Genre: Adult Fiction
Pages: 370 pages
Published Date: September 24, 2019
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
Series: Mitch Rapp
Rating: 4 out of 5
Mitch Rapp is back to take down one of America’s greatest terrorist – Sayid Halabi and hopefully stop a bioterrorist attack on America. He must do this while navigating a Mexican cartel, an anthrax scare, a toxic presidential election, and the candidate that may one day hold him and Irene Kennedy accountable for what she sees as the current administration’s biggest failure.
Sayid Halabi, the antagonist of this story, isn’t that much different than any of the other Middle Eastern Isis terrorists that Mills (and Flynn) created in previous books. All he wants in life is to do Allah’s will and take down the evil West – and Mitch Rapp.
The only problem I have with Lethal Agent is that Kyle Mills seems to have lost his way with Rapp in this book. Mills falls on the stereotypical spy/agent storyline that we all know too well. A top agent, who has been doing everything for America, loses their way, goes bankrupt, is now running from the law, and wants to work for an illegal, corrupt organization that he plans on taking down. Or, in the case of Lethal Agent, Rapp joins an illegal, corrupt Mexican drug cartel to find its link to Sayid Halabi, hopefully, so he can kill him. And surprise, Carlos Esparza, the leader of the Mexican cartel Rapp wants to join, has only a little (very little) doubt that Rapp may be deceiving him. Esparza will, of course, look the other way, because what does he have to lose? Oh, and Esparza knows who Rapp is and what he does and how many people he has killed. Mills even touched on the unbelievableness of this storyline when a character stated, “It’s really incredible. This is dangerous to the point of being insane. I mean, we’re talking about a ninety-nine percent chance the cartel just tortures him to death for stealing their product.” But with Rapp, he makes it by in that one percent.
Another stereotype of this storyline is Esparza’s second in command, Vicente Rossi, who doesn’t trust Rapp but can’t do anything because he is not in charge, and he doesn’t want to upset his boss.
Now with that said, I do like the character of Christine Barnett – the Senator who is the frontrunner of her party and who will probably become the next president. Mills created in her a style that you loathe right from the beginning, but how could you not when she is planning on taking Rapp and Kennedy down.
I am giving Lethal Agent 4/5 stars and not lower, because of the story itself. Mills can spin a narrative very well. He knows how to bring in many significant characters as well as the kitchen sink and not lose his way in telling the story. I enjoyed this Rapp novel and cannot wait until his next one comes out.
Writer: Holly Goldberg Sloan
Writer: Trolls Writer: Dave Scheidt; Bergens Writer: Tini Howard
Reading In My Jammies 