Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road: Mitch Rapp

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Tuesday, May 07, 2024

Lethal Agent (Mitch Rapp #18) 3Stars

Title: Lethal Agent
Series: Mitch Rapp #18
Author: Vince Flynn & Kyle Mills
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 321
Words: 101K

Wicked, wicked nasty politics. And Irene Kennedy is pretty much helpless.

Yeah, I don’t buy it for a second. Kennedy was trained by one of the best CIA agents whoever sat behind a desk. She knows how the game is played and even as the game changes, she is brilliant enough to stay ahead of it. Instead, she’s a stupid lackwit running three steps behind everything. I’ve complained about Mills not knowing how to utilize Kennedy and this book spotlighted that weakness. Like a prison spotlight on an escaping prisoner.

Gahhhhhh! While I’m not a fan of politics, the original author did a great job of working it into the series. Mills can’t do it, so he needs to stay away from that arena all together. This was ham handed, ham fisted, heck, it was Christmas ham’d. I can’t read this kind of thing any more. So I’m stopping Mitch Rapp until a new author takes over the franchise.

★★★☆☆

From Kylemills.com

A toxic presidential election is underway in an America already badly weakened by internal divisions. While politicians focus entirely on maintaining their own power and privilege, ISIS kidnaps a brilliant French microbiologist and forces him to begin manufacturing anthrax. Slickly produced videos chronicling his progress and threatening an imminent attack are posted to the Internet, intensifying the hysteria gripping the US.

ISIS recruits a Mexican drug cartel to smuggle the bioweapon across the border, but it’s really just a diversion. The terrorist organization needs to keep Mitch Rapp and Irene Kennedy distracted long enough to weaponize a deadly virus that they stumbled upon in Yemen. If they succeed, they’ll trigger a pandemic that could rewrite the world order.

Rapp embarks on a mission to infiltrate the Mexican cartels and track down the ISIS leader who he failed to kill during their last confrontation. But with Washington’s political elite increasingly lined up against him, he knows he’ll be on his own.

All My “Mitch Rapp” Reviews

Saturday, March 30, 2024

Red War (Mitch Rapp #17) 3Stars

Title: Red War
Series: Mitch Rapp #17
Author: Vince Flynn & Kyle Mills
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 316
Words: 96K

On his author page for the book, Kyle Mills shows how his speculation about powerful world leaders and specifically Putin, formed the basis for this book. Published in 2018, it was very prescient of how Russia would act in the coming years. Thankfully for us, Russia chose to invade Ukraine instead of starting World War III by invading some NATO countries. So I consider this book alternate future history.

At the same time, it was very uncomfortable as we know how the conflict actually has turned out and there is no super action hero to save the day. Men like Mitch Rapp are purely fictional, unfortunately. I’d have much preferred a truly fictional story for a truly fictional character. War is only enjoyable to read about if you know what is happening isn’t real, can’t be real and never will be real. Once it takes a turn into the possible, then you are forced to deal with the horrors of real war.

It was a great action story. With the retired assassin Azarov being forced out of retirement and working alongside Rapp, the dynamics were great. I was able to put aside my dislike of Mills’ handling of Rapp as a purely action hero’y kind of guy and just let the story carry me along, like I had just jumped out of an airplane for a HALO insertion.

And I just landed in your back yard. And killed you. With my nuclear bazooka. So I win! Just like I did when I read this book.

★★★☆☆

From Kylemills.com

Synopsis – Click to Open

When Russian president Maxim Krupin discovers that he has inoperable brain cancer, he’s determined to cling to power. His first task is to kill or imprison any of his countrymen who can threaten him. Soon, though, his illness becomes serious enough to require a more dramatic diversion—war with the West.

Upon learning of Krupin’s condition, CIA director Irene Kennedy understands that the US is facing an opponent who has nothing to lose. The only way to avoid a confrontation that could leave millions dead is to send Mitch Rapp to Russia under impossibly dangerous orders. With the Kremlin’s entire security apparatus hunting him, he must find and kill a man many have deemed the most powerful in the world.

Success means averting a war that could consume all of Europe. But if his mission is discovered, Rapp will plunge Russia and America into a conflict that neither will survive.

