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KILL SHOT is the twelfth in the Mitch Rapp series. The first book was published in 1999. In 2010, Flynn wrote a prequel, AMERICAN ASSASSIN, which went back to the time when Mitch first joined the CIA. KILL SHOT continues the story of Rapp's early career. Rapp distinguished himself from the start; despite the fact that the head trainer, Stan Hurley, detests him (most likely because Mitch reminds him of himself). Mitch's handler, Irene Kennedy, has convinced the bigwigs that Rapp is so talented that he can perform outside the normal agent parameters. He has been working solo for some time and has achieved unparalleled success. His current assignment has him in Paris targeting the oil minister from Libya. He's about to make the kill when several men burst into the minister's hotel room. Shot in the shoulder, Rapp is lucky to make it out alive; and nine people are killed. But then he is left to ponder how things could have gone so terribly wrong—his conclusion is that someone inside the agency set him up, and he doesn't know whom he can trust. There's quite a lot of intrigue going on, within French as well as American agencies. Stan Hurley relishes the opportunity to bring Rapp down a peg and sets up an operation to trip him up, using an out-of-control agent who despises Mitch. Various American bigwigs appear on the scene. Rapp has gone to ground with his Swiss lover, Greta, and is doing his best to assess and defuse the situation. Because of his lone ranger style, he doesn't have a lot of allies who believe in him. The one aspect of this book that doesn't work for me is the relationship with Greta. She and Vince have been involved for about a year, and no one has figured out that they are lovers. Given the nature of the business, it didn't seem likely that no one would have discovered this by now. As a new agent, you would also think that Rapp would have eschewed any involvement, since it brings great risk to both parties. There was quite a lot of the narrative devoted to several minor characters; in some instances, those threads weren't resolved, which made the book feel incomplete. I enjoy the Mitch Rapp series, perhaps because it is so black and white. There's evil out there, and Rapp is going to do whatever needs to be done to defeat it. You know going in that it is going to be over the top; Rapp is a super agent who won't be felled by mere bullets. I did find it odd that he was given the latitude to interrogate his detested fellow agent and use physical violence against him. But the result is that wrongs have been righted; and in our crazy world, that feels good. § Formerly a training development manager for a large company, Maddy is now retired and continues to enable the addiction of crime fiction fans as owner of the online discussion group, 4 Mystery Addicts(4MA), while avidly reading in every possible free moment herself.
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, February 2012
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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