Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp Books in Order with Summaries
#1 New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn created one of contemporary fiction’s most popular heroes: CIA counterterrorist agent Mitch Rapp. All of his novels are New York Times bestsellers.
The Mitch Rapp book series, penned by the late Vince Flynn and later continued by Kyle Mills, is a gripping saga that revolves around the life of an elite counter-terrorism operative who battles the complexities of modern warfare, espionage, and political intrigue.
Rapp, a highly skilled assassin and covert operative for the CIA, navigates a murky world of threats to national security while grappling with personal demons from his past. The series, known for its fast-paced narratives and intense action sequences, has captivated readers since the release of "Term Limits" in 1997, evolving into a mainstay in the political thriller genre.
The series' popularity has led to adaptations in both film and television including the "American Assassin," movie featuring Dylan O'Brien as Mitch Rapp. This adaptation, which serves as a prequel to the novels, explores Rapp's origins and training under the guidance of his mentor, played by Michael Keaton. Following this, a series adaptation was suggested and in 2020, a deal was struck for a television series to fully explore the extensive narratives and character development within Flynn’s universe.
The Mitch Rapp series continues to resonate, reflecting contemporary geopolitical issues while maintaining a thrilling pace and depth of character that fans love. As adaptations expand, the hope remains that both new and loyal readers will witness Rapp's relentless pursuit of justice, further cementing his legacy as an iconic character in modern literature and media. Whether through the pages of a book or on screen, Mitch Rapp's fierce determination and moral complexities continue to engage audiences worldwide.
Discover all 24 books in this bestselling series.
Mitch Rapp books in order
This post contains affiliate links that earn us a commission at no cost to you. This helps to support the work of The Bookish Bulletin.
Book 1
American Assassin
-
In #1 New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn’s explosive and “captivating” (Glenn Beck) thriller, witness the young Mitch Rapp as he takes on his first assignment.
Mitch Rapp was a gifted college athlete without a care in the world…and then tragedy struck. Terrorists attacked innocent American citizens, and Rapp’s girlfriend was among the murdered. Two hundred and seventy souls perished on that cold December night, and thousands of family and friends were left searching for comfort. Mitch Rapp was one of them, but he was not interested in comfort. Now he wants retribution.
Two decades of cutthroat partisan politics have left the CIA and the country in an increasingly vulnerable position. Cold War veteran CIA Operations Director Thomas Stansfield knows he must prepare his people for the next war. America must confront Islamic terrorism with full force. Stansfield directs his protégée, Irene Kennedy, and his old Cold War colleague, Stan Hurley, to form a new group of clandestine operatives who will work outside the normal chain of command—men who do not exist.
What type of man is willing to kill for his country without putting on a uniform? Six months of intense training have prepared him to take the war to the enemy’s doorstep, and he does so with brutal efficiency. Rapp starts in Istanbul, where he assassinates the Turkish arms dealer who sold the explosives used in the terrorist attack. Rapp then moves on to Hamburg with his team and across Europe, leaving a trail of bodies. All roads lead to Beirut, though, and what Rapp doesn't know is that the enemy is aware of his existence and has prepared a trap. The hunter is about to become the hunted, and Rapp will need every ounce of skill and cunning if he is to survive the war-ravaged city and its various terrorist factions.
This is “a bold and brawny tale that never wavers or lets up. The voice of today’s postmodern thriller generation, Flynn has never been better” (The Providence Journal) in this unforgettable novel of a young man primed to become an American assassin.
Book 2
Kill Shot
-
In the year since the CIA fully trained and then unleashed him, Mitch Rapp has been steadily working his way through a list of men, bullet by bullet.
His latest target takes him to Paris but in the split second it takes the bullet to leave Rapp’s silenced pistol, everything changes. The tables have turned, and Rapp finds himself brutally outnumbered. In the same instant, he has become a liability.
Operating on his own and outside the control of his handlers, it soon becomes clear that nothing is more dangerous than a wounded and cornered man. Because if anyone can survive and come out on top, no matter whom he must kill to get there, it’s Mitch Rapp.
The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been as Mitch Rapp embarks on the journey that will turn him into America’s most deadly asset.
Book 3
Transfer of Power
-
The stately calm of a Washington morning is shattered when a group of terrorists descends, killing dozens and taking nearly one hundred hostages as they try to infiltrate the White House. The Secret Service immediately evacuates the president to an underground bunker—and while officials argue over how best to negotiate with the enemy, Mitch Rapp, the CIA’s top counterterrorism operative, moves stealthily among the hidden corridors and secret passageways of the nation’s capital to save the hostages before the terrorists reach the president. But there’s someone waiting in the wings, someone within the Washington elite, who is determined to see Rapp’s rescue mission fail.
Book 4
The Third Option
-
When diplomacy fails and military intervention is inappropriate, our leaders sometimes take a third option and Mitch Rapp has been assigned just such an “unofficial” task—targeting a German industrialist who is supplying a notorious terror sponsor.
But when the mission is dangerously compromised, Rapp realizes he’s been deemed an expendable asset in a power struggle on home turf: the battle over who will become the successor of the dying CIA director. But no one counted on Mitch Rapp’s return…or how far he’ll go to find out who set him up.
Book 5
Separation of Power
-
The confirmation of Dr. Irene Kennedy as the CIA’s new director explodes into chaos as a deadly inside plot to destroy her and prematurely end the president’s term emerges. Meanwhile, a dangerous world leader gains power in the nuclear arms race, leading Israel to force the president’s hand with a chilling ultimatum. With the specter of World War III looming, the president calls on top counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp, but with only two weeks to take out the nukes, Rapp is up against a ticking clock—and impossible odds.
Book 6
Executive Power
-
Returning from a covert mission, Mitch Rapp was publicly hailed by the president for his role in the fight against terrorism. After years of working in the shadows, Rapp was caught in the media spotlight—and marked for death by virtually every terrorist in the world. Now a CIA advisor, Rapp is ready to battle terror far from the front lines.
When a Navy SEAL team in the Philippines is ambushed, all evidence points to a leak within the US State Department. And a greater threat lurks—a ruthless assassin working for the most powerful men in the Middle East, who are bent on igniting a world war. With the world watching, Rapp must hold back the flames of Armageddon.
Book 7
Memorial Day
-
Just as Washington, DC, prepares for a grand Memorial Day tribute to the veterans of World War II, the CIA receives intelligence about a potential major terrorist attack. Racing to Afghanistan, Mitch Rapp leads a commando raid on an Al-Qaeda stronghold in a remote border village—and defuses plans for a nuclear strike on the nation’s capital. But Rapp knows, in the face of a new kind of enemy, nothing is what it seems—and it’s up to him alone to avert a disaster of unimaginable proportions.
Book 8
Consent to Kill
-
For more than a decade, CIA superagent Mitch Rapp has been on the front line of the war on terror. Now, he’s on a race against time to save one more life—his own—in this “fast, fun read” (People).
The influential father of a slain terrorist demands retribution for the death of his son at Rapp’s hands. In the tangled, duplicitous world of espionage there are those, even among America’s allies, who feel Mitch Rapp has grown too effective at his deadly job. They have been looking for an excuse to eliminate the number one counterterrorism operative, and they are determined to seize the chance with an explosive international conspiracy. Now the hunter is the hunted, and Rapp must rely on his razor-sharp instincts for survival—and justice—as he unleashes his fury on those who have betrayed him.
Book 9
Act of Treason
-
In the final weeks of a fierce presidential campaign, a motorcade carrying candidate Josh Alexander is shattered by a car bomb. Soon after the attack, Alexander is carried to victory by a sympathy vote, but his assailants have not been found. When CIA director Irene Kennedy and Special Agent Skip McMahon receive damaging intelligence on Washington’s most powerful players, they call on Mitch Rapp—the one man reckless enough to unravel a global network of contract killers on an explosive mission that leads back to the heart of our nation’s capital…and the inner sanctum of the Oval Office.
Book 10
Protect and Defend
-
No longer willing to wait for the international community to stop its neighboring enemy, Israel brings down Iran’s billion-dollar nuclear program in an ingeniously conceived operation. The attack leaves a radioactive tomb and environmental disaster in its wake, and has Iranian president Amatullah calling for blood—American blood.
Seeing opportunity where others fear reprisals, Mitch Rapp devises a brilliant plan to humiliate Iran’s government and push the nation to the brink of revolution. But when a back-channel meeting between CIA director Irene Kennedy and her Iranian counterpart goes disastrously wrong, Rapp is locked in a showdown with a Hezbollah mastermind in league with Amatullah—and he is given twenty-four hours to do whatever it takes to stop unthinkable catastrophe.
