PROTAGONIST: Mitch Rapp, CIA super agent
SETTING: US, Istanbul, Beirut
SERIES: #11 of 11
RATING: 4.25

It’s exceptionally difficult to find individuals who have the skills to directly fight terrorism. Thomas Stansfield, CIA Operations Director, is acutely aware that Islamic terrorism is on the rise, and that the talents needed to deal with this threat require a different kind of person than those recruited in the past. He’s set up a special team consisting of his protégée, Irene Kennedy, and a former Cold War colleague, Stan Hurley, to put together a clandestine group of operatives willing to kill for their country while working in total secrecy.

Irene finds a man who she believes is a perfect candidate for the operation, a talented college athlete named Mitch Rapp. Rapp has a burning desire to be part of the organization so that he can in his own way exact revenge for the death of his lover in the Pan Am Lockerbie attack. He begins his assignment at the boot camp training facility run by Hurley, where he soon finds that his new mentor detests him and is determined to do everything that he can to get Mitch to quit. There are only a handful of men in the program, and they are kicked out for the slightest infraction. In a group of super stars, Mitch stands out as the best; Hurley is warned not to give up this skilled recruit because he’s stuck in an old model and likely feeling threatened by Rapp’s potential. Perhaps it’s the fact that Hurley sees something of himself in the younger man. On Mitch’s first assignment, he completely deviates from the plan when he sees an opportunity to make the kill easier. Just like Hurley, he doesn’t stick to the rules and uses whatever creative approaches the situation calls for.

The new operative’s skills are soon put to the ultimate test when the team ends up in Beirut. The terrorists there have already taken an American businessman and another agent hostage. Their methods are ruthless; they are known for keeping their charges for a long period of time and always extract every bit of information an individual possesses, no matter how well trained or determined they may be. If the agent gives up what he knows, he will expose the entire American presence in the area to untold danger. Hurley and one of the new operatives go in to try to rescue him. When they are captured, it is up to Mitch to get to them before they are put through the wringer.

AMERICAN ASSASSIN is full of action and tension. It was fascinating (and appalling) to learn about how new agents are developed. I particularly enjoyed seeing the creative approaches that Rapp used in order to complete his assignments. Despite the fact that ASSASSIN is essentially a thriller, the major characters are quite well developed, from the intractable Hurley, to the eerily efficient Rapp, to the terrorist leaders. The book only faltered when a romantic sub-thread was introduced. It didn’t quite ring true to see Rapp in “gaga” mode, and some of the writing around that was downright silly: A low rumble of approval passed his lips as he nibbled on her ear and then other parts. In addition, I found some of the chronology confusing, with shifts in time periods not entirely clear.

AMERICAN ASSASSIN is the eleventh book in the Mitch Rapp series and is essential reading for series fans. It serves as a prequel which deals with Rapp’s entry into the CIA, his training and his first assignments.