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    American Assassin
    American Assassin
    American Assassin
    Audiobook (abridged)6 hours

    American Assassin

    Written by Vince Flynn

    Narrated by Armand Schultz

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    In #1 New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn’s explosive and “captivating” (Glenn Beck) thriller, witness the young Mitch Rapp as he takes on his first assignment.

    Mitch Rapp was a gifted college athlete without a care in the world…and then tragedy struck. Terrorists attacked innocent American citizens, and Rapp’s girlfriend was among the murdered. Two hundred and seventy souls perished on that cold December night, and thousands of family and friends were left searching for comfort. Mitch Rapp was one of them, but he was not interested in comfort. Now he wants retribution.

    Two decades of cutthroat partisan politics have left the CIA and the country in an increasingly vulnerable position. Cold War veteran CIA Operations Director Thomas Stansfield knows he must prepare his people for the next war. America must confront Islamic terrorism with full force. Stansfield directs his protégée, Irene Kennedy, and his old Cold War colleague, Stan Hurley, to form a new group of clandestine operatives who will work outside the normal chain of command—men who do not exist.

    What type of man is willing to kill for his country without putting on a uniform? Six months of intense training have prepared him to take the war to the enemy’s doorstep, and he does so with brutal efficiency. Rapp starts in Istanbul, where he assassinates the Turkish arms dealer who sold the explosives used in the terrorist attack. Rapp then moves on to Hamburg with his team and across Europe, leaving a trail of bodies. All roads lead to Beirut, though, and what Rapp doesn't know is that the enemy is aware of his existence and has prepared a trap. The hunter is about to become the hunted, and Rapp will need every ounce of skill and cunning if he is to survive the war-ravaged city and its various terrorist factions.

    This is “a bold and brawny tale that never wavers or lets up. The voice of today’s postmodern thriller generation, Flynn has never been better” (The Providence Journal) in this unforgettable novel of a young man primed to become an American assassin.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateOct 12, 2010
    ISBN9781442335219
    American Assassin
    Author

    Vince Flynn

    #1 New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn (1966–2013) created one of contemporary fiction’s most popular heroes: CIA counterterrorist agent Mitch Rapp, featured in thirteen of Flynn’s acclaimed political thrillers. All of his novels are New York Times bestsellers, including his stand-alone debut novel, Term Limits.

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    Reviews for American Assassin

    4/5

    652 ratings47 reviews

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    • 5/5
      this is the newest vince flynn "mitch rapp" series. it is a prequel as to how it all got started. i found it fascinating. one advantage of doing the begining now is you can lay the ground work ot explain current characterizations. i don't know if it's really a 5 star book or not. it is highly possible it was to me and would be to others engrossed in the series but not to everyone. either way, even if my view is somewhat tainted i have to say it was an excellent book. it brought to life and really made the series complete even down to the begining of irene kenedy and it is interesting to see that she always wasn't so completely cool and unreactive but had to learn and grow into it. showing stansfield really had groomed her from the begining. i couldn't put it down and was completely enthralled. thank you. sometimes they try to fit to much in or to little in a prequel. this was pretty much the right amound.
    • 3/5
      I wanted to like American Assassin. It's gotten great buzz and I usually like a nice spy thriller but this one left me flat. I jus thad trouble getting into it and I still can't put my finger on why.
    • 1/5
      25 minutes from the end the playing jumps to a different narrator and a different book and then just suddenly stops
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. It's been a while since I've read a thriller, and this reminded me of how much I like them. It was an interesting setting, especially given the current state of our relations with the Middle East and Russia.

