American Assassin: A Thriller (1) (A Mitch Rapp Novel)

American Assassin is a fast-paced and intense thriller that kept me hooked from start to finish. It follows Mitch Rapp, a young man who’s recruited into a secret CIA training program after losing his girlfriend in a terrorist attack. What I really liked is how the book dives into Rapp’s transformation—he starts off raw and emotional, but quickly becomes a skilled and ruthless operative. The training scenes are brutal and realistic, especially his dynamic with Stan Hurley, the tough veteran who pushes Rapp to his limits. Flynn does a great job showing the mental and physical toll of becoming an assassin, while still making Rapp feel human and relatable. The action is sharp and well-written, and the story moves quickly without losing depth. I appreciated how Flynn didn’t shy away from the moral gray areas of espionage and revenge. It’s not just about fighting terrorists—it’s about what that fight does to the people involved. Overall, American Assassin is a solid read if you enjoy spy thrillers with strong characters and gritty realism. It’s a great entry point into the Mitch Rapp series, and I’m definitely planning to read more.

American Assassin is another must read by Vince Flynn. This latest edition to the Mitch Rapp series will help you put two and two together on the Mitch Rapp history that was never covered. Not only does this clear up a fuzzy history of Mitch but also some of the other players in the series such as Irene Kennedy and Thomas Stansfield as well. It is not the non-stop action you may be accustomed to with Vince Flynn but this is still a much-needed addition to the series. The beginning of the story is about how Irene recruits Mitch from college vs. being from a more operational background. Which doesn't set to well with the trainer Stan Hurley, who will do everything possible to stop Mitch from finishing his training. Right from the start you can see the competition and building friendship between these two that will continue to grow throughout the series. You could tell from the first meeting in the barn that Mitch had a raw talent for the Clandestine service that others had to be taught. We know Mitch as a killing machine that needs no backup, but in this story we get to walk through his first engagements with Islamic radicals and Russians. Even from these first engagements you can see what a natural Mitch is at this line of work. Reading this book after already feeling you know Mitch helps to clear up some confusion I had while reading the others. I would sometimes feel that I was missing some part of the story and since I started reading the series 2009 I always thought I had missed a book. Turns out I did not miss a book it just didn't start from the beginning. This was not the page-turner that the majority of series seems to be but it was a very necessary book, which I think wrote very well. A vast majority of his audience may expect more action out of a Mitch Rapp book, but this one incorporates more of the back-story along with the normal action. It was like finding the missing piece of a puzzle hiding under the couch. The biggest drawback to American Assassin was the editing. It seems to be rushed to make a due date or some other glitch. It's hard to believe that they went ahead with releasing it with so many spelling errors and missing words. But these are the only drawbacks to the book that I found. To sum the book up I would say that this is not Vince's best work but he has set the bar so high its hard to keep it that way for every book. Other than the spelling errors I think that overall this is still a great book and a must read for anyone that has read about Mitch Rapp. You get to go back in time to the beginning of a great character in Mitch Rapp and tie together the missing pieces from so many books.

American Assassin is my first Mitch Rapp and Vince Flynn read. I was intrigued about the books when I heard it was being made into a movie and after a quick Goodreads search on it, I determined it was a book I was intrigued enough about to order, which I did. And once I started reading it, I was hooked on the story and the character of Mitch Rapp. Rapp is one of those characters that immediately draws you in and keeps you invested in his story. He’s intense, driven, extremely intelligent, highly logical and observant, and immensely skilled at what he does. This particular book takes readers through how Rapp got his start as an assassin, going into who he is and where he came from while also showing how he became the man he (seemingly) becomes throughout the rest of the series. Once Rapp is recruited by Irene Kennedy and taken to meet Stan Hurley at the start of American Assassin, we start to see how Rapp is different from the others who came before him. All those qualities I listed above start to show themselves in varying different ways, each of which confuse and intrigue the people who either want him to succeed or want him to fail. He’s unlike anyone else, and that makes him as unpredictable as it does dangerous. Which seems like perfectly good traits for an assassin. This book takes you through Rapp’s training and into his first forays into field work and every single bit of it compelled me to read on. I couldn’t put it down once I started it, and I was never so glad to have made the snap decision to buy the second book in the series before I’d read the first as I was when I finished this book. I was also glad I’d chosen to buy both of books in print because there’s something extremely satisfying about turning the pages on this one. It’s a book that stayed me with, and made me want to go out and buy every single one of the books in the series because of how much I loved reading this one. If you’re looking for an entertaining and compelling espionage read you can escape into for a while, definitely pick up a copy of American Assassin by Vince Flynn. I am going to go out on a limb and recommend getting it in print, too, because if you’re anything like me, this is a series you’re going to want to own in print.

