’m not sure what the deal with Darby is. She’s a world class rock climber who has appeared on magazines. Yet, she’s almost homeless and living in a van. After Tristan is killed, Darby sets off to find some secret disc Tristan hid away in a cave in Utah, a disc that can ruin the careers and reputations affect some of the top politicians in the country. Umm…okay. (Although Tristan loves close to DC, I’m not sure why he hid this secret 2000 miles away in a cave but ok…) After Tristan is killed, Darby—the wealthy well-known rock climber who is flat broke—needs a car. She spends $2000 to buy an old beat-up pick-up. And she then proceeds to drive this old jalopy from just outside Washington DC to Utah. I’m not sure where in UT, the author doesn’t say. But here is what makes no sense. The author states she made the drive in 30 hours. Well, per Google maps, it takes 29 hours from DC just to the UT border—1921 miles. Plus, there are no caves or canyons in eastern UT. Plus, if she was able to buy the pick-up for only $2000, it’s obviously a piece of junk and unlikely a vehicle like that could make a non-stop 30 hour drive—and that’s just to the border.
The added irony is that even after she DRIVES 30 hours, parks, hikes through a canyon and starts descending into a cave, she runs into the bad guys who have also arrived seeking the disc. Now, if this disc is so important and can ruin the career of several politicians, wouldn’t the bad guys simply get on a plane??? Darby drove 30 hours—and it took the bad guys the same amount of time??? Not believable.
I really wanted to like this novel and enjoy Mr. Mills’ work. But it regrettably didn’t happen. I wont even give him another chance.
1—Plot twists. I enjoy a book that keeps you guessing and that provides unexpected plot twists and turns. I love when I say “Oh, s**t” to myself when reading something unexpected.
2---Character development. I want to be able to feel for the characters, to identify with them on some level. I want to be able to cheer the good guy and boo the bad guy
3---Vested interest. I like a book that pulls me in, where I am drawn in and rooting for a good outcome.
4---New ideas. I don’t like to read the same worn out plot and tired stereotypical characters.
5---A quick read. No, not necessarily an easy read but rather something that moves along at a steady pace. A page-turner
Kyle Mills’ Free Fall does not meet ONE of these criteria. I am surprised to see how many 4 and 5 stars this novel has.
I’d never heard of Mr. Mills until recently. My favorite novelist is Vince Flynn and when I recently read that Mills will be finishing Vince’s last book, I immediately wanted to check out one of his novels and so I picked up Free Fall.
I REALLY wanted to like this book—and this author. However, I simply could not. I tried to get into it, tried to like it. But it left me flat. It takes a LOT for me to stop reading a book once I start but after 120 pages (a little less than one third) I’d had enough.
There was nothing exciting, entertaining or interesting. The characters were, in my opinion, boring and lifeless. I feel that good authors (Vince Flynn with Mitch Rapp, Brad Thor with Scot Harvath, Connelly with Harry Bosch, Baldacci with Sean King and John Puller) write their novels and bring their protagonist to life. Heroes that ya just gotta love. However, the hero of this book, Mark Beamon, was…well, kind of a jerk. He is not ‘cool and collected’ but rather an emotional roller coaster. One page he’s proclaiming his love for his girlfriend and her son. Then, 40 pages later, he walks out on them cause he may be losing his job with the FBI.
Another thing about Beamon that I found…well, infantile, was his repeated cursing. Believe me, I’m no prude and cursing, rightly or wrongly, is part of most books. However, the way Beamon uses the F-bomb all the time when he gets upset—to his boss, to his girlfriend, etc---gets kind of old.
As for Mr. Mills writing style, I found it overly descriptive. Yes, sure, some description is necessary. A good author has to set a scene. However, he takes it too far. In the 120 pages I read, I cant tell you how many times he spent one paragraph describing a characters face, another paragraph describing the character’s clothes. And then 2 pages later, the character is killed or out of the book for good.
Apparently Mr, Mills is an avid rock climber. Good for him. However I am not. At times this NOVEL turned into a rock climbing handbook. Instead of reading like a thriller, it read like a manual. Plus, he also used terminology that is probably familiar to him and other people who rock climb but was alien to me.