All My “Mitch Rapp” Reviews

Sunday, February 11, 2024

Enemy of the State (Mitch Rapp #16) 3Stars

Title: Enemy of the State
Series: Mitch Rapp #16
Author: Vince Flynn & Kyle Mills
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 331
Words: 103K

The US President is tired of the Saudi’s continuing to fund terrorism while taking our money to supposedly fight it themselves. So he sends Mitch Rapp on a mission to start killing the Saudi Royalty as a way to show they can no longer be safe as terrorist proxies. Things go south and Rapp becomes disavowed by the US government. One of his old enemies is co-opted by a corrupt Saudi working for ISIS to hunt Rapp down. And just in case that isn’t enough, Rapp’s new girl wants to start working the logistics side of supporting him in the field.

Kennedy, the Director of the CIA and Rapp’s boss, is barely in this story. I don’t think Mills knows how to truly utilize her and so he just has pushed her to the background. He’s also turned Mitch Rapp into the crazy killing machine everyone thought he was (but wasn’t) when the original author Vince Flynn was writing him. Mills has a much heavier hand and there’s no nuance or suggestion. It’s not a terrible change but it makes Rapp a much less interesting character and limits the scope of what he is capable of.

The action/adventure side of things is definitely all there. It was good. It is what is keeping this series from descending into mediocre territory since Mills just can’t seem to handle Mitch Rapp as a character. I’m going to continue to read these book, I’m going to continue to enjoy them but I am definitely going to continue to complain about Mills’ handling of the characters.

After writing that, I thought about it for a bit. I realized that it isn’t so much that Mills doesn’t “get” Rapp, but that he doesn’t have the same sense of the political that Flynn did. It feels like Mills is colorblind in this regards while Flynn had an eye for various shades of the same color, thus able to subtly bring out aspects you’d never expect. Mills simply can’t do that because of his limitations. Part of me thinks I shouldn’t pick on the poor gimpo, but he is the one who chose to pick up the brush of the master and try to continue his work. I am never going to compare Mills to other books by Mills because I have zero interest in his other works. I will always be comparing him to Flynn, because Flynn started this and created a masterful canvas to work on. Mills just isn’t as good an author as Flynn was. In his defense, he never whines or complains in the forwards or afterwards. He has a cash cow and he’s thankful for every squeezing it gives him.

I just wish he’d make some of that wonderful caramalized onion cheddar instead of the straight up sharp cheddar.

★★★☆☆

From Kylemills.com/books/enemy-of-the-state/

Click to Open

In the #1 New York Times bestselling series’ latest installment, Mitch Rapp finds himself alone and targeted by a country that is supposed to be one of America’s closest allies.

After 9/11, the US made one of the most secretive and dangerous deals in its history—the evidence against the powerful Saudis who coordinated the attack would be buried. In return, King Faisal would promise to keep the oil flowing and deal with the conspirators in his midst.

When the king’s own nephew is discovered funding ISIS, the president suspects that the Saudis never intended to live up to their agreement. He decides that the royalty needs to be sent a message and that Mitch Rapp is just the man to deliver it. The catch? America can’t be seen moving against an ally. Rapp will be on his own.

Forced to make a decision that will change his life forever, Rapp quits the CIA and assembles a group of independent contractors to help him complete the mission.

They’ve barely begun unraveling the connections between the Saudi government and ISIS when the brilliant new head of the intelligence directorate discovers their efforts. With Rapp getting too close, he threatens to go public with the details of the post-9/11 agreement between the two countries.

Facing an international incident that could end his political career, the President orders America’s intelligence agencies to join the Saudis’ effort to hunt the former CIA man down.

Rapp, supported only by a team of mercenaries with dubious allegiances, finds himself at the center of the most elaborate manhunt in history. It’s only a matter of time before he’s caught or killed. Will it be enough to turn the tables on the Saudis and clear his name?

All My “Mitch Rapp” Reviews

Sunday, June 11, 2023

Order to Kill (Mitch Rapp #15) ★★★✬☆

Title: Order to Kill
Series: Mitch Rapp #15
Author: Kyle Mills
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 324
Words: 101K

From the Publisher and Bookstooge.blog

In the next thrilling novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Mitch Rapp series, the anti-terrorism operative heads to Pakistan to confront a mortal threat he may not be prepared for. In fact, this time he might have met his match.

Mitch Rapp is used to winning.