      I'm looking forward to reading more of Mitch Rapp's story, and to seeing the movie next month (though the previews look like the movie will be quite different from the book).
    • 4/5
      Fun action flick. Funny number of typos in this book.
    • 5/5
      I have read and loved all of Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series. I'm so sad that he has passed away and won't be writing any more books. I love the characters, the suspense and even the violence is written so well.
    • 5/5
      I am not a fan of prequels. I don't like looking back. But now I have pretty much decided that Vince Flynn can take me where ever he wants and I'll be fine. This story is back to Mitch Rapp's beginning with the government and it's a great tale. One of Flynn's best but for my money they are all his best.
    • 4/5
      I read this out of order, so I already knew the outcome for some characters. It would have been more exciting if I read this one first.
    • 4/5
      I started LibraryThing 10 years ago! Wow. Before Libarything I kept track of books I read by the notes I took while reading. I added the books to LibraryThing, and it turned out to be 390. Two of the books were by Vince Flynn and in the Mitch Rapp series. My rating of the books were quite a bit lower than the average rating, so thought I would give them another try. I like reading from the beginning so started with this one which I had not read. I enjoyed it.1,823 members; 3.89 average review; 12/12/2109
    • 4/5
      A solid start to a terrific series. Readers get the backstory on CIA counter-terrorism operative Mitch Rapp in "American Assassin" from the time that he begins under the tutelage of Stan Hurley, Irene Kennedy, and Thomas Stansfield through the completion of his first few missions.The book develops a large number of memorable characters in a plot that is both believable and exciting. Purists of the series will want to start with this book before plunging into the rest of the stories.
    • 4/5
      Espionage and suspense at its finest with the introduction of Mitch Rapp.
    • 3/5
      i did not feel it was Flynn's best. A bit hard to believe, This is the 11th book in a series about a CIA assassin named Mitch Rapp. It is the prequel to the other already told stories. Mitch Rapp is a gifted college athlete who lost the love of his life when terrorist put a bomb on Pan Am Flight 103 -- a backstory that's not quite believable.
    • 4/5
      There’s a reason that other thriller writers compare themselves to and are compared to Vince Flynn. It’s because he’s as good as it gets. American Assassin is a great example as tension seeps in from the very beginning and the action scenes crackle.American Assassin goes back to a young Mitch Rapp at the very beginning of his career. Even before he has the experience and the reputation, it’s clear that he has nearly unparalleled skills. The death of his girlfriend in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing a year before the events in this book bring him the focus and desire to take the battle to the terrorists. Assassin takes us back to Rapp’s recruitment and training at an off-book site by the irascible Stan Hurley. Their distrust of each other fuels the early part of the book and the accommodations they each must make to work together pay off as the story unfolds. America has backed off its approach to terrorists in the Middle East and Rapp and Hurley, along with their CIA handlers aim to take the fight back to them. When Rapp’s fellow operatives are taken hostage, he must put to use all his training and all his skills to get them out. With Russian and Syria also wading into the fray, it is a tightrope that only Rapp can walk. This is a quick enjoyable read with tight pacing, great action and wonderful characters. The intensity and charisma of Rapp leaps off the page, or audio depending on how you encounter it.The audio version read by George Guidall is outstanding. He seamlessly navigates many different characters, including American, Middle Eastern and Russian ones. The gruff Stan Hurley is a favorite and particularly enjoyable to listen to. Guidall brings the action to life and is a great complement to the story.If you’re a long-time fan or a newcomer to Vince Flynn and Mitch Rapp, American Assassin is a great book. The audio version is a nice way to experience the story. Highly recommended.I was provided a copy of the audiobook by the publisher.
    • 4/5
      Good characters ; though some predictability; better than the 1st Bourn book for sure.
    • 4/5
      I've probably said this before, but Vince Flynn was one of the few male thriller writers out there whose lead character is written both well and realistically, with little of none of the bulletproof or superhuman or Bond-ish stuff that seems to be far too common from the guys writing in the genre. Flynn is much like Daniel Silva in that regard, although Rapp *is* a bit more likely than Silva's Allon to have the occasional red "S" on his chest. Still, Rapp is a great character, and in this one we get some filler for his backstory. Fans of the series have known all along that Rapp lost the love of his life when a certain Pan Am airliner went down in Scotland, but here we learn more about his recruitment and early days in the C.I.A., along with how some people were a bit too quick to write off the college boy as being too wimpy and inadequate for the role that he was being offered. Instead, those folks learn what we readers have known all along: that Mitch Rapp is one focused and committed and motivated and deadly individual, and a good guy to have on your side when things go pear-shaped.
    • 3/5