***SPOILER****One part of the novel was laughable. Tristan, a somewhat unimportant character, has a (girl)friend Darby. Darby becomes important after Tristan is killed. I’m not sure what the deal with Darby is. She’s a world class rock climber who has appeared on magazines. Yet, she’s almost homeless and living in a van. After Tristan is killed, Darby sets off to find some secret disc Tristan hid away in a cave in Utah, a disc that can ruin the careers and reputations affect some of the top politicians in the country. Umm…okay. (Although Tristan loves close to DC, I’m not sure why he hid this secret 2000 miles away in a cave but ok…) After Tristan is killed, Darby—the wealthy well-known rock climber who is flat broke—needs a car. She spends $2000 to buy an old beat-up pick-up. And she then proceeds to drive this old jalopy from just outside Washington DC to Utah. I’m not sure where in UT, the author doesn’t say. But here is what makes no sense. The author states she made the drive in 30 hours. Well, per Google maps, it takes 29 hours from DC just to the UT border—1921 miles. Plus, there are no caves or canyons in eastern UT. Plus, if she was able to buy the pick-up for only $2000, it’s obviously a piece of junk and unlikely a vehicle like that could make a non-stop 30 hour drive—and that’s just to the border.
The added irony is that even after she DRIVES 30 hours, parks, hikes through a canyon and starts descending into a cave, she runs into the bad guys who have also arrived seeking the disc. Now, if this disc is so important and can ruin the career of several politicians, wouldn’t the bad guys simply get on a plane??? Darby drove 30 hours—and it took the bad guys the same amount of time??? Not believable.
I really wanted to like this novel and enjoy Mr. Mills’ work. But it regrettably didn’t happen. I wont even give him another chance.
July 7, 2009
One can easily understand that Kyle Mills, the author, is a rock climber. The technical information about the sport is very interesting and informative. This is a thriller from the get-go, and does not relent anywhere throughout the story. It does not cast a very favorable eye on politicians, which is probably quite realistic. Altogether, a good mix of rock climbing and politics, an odd combination, but it all comes together well.
September 4, 2012
I guess I hadn't realized it but I've been reading a lot of sci-fi, fantasy or just kind of odd stuff; Haruki Murakami,Chuck Palahniuk lately. It's been a while since I've read a straight political thriller. For some reason I didn't have anything I wanted to read at my house a while ago, so my buddy lent me this and it totally delivered. Very well written, and just a really fun and believable ride. This is the 3rd book in the Mark Beamon series and now I'm looking forward to reading the entire series starting from the beginning with Rising Phoenix.
Mark Beamon is the rouge honest FBI agent who hates politics, and just wants to get to the truth. It seems like everyone in the system is out to get him, but through conviction and dedication to justice, he seems to win the day. He's a great anti-hero and I enjoy Kyle Mills political opinions that he sneaks through Beamon.
I wanted to give it 3 1/2 stars but you can only go 3 or 4. I'm a strict star giver and I save 4 for some pretty great stuff but it's, better than a 3 I think. I haven't been too up to date on the genre, but I imagine this still being pretty high up there for these kinds of books. Enjoy!
Mark Beamon is the rouge honest FBI agent who hates politics, and just wants to get to the truth. It seems like everyone in the system is out to get him, but through conviction and dedication to justice, he seems to win the day. He's a great anti-hero and I enjoy Kyle Mills political opinions that he sneaks through Beamon.
I wanted to give it 3 1/2 stars but you can only go 3 or 4. I'm a strict star giver and I save 4 for some pretty great stuff but it's, better than a 3 I think. I haven't been too up to date on the genre, but I imagine this still being pretty high up there for these kinds of books. Enjoy!
April 5, 2008
I don't generally read this genre, I'm not even sure what to call it...action? Thriller? Mystery?
Anyway, it was good, though I was hoping for some other outcome. The good guys were likable and the villians despicable enough to hate, without being "super villians" ready to end the world.
A good entertaining read.
Anyway, it was good, though I was hoping for some other outcome. The good guys were likable and the villians despicable enough to hate, without being "super villians" ready to end the world.
A good entertaining read.
September 24, 2014
Loved this book! To me the Beamon series has improved in each outing. I read it in 24 hours. The climbing/hiking character gave a cool focus to the book and added a lot of interesting locales, culture and characters. I learned a lot reading this.
Beamon is really a character I like! I'd love to get he, John Corey and Harry Bosch in a room together and be a fly in the wall!
Beamon is really a character I like! I'd love to get he, John Corey and Harry Bosch in a room together and be a fly in the wall!
April 1, 2011
I've really enjoyed all the Kyle Mills books. I'm not sure what to compare them to, the Beamon character has vulnerabilities that many of the other "super-cop" heroes do not. This was one of my favorites.