But in this follow-up to #1 New York Times bestselling The Survivor, the CIA operative finds himself chasing false leads from continent to continent in an effort to keep Pakistani nukes from falling into the hands of terrorists. Together with friend and colleague Scott Coleman, Rapp struggles to prevent the loss of these lethal weapons, particularly because Russia is also interested in the nukes, though not for the same reason as Rapp and Coleman.

Soon, it becomes alarmingly clear that the forces in Moscow are bent on fomenting even more chaos and turmoil in the Middle East, and Rapp must go deep into Russian territory, posing as an American ISIS recruit. There, he uncovers a plan much more dangerous and insidious than he ever expected, one that could have far-reaching and catastrophic consequences.

At the same time, a younger assassin is hired to take out Rapp. The problem for Rapp is that this younger guy is even better than Rapp was at that age. So Rapp has to deal with a faster, more agile version of himself AND a bunch of ISIS jihadists who want to dirty nuke the oil fields of Saudi Arabia.

Being Mitch Rapp, he does it and he woos the widow of the man who tried to kill him in the previous books. Now there’s a lady who can handle Mitch Rapp.

Well, Kyle Mills has definitely made Mitch Rapp his own character and it’s slightly different from the version Vince Flynn created. And not for the better. This Rapp is angrier without cause and has a lot less control of his words and temper. I haven’t watched the movie “American Assassin” yet, but from the reviews of it, the version of Mitch Rapp in the movie is much more like the Kyle Mills version than the Vince Flynn version.

Confused yet? Yeah, it’s a mess and it is not making me enjoy this series more.

At the same time, this was a great story. I mean, dirty nukes and Russian hitmen and ISIS terrorists and a take no prisoners secret agent who is kicking all of their butts. How can you not enjoy that?

So I’m going to take a break from Kyle Mills and “his” Mitch Rapp for a couple of months and come back when I feel like I can treat it like a new character and series. I’ve also taken Vince Flynn’s name out of the info box and am not using his name as an author tag for this series either.

★★★✬☆

All My “Mitch Rapp” Reviews

Thursday, April 27, 2023

The Survivor (Mitch Rapp #14) ★★★✬☆

Title: The Surivor
Series: Mitch Rapp #14
Author: Vince Flynn & Kyle Mills
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 336
Words: 104K

From the Publisher and Bookstooge.blog

When Joe “Rick” Rickman, former golden boy of the CIA, steals a massive amount of the Agency’s most classified documents in an elaborate betrayal of his country, CIA director Irene Kennedy has no choice but to send her most dangerous weapon after him: elite covert operative Mitch Rapp.

Rapp quickly dispatches with the traitor, but Rickman proves to be a deadly threat to America even from beyond the grave. In fact, mysterious tip-offs are appearing all over the world, linking to the potentially devastating data that Rickman managed to store somewhere only he knew.

It’s a deadly race to the finish as both the Pakistanis and the Americans search desperately for Rickman’s accomplices, and for the confidential documents they are slowly leaking to the world. To save his country from being held hostage to a country set on becoming the world’s newest nuclear superpower, Mitch Rapp must outrun, outthink, and outgun his deadliest enemies yet.

In the cold of Russia, Rapp finds the hacker who has been releasing the info. He kills the Pakistani’s who are trying to recover it and recovers it himself. Director Kennedy then sends him on a mission to destroy the head of Pakistani Intelligence Agency, as he was the one trying to make use of the data. Rapp kills him with a poison meant for another, thus making it look like a complete accident.

This was the first book after Vince Flynn, the original author had died from cancer. His name is prominently on the cover while Kyle Mills is in tiny little print. With this being the first book, I have no idea how much was already done by Flynn or if Mills had to do the bulk of the work. Considering this book was a direct sequel to The Last Man, I’m leaning toward Flynn having done most of the work before his death and Mills stepping in to maybe write the ending and polish it up.

Overall, I’m satisfied with how Mills did. There were a couple of times where Rapp acted a bit more crazy than usual and not as rational and it made me go “oh, there’s Mills’ interpretation of Rapp”. Hoping I won’t have more of those moments with future books.