As a person who loves well-written spy and assassin fiction novels while I was browsing on Amazon, I came across a series of novels written by Vince Flynn, which surprisingly I had never heard of and never read any of his novels in the past. After doing a little research of my own I decided to read this book (American assassin: A thriller by Vince Flynn) first (even though it is actually the 11th book in his series) and move on to the others he has written in the order they were presented. As soon as I received the book and began reading it, I could not put it down for very long because I could not wait to get back to the novel. The main character in this book is Mitch Rapp, who while in college was recruited to join the CIA, after the Pam AM Lockerbie terrorist attack. At 23 years old he is the youngest to have been recruited for this special secret assassin unit. He is constantly under supervision, and they are suspicious of his abilities and skills. Some think he is not who he claims to be, and he is constantly being tested at every turn. There is no question he is physically in fantastic shape, and he catches on very quick to anything he is taught like shooting skills. I really enjoyed this book from the very first action-packed page. If you are a fan of spy assassin type novels that are well-written and great reads you should check out this series by Vince Flynn. Rating: 5 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Tactical Principles of the most effective Combative Systems).

Years ago a friend introduced me to the term "popcorn fiction" I love popcorn fiction, those fun, interesting books that you read strictly for enjoyment and not the literary merit. That isn't to say they don't have literary merit, but they are primarily for fun and entertainment. That's how I view Mr Flynn's Mitch Rapp series. I know Mr Flynn is railing against current policies and that we are too soft on terrorists etc but hey, he is making stuff up. This book to was the least over the top rendition of Mitch Rapp, and had the added benefit of making him a bit likable and human. Nice to get the background and best was getting to know Thomas Stansfield a bit when he was running the show in the field. The characters were better developed and although it took a while to get rolling the story moved ahead well and gave us some good backdrops. We see Irene Kennedy starts to assert herself, we see several passing of the guard scenarios and the introduction of new plot twists and capabilities. Mr Flynn has done a nice job of providing background and filling some holes and answering some whys and wheres from his earlier books. So why now? Why introduce a character and a series that has been well developed, sold many copies and has a good following? I don't know but the book serves a good purpose and hopefully will chart a slightly new course and enable Mr Flynn spend less time railing against the ills he perceives and write better books. I am not denigrating the threat of Islamic terrorists, but we finally start to see that they are being manipulated to do the work of the great powers (who ever the current great powers are) as well as trying to fulfill their own twisted goals. Good job Mr Flynn, I am looking forward to the next one

American Assassin was a great introduction to the Mitch Rapp character. Vince Flynn crafted a great character and this book was filled with action, intrigue and great twists. I am looking forward to reading further stories about this up and coming spy.

This book is the origin story of the character of Mitch Rapp, created by Novelist Vince Flynn. For those who are familiar with Flynn's work, he started writing a series of novels, starting with the novel Transfer of Power, which was set around a spy (Rapp) in the prime of his career who took down terrorists in off-the-books missions for the CIA. As Flynn wrote more Mitch Rapp stories, fans clamored for an origin story for the character, and American Assassin was created. So, if you read the books in chronological order, this is Book 1. If you read them in release/publication order, this is Book 11. The basic storyline is that Rapp's girlfriend was killed in the Pan Am 103 bombing over Lockerbie Scottland. He is subsequently recruited into the CIA by Irene Kennedy, and trained (reluctantly), by an aging CIA Agent Stan Hurley. Rapp's skills are beyond his years and beyond his lack of conventional training. The last third of the book involves a mission to save Hurley from kidnappers and at the end, Rapp decides to go on a revenge mission to find the members of the terror cell behind the bombing of Pan Am 103. The book is well-written and the story flows very well. It does jump back and forth in the timeline of events a little, but not so much that it makes following the story hard. In fact, the book is a pretty easy read, even being about 430 pages long, and can be read in a day or two depending on how fast you read and how much time you have to read. The chapters are fairly short so there are a lot of natural stopping points, which is definitely helpful for longer novels. So, if you are a fan of spy novels, this is a very good one to check out.

Yeah that's right. I remember several instances where I spotted typos and editing mistakes in the Harry Potter novels but no one seems to care about that. Not only that, but the error people point out in this book is ONE THING! One absolutely insignificant thing, a conversation between Rapp and Ridley before Rapp launches his plan of action. So Flynn messed up a name; are you people seriously putting that much weight on it? Do these 3 lines of error kill an entire book for you? That's pretty sad. Other than that error, the book is pretty much perfect. I haven't read all the books in the Mitch Rapp series but being a story-writer myself, I look very fondly towards the ability to create a tightly-woven story that allows me to sympathize with the protagonist and the other good guys and enough dramatic irony and literary grip to keep me interested in the whole thing. It's tough to do these days but man can Vince Flynn do it. American Assassin has all of those elements and as a book it was more than fun to read. As a college student, reading for fun is rare for me but I found myself turning pages faster than James Dean turned the steering wheel. Other than Rapp of course, I found myself absolutely loving Stan Hurley. His character was developed extremely well and every little trick Flynn used to get a reaction out of me, I fell for it. Despite how much he stressed that Hurley was a true professional, I just couldn't believe it, given the circumstances in the beginning. I didn't want him to die, but I didn't find myself caring for him that much either. But then as the story progressed, Hurley's worth was proved time and time again, and he turned into the most entertaining character in the whole book. Bottom line, this book is a masterpiece and I'd venture to say I had as much fun reading it as Flynn probably had writing it. Don't let the fact that there's one little editing error for about 3 lines turn you away. If that's truly all it takes, then you're shallower than a bathroom sink. - V