October 15, 2014
Free Fall is no "Fade," a far better novel. This fairly painful romp through politics, pre 911 has mountain chases and senseless brutality. 3 of 10 stars
December 29, 2015
1st Mark Beamon series I've. Makes me want to read more...
February 16, 2019
What I find interesting in this one is that while it's almost 20 years old, what is written about the political situation is very similar. The way the parties snipe at each other, the fakeness, about the only thing not happening is a viable independent candidate.
Mark was a bit of a sad character in this one. He's living under a threat of jail, he ditched his girl, takes an iffy side case to keep him busy. It's this side case that brings him back to life. Nothing is as it seems, more so as things went on. By the end of the book I found myself feeling much like Darby, the bad guys didn't seem to get punished enough.
Mark was a bit of a sad character in this one. He's living under a threat of jail, he ditched his girl, takes an iffy side case to keep him busy. It's this side case that brings him back to life. Nothing is as it seems, more so as things went on. By the end of the book I found myself feeling much like Darby, the bad guys didn't seem to get punished enough.
January 4, 2020
Absolutely Terrifying
Kyle Mills is undoubtably the most talented writer when it comes to political intrigue. This was by far the most terrifying read when it comes to politicians in DC. This felt like a study of what the prospect of power, greed, and money can do to a person. This read like a cautionary tail of sticking ones hand into the snake pit that is politics.
Once again, Mark Beamon shined in this one! Left with an impending prison sentence, Beamon latches onto this seemingly simple case to find a missing 27 year old women to keep his mind occupied. What he uncovers along the way may shake the unsteady foundation that is US government.
Kyle Mills is undoubtably the most talented writer when it comes to political intrigue. This was by far the most terrifying read when it comes to politicians in DC. This felt like a study of what the prospect of power, greed, and money can do to a person. This read like a cautionary tail of sticking ones hand into the snake pit that is politics.
Once again, Mark Beamon shined in this one! Left with an impending prison sentence, Beamon latches onto this seemingly simple case to find a missing 27 year old women to keep his mind occupied. What he uncovers along the way may shake the unsteady foundation that is US government.
February 11, 2024
Would’ve like to give this 3.5 stars
September 15, 2015
This is the 3rd Mills installment featuring Mark Beamon, a benched FBI agent who gets called in as the only one likely to find a world-class professional rock climber, Darby Moore, who is on the run. As it turns out she is being sought for the killing of her boyfriend, and for a highly sensitive file her unlucky boyfriend discovered, Prodigy, the result of a secrets-gathering operation (headed by none other than J. Edgar) and thought to have been lost for years.
The file contains damning information on certain politicos which makes its possession paramount to some on both sides of the fence. Mills is great at character development and it is typical to cheer for the good guys and hiss the bad apples. The action involved is okay but not on par with the best of the best. And, at times, he can be a bit overly descriptive for my taste.
That said, "Free Fall" is an enjoyable read with enough twists and turns to keep most anyone who enjoys political thrillers turning pages until the end. This is definitely above average, really about a 3.5, so I rounded it up.
The file contains damning information on certain politicos which makes its possession paramount to some on both sides of the fence. Mills is great at character development and it is typical to cheer for the good guys and hiss the bad apples. The action involved is okay but not on par with the best of the best. And, at times, he can be a bit overly descriptive for my taste.
That said, "Free Fall" is an enjoyable read with enough twists and turns to keep most anyone who enjoys political thrillers turning pages until the end. This is definitely above average, really about a 3.5, so I rounded it up.
May 11, 2012
Free Fall is a thriller about a Hoover-era FBI file containing secret information on powerful men in government being found and stolen by a young clerk. A ruthless presidential candidate goes after the file to use as blackmail against his opponents. Before the young clerk dies he unwittingly involves an old girlfriend who is now running and fighting for her life. A soon to be disgraced FBI agent is hired in secret by someone to find her before the others do. Free Fall is definitely a page turner. The story starts fast and never slows down. There are no wasted words here like so many books and a few twists that will keep you guessing. If you read a lot of thrillers you will find a few of the bad guy characters derivative of ones from other authors but it's not enough to dull the enjoyment of the read.
April 11, 2008
This was a very good book. I really enjoyed the mix of politics and the mountain climbing/extreme sports. I think that the Mark Beamon character is an interesting and fascinating character. I can't wait to see what he gets himself into every book. In this book, he introduces Darby Moore as the new secondary character. It's good that Beamon has a female lead to play off of. Also, in this book you meet the new president and his chief of staff. I look forward to see how it plays out in future books. You don't have to read the previous books but it always helps to understand better. Mr. Mills always writes books that keep me on the edge of my seat. I would highly recommend any of his books to someone looking for a quick interesting read.