And that brings me to another issue. The passage of time. It’s not super apparent with each book, but over a decade has passed since the first book. Irene Kennedy’s son is now a 17 year old boy. Mitch is in his mid 40’s. It’s about time for him to retire from active field operations and either take over the training of new recruits or to get a desk job looking at data and planning ops. There are currently 22 books in this series, so I know that Mills keeps up writing. Which means that Rapp doesn’t just retire and we the readers get “the end”. My guess is that several of the books will be prequels, much like what Flynn did with American Assassin, which showcased Rapp’s origin. I guess I’ll be finding out over the coming months! 🙂

★★★✬☆

All My “Mitch Rapp” Reviews

Friday, March 17, 2023

The Last Man (Mitch Rapp #13) ★★★✬☆

Title: The Last Man
Series: Mitch Rapp #13
Author: Vince Flynn
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 377
Words: 127K

From Vinceflynn.com & Me

The head of clandestine operations in Afghanistan has been kidnapped, his four bodyguards executed in cold blood. With the CIA plunged into crisis mode, Rapp is dispatched to find his missing friend, Joe Rickman, at all costs. He isn’t the only one looking for Rickman; an FBI special agent is at his heels, determined to blame Rapp for the bloody debacle. Rapp is, however, the only one who knows certain things about the vanished black ops master—secrets that in the wrong hands could prove disastrous. With elements of his own government undermining him—and America’s security—at every turn, Rapp must be as ruthless and deceitful as his enemies to complete this razor’s-edge mission. And it turns out Rickman planned the whole thing and tried to kill Rapp because he knew Rapp was the only one who could catch him out. So when Rapp catches up to Rickman, he puts a bullet in his head. Because that’s how you treat traitors. Period.

Sadly, this was the last Mitch Rapp book written by Vince Flynn. Flynn succumbed to cancer after this and that was thought to be the end of the matter. Thankfully, another author took up the challenge and Flynn’s estate allowed it to go forward, so we do get more Mitch Rapp stories. We’ll see what they are like when I get to them. But to this book.

I KNEW Rickman was the jackass scumbag from the get go. I was hoping Flynn wasn’t going to go the obvious route and that we’d be getting something really tricky and twisted. C’est la vie! It was still a great thriller with tons of action. The assassin who killed Rapp’s wife and unborn baby gets involved and that really upped the stakes. It also showed the difference between a free lance assassin for hire and someone like Rapp.

The political side of things are touched upon but they wrap up so quickly and so neatly at the end that I wondered if Flynn did it that way just to finish the book. I was kind of hoping Rapp would pay the traitorous Senator a visit and maybe even kill him. You don’t sell top secret secrets to countries like Afghanistan and NOT be a traitor. Sadly, the CIA Director, Kennedy, makes the most of it politically and pretty much tells the Senator he is now her plaything or she’ll reveal everything. That makes sense but it’s not as cool as what I wanted 😀

I was pretty happy with this read and it helped to wile away a couple of days. That’s all I can truly ask for from a book.

★★★✬☆

All My “Mitch Rapp” Reviews

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Kill Shot (Mitch Rapp #12) ★★★★✬

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Kill Shot
Series: Mitch Rapp #12
Author: Vince Flynn
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 336
Words: 116.5K

★★★★✬

All My “Mitch Rapp” Reviews

Saturday, September 10, 2022

American Assassin (Mitch Rapp #11) ★★★★☆

Title: American Assassin
Series: Mitch Rapp #11
Author: Vince Flynn
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 381
Words: 125K

Synopsis:

From the Publishers

Before he was considered a CIA superagent, before he was thought of as a terrorist’s worst nightmare, and before he was both loathed and admired by the politicians on Capitol Hill, Mitch Rapp was a gifted college athlete without a care in the world…and then tragedy struck.

Two decades of cutthroat, partisan politics has left the CIA and the country in an increasingly vulnerable position. Cold War veteran and CIA Operations Director Thomas Stansfield knows he must prepare his people for the next war. The rise of Islamic terrorism is coming, and it needs to be met abroad before it reaches America’s shores. Stansfield directs his protÉgÉe, Irene Kennedy, and his old Cold War colleague, Stan Hurley, to form a new group of clandestine operatives who will work outside the normal chain of command-men who do not exist.

What type of man is willing to kill for his country without putting on a uniform? Kennedy finds him in the wake of the Pan Am Lockerbie terrorist attack. Two-hundred and seventy souls perished that cold December night, and thousands of family and friends were left searching for comfort. Mitch Rapp was one of them, but he was not interested in comfort. He wanted retribution.

Six months of intense training has prepared him to bring the war to the enemy’s doorstep, and he does so with brutal efficiency. Rapp starts in Istanbul, where he assassinates the Turkish arms dealer who sold the explosives used in the Pan Am attack. Rapp then moves onto Hamburg with his team and across Europe, leaving a trail of bodies. All roads lead to Beirut, though, and what Rapp doesn’t know is that the enemy is aware of his existence and has prepared a trap. The hunter is about to become the hunted, and Rapp will need every ounce of skill and cunning if he is to survive the war-ravaged city and its various terrorist factions.

My Thoughts:

You know, I think this was one of the best Mitch Rapp novels so far. His college sweetheart is already dead, his future wife hasn’t entered the picture yet and we get to see the forging of an unparalleled weapon.

THIS is what I wanted from the get-go. A man unfettered by human connection, touched by tragedy but with an uncorrupted moral compass. A weapon with a conscience, as it were. If Mitch has to have a companion, he needs someone compatible. He’s a Desert Eagle 357 Magnum. His dead wife was a glass of whiskey. Those 2 things aren’t inherently compatible. What Mitch’s gun needs is either a matching gun or a security case where it can rest until needed. I don’t think that’s going to happen though.

Being a prequel, we know that Mitch isn’t going to fail and as such some of the tension is gone but the action keeps up the tempo and this is a thrill a minute. I also wondered if it would be a good thing to start the series here, but I am in the camp of reading a series in which the author wrote it and despite how good I think this book is, nothing about it changed my thoughts on the reading order.

All My “Mitch Rapp” Reviews

Friday, August 12, 2022

Pursuit of Honor (Mitch Rapp #10) ★★★✬☆

Title: Pursuit of Honor
Series: Mitch Rapp #10
Author: Vince Flynn
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 402
Words: 129.5K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia

The book opens days after Muslim extremists have blown up a power lunch restaurant filled with members of Congress and staffers. After that, a second squad attacks the National Counter Terrorist Center killing dozens more until Mitch Rapp and his partner Mike Nash send the bad guys off to paradise. With nearly 200 dead, the nation is in no mood to negotiate with the Islamic extremists. The President has given Rapp a green light to be the judge, jury and executioner. The sharp edge of the CIA’s sword has been let loose with few strings attached. The story takes place over the following week.

Rapp is on the trail of a liberal lawyer inspector general of the CIA who has been giving out information that some consider to aid the enemy. Meanwhile, three of the cell that helped carry out the DC attack are hiding out in rural Iowa, waiting for the heat to die down. Hakim is the mastermind who knows about the US after living here for a long time while Karim is the hotheaded soldier who wants a legacy as The Lion of al Qaeda. One day, a dad and son walk up to their farmhouse asking for permission to hunt nearby. Hakim gave them his permission because he knows that’s all they want, but Karim is convinced they are undercover police and kills them both. Now they are on the run, trying to stay a step ahead of the police. Neither trusts the other and they ended up splitting. Hakim to Nassau to get money and hide somewhere while Karim and Ahmed, their loyal servant went to Washington to wreak more havoc.

After the President award a medal to Nash (set up by Mitch for Nash to give Nash a better life), Karim kidnapped Nash’s daughter while Nash and his wife have dinner in a restaurant. Karim and Ahmed brought Nash’s daughter to the Lincoln Memorial and decided to make a deal with Nash. At the exchange point, Mitch successfully killed Karim.

My Thoughts:

Once again, the author gets a family involved and I didn’t know how it was going to turn out until it was all over with. It certainly adds a lot dramatic tension but at the same time I don’t like it. Children being in danger, in one form or another, is not something I want in my entertainment.

This alternates between Mitch Rapp’s point of view of the story and the terrorists who survived the attack from the last book, Extreme Measures. The terrorists are a study in contrasts and there is as much conflict between them as there is between them all and Rapp. It made for an alphabet soup of tension and story telling and I rather enjoyed it.

Director Kennedy (head of the CIA) continues to play a very small part and I have to admit I miss her not having as much to do with the story as in the earlier books. She’s smart as a whip and I always enjoyed reading about her as she maneuvered the politics of whatever situation was going on while Rapp dealt with the physical side of things.

Taking a little break and limiting myself to 3 Mitch Rapp books at a time seems to be the right move.

All My “Mitch Rapp” Reviews