In one bloody night, three of Washington's most powerful politicians are executed with surgical precision. Their assassins then deliver a shocking ultimatum to the American government: set aside partisan politics and restore power to the people. No one, they warn, is out of their reach -- not even the president. A joint FBI-CIA task force reveals the killers are elite military commandos, but no one knows exactly who they are or when they will strike next. Only Michael O'Rourke, a former U.S. Marine and freshman congressman, holds a clue to the violence: a haunting incident in his own past with explosive implications for his country's future.... ( )

Loved it! This book gripped me from the get go and kept me running along with it. It actually surprises me that I like these political stories. I am not a political person at all, but these books seem to interest me. I think it's because it seems so unreal that these things go on, but I'm sure that it's not all that far out there. I'm sure that there is corruption in our government but it makes me wonder just how much.

This story follows the good guys and the bad guys through assassinations of prominent congressmen and senators. There are so many different people and agencies involved in trying to track down the killers, that I sometimes found that I had to reread paragraphs just to figure out who was doing what. I'm actually not saying that in a negative way! I liked that there were this many people. It worked. And, as much of a "boy book" this was, there was a woman involved which I thought really added to the story. I'd have liked to have gotten to know her better in this book.

The ending to this book normally would have made me mad. It was a little abrupt, but I actually liked it. It just kind of ends with one of the characters walking away. It leaves a little to the imagination even though it's pretty obvious where things go from there.

Overall, I liked it a lot and look forward to checking out other books by Flynn. ( )

The only reason I finished this book is so that I could honestly and completely write a review. This is one of the worst books I have ever read or come across. The characters are poorly developed and display inadequate motivation that I could buy in to to justify their committing murder. I frequently read murder mysteries. But, in this book the "hero"/main character is a murderer and vigilante. The main character, a young Congressman in Washington, D.C. justified violent behavior with the wording in the Declaration of Independence used by Thomas Jefferson and other Founding Fathers justified our revolution. However, now we do have voting rights. Why didn't these men exercise their right to run a candidate for public office and get rid of the people they killed in a lawful manner and allow the people to exercise their will. What takes place in this book is a military coup d'etat. As an American I find that really offensive that these men would voilate the rule of law and and true spirit of the Constitution. Our Founding Fathers very carefully put into the Constitution the superiority of civilian authority to our military for good reason. I am surprised at the high rating for this book. The writing wasn't even at the level of a freshman English class. ( )

Very disappointing. Not as good as his later books. This was very silly, even for an action thriller it was stupid and unbelievable. ( )

Review by Jeremy Taylor

On February 27, 1951, the United States Congress addressed an oversight left out of the United States Constitution by its writers: presidential term limits. Seven years after the fourth successful bid for the nation’s highest office by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Congress opted to limit future presidential tenures to a maximum of two terms—eight years. Conveniently, they neglected to address the number of terms to which senators and congressmen may aspire.

In Term Limits, Vince Flynn presents a realistic scenario of what Washington, D.C. might look like if a small group of political malcontents opted to enforce term limits on some of their least favorite lawmakers. Only this time, the enforcement doesn’t result in being kicked out of office; it results in death.

In a single night of brutal violence, three of the nation’s most influential—and corrupt—lawmakers are ruthlessly killed. The assassins deliver a horrifying message to the country’s leaders: Put partison politics aside and find a way to balance the budget, or more legislators will be killed. The efficiency of the murders leads the FBI to conclude that the killers are highly trained—possibly former military. Now the search is on for the assassins as Washingtonian fingers begin to point and decision makers begin to weigh their desire for power and control against their own chances for survival in the wake of this new threat.

When the government is slow to enact change, more deaths ensue. And it soon becomes clear that no one in power is insulated against the attacks—even the president himself.

As the nation teeters on the brink of hysteria, freshman congressman Michael O’Rourke must face his own demons and question the things he believes in most strongly in order to stay one step ahead of the murderers. And when he begins to suspect that he may be closer to the perpetrators than anyone suspects, he knows it will be up to him to uncover their identities and put a stop to the killing.

But is that the right thing to do? After all, the federal government is finally beginning, however slowly and under however much duress, to enact some much-needed change. The question O’Rourke has to answer is whether governmental integrity is more important than human life. The decision he makes will affect a nation.

Term Limits was the first of a long string of best-sellers for Vince Flynn, and it’s not hard to figure out why. With reasonably strong characters, fast-moving action, and—perhaps most significantly—a strongly compelling plot, Flynn joins heavy-hitters like Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum in the camp of authors who have managed to tie what people understand least about government together with what they understand best about excitement and suspense. The combination, when done properly, is nearly always a winner.

This book, when read by a careful eye, displays some evidence of its author’s inexperience. Abrupt and inappropriate point-of-view switches abound, and dialog is stilted and wooden at times. Nevertheless, the overall strength of the writing and the interest the story generates largely overcome the book’s weaknesses.

Caution: Term Limits contains some scenes of fairly graphic (though, I would argue, not gratuitous) violence, and the main male and female characters live together while unmarried. The book’s success clearly rests on its action, not its thought-provoking depth.

(http://www.cerebralexchange.com/books...) ( )

I'm not sure what disturbs me more - the reckless and dangerous plot or how poorly written this book is.

To summarize, Flynn argues that the people in a democracy have the right to assasinate their leaders when their political values are being ignored. Is this guy for real? Democracy is about the will of the majority - if the majority vote in a set of politicians, the rest must accept the outcome and work to elect representatives who share their views. A novel about political killings is fine ... but not a book that argues that murder is justified (as this one does).

As for the book itself, it is very poorly written. Character development is non-existent, the dialogue is so bad it's funny and the pacing can't hold a candle to Clancy or Grisham. ( )