February 6, 2011
After bashing so many contemporary authors, I'll have to salute a really good one. Mills takes @500 pages and actually fills them usable, interesting content. Free Fall moved like lightning and still had a complexity that was different from the genre. Certainly the hero is not the typical beefy hulk that can kill anything.
One thing that might turn off some is the heavy politics involved. I liked it, but then again I'm a nut about politics. From my vantage point, the political stuff is pretty mushy and simplistic.
Still this is a terrific book and one of the best of recent released books I've read.
One thing that might turn off some is the heavy politics involved. I liked it, but then again I'm a nut about politics. From my vantage point, the political stuff is pretty mushy and simplistic.
Still this is a terrific book and one of the best of recent released books I've read.
March 29, 2012
FBI agent Mark Beoman is once again in deep trouble with the
FBI. He is about to be fired and a top secret file from the
J Edgar Hoover days has disappeared. A graduate student who
found it is now dead and his girlfriend who is a world famous
mountain climber is accused of the murder but she also is gone.
This is another of the Kyle Mills page turners and it
stretches from the frozen mountains of Wyoming to the steaming
jungles of Thailand.
FBI. He is about to be fired and a top secret file from the
J Edgar Hoover days has disappeared. A graduate student who
found it is now dead and his girlfriend who is a world famous
mountain climber is accused of the murder but she also is gone.
This is another of the Kyle Mills page turners and it
stretches from the frozen mountains of Wyoming to the steaming
jungles of Thailand.
January 27, 2015
A buried, top-secret FBI file is discovered by and stolen by a young man. He is now dead and his girlfriend, who has been accused of his murder, is on the run after hiding the file. An anonymous individual, thru a laywer, wants to hire Mark Beamon to find her. Beamon has enough problems with a congressional comittee investigating him. But he takes the job. However, if he is not careful, he could wind up in jail for a long time........or dead.
October 8, 2008
Maverick FBI agent Mark Beamon is hired to find a young woman who is in possession of a Hoover-era classified file that could be the downfall of a presidential candidate.
Second book with Mark Beamon as main character. Strong female protagonist. Fast paced, lots of dialogue. Highly recommend.
Second book with Mark Beamon as main character. Strong female protagonist. Fast paced, lots of dialogue. Highly recommend.
August 10, 2017
A rip-roaring page-turner. Mills has his own unique voice, and amazing talent, and it's no secret why he's also ghost-writing for Robert Ludlum and Vince Flynn.
I hope he's not working so hard now that he doesn't have time to enjoy his enjoyment of outdoor life in his chosen place to live, Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
I hope he's not working so hard now that he doesn't have time to enjoy his enjoyment of outdoor life in his chosen place to live, Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
January 1, 2012
Very much enjoyed this book. First book in a while that caused me to stay up reading longer than I should. Good characters, action, political commentary, plus a little outdoor adventure (climbing on rock and snow) to make it interesting. Oh yes, and FBI conspiracies from Hoover era. Good stuff.
March 11, 2009
Another great page-turner featuring maverick FBI agent Mark Beaman...this one involving a Hoover file and a mountain climbing expert accused of her boyfriends murder...a good quick, melodramatic read
May 8, 2014
This is the second Mills book I have enjoyed. Looking forward to the next book.
His FBI character Mark Beamon is an everyman doing the best he can and running
into trouble with every turn.
His FBI character Mark Beamon is an everyman doing the best he can and running
into trouble with every turn.
January 15, 2015
Enjoying the adventures of Mark Beamon as he strives to save a young, adventurous, mountain climber.
January 20, 2015
I liked his previous book better but the last third was still a major page turner. These books are totally unpredictable!
April 14, 2015
Wonderful book
May 29, 2015
Thoroughly enjoyed my first Kyle Mills book. I will certainly read more!
July 27, 2015
I loved this book. Probably one of my top 10 books ever and I've read probably a 1,000 books in my lifetime.
November 1, 2015
This one is okay, interesting insight into climbers and nice that the politician got his comeuppance, but overall not one of my favorites in the series.
August 22, 2016
Very enjoyable read, amazing the political race that we are in now 16 years after this book took place.
May 19, 2017
Rock climbing, FBI files, political campaigns all assembled in thrilling page turner that is sprinkled with some much appreciated self-deprecating humor.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews