Guest Review: Order to Kill

Summary: In the next thrilling novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Mitch Rapp series, the anti-terrorism operative heads to Pakistan to confront a mortal threat he may not be prepared for. In fact, this time he might have met his match.

Mitch Rapp is used to winning.

But in this follow-up to #1 New York Times bestselling The Survivor, the CIA operative finds himself chasing false leads from continent to continent in an effort to keep Pakistani nukes from falling into the hands of terrorists. Together with friend and colleague Scott Coleman, Rapp struggles to prevent the loss of these lethal weapons, particularly because Russia is also interested in the nukes, though not for the same reason as Rapp and Coleman.

Soon, it becomes alarmingly clear that the forces in Moscow are bent on fomenting even more chaos and turmoil in the Middle East, and Rapp must go deep into Russian territory, posing as an American ISIS recruit. There, he uncovers a plan much more dangerous and insidious than he ever expected, one that could have far-reaching and catastrophic consequences.

Written with breathless tension and heart-pounding action, Mitch Rapp's latest adventure is as timely and provocative as ever. -- Atria/Emily Bestler

Guess who's back? Booking Pap Pap with another terrific review. This time, it's for the bestselling novel ORDER TO KILL by Vince Flynn. Here are his thoughts:

Mitch Rapp, CIA agent, is a character developed by Vince Flynn in a series that contained 13 installments. After Flynn’s death in 2013, author Kyle Mills completed the 14th installment of the series based on a few pages written by Flynn. In ORDER TO KILL, author Kyle Mills carries on the Mitch Rapp series on his own with this 15th installment.

Russian president, Maxim Krupin, knows his country is in an economic downward spiral as the price of oil declines. He sets in motion a plan to sabotage Saudi Arabian oil fields in order to reduce the supply of oil, raise oil prices and make the world more dependent on Russian crude. Krupin enlists Grisha Azarov, a younger, faster and stronger version of CIA man Mitch Rapp to carry out this plan. What results is an exciting matchup of adversaries in a dramatic and tense action thriller.

Author Kyle Mills puts the novel in a modern setting by introducing a Putin-like character, Russian mafia-like oligarchies, Pakistani nuclear weapons, Iraq and ISIS. The stage for the drama is set when a coup attempt in Pakistan puts the country’s nuclear arsenal at risk to end up in enemy hands. The CIA assigns Rupp the task of preventing that from happening. Rupp infiltrates an ISIS cell only to find that the Russians are working with ISIS to use a stolen Pakistani nuclear bomb to destroy the oil fields. This leads to the inevitable showdown with Azarov.

Other issues that keep the novel moving include Rupp and Azarov love interests, the search for a lost nuclear weapon, Rupp’s effort to escape from ISIS controlled Iraq, Rupp’s interaction with CIA director Irene Kennedy and a wild confrontation between Rupp’s team and Azarov’s terrorists.

ORDER TO KILL encompasses all the requirements of an action thriller with its non-stop action and suspense. Mills utilizes a nice twist at the end to create an unusual ending for a thriller. I have not read any prior Mitch Rapp novels but if they’re anything like ORDER TO KILL, they would make great reading.

Thanks to Booking Pap Pap for his review and thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy of this novel.