      I love that my library has Overdrive, I can get so many audiobooks to listen to while doing various things during the day. This book has been on my want to read list forever, but it wasn't one that was at the top of my list to actually pick up and read. That's why I was so happy to be able to get the audiobook. I first heard about Mitch Rapp from a fanfiction author I used to read. She put up a list with characters she loved and listed the series they were in. I thought this series sounded interesting and wanted to give it a chance. This was one recommendation that was spot on for me. I enjoyed the book and will definitely be listening/reading more of this series. This book is about why Mitch Rapp decided to follow the path he's on. His training and first assignments as an assassin. This is more of an espionage thriller than a mystery, but still a great book. There is a small relationship in the book but the sex scene is a fade to black rather than something explicit. So that will be a plus for many. I do suggest trying this series, it has a lot of current world events in it, and I felt that it made the book more realistic with what it was portraying.
    • 5/5
      Though written 10 years after the first Mitch Rapp novel, this is actually the first in the timeline. Throughout the later books we’ve read about Mitch’s reason for joining the CIA’s counterterrorism task force and how he’s become a CIA superagent and assassin. This is the story of how he got to where he is – his high school/college sweetheart killed by terrorists on Lockerbie 103, the recruitment by Irene Kennedy and the spy craft/killing techniques taught by Stan Hurley.Mitch Rapp has, for years, been one of my favorite characters.Rating: 4.75
    • 4/5
      A look back at how Mitch Rapp became the person he is. Gives a good insight into the start of his career.
    • 4/5
      This was a book that I enjoyed reading from start to finish. This is one of my favorite authors. The action in this book was believable and I did like learning how one of my favorite characters, Mitch Rapp, came to be doing what he does. The balance between tension and relaxation was done well in this book.
    • 5/5
      Enjoyable read. I'm looking forward to reading another in the series.
    • 4/5
      Macho tale of Testosterone gone wild. A bit hard to believe, but if you go along with it, you will enjoy an entertaining ride of tough guys out-toughing each other under severe circumstances. I liked it.
    • 2/5
      Ending lacked and typos throughout were extremely annoying and distracting.
    • 2/5
      *sigh* Another fail in my quest to find fiction about spies/secret agents/assassins that isn't full of macho explosions and stereotypical antagonists. Seriously, are male and female brains wired so differently? There isn't an ounce of personality in this book, just guns, fights, torture and testosterone. Mitch Rapp is supposed to be driven by the death of his girlfriend in the Lockerbie bombing, but really he's just a James Bond jock who quickly forgets his all-consuming grief when a hot blonde offers him a quickie. The Russian and Arab caricatures are painful to read, and then when the author introduced a character named Max Powers, I gave up and started skimming. Come on, Vince Flynn and co - secret agents are people too!
    • 4/5
      Good book, but that's it. I guess my expectations were too high for this book, but I thought there would be more Mitch Rapp development and a little less time on the characters involved in the financing of the Pan Am airliner bombing. I need to work on tempering my expectations in the future. Supposedly, Mitch Rapp was motivated by the fact his girlfriend and future wife was killed in the Pan Am bombing. This book included to some degree his desire to revenge her death by getting involved with the CIA and killing terrorists abroad, but not quite enough for me. Still a good read, but near the bottom of the Vince Flynn novels.
    • 5/5
      First book I have read by Vince Flynn -- and the first in the Mitch Rapp series. Found the book well-written and fast-paced... the story of a man with natural abilities who is trained to become a major counter-terrorism weapon/assassin. A bunch of typos in this edition, but that has nothing to do with the author. Will definitely read the next in the series.
    • 3/5
      It was a good book for quite a while. Then, about 3/4 of the way into it, I was seeing the same thing over and over and over again. I got tired of it.
    • 4/5
      I have read other Mitch Rapp novels and was now going back to the original. It was interesting to see his origin after having read of his exploits in other novels. This novel starts off with Mitch being recruited for a black ops, off the book role as an assassin, taking out the worst of the bad guy terrorists. Mitch immediately develops a hate/hate relationship with his mentor Stan Hurley, who thinks that Mitch must be lying about his background, since he is so far advanced for where he should be. He rapidly moves through the training program, even besting Hurley in hand to hand combat in their first encounter. Before long he moves off to working with Hurley in assassinating targets abroad, until Hurley and his other partner are captured by terrorists in Beirut. In a suicidal mission, Mitch lets himself be captured in order to rescue them.This is an enjoyable novel in many ways. Most of it centers around the Mitch Rapp character. He is a complex and fascinating character, far more interesting than his contemporaries Jack Ryan and Jason Bourne. The pace was a little slower than most of Rapp’s novels, since he has to go through a good deal of training before he becomes who he is. The plot was strong and ended with a bang. The writing is not as tight as it is in future novels. I wasn’t fond of the universal point of view that Vince Flynn employed. All in all, this was a good novel that fans of action thrillers will enjoy.Carl Alves – author of Reconquest: Mother Earth
    • 1/5
      Cotton candy for the action-addicted reader: a one-dimensional recently-graduated college student is trained to kill for the United States government, then blows away a bunch of one-dimensional enemies in the Middle East.

