Book Review: "Without Sanction" By Don Bentley

By Jon Brooks  

This review is long overdue. 

I have been following Don Bentley since his debut novel “Without Sanction” was published in 2020. 

I have subsequently purchased all four novels in his Matt Drake thriller series, the four Jack Ryan, Jr. novels he wrote for the Tom Clancy estate, and the two Mitch Rapp novels he has written for the Vince Flynn estate (a third — titled “Double Tap” — is on the way later this year). 

I first read “Without Sanction” in 2023. In fact, I tweeted on March 27 of that year that I was gearing up to write my review. 

My plan had been to read and review all of Bentley’s novels leading up to the publication of his novel “Capture or Kill” (his first contribution to the Mitch Rapp franchise — read my review). 

So what happened? Why didn’t I stay on course?

I’m not exactly sure. A lot was going on at the time. 

We were still dealing with the aftermath of my dad’s death. It was also the last month of college hockey season (we run a fan site and do a podcast in support of the University of Nebraska at Omaha Maverick Hockey team). 

And — let’s face it — my mind darts from one thing to another like a cat tracking a laser pointer. 

As a result of all this, I didn’t get my review done, and have been in something of a holding pattern ever since. 

I’ve wanted to read and review the Matt Drake novels Bentley has penned, but the “completionist” in me couldn’t move forward until I reviewed his first contribution to the literary world. 

The particulars of “Without Sanction” had started to fade in my mind during the intervening years. 

I don’t often re-read novels, but a few weeks ago I said, “I think I’m going to read ‘Without Sanction’ again.” 

So I spent a week doing that very thing. 

I was immediately reminded what a terrific debut novel it is. (I was also reminded how many details I had forgotten.)

“Without Sanction” introduces readers to Defense Intelligence Agency case officer and former Army Ranger Matt Drake. 

As the novel begins, we find our protagonist sitting at a shoe-shine stand in Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, having hallucinations about a Syrian toddler he had met while he was working with her family in the field — a family that ultimately ended up getting murdered.  

As a result of his psychological trauma, our hero has abandoned both his job and his wife Laila.

It has become a Monday/Friday ritual for Drake to hang out at the stand as he attempts to reunite with his wife, who travels through the airport each week. 

Each time he sees her, she morphs into a vision of Abir’s dead mother — something he just can’t deal with. 

As he is sitting at the shoe-shine stand on this particular day, weighing whether or not to board the plane to D.C. with his wife, he is approached by a man with a gun and he receives a phone call from his former boss, DIA Branch Chief James Glass. 

A CIA paramilitary team’s covert mission to take down a chemical weapons lab in Syria went awry, resulting in the loss of operators and a Black Hawk helicopter. 

A new chemical weapon was discovered during the operation, but the team failed to get a usable sample. The facility itself wasn’t where the weapon was being developed. 

The Pakistani scientist who created it, code named Einstein, contacts the intelligence community. He is willing to turn over the weapon and reveal the location of the lab. 

But he will only do it on the condition that former handler Matt Drake is the individual who extracts him. 

Drake, having no desire to get pulled back into his former life, soon finds himself in the Middle East. 

As he maneuvers across Syria, he learns that things aren’t as they seem. The mission is anything but cut-and-dry. To make matters worse, there are forces beyond his control that would like to see the operation (and Drake) fail. 

The disillusioned Drake will have to fight tooth and nail as he tries to stay alive and save the free world. 

”This operation was going to be one for the record books.”  

Bentley does a good job weaving various plot threads together throughout “Without Sanction.” 

He uses an alternating “first person/third person” structure for the novel’s narrative. 

Drake’s chapters are told in the first person point of view, employing the character’s voice in those passages. 

The other chapters — largely centered around White House Chief of Staff Peter Redman — are written in the third person point of view. 

You don’t often see alternating points of view in the same novel, but it is a technique that I have enjoyed in the past. 

The first time I read a novel structured in such a manner was Nelson DeMille’s 2000 thriller “The Lion’s Game.” It was DeMille’s second novel featuring protagonist John Corey, and it created a distinct contrast between the protagonist and the antagonist in the story. 

The technique works well in “Without Sanction.” Having read numerous novels in this genre, you’ll sometimes find that authors’ protagonists start to blur together. The first-person voice helps Matt Drake stand out among his literary peers. 

The supporting cast in “Without Sanction” is also pretty compelling. 

Drake’s friend, colleague, and former bodyguard Frederick Cates — call sign Frodo — is one such character. 

The former Delta Force sniper was “on loan” to the DIA when he sustained debilitating injuries during an operation with Drake. 

Frodo lost an arm and walks with the assistance of a cane, but the former operator still has Drake’s back (albeit, in a much different capacity). 

Protagonists in these sorts of novels often have a sidekick, and Frodo is one of the more uniquely drawn characters I’ve seen in this space. 

Another supporting character I enjoyed was Zain. Zain is one of Drake’s Syrian assets — a rough-and-tumble businessman who transports weapons to rebel groups across the country. 

I also enjoyed the chapters featuring the “political maneuverings” in “Without Sanction.” 

Watching Peter Redman (who is working to get President Jorge Gonzales re-elected) go toe-to-toe with CIA Director Beverly Castle (who has presidential aspirations of her own) reminded me of the kind of D.C. scheming we’ve seen in the best Vince Flynn and Brad Thor novels. 

“Men like us don’t quit. We stay until they carry us out in a wooden box.” 

Bentley also isn’t afraid to put his protagonist through the wringer. 

As I mentioned earlier, Matt Drake has to fight “tooth and nail” during his operation (and sacrifices a few teeth and nails along the way). Our hero has flaws and weaknesses, and Bentley wisely avoided making his protagonist invincible (which is all too tempting in this genre). 

It takes skill to do that using a first person point of view for the lead character, and Bentley did a masterful job creating doubt about Drake’s fate as he got tossed around Syria like a rag doll. 

Through my affiliation with the Mitch Rapp Ambassador program, I have been able to get to know Bentley a bit in recent years. It is fun to get to meet the authors behind the books I enjoy. 

Bentley’s publisher just released the cover art for his next Mitch Rapp thriller (for the Vince Flynn estate) titled “Double Tap.” I am looking forward to reading that book and am excited to see Bentley on tour later this year. 

In the meantime, you might want to dive into Bentley’s Matt Drake series. 

I really enjoyed “Without Sanction.” It is a solid debut that introduces a compelling protagonist in Matt Drake. The story is crisp, fast-paced, and is a great example of why I love this genre so much.

Highly recommended! 

To learn more about Don Bentley, visit his website at donbentleybooks.com. 

Click here to order “Without Sanction.” 

Click here to order his upcoming thriller “Double Tap.” 

>> If you enjoyed my review of Don Bentley’s “Without Sanction,” be sure to follow me on Twitter/X: @TheJonCrunch 

Related Posts on Don Bentley: 

> Bentley’s “Capture or Kill” Gives Flynn’s Rapp Series a Shot of Retro Adrenaline 

> Book Review: Fan Wishes Granted in “Denied Access” By Don Bentley 

Previous post: Book Review: “Cold Zero” By Brad Thor and Ward Larsen 

Book Review: Heroes Come Alive in “Fade In” by Kyle Mills

By Jon Brooks

Four months ago, I reviewed Kyle Mills’ 2005 novel “Fade” (read my review). 

Mills had announced a couple years ago that he was writing a new book featuring that novel’s titular protagonist. It was the direction he decided to go after helming Vince Flynn’s bestselling Mitch Rapp series for nearly a decade. 

Due to the fact that 20 years have passed since “Fade” was first published, Mills said this would be more of a “reboot” than a sequel to the first novel — something that could serve as a new starting point for readers (and a new starting point for the series). 

It’s a novel concept. It isn’t often that you see a literary protagonist exhumed by an author after being dormant for two decades. But that is the genesis of Mills’ new novel “Fade In.”

I was lucky enough to be picked to get an advance reader copy of “Fade In” as part of the Fade Nation ambassador program. 

“Fade” is the nickname of Salam al-Fayed, a former Navy SEAL who readers presumed was dead after the climactic events Mills’ 2005 novel. 

It turns out Fade wasn’t dead after all. 

He was in a two-decade-long coma in the hospital where he was shot. In the intervening years, doctors also removed a bullet that was lodged in his spine (an injury that made our hero question his existence in “Fade”). 

As a child of the 1970s and 80s, this sort of “resurrection twist” that was epitomized in primetime soap operas of the era (anyone remember “Who shot J.R.?”).

And since Salam al-Fayed has a retro vibe himself (he wears Looney Tunes boxers and favors musicians like Belinda Carlisle), it is only fitting that he’d find himself resuming his life in such a manner. 

Fade has spent his adult years as something of a fish out of water. And being “asleep” for two decades only enhances that aspect of our protagonist in “Fade In.” 

We have a character who hasn’t experienced all the socio-political upheaval the world has gone through the past 20 years. 

It certainly gives Fade a unique perspective on things. 

The events of 2005’s “Fade” found our protagonist on the run from law enforcement and the federal government. 

Death seemed like a reasonable option for a man who faced a debilitating injury and time in a jail cell. 

The early stages of 2025's “Fade In” focus on al-Fayed rehabilitating from his coma in a tranquil rural setting at Thompson Training and Rehabilitation. 

Fade has been given a fresh identity and a potent cocktail of fluids, medication, and chemicals (administered via ports put in his body) from a device referred to as the Mystery Machine. 

All of it is provided compliments of a wealthy technologist named Jon Lowe.

In social media posts, Mills describes Lowe as a “compilation of tech savants we’ve been seeing for years now, and a real-life friend who wants to act on a grand scale to improve the life of others.” 

The question is whether his motivations are pure, or if that much power is a catalyst for corruption to seep in — a point of ongoing debate in the book — and in today’s society. 

Lowe shares certain similarities with a character named Nicholas Ward, who was featured in the Mitch Rapp novel “Enemy at the Gates” (also written by Mills — read my review). 

In that novel, Ward is a wealthy entrepreneur who started a foundation designed to rid the world of its ills (the character was presented as sort of a cross between Bill Gates and Elon Musk). 

Lowe serves a similar purpose as the narrative unfolds in “Fade In.”

In the employ of Lowe is Matt Egan — a past colleague and “friend” of Al-Fayed’s, formerly with the Department of Homeland Security. 

Egan was a key character in the first novel, and we soon learn that his personal life has taken a turn for the worse. As such, Egan has become cold, distant, and difficult to get a read on. 

We soon learn Fade’s fancy rehab comes with a price. 

Egan has been tasked by Lowe to put together a special unit of enforcers to help facilitate the goals of Lowe’s organization… and they need Salam al-Fayed to be part of this “offensive capability.” 

Before we know it, our protagonist is thrust into a world of intrigue he never imagined possible. Fade is the proverbial “man without a country” — his future and the future of the established world order hangs in the balance. 

On a terrific episode of “No Limits: The Thriller Podcast,” Mills talks about al-Fayed’s evolution as a character and the impetus for writing “Fade In.” 

 

“I write books because there are subjects that interest me,” said Mills. “And all that technology that’s right around the corner, or maybe is being developed now or even implemented now…I love that stuff.” 

“It’s sort of like when I first met Tom Clancy. He’d go through, you know, Boeing’s financial statements. They would talk about projects and he would figure out what they were doing from all these different places and put it all together.” 