Book 11
Extreme Measures
-
Counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp and his colleague Mike Nash may have finally met their match. The CIA has intercepted two terrorist cells, but a third—led by a dangerous mastermind determined to become al-Qaeda’s new leader—is believed to be on the loose. With such a terrifyingly deadly enemy out there, Rapp needs the best of the best by his side and he believes he has that with Nash.
Together, they have made careers out of meeting violence with extreme violence and have never wavered in the top-secret fight against the war on terrorism. Both have been forced to lie to virtually every single person they care about, and both have soldiered on with the knowledge that their lethal tactics have saved thousands of lives. But certain leaders on Capitol Hill are pushing to have men like Rapp and Nash put on a short leash. And then one spring afternoon in Washington, DC, everything changes.
Book 12
Pursuit of Honor
-
Less than a week after a series of deadly explosions devastated Washington, DC, key officials are up in arms over whether to make friends or foes of the clandestine elite counterterrorism operatives that stepped between the enemy and countless American lives. Not for the first time, Mitch Rapp finds himself struggling to illustrate the realities of national security to politicians who are content to sit on the sidelines.
Meanwhile, three al-Qaeda terrorists are still at large, and Rapp has been unofficially ordered to find them by any means necessary. No one knows the personal, physical, and emotional sacrifices required of the job better than Rapp. When he sees his colleague Mike Nash cracking under the pressure, he makes a call he hopes will save his friend, assuage the naysayers on Capitol Hill, and get him one step closer to the enemy before it’s too late. Once again, Rapp proves himself to be a hero unafraid “to walk the fine line between the moral high ground and violence” (The Salt Lake Tribune) for our country’s safety and for the pursuit of honor.
Book 13
The Last Man
-
Joe Rickman has spent the last eight years running the CIA’s clandestine operations in Afghanistan, working with every disreputable figure in the Islamic Republic. When he suddenly goes missing, the initial assumption is kidnapping, but Mitch Rapp knows certain things about his old friend that gives him pause.
When he’s ordered to find Rickman, no matter the cost, Rapp knows his mission will be an exceptionally dangerous one. With the Taliban, Iran, Pakistan, and Russia all vying for a piece of the war-torn state and the FBI dispatching their own special agent to investigate, Rapp is facing his most difficult assignment yet.
Book 14
The Survivor
-
When Joe “Rick” Rickman, former golden boy of the CIA, steals a massive amount of the Agency’s most classified documents in an elaborate betrayal of his country, CIA director Irene Kennedy has no choice but to send her most dangerous weapon after him: elite covert operative Mitch Rapp.
Rapp quickly dispatches with the traitor, but Rickman proves to be a deadly threat to America even from beyond the grave. In fact, mysterious tip-offs are appearing all over the world, linking to the potentially devastating data that Rickman managed to store somewhere only he knew.
It’s a deadly race to the finish as both the Pakistanis and the Americans search desperately for Rickman’s accomplices, and for the confidential documents they are slowly leaking to the world. To save his country from being held hostage to a country set on becoming the world’s newest nuclear superpower, Mitch Rapp must outrun, outthink, and outgun his deadliest enemies.
Book 15
Order to Kill
-
Mitch Rapp is used to winning.
But 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.
Book 16
Enemy of the State
-
After 9/11, the United States made one of the most secretive and dangerous deals in its history—the evidence against the powerful Saudis who coordinated the attack would be buried and in return, King Faisal would promise to keep the oil flowing and deal with the conspirators in his midst.
But when the king’s own nephew is discovered funding ISIS, the furious President gives Rapp his next mission: he must find out more about the high-level Saudis involved in the scheme and kill them. The catch? Rapp will get no support from the United States.
Forced to make a decision that will change his life forever, Rapp quits the CIA and assembles a group of independent contractors to help him complete the mission. They’ve barely begun unraveling the connections between the Saudi government and ISIS when the brilliant new head of the intelligence directorate discovers their efforts. With Rapp getting too close, he threatens to go public with the details of the post-9/11 agreement between the two countries. Facing an international incident that could end his political career, the President orders America’s intelligence agencies to join the Saudis’ effort to hunt the former CIA man down.
Rapp, supported only by a team of mercenaries with dubious allegiances, finds himself at the center of the most elaborate manhunt in history.
Book 17
Red War
-
When Russian president Maxim Krupin discovers that he has inoperable brain cancer, he’s determined to cling to power. His first task is to kill or imprison any countrymen threatening him. But when his illness becomes increasingly serious, he decides on a dramatic diversion—war with the West.
