This is the 5th in the series of books by Vince Flynn that features Mitch Rapp, a CIA assassin. Yes, a CIA assassin. I am not so naive to believe that our government never kills anyone, but, frankly, making a government-sanctioned killer into a hero makes me more than a little uncomfortable. But that kind of protagonist generates a lot of opportunities for action. There is a lot of action in this book.
A couple of plotlines are intertwined. The main one is the pending confirmation of a new director of the CIA – Dr Irene Kennedy, the first woman to head the agency. The senator chairing the confirmation hearings, Hugh Clark, is, on the surface, supportive of the nomination but is secretly working to undermine her – and the President – to further his own presidential ambitions. Rapp, one of her best field operatives, wants to retire and marry Anna Rielly, a beautiful NBC anchor. But he learns that Donnatella Rahn, an Israeli assassin that he had collaborated with – and bedded – some years before may have been responsible for the assassination of another CIA operative. He decides to confront her in Italy where he is taking Anna with the intention of proposing to her. Well, it is never a good idea to mix business and pleasure and it all blows up in his face as he is caught in the middle of an attempt to assassinate Donnatella.
Yes, there is a LOT of assassination in this book.
This is all prelude to the other major plotline which is a military takeout of Saddam Hussein’s nuclear weapons. And that is just a prelude to another plotline which is the takedown of Senator Clark.
A lot of plotlines, a lot of assassinations. It makes for an interesting, if somewhat implausible, read. But it all made me uncomfortable.
6 out of 10.