(FUN FACT: Kyle's father was the real-life inspiration for the character Dan Murray in Clancy's novels.) 

As it regards bringing back a comatose Fade for a new series, Mills said it “just took a few days and I was right back in Fade’s head. And he’s got the same sort of deadly skill set as Mitch Rapp, but from a personality standpoint, he’s like the polar opposite.” 

“[Fade] is a little bit of a pop philosopher. He’s obviously a little bit clinically depressed. Maybe has some substance abuse problems.”

Mills saw bringing back the character as an opportunity to explore some of the key geopolitical issues facing the world today. 

They also discussed the cover art for “Fade In” during the episode. 

Mills said the “gun consultant” he used for the novel gave feedback on the “crosshairs” featured in the design (and changes were made based on his input):  

“Fade In” works as both a sequel to the 2005 novel and a “fresh start” for a new thriller series.

(I enjoyed the pop culture references and the nods to “Mission: Impossible.”)

Compared to some of his contemporaries, the ambiguous and cynical nature of Mills’ protagonist better reflects the world we live in today (pretty cool considering the fact that Salam al-Fayed was introduced to readers 20 years ago). 

I’m excited to see where things go from here!! 

If you’d like to learn more about Kyle Mills and his novels, visit his website at kylemills.com. 

>> Order your copy of “Fade In” here.

>> If you enjoyed my review of “Fade In” by Kyle Mills, be sure to follow me on Twitter/X — @TheJonCrunch 

Previous post: Book Review: Brad Thor’s “Blowback” is Full of Contagious International Intrigue 

Book Review: Take an “Oath of Loyalty” for Kyle Mills’ Latest Rapp Thriller

Thank goodness Mitch Rapp is back... 

I needed this. I've been in something of a “book slump” recently. 

Have you ever been in a book slump? As a reader, it can be a frustrating thing. 

I always have a book in hand, and I like to feel like I'm making progress in my reading goals each year. But sometimes I just get stuck — and can’t seem to finish anything. 

Since I started reading Vince Flynn's venerable Mitch Rapp series back in 2006, the novels have become “go to” stories that serve as a “literary elixir” for me. 

But when you are all caught up with a series, you have to wait patiently — with eager anticipation — to see what the next book will bring. 

This year’s entry — “Oath of Loyalty” — just arrived in the form of an advance reader copy as part of my participation in the “Mitch Rapp Ambassador” program. 

It couldn’t come soon enough.

“Oath of Loyalty” follows “tip of the spear” operator Rapp as he deals with the aftermath of events in 2021’s “Enemy at the Gates” (read my review). 

Our hero has a lot on his plate (both literally and figuratively) in this novel.

As the story begins, Rapp is dealing with the aftermath of a tense (and tragic) showdown with a long-time colleague. 

President Anthony Cook is hellbent on nullifying the perceived threat Rapp poses to his administration. 

In addition, various assassins-for-hire (including a new player known only as “Legion”) are on the trail of our protagonist and his make-shift family — former assassin Claudia Gould and her daughter Anna (named after Rapp’s deceased wife). 

Author Kyle Mills keeps the focus primarily on Rapp in this outing, dishing up a thriller with healthy portions of our hero's domestic life. 

“Oath of Loyalty” illustrates Mills’ range in the genre as he ratchets up the narrative intrigue. 

Instead of macro-level events seen in recent entries — such as a pandemic-level threat in “Lethal Agent” (read my review) or a mass power outage in “Total Power” (read my review) — smaller moments fuel the suspense in “Oath of Loyalty.” 

(If you ever wondered if “household errands” could be fodder for building tension in a thriller novel, wonder no more.)

In that regard, the novel has a kinship with 2008’s “Extreme Measures” and 2009’s “Pursuit of Honor” — shedding light on the pitfalls of mixing a family with a career in espionage. 

There is also an undercurrent running through “Oath of Loyalty” that echoes the political climate fueling unrest in the United States today. 

