American Assassin

Publisher's Summary

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 protégé, 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 on to 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.

Includes the first chapter from Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills' latest thriller, Enemy of the State!

©2010 Vince Flynn (P)2010 Simon and Schuster Audio

Twenty Questions

Where does American Assassin rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Vince Flynn is one of my all time Favorite Authors and American Assassin is one of the BEST of the Series!!

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes. This book is unique for the genre. It is not only Exciting it is also Amusing. The "Twenty Questions" section with Stan Hurley is down right Hysterical!

What about George Guidall’s performance did you like?

George Guidall's narration helps to make the book especially when portraying Stan Hurley

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

My husband and I laughed quite a bit! The Stan Hurley's "20 Questions" scene and when Rapp first meets Greta standout!
Several sections were very entertaining!

Any additional comments?

One of Vince Flynn's best books. My husband and I have listened to it a few times and we are listening to the entire series again in preparation for Flynn/Kyle Mills latest book. Kyle Mills is a decent author and has done a good job subbing for Robert Ludlum. We hope he honors Flynn's memory as well.

22 of 22 people found this review helpful

Flynn never disappoints

There's a reason Flynn is considered the king of the hill when it comes to this brand of thriller! He's has done it again with American Assassin. Although its been a long time coming, this latest Mitch Rapp adventure does not disappoint and has been worth the wait. It is as fresh as the first installment of the series, Transfer of Power, and continues to be up to date as today's news, as are all his novels. Brad Thor, Daniel Silva, Stephen Coonts, WEB Griffin and maybe even Ted Bell, with the amazing Sir Alexander Hawk are all paying homage to American Assassin this morning as being the new benchmark,
Thank you Mr.Fynn for always producing first rate material that is narrated by the master with a voice that make the words come alive, Mr George Guidall.
This Thriller is worth the credits or dollars and has left me waiting for the next Vince Flynn installment
Les C. Houston TX.

101 of 107 people found this review helpful

Maybe the best one yet!

The story starts out fast, and has a quick pace throughout. Mitch Rapp fans, get ready to find out how it all started, who trained him, and nurtured his natural abilities. Some real insightful stuff for Rapp fans everywhere. Worst thing about it is, now I am going to have to wait another year to get my next fix! Great read, well worth the listen! If you never listened to or read a Vince Flynn novel, this is a great place to start. It will get you down the path and should have been the book he started with, but having followed the Mitch Rapp career, it makes this listen all the sweeter! Get it you won't be disappointed!

50 of 55 people found this review helpful

The "first" novel in the Mitch Rapp series

American Assassin is the 11th of Vince Flynn's 13 Mitch Rapp books in order written, but it is the first the chronological order of Mitch Rapp's life. It is definitely the first that should be read by anyone new to the Mitch Rapp series. Audible's Mitch Rapp page has the books in the correct order to read.

Vince Flynn said on many occasions that Stan Hurley is his favorite character he created. In American Assassin the CIA (Irene Kennedy and her boss Thomas Stansfield) recruit Mitch Rapp straight out of college and turn over his training to old, crusty CIA operative Stan Hurley despite Hurley's objections. Hurley, who appears in several of the Mitch Rapp novels, decides to give Rapp very special attention to assure Rapp drops out of the training. It does not work, of course. Rapp's and Hurley's relationship is bad throughout the book and Irene Kennedy removes Hurley as trainer for a period to allow him to calm down. It is in the second book in the series, Kill Shot, that the Rapp/Hurley relationship begins to change before becoming very positive later.

Dr. Irene Kennedy is Rapp's recruiter and is his boss throughout the entire series, even after Stansfield dies and she becomes CIA Director. Rapp is the main character but Irene Kennedy shares that role throughout.

George Guidall narrates American Assassin and 9 other books in the Rapp series. He is superb.

I highly recommend this book and the other 13 Vince Flynn novels. Flynn sets the standard against which modern action thriller authors are judged. He is quite simply the best. Since Flynn died of prostate cancer at age 47 in 2013 Kyle Mills was selected to continue the Rapp series for at least five books the first of which is The Survivor which will be released on October 6, 2015. I have read several Kyle Mills books and am disappointed with his selection, but hope I am wrong. I was hoping that Mark Greaney would be selected.

30 of 33 people found this review helpful

Flynn is consistently great

With this first (of hopefully many) Mitch Rapp back story, Flynn continues to deliver. I have enjoyed several of his books in paper, but narrator George Guidall makes them come alive. Now if only we can get these read unabridged by Guidall:
• Memorial Day
• Separation of Power
• Term Limits
• The Third Option
• Transfer of Power

20 of 22 people found this review helpful

How it all began! Wow!

