The Survivor by Kyle Mills

"The Survivor" by Kyle Mills. This book is published by Simon and Schuster in Oct 2015 and has 448 pages. This is Book 14 of Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series. This one is written by Kyle Mills after death of Vince Flynn.

Rogue CIA agent, Joe Rickman, who was killed by Rapp in previous book has set up an automated system of exposing damaging information about CIA. Pakistan's ISI chief, who is considered a weak man by all, has plans to get his hands on the files and make Pakistan first Muslim superpower of the world.

What's in the files? Who is releasing the information to the media? How damaging is it? What would be the fall out? Why ISI wants it? Will they get it? What will Rapp do?

This book takes off where the previous one ends. The story continues and gets complicated. It's a complex plot where the very existence of CIA is threatened. Author has decided to bump off the character of Stan Hurley and it is done in keeping with the story and the traits of the character. The climax is a bit fast.

A few questions seem to be left unanswered deliberately. How Rickman gets hold of information he is not privy to? What happens to Taj's laptop? What happens to encryption key?

The character of Rapp is shown to be thinking of his future, his death and looking back at the past. In short the effects of age are showing. Is this a change in character with the change of author?

It is not easy to step into the shoes of a successful writer like Vince Flynn. Kyle Mills has accomplished the task really well. Though his writing style is different than Vince, he has remained true to the general theme of the series. It looks like Kyle Mills is acquiring a reputation of taking over literary enterprise of successful writers after their death.

Read it. If you are a Mitch Rapp fan, you will not be disappointed.

Kill shot by Vince Flynn

"Kill Shot", a novel by Vince Flynn.
This book is a prequel to Mitch Rapp series. The story is set up mostly in France and tells us story of Mitch Rapp in his first year at CIA. This is second prequel of Flynn (after 'American assassin') and he has used these two prequels to bridge some gaps of Mitch's character, explain some interpersonal relations and bring in new characters and a love interest.

Mitch is sent to kill a person and result is 9 dead bodies including 3 innocents. Mitch has screwed up big time, or has he? His old enemy raises head. There is CIA politics to not let Thomas Stansfield become director. How do the 2 things relate? Is this a setup? Who is behind it all?

Flynn's writing style is dynamic, we live the story through his narrative. Pace is good and keeps us on the edge of chair. You do not get bored and do not loose interest.

Although there are a couple of loose ends, they may have been left intentionally for another prequel.

 Needless to say that I liked the book & recommend it. Now I have read all Vince Flynn books of Mitch Rapp series and have to wait for the release of new one.