Whether you’ve watched American Assassin or have recently read a Vince Flynn book, you’re probably interested in finding out more about the enigmatic character. There are over a dozen Mitch Rapp books that you can read.
This article will list all of Vince Flynn’s books in chronological order, as well as some that were written with characters he created but by another author.
You will also learn more about Flynn and his influences. But first off, let’s look at the top Vince Flynn books you look at first.
Our best Vince Flynn Books at a glance:
- American Assassin
- Transfer of Power
- Consent to Kill
- Act of Treason
- The Third Option
- Kill Shot
- Separation of Power
- Pursuit of Honor
- Executive Power
- Term Limits
Vince Flynn: The Genius Behind The Mitch Rapp Books
Vincent Joseph Flynn was born on April 6, 1966, into a large family. He grew up with six siblings but maintained different interests, like structure and numbers. His interest in organizational thinking and calculation influenced his higher education choices.
In 1984, he graduated from the University of St. Thomas with a bachelor’s degree in economics. One wouldn’t assume that Flynn was meant for writing, mainly because he suffered from severe dyslexia.
Even after graduation, his immediate career pursuit wasn’t in writing. It was in accounting and sales. He worked as a marketing specialist for Kraft Foods’ verticals. He continued his work until 1991 when he took an interest in aviation.
He applied to be an aviator for the United States Marine Corps but was disqualified on a medical basis a week before finishing the relevant certification.
This period of Flynn’s life can be seen as one where he truly had not found his calling. His career pursuits were sporadic and never overlapped. But as he tried his hand at various things, he kept running into one obstacle. And that obstacle, ultimately, became the path to his eventual success.
However, Flynn didn’t know this in 1992. All he knew was that dyslexia was hurting his progress. To force himself to get better at reading, he started writing regularly. He also developed a reading routine that featured the works of Tom Clancy, John Irving, and Robert Ludlum. Among his other influences are Leon Uris, Ernest Hemingway, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Gore Vidal.
His diverse reading list would help him establish his signature writing style with well-informed characters. Flynn’s interest in fiction inspired him to consider writing his own story. His first novel, Term Limits, was conceived, written, and published at this stage of his life.
It was a self-published book that would become more important as Flynn’s profile rose over time. In later interviews, Flynn would reflect on his debut as a product of pondering what it would take to impact change in Washington. He drew from a friend’s death, which had happened in the capital.
Flynn became a full-time author once his book was purchased by Pocket Books, which published its hardcover and later its mass-market paperback editions in 1998 and 1999, respectively. The book spent a few weeks as a charting New York Times bestseller.
Ever since the publication of his first mass-market paperback, he averaged one book a year throughout his life, which was cut short by prostate cancer. He passed away in June 2013, after publishing two books in 2012. After his death, his Mitch Rapp series was not discontinued. Author Kyle Mills took the reins of the series and continues to write.
Mitch Rapp wasn’t introduced in Term Limits, which happens to be the only book in the Flynn series outside of the Mitch Rapp series. However, Flynn placed it within the same universe.
His legacy is that of struggle, triumph, and consistency. He produced a body of work that is cohesive, and he continued to stay in touch with his fans via his newsletter, announcing his battle with stage 3 prostate cancer in 2011.
Vince Flynn Books In Order
- Term Limits
- Transfer of Power
- The Third Option
- Separation of Power
- Executive Power
- Memorial Day
- Consent to Kill
- Act of Treason
- Protect and Defend
- Extreme Measures
- Pursuit of Honor
- American Assassin
- Kill Shot
- The Last Man
The Best Vince Flynn Books To Read
American Assassin
American Assassin introduces Mitch Rapp, the pivotal protagonist of the Flynn bibliography. It has all the ingredients of a thriller, including world-ending stakes, the pressure of a ticking clock, and, of course, a series of twists. It is the perfect book to read if you want to get into the Mitch Rapp series.
Transfer of Power
Transfer of Power cemented Mitch Rapp as a socially competent individual who is calm and collected under pressure by having him take charge of a situation that is seemingly impossible to manage.
For starters, terrorists have taken control of the White House, though the president has managed to make his way to a secure bunker. But the bunker is still located in a terrorist-controlled territory, and the bad guys have taken over a hundred civilian hostages. How Rapp resolves the crisis is the plot-setting question of the book.
Consent to Kill
Flynn penned Consent to Kill in 2004 and published it in 2005. The book is the sixth in the Mitch Rapp series, with the character being more mature and his experience being more fleshed out. In this entry, Mitch Rapp is a covert asset in the War on Terror and becomes the target of multiple parties, including those with interests at home.
He becomes the sole target of a powerful terrorist whose child (also a terrorist) is dead because of Rapp. He demands Mitch’s head, and Rapp isn’t too sure he can keep it on his shoulders by trusting the powers at home. This is a survival thriller on a global scale.
Act of Treason
You will love this book if you like scandal-driven thrillers. This novel features a fictional conspiracy that the CIA is tasked with unraveling. Unable to do the job conventionally because of the scandalous implications of the information getting out, Mitch Rapp is brought in as the one-man army to handle the job.
Rapp has to find out who killed a presidential candidate and who is well within Washington’s power circles. The stakes are high because Rapp’s assignment is secret, and even knowledge of its existence can put his life in danger. For better or for worse, Mitch Rapp is just reckless enough to do that for his country.
