The top spook in Afghanistan has been kidnapped. DCI Irene
Kennedy knows that when Joe Rickman breaks, and everyone does, the secrets in
his head could endanger countless assets and the CIA’s clandestine service
would take years to recover. The head of CIA operations in Afghanistan is no
help because he is in bed with the State Department’s “reintegration” program
that has lead to green on blue violence where former Afghan creeps are absorbed
into the police training only to bite the hand feeding them by killing American
troops. Then there an ambitious FBI agent who has been fed intel that Rapp and
Rickman have been siphoning $$$ into private Swiss accounts.
Kennedy has little option but to send in Mitch Rapp to turn
over rocks and kick ass until he finds Rickman, the sooner the better. Rickman
was snatched from his safe house and the only thing left was a squad of dead
guards. In tracking Rickman’s last movements, Rapp learns that Rickman had
planned to take his pet Rottweiler to the local vet.
Meanwhile, a hired assassin took a shadowy assignment, for a
cool $3 mill, told only to go to this address and this time and await a text
with the identity of the target . . . Rapp.
When Rapp goes to question the vet, his team realizes that
they are trapped by a large contingent of Afghan cops, but the firefight is
one-sided leaving 21 cops dead, 1 of Rapp’s guys down, and Rapp knocked out of
the game with a blast-related head injury. How in the hell could these cops
know Rapp would be at the vet when Rapp didn’t even know he was going there
until a couple hours earlier?
It’s up to Kennedy to step in and direct things on the
ground in Kabul, Jalalabad, Islamabad, Karachi, and DC. Someone is hell bent on
squashing the clandestine service. As Rapp slowly recovers his memory, he and
Kennedy piece together a multilayered plot of deceit that is more reminiscent
of the old Cold War, but can’t quite trace it back to its source.
OK, let’s get it right out in the open. Flynn is at or near
the top of the MRB power rotation so it’s likely this would be well received.
And who are we to argue with success? 13 NY Times best sellers out of 13 books
is one hellacious resume. And no doubt when this book is released for general
sale on 13 November, The Last Man will be his 14th. I’d be
astonished if it doesn’t open in the top 5 if not #1. This is terrifically
plotted and paced with dozens of twists that will keep any fan turning pages as
fast as they can be read. Had life not gotten in the way, this could’ve been
read in one sitting. I was pleased that
there is a hint at 1 or 2 characters to be developed in Flynn’s next outing.
Flynn fans will not be disappointed. Absolutely first rate. How do authors like
Flynn dream this stuff up?
p.s. And a big tip of the hat
to MRB’s newest best friend at
Simon and Schuster for the advance copy of The Last Man. Wow, what a start to what we hope will be a long relationship.
If you’re suffering from jet lag (like I was) and knew that to get back on schedule you needed to stave off a nap in the late afternoon, then this book would do the trick. If you want to go to bed and fall asleep at a reasonable time, then opening this book or reading another chapter (assuming that you were able to put it down in the first place) would not serve you well. The 14th book in the Mitch Rapp series is as good as the others, all of which have been #1 on the NY Times Bestseller List. This one goes on sale on 11/13, but we at MRB were fortunate enough to get advanced copies. Vince Flynn is at the top of his game with The Last Man. See the blog for the review by East Coast Don.
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