Upon learning of Krupin’s condition, CIA director Irene Kennedy understands that the US is facing an opponent who has nothing to lose. The only way to avoid a confrontation that could leave millions dead is to send Mitch Rapp to Russia under impossibly dangerous orders. With the Kremlin’s entire security apparatus hunting him, he must find and kill a man many have deemed the most powerful in the world.
Book 18
Lethal Agent
-
A toxic presidential election is underway in an America already badly weakened by internal divisions. While politicians focus entirely on maintaining their own power, ISIS kidnaps a brilliant French microbiologist and forces him to begin manufacturing anthrax. Slickly produced videos chronicling his progress and threatening an imminent attack are posted to the internet, intensifying the hysteria gripping the United States.
ISIS recruits a Mexican drug cartel to smuggle the bioweapon across the border, but it’s really just a diversion. The terrorist organization needs to keep Mitch Rapp and Irene Kennedy distracted long enough to weaponize a deadly virus that they stumbled upon in Yemen. If they succeed, they’ll trigger a pandemic that could rewrite the world order.
Rapp embarks on a mission to infiltrate the Mexican cartels and track down the ISIS leader who he failed to kill during their last confrontation. But with Washington’s political elite increasingly lined up against him, he knows he’ll be on his own.
Book 19
Total Power
-
When Mitch Rapp captures ISIS’s top technology expert, he reveals that he was on his way to meet a man who claims to have the ability to bring down America’s power grid. Rapp is determined to eliminate this shadowy figure, but the CIA’s trap fails.
The Agency is still trying to determine what went wrong when ISIS operatives help this cyber terrorist do what he said he could—plunge the country into darkness. With no concept of how this unprecedented act was accomplished, the task of getting the power back on could take months. Perhaps even years.
Rapp and his team embark on a desperate search for the only people who know how to repair the damage—the ones responsible. But his operating environment is like nothing he’s experienced before. Computers and communication networks are down, fuel can no longer be pumped from gas stations, water and sanitation systems are on the brink of collapse, and the supply of food is running out.
Can Rapp get the lights back on before America descends irretrievably into chaos?
Book 20
Enemy at the Gates
-
Mitch Rapp has worked for several presidents over his career, but Anthony Cook is unlike any he’s encountered before. Cunning and autocratic, he feels no loyalty to America’s institutions and is distrustful of the influence Rapp and CIA director Irene Kennedy have in Washington.
When Kennedy discovers evidence of a mole scouring the Agency’s database for sensitive information on Nicholas Ward, the world’s first trillionaire, she assigns Rapp the task of protecting him. In doing so, he finds himself walking an impossible tightrope: Keep the man alive, but also use him as bait to uncover a traitor who has seemingly unlimited access to government secrets.
As the attacks on Ward become increasingly dire, Rapp and Kennedy are dragged into a world where the lines between governments, multinational corporations, and the hyper-wealthy fade. An environment in which liberty, nationality, and loyalty are meaningless. Only the pursuit of power remains.
Book 21
Oath of Loyalty
-
With President Anthony Cook convinced that Mitch Rapp poses a mortal threat to him, CIA Director Irene Kennedy is forced to construct a truce between the two men. The terms are simple: Rapp agrees to leave the country and stay in plain sight for as long as Cook controls the White House. In exchange, the administration agrees not to make any moves against him.
This fragile détente holds until Cook’s power-hungry security adviser convinces him that Rapp has no intention of honoring their agreement. To put him on the defensive, they leak the identity of his partner, Claudia Gould. As Rapp races to neutralize the enemies organizing against her, he discovers that a new type of assassin is on her trail.
Known only as Legion, the shadowy killer has created a business model based on double-blind secrecy. Neither the assassin nor the client knows the other’s identity. Because of this, Legion can’t be called off nor can they afford to fail. No matter how long it takes—weeks, months, years—they won’t stand down until their target is dead. Faced with the seemingly impossible task of finding and stopping Legion, Rapp and his people must close ranks against a world that has turned on them
Book 22
Code Red
-
Mitch Rapp hates owing anyone a favor—especially when it’s the world’s most powerful crime lord. But when Damian Losa calls, Mitch is honor bound to answer.
