American Assassin
"I could hardly put this book down to eat, sleep or work.."
Synopsis:
Tensions are simmering in the Middle East, so CIA Director Irene Kennedy is given the green light to form a group of clandestine operatives – men who do not appear to exist and only work under the radar. She finds the perfect candidate in the wake of the Pan Am Lockerbie disaster.
Two hundred and seventy people lost their lives on that cold December night with thousands of family members and friends left searching for some solace and comfort. Gifted college student Mitch Rapp was one of the many, he didn't want platitudes or pity – he wanted revenge.
After six months of intense training he finds himself in Istanbul face to face with the arms dealer who sold the explosives used in the atrocity. From there he moves to Europe where he once again leaves a trail of bodies in his wake. Next it is on to Beirut, but what he doesn't know is that the enemy is aware of him and has laid a trap.
When the hunter becomes the hunted then Rapp is forced to use every scrap of cunning and skill he possesses just to survive.
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Review:
This is my kind of book. Brutal action, strong uncompromising characters, international intrigue and plenty of all of them. I could hardly put this book down to eat, sleep or work. Never having read any of Vince Flynn's books before I now have another author on my “must get the next one list” I was intrigued right from the moment I read the back of this book as I live only 12 miles from Lockerbie itself and can clearly remember the events unfolding on the fateful night in 1988. The Lockerbie disaster is however used merely as a cause to give Mitch Rapp his “call to arms.” Flynn, however, manages to be both respectful and indignant about the events without ever going into too much detail. Mitch Rapp is a fantastic lead in the kind of 007 type spy/assassin/hired gun role into which he is cast and this return to where he started out, is I'm sure, a welcome piece of information for his regular followers. The tutor Stan Hurley is another fine creation who excels in his sadistic drive for perfection from his students and gives a virtuoso performance under interrogation. The opposition in the form of terrorist Sayyed and Russian agent Ivanov are truly despicable foes, both in their casual disregard for human life and their unswerving corruptness. From the opening paragraph to the closing lines the pace is heightened through a clever use of language which is a feature of the pitch perfect prose displayed on every line. The plot is neither easy to follow nor bewildering, all it asks of the reader is that attention is paid. If like me you pay attention then you will be rewarded in spades by a finely tuned novel which may be set more than twenty years but is still very relevant today.