Mills alludes to the concept of a world where global power is accumulated by a loose alliance of dictators throwing their weight around — an environment where weakness and compromise aren’t tolerated. 

President Cook hopes to be at the helm of this new world order. 

One of the returning players introduced in "Enemy at the Gates" is trillionaire Nicholas Ward (described by Mills in interviews as a cross between Elon Musk and Bill Gates) who has a foundation dedicated to solving the world’s ills. 

Mills (yet again) proves to be prescient as it regards the power, influence, and controversy he imbued in Ward. 

In the intervening year since the publication of “Enemy at the Gates,” we’ve watched as Elon Musk has become the world’s wealthiest person, attempted to purchase Twitter, and become a political lightning rod in the process. 

In the same vein, there is a subtext in “Oath of Loyalty” that hints at Ward working to build his sphere of influence. The question posed is whether or not the trillionaire (with his vast resources) could reshape the world in a way that governments are incapable of doing. 

It will be fascinating to see what Mills has in store for that character in the future — and how his relationship with Rapp evolves. 

Mills has been adept at shifting the course of Mitch Rapp’s future in incremental steps through eight novels. What we have in “Oath of Loyalty” is a protagonist who has more depth and nuance than he did in the early entries in this series. 

Rapp’s future is hazy, and that uncertainty presents a variety of interesting opportunities for Mills going forward. 

I’m curious to see how things develop! 

A key aspect of Mills’ work in the Mitch Rapp series (since taking over for Vince Flynn after the author’s death in 2013) is his effortless prose. 

Mills (an author known for crafting detailed outlines prior to writing) is an underrated wordsmith. There is a readability factor in his work that elevates the overall pace and keeps you turning the pages. 

As the years progress, I become more convinced that “how” a book is written is just as important as “what” the book is about (maybe more). 

In the case of “Oath of Loyalty,” the symbiosis between the craftsmanship and plot is terrific. That one-two punch might make this Mills’ most enjoyable novel yet!

As I mentioned earlier, I received an advance copy of “Oath of Loyalty” as part of the “Mitch Rapp Ambassador” program. If you are interested in learning more about the program — and learning more about the Mitch Rapp series — head over to the official website for additional details. 

I mean, you might someday find yourself featured on the site (like I was in 2019). 

It’s also worth following the official Vince Flynn Twitter and Facebook accounts if you haven’t done so. In addition to the “Mitch Rapp Ambassador” program, there are other fun giveaways and contests throughout the year. 

I’ve pre-ordered my copy of “Oath of Loyalty” in hardcover. You can order your copy here. It will arrive Sept. 13, 2022.

Related posts on Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills: 

> Cool to be Part of the “What’s Your Story” Feature on VinceFlynn.com 

> Honored to Be Part of “Mitch Rapp Novel” Title Reveal! 

> Thoughts on “The Survivor”... A Mitch Rapp Novel By Kyle Mills 

> Book Review: “Vince Flynn - Order To Kill” By Kyle Mills

> Book Review: “Vince Flynn - Enemy of the State” By Kyle Mills 

> Contagious Thrills in “Vince Flynn - Lethal Agent” By Kyle Mills 

> Book Review: Sparks Fly In “Vince Flynn - Total Power” By Kyle Mills

> Book Review: Things Change In “Enemy at the Gates” By Kyle Mills 

> “American Assassin” Review: “It’s About the Mission, Not About You!” 

> Bentley’s “Capture or Kill” Gives Rapp Series a Shot of Retro Adrenaline 

> Book Review: Fan Wishes Granted in “Denied Access” By Don Bentley 

> Book Review: A Unique Protagonist and Snark Highlight Kyle Mills’ Thriller “Fade” 

> Book Review: Heroes Come Alive in “Fade In” By Kyle Mills 

Previous post: Water That Looks Like Beer: Clever Marketing or Potential Problem?