The Third Option
In this novel, Mitch Rapp returns to his roots with a primary assassination target in Count Heinrich Hagenmiller V, who is an arms dealer selling weapons to the enemies of the United States.
The events of the book unfold in the US and northern Germany, so it has travel and discovery aspects to it. It is one of the more popular Mitch Rapp books written by Flynn and was responsible for the re-emergence of Rapp in thriller fiction after his popularity plateaued with the previous entries.
Kill Shot
This is the second entry in the Mitch Rapp series and fleshes out the potential openings planted in The American Assassin novel. It was written when Vince Flynn planned for Rapp to become synonymous with the words “American Assassin,” so there are plenty of kills woven into the plot. If you like assassin protagonists with a kill-list-driven plot, you will like this book.
Separation of Power
Most Mitch Rapp fans agree that the initial entries in the series were the strongest ones. That’s perhaps because Rapp expanded and became an all-rounder instead of the assassin that he was in the earlier books.
Separation of Power has Rapp working to save Irene Kennedy’s career while simultaneously preventing an all-out global war because of the nuclear arms race that the US seems to be too indecisive to stop.
Here Mitch Rapp emerges as a fixer of sorts, but there is plenty of the assassin side that his fans have loved since day one. You’ll enjoy this read whether you’re a fan of the original Assassin Mitch Rapp or a later all-rounder fixer Mitch Rapp.
Pursuit of Honor
This rescue operation thriller features Mitch Rapp as the lead. The assassin is sent to “negotiate” with the terrorists, who have already killed over 200 people.
The country is in no mood to talk, yet the key hostage in the story, the daughter of Rapp’s partner, has to be saved. It is not a dilemma for a man who can do both: save the hostage and kill the bad guy. But the question is, how? It is a book that general thriller audiences will love.
Executive Power
Executive Power is a pivotal story in the overall Mitch Rapp saga as it covers the point when Rapp’s cover is blown with a very public acknowledgment of his efforts in stopping Saddam Hussain from acquiring nuclear weapons.
While this praise might be flattering, especially coming from the president, it is also akin to painting a target on the protagonist’s back. Rapp has to deal with the repercussions of this outing while also stopping an assassin hired to frame Israeli intelligence for the murders of diplomats and terrorist cell leaders.
Every Mitch Rapp fan should read this book alongside the first one in the Mitch Rapp series, as these two entries have far-reaching implications on how Rapp operates throughout the series.
Term Limits
With this book, Vince Flynn introduces anti-hero characters, a trend that contributes to the Mitch Rapp series. Term Limits is the only Vince Flynn novel that doesn’t feature Mitch Rapp. It is a political thriller where assassins start executing powerful politicians, with their core demand being to introduce term limits for representatives in Congress.
It is a great read if you’re curious about what Flynn’s writing is like outside of the boundaries of the Mitch Rapp series.
Vince Flynn FAQs
How Old Was Vince Flynn When He Passed Away?
Vince Flynn was 47 when he died of prostate cancer. He was open about his battle with the disease and announced it to his fans in an email newsletter two years before he passed away.
Did Vince Flynn Write “The Last Man”?
Even though The Last Man was his last book, he managed to publish it before he passed away, having written it himself. The series was then continued under the authorship of Kyle Mills, but The Last Man remained untouched by other authors.
It was published in 2012, which was the year Flynn broke his one-per-year average and published two books. There were no Vince Flynn books for two years after that, mainly because Vince was no more. After that, Kyle Mills started writing Mitch Rapp books, and Vince Flynn’s name continued to appear on the cover.
Does Vince Flynn Have A Ghostwriter?
Vince Flynn died in 2013, and his book series continues with the authorship of Kyle Mills. Ghostwriters are anonymous, and Mills is not. He can be seen as the author of all Mitch Rapp books since 2015.
However, the name Vince Flynn has become synonymous with the Mitch Rapp series, so it gets the cover credit even when the author credit goes to Kyle Mills.
Are Mitch Rapp Books Being Adapted For Tv?
Mitch Rapp’s books are not adapted for TV. There is no Mitch Rapp TV series, but the American Assassin entry in the Mitch Rapp series was adapted into a film of the same name.
Mitch Rapp’s books could be adapted for the screen again, but it doesn’t seem like such a project is in the works. For now, the focus remains on continuing the book series, and Kyle Mills is on the job.
How Many Books Did Vince Flynn Sell?
Counting the sales of Mitch Rapp books that Flynn personally wrote, over 15 million copies have been sold across 14 books. This puts Vince Flynn in the top 1% of bestselling authors.
Who Inspired Vince Flynn?
Of all the books Vince proclaimed to have read, those written by Tom Clancy seemed to have a direct effect on his own body of work. But more specifically, The Government Racket: Washington Waste from A to Z, by Martin L. Gross, actually inspired him to think about the problems in US politics. As a result of this, he ended up using US politics as the stage for his thriller stories.
Wrapping It Up
Vince Flynn thought about what could be done to fix Washington and ended up with a bibliography that made more people interested in Washington.
Whether the politicians get their things in order or not, the world is better off for the efforts of Vince Flynn, who has left entertaining and intellectually stimulating stories enjoyed by over 15 million readers.