The Syrian government has created a highly addictive new narcotic that it plans to distribute throughout Europe. It’s a major threat to Losa’s business and he’s determined to stop it by any means necessary. Rapp is the perfect choice for the mission. Not only does he have extensive experience operating in the Middle East, but he’s also entirely expendable.
As he crosses into war-torn Syria, Rapp quickly discovers a shocking truth. The new drug isn’t being produced by Damascus to prop up the government’s collapsing finances. Instead, it was created by Russia’s asymmetrical warfare unit as a weapon against the West.
With far more than Damian Losa’s interests at stake, Rapp devises a desperate plan that forces him and his team onto a battlefield where the United States is virtually powerless, and allegiances shift almost hourly. Further, if Russia uncovers their plot, it will set off a confrontation between the two countries that could change the course of history
Book 23
Capture or Kill
-
April 2011: On a remote mountaintop overlooking the remains of the Iranian nuclear weapons program, Azad Ashani witnesses a Quds Force demonstration of a capability meant to upend America’s war in the Middle East. Ashani, director of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security and Irene Kennedy’s former back channel to the Iranian government, recognizes the demonstration’s true significance, and the nation-ending conflict it will provoke. Alone, Ashani stands no chance of preventing this rush to madness.
But with the help of one man, he just might.
In Washington, DC, CIA director Irene Kennedy briefs the president that the operational window to kill or capture Osama bin Laden at his recently discovered compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan is rapidly closing. But before he’ll authorize a commando raid on Pakistani soil, the president demands irrefutable proof of bin Laden’s presence.
Proof he trusts just one man to provide.
Preventing a looming war in the Middle East while delivering justice for the nearly 3,000 Americans killed on 9/11 would be a big ask for anyone.
Mitch Rapp isn’t just anyone.
Book 24
Denied Access
-
The Central Intelligence Agency is in crisis.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Congress is questioning the organization’s necessity. Interim CIA director Thomas Stansfield must fight for his agency’s survival while explaining why the previous candidate for his job was found murdered in a French hotel—surrounded by booze, cash, and dead men. Worst yet, a brilliantly run sting operation in Moscow has resulted in the arrest of America’s most prized Russian asset and the expulsion of his CIA handler.
With the CIA’s Moscow Station now paralyzed by the catastrophic intelligence failure, Stansfield seeks help from Mitch Rapp, a newly minted assassin in the secretive Orion program. But Rapp has problems of his own: when his Swiss girlfriend Greta’s grandfather receives a box containing the head of a former Cold War comrade along with a note promising that Greta’s head will be next, Rapp finds himself on the frontlines in a war between the American and Russian intelligence services. To protect the woman he loves and save the CIA from destruction, Rapp must be willing to risk everything.
About Vince Flynn
The fifth of seven children, Vince Flynn was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1966. He graduated from the St. Thomas Academy in 1984, and the University of St. Thomas with a degree in economics in 1988.
After college he went to work for Kraft General Foods where he was an account and sales marketing specialist. In 1990 he left Kraft to accept an aviation candidate slot with the United States Marine Corps. One week before leaving for Officers Candidate School, he was medically disqualified from the Marine Aviation Program, due to several concussions and convulsive seizures he suffered growing up. While trying to obtain a medical waiver for his condition, he started thinking about writing a book. This was a very unusual choice for Flynn since he had been diagnosed with dyslexia in grade school and had struggled with reading and writing all his life.
Having been stymied by the Marine Corps, Flynn returned to the nine-to-five grind and took a job with United Properties, a commercial real estate company in the Twin Cities. During his spare time he worked on an idea he had for a book. After two years with United Properties he decided to take a big gamble. He quit his job, moved to Colorado, and began working full time on what would eventually become Term Limits.
Like many struggling artists before him, he bartended at night and wrote during the day. Five years and more than sixty rejection letters later he took the unusual step of self-publishing his first novel. The book went to number one in the Twin Cities, and within a week had a new agent and two-book deal with Pocket Books, a Simon & Schuster imprint.
Vince Flynn passed away on June 19, 2013 after a three year battle with prostate cancer.
About Kyle Mills
Kyle Mills is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-two political thrillers, including Enemy at the Gates, Total Power, and Lethal Agent for Vince Flynn and The Patriot Attack for Robert Ludlum. He initially found inspiration from his father, an FBI agent and former Interpol director, and still draws on his contacts in the intelligence community to give his books such realism. Avid outdoor athletes and travelers, he and his wife split their time between Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Granada, Spain.
Other similar series to explore: