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.

126 people found this 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.

62 people found this 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!

57 people found this 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!!

44 people found this helpful

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.

35 people found this 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.

29 people found this 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.

27 people found this 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

25 people found this 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 people found this helpful

Not as good as expected

Maybe I expected to much for my first Flynn novel evolving his popular character Mitch Rapp because as another reviewer pointed out I felt it lacked any real intrigue or suspense, I don't like to quote others but I believe that really sums up my first experience with a Vince Flynn novel. I found the first half which evolves Mitch Rapp's introduction and training into black operations enjoyable but his first adventure (mission) following said intro and training to be rather flat and mostly uneventful, again lacking suspense. Maybe it would have been better if I would have been like so many others and read previous books from the Mitch Rapp series but I know this is the prequel to the first book in the series so I started here, maybe I will enjoy the next book in the series more which is actually the first in the series, got to start somewhere I guess.

19 people found this helpful