The Last Man: A Novel (13) (A Mitch Rapp Novel)

When a high level CIA operative goes missing, the CIA unleashes their version of a Hellfire missile, Mitch Rapp, out in Afghanistan to find him before he spills all of his secrets to the enemy, which in this case are Islamic terrorists. Very early in the novel, he experiences major head trauma and loses much of his memory. He has to relive much of his past in order to regain those memories. This novel is layered with subterfuge and misdirection. Mitch has to battle through all of the lies and traps that are in this novel while creating maximum carnage.

I have some mixed feelings about this novel. On the one hand, I enjoy reading about Mitch Rapp. He’s the type of person that I want defending me. He doesn’t give a damn about playing politics. Nor does he care about who he pisses off, just as long as achieves his objective. Mitch is the proverbial bull in the China shop. This novel has many of the elements that I enjoy in this series. On the downside, without trying to spoil things, there is some serious lack of believability, especially when it comes to what certain characters will do to create the subterfuge that I mentioned. It’s a bit much and took away from my enjoyment. There was also a level of predictability here as well. It’s an enjoyable read, but those things take away from it being a great novel.

Carl Alves – author of Blood Street

Vince Flynn hasn't let me down yet

great read.

It's a mitch Rapp--of course it's great!

I've read the entire series up to now so I'm deeply involved with the characters and thoroughly enjoy the consistent settings and plots.

The Last Man is the last episode in Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series of thrillers. In The Last Man, a CIA agent in Afghanistan disappears with a head full of classified information. The CIA's entire Mideast and Central Asian clandestine network is jeopardized by the likelihood that he'll break under interrogation. Mitch Rapp, CIA assassin, and his team of former SEALs and Delta Operators, is sent to Afghanistan to find him. The investigation seems to be undermined at every turn and Mitch Rapp's team is ambushed. It appears there is a conspiracy to take down the CIA's clandestine service and to incriminate Mitch Rapp and the missing agent in a corruption scandal. An opportunist Senator, a rogue FBI agent, a Pakistani ISI General with extremist sympathies, and a professional hit man all figure in the plot. Vince Flynn's pacing is brilliant and relentless. This is not a short novel at nearly 500 pages but it's a fast read. Like all thrillers, there is a bit of fantasy at the story's core. But the fast-pacing keeps you from overanalyzing the fantastic elements. Mitch Rapp is the classic super-agent with a body of steel, a prickly personality, an undefeatable will and a heart filled with American values. The female CIA Director, Irene Kennedy, gives the series an interesting twist but she seems overly involved in her agents' issues. I read American Assassin before, didn't care too much for it as I wasn't too fond of Mitch Rapp or his backstory. But in The Last Man he is a far more likeable character... although his solution to every problem is to kill somebody. The Last Man was the final Mitch Rapp novel written by Vince Flynn before his untimely death at age 47. In that regard the title is ironic as it refers to a line in the book I will paraphrase as, "If Mitch were the last man left in the CIA he would still get his target." A new Mitch Rapp book is due out this year penned by a substitute author. Since so much of the series was based on Vince Flynn's personal and largely conservative worldview, one wonders how much longer the franchise can survive. But The Last Man is highly recommended.

Vince Flynn is great

Oh how I miss Vince Flynn and Mitch Rapp!!

This is up to Vince Flynn's usual high octane quality novel about Mitch Rapp's exploits; but it's an unbearably poignant experience to read this--Flynn's final novel about Mitch, published two months after Flynn's death. I was stopped several times almost in tears at some of the passages he included in this. My guess is that when he was putting the finishing touches on this book, he realized his cancer was not going to be beaten and his time was short.

MILD SPOILERS:

The meditations on an imminent cancer death that Vince has written for one of the characters is almost too difficult to read. And it's hard to fathom that Vince knew his own tragic outcome was set at that point, and was giving us a kind of "it's okay, it's been a good run" message to his loyal and faithful readers who've appreciated our journeys with Rapp and Flynn through the years.

The character who shares his philosophy of dying from cancer did not seem to be a "necessary" part of the plot. This is what made me think Vince was giving us a moving good bye of his own in the words of the great character from the book. As his character said twice, "We're all dying, just some of us sooner rather than later." How are we to take this other than Vince was speaking from his own heart.

For this reason, "The Last Man" is my favorite Vince Flynn novel.. The several meditations on death he gives us in the book stays with you long after you are finished with Rapp's latest adventure. Vince was on an adventure of his own--perhaps the biggest of his life. And he allowed us a peek into his feelings about it through one of his character's experience with terminal cancer.

Thank you Vince. Brave to the end and looking that cancer monster in the eye and not flinching--just as "S" does--and letting your readers share a bit of that journey with you.

Mitch Rapp and Vince Flynn--legends to the end. But thankfully, as a man who lives on paper, Mitch can carry on with the help of the next novelist to carry the torch.

It didn't capture my attention very well. I think it would make a good movie though. I only made it through a few chapters and haven't finished it yet. Once I finish it, I'll update my review but so far, it's not capturing me.