From the moment I heard Vince's customary first interview with Joe Soucheray on Garage Logic last week, I had a feeling this would be an interesting view of the early life of Mitch Rapp. I was NOT disappointed. American Assassin is fantastic! Great insights into the past of some of the key characters in the Rapp series. A gripping storyline that was intense!!! If you are already a Flynn fan, you will love this book. If you are new to Flynn's work... give it a shot, BUT be prepared for some intense action! ...Hopefully none of you ever have to play "20 questions" in the Middle East.

As I sit here in Middle America, I am hopeful that there are "real life" Rapp's and Hurley's in the field with Kennedy's and Stansfield's supporting them stateside.

George Guidall does a great job bringing Flynn's story to life! My only complaint is related to production issues of the audiobook. First version of Part 1 did not play on iPod Touch (had to download the high quality version to listen). Chapter breaks were too long and were not synchronized with the book. Made it slightly inconvenient to navigate, but quality of the story FAR outweighed any production concerns.

Enjoy!!

40 of 45 people found this review helpful

By the numbers and predictable.

While better than the last two Rapp novels, this 'origin issue' could have been a lot better. It seems like Flynn has run out of ideas for Rapp and is just going through the numbers now with this series. This truly could have been much better in the character development behind the American Assassin. Instead, we get a Superman story. For example, when Rapp, immediately after being recruited by Kennedy arrives at a spy training camp in Virginia, there is nothing for him to learn. Rapp, after having done nothing more than 'taken a few months of courses at a strip mall dojo' manages to immediately and embarrassingly beat his instructor in hand to hand combat, a man who's been training Special Forces soldiers day in and out for years who also has decades of fighting experience. The rest of the time at Spy camp is spent exercising. We don't get one shred of insight as to how Rapp learns his spycraft or his great 'dirty tricks' he uses on the terrorists in the earlier novels. It only takes about 5 minutes on the gun range for the 'never been taught to shoot' Rapp to become an expert and the best shot in the service. The latter portion of the novel is Rapp's first mission in Beirut and you can already see the ending many chapters before it arrives. There just wasn't much suspense or surprises that could have been done with a little more effort from Vince Flynn. And it's a shame because I own nearly all of his books except for the last few and I know he has the talent in him.

21 of 24 people found this review helpful

Great book with action and some very funny parts

Late in the book, my favorite character Stan Hurley finds himself in a difficult situation. What he does during this time made me laugh so hard that tears were rolling down my face (at least twice). I have been listening to the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child and although I really like the stories, I haven't laughed at anything like this in the first nine books. George Guidall does a fantastic job narrating the story and his character voices coupled with the author's character descriptions are so vivid that your mind will automatically create a real-life image of each character. Fantastic work.

26 of 31 people found this review helpful

Amazing...

Love the new book. Great history about the legend that is Mitch. Love George's narration. Perfection. Makes me want to join the Omega Program.

20 of 24 people found this review helpful

Much better than the movie!

Loved this book and the characters. Wish they had stuck to the story line as apposed to what they did with the movie. His training was such a huge part of the book, not sure why they changed so much. AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Narrator doesn't cut it

I couldn't get into this book, narrator would be far better suited to family Christmas stories not assassins...

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Dull and obvious

Unoriginal stuff. No idea why this was a bestseller in the US. The publisher's summary speaks of skill and cunning but I saw very little evidence of this. There are much better spy thrillers out there.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Not too bad

Story just ok in terms of content. Narrator not so good. Have been spoilt by excellence of Paul Thornley narration and measure all against. Not sure about continuing series.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Excellent cant wait to listen to the rest !

What made the experience of listening to American Assassin the most enjoyable?

I found the author Vince Flynn through an Audible recommendation based on my previous purchases. They could not have been more right.
What a find !

What was one of the most memorable moments of American Assassin?

I was gripped from very early on as the back story and characters were skilfully built.
The worst part of the book was ... it ended could have listened for hours more.

Have you listened to any of George Guidall’s other performances? How does this one compare?

I haven't listened to any others but loved his narration in this book

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Just a well written well performed story

Any additional comments?

Just added the rest of the series to my Wish list !
Say no more

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Exactly what it says on the жестяная

An entertaining book, without the usual overindulgence of back story, enjoyed it and thought it kept the same pace throughout.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Amazing Book!!!

First book I've listened to twice after finishing this series of books about spies and assassins!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Good action story, well read

I am a Baldacci fan and have become used to his style of drama. This story was well paced with a good plot some twists. Bad language a little much but mostly in context, so did not distract from story. I have come to like the main character so will listen to another.

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

An amazing read.

Absolutely thrilling from start to finish. So glad I discovered this wonderfully exciting book series.

My first Vince Flynn book, it was spectacular :)

My first Vince Flynn book was amazing to listen to, from start to finish :) George Guidall was amazing to listen to :) I am downloading the next one now, I cannot wait to start listening to Kill Shot

Didn't like the narrator's voice

It was hard to get into the story as i found the narrator's voice a little hard to accept. The story is ok and the ending a little to abrupt just as i got into the story. i will listen to the next one in the series and see if enjoy it better!