last man

The Last Man is (apparently) number 13 in the Mitch Rapp series by Vince Flynn. If you'd asked me a few weeks ago I would have said, "Sure, I've read me some Vince Flynn before." but I don't remember reading any in particular, and when I took a look at the books tab right here on the ii, there's no Vince Flynn in the list from the past few years. So then (meaning, right now as I'm writing) I take a look at the Vince Flynn site and see if I recognize any books... (pause while I go look)...

Two titles look familiar: Kill Shot, and Consent to Kill, but I'm not sure if I read them or if I've just seen them around the house. I'm guessing its the latter; my wife likes the spy and suspense novels too. I was surprised to see that Vince Flynn has died. His site has a nice picture of him with dates, which make it look like a memorial, and I was confused until looking around a little more, I discovered that he died just this past summer after a struggle with prostate cancer over the past few years.

Mitch Rapp is a pretty well developed character by this point, and Vince Flynn's writing does a good job at one of my favorite things; staying out of the way. This writing style is great for action novels; it keeps the action chugging and while this wasn't the fastest read I've had, it did move along at a pretty good clip. If there was any problem with this story at all, its that there was a long slow build up, and pretty short finish. I found myself surprised that the story seemed t be getting to the mid-point for me, and I was three-quarters of the way through.

I also have a little bit of a hard time relating to characters who will stop at nothing to accomplish their goals. Mitch Rapp has a bit of a trigger finger, and I guess I don't know enough of his backstory to know why, but I did find myself a little surprised that his superiors were thinking things like: I bet Mitch is going to kill this guy too, and I'm not sure I can stop him. Seems to me that anyone in a real job who isn't sure they can prevent their subordinate from killing first and asking questions later, may not be all that suited to their job (and should maybe think about finding a way to control their assets. BUUuuttt, I guess that's what escapist novels are for. did I just rant? was that a rant?   I... I don't think I can control myself...

So did I like it? Sure. It was fun. I'll dig up some of the others I've seen around here at some point and give them a go; see how Mitch Rapp got so screwed up.