Imus Crushes On Vince Flynn

Vince Flynn has written 11 novels to date, his latest is the bestselling Pursuit of Honor. However, he is also an admitted fan of the I-Man, which is always a troubling sign.

Imus was interested to learn that Flynn is dyslexic, and struggled to read and write until he was a junior in college. Fearing for his future, he dove headfirst into teaching himself to do both. "I fell in love with the very thing I hated," said Flynn.

He thinks learning disabilities like dyslexia and attention deficit disorder, often hindrances to children, actually become advantageous to adults.

"I always knew how the stories were going to turn out," he said, and credited this gift to his dyslexia.

Flynn was inspired to write his own book following a friend's murder in Washington, DC. He had never written anything before, but then again, neither had his favorite author Tom Clancy when he had his first success.

"Every publisher in New York City rejected Clancy and Grisham," he said. Flynn self-published his first book Term Limits, in which disgruntled Special Forces guys in DC bump off corrupt politicians.

"It could only have been the first book," he said. "I wouldn't write it now!"

The book went to number one in the Twin Cities, Simon and Schuster came calling, and the rest is, well, still happening for millions of lucky readers out there. His main character in most books is a guy named Mitch Rapp, whose girlfriend was killed in Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.

After witnessing that horrific event while in college, Flynn suspected that terrorism was only going to get worse. "We should go on the offensive, we should have somebody over there taking these guys out before they hit us," he said to himself at the time. Mitch Rapp became that guy.

Flynn's books contain a level of detail about intelligence and military strategy that has caused him to be put under security review by the government on a number of occasions.

"I had President Bush very pointedly ask me at one point, 'Where are you getting your information?'" said Flynn. Though, as Imus observed, that was probably just because nobody was telling him anything.

So prescient are Flynn's books that former CIA Director Porter Goss flagged him down one time in the Pentagon to tell him he had made Flynn's Consent to Kill required reading for station chiefs all over the Middle East.

"This is really scary," said Imus, who is always skeptical of big I-Fans. Though he does appreciate their vivid imaginations.

Flynn does not think the 9/11 masterminds' trial should be held in New York City; he instead advocates building an "Amish-style" courtroom on the field in Pennsylvania where United Flight 93 went down, and offering each terrorist two options.

"The first is, you go to the federal penitentiary for the rest of your life," said Flynn. "Choice two, we march you guys to the tallest building in Manhattan that's slated for destruction. We put you on the top floor, we put 20,000 gallons of jet fuel on the first floor, we light the candle. And you guys get to decide if you want to jump, or die from smoke inhalation."

"I can see why people like you," said Imus.

-Julie Kanfer