    • 4/5
      I'm a sucker for backstories, and this one does not disappoint. Seeing other characters from later books as younger and more active is great too. Could have done without the prolonged torture scenes, though- definitely not for the faint of heart!
    • 5/5
      Revenge simmers in the heart and soul of a young man who has lost the love of his life at the hands of terrorists. His only goal is to see them die. That works out perfectly when he is recruited by a covert group under the CIA to take out terrorists one by one, even those that help the terrorists. What he finds in the covert operation is an older version of himself who is not keen on having him on board. What will the new recruit do to show them that he has what it takes and then some? Rebellion and blood.This is a generally fast paced story. Most of it is not cloak and dagger, but it goes through this recruitment and training as well as the plans of his first assignment. Nothing slows down too much. Even with the backstories being revealed, you'll want to keep reading and not put it down.The storyline is great. It kept me hooked. I read a lot of espionage type of books and usually enjoy them all. Sometimes you find one that seems to be too much like the others. This book is not one of those. I could easily compare it to many of my favorite espionage authors, but it is still unique enough to stand on its own.The characters are wonderfully developed. I found myself falling in love with Mitch, the main character, but also enjoying the others he came in contact with. They were realistic enough to be drawn to yet were unique enough to be fictional. I think Hurley was my favorite despite his bad attitude and arrogance toward Mitch. As the real Hurley came out, you found a man that was much more than you had originally seen.There is a lot of violence in this book. Executions occur. Torture is described in such detail that I actually had to skip a couple of paragraphs because I was about to scream out in my pain myself. Sorry, but having my nails pulled out doesn't feel good to me.I only mention editing issues when I'm reading a published version of a book. I was rather shocked at the amount of editing issues I found in this hardcover book. Periodically, words would be missing from a sentence which would require me to read it several times to figure out what was meant to have been said. The worst was when I found the wrong names used. One man is being held prisoner and tortured, but he was suddenly speaking in another scene across town. That was rather disappointing.If you like spies, cloak and dagger, and secrets, you'll love this book. Yes, there is language. There are no explicit scenes. There is violence. Oh, and you'll find a great read. If you like this genre, go for it. You won't regret it. Despite the editing issues, I loved this so much that I have the rest of the author's books on my wish list.Note: I received this book from a colleague with no expectation of a positive review.