We’re still five months away from the publication of Lethal Agent, the next Mitch Rapp thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kyle Mills, and already there is considerable hype around the book’s release.
Following Vince Flynn’s passing in 2013, Kyle Mills stepped in to keep his popular series going and has since taken the beloved franchise to new heights. Agent—his fifth contribution to the Rappverse following The Survivor (2015), Order to Kill (2016), Enemy of the State (2017), and Red War (2018)—is already one of the most anticipated new thrillers of the year.
While all of Mills’ Rapp books have been well-received from critics and readers alike, generally earning him high-praise from even the most diehard fans of the series, the author recently addressed both last year’s book and this year’s in a blog post. Hoping to mix things up, Mills wrote that in Red War, he “wanted to plunge Mitch into a much larger scale threat than he’d faced before,” before noting that the book’s location fit that perfectly.
“Russia was perfect for that. He doesn’t speak the language, he’s never operated extensively there, and being a lone man with a Glock can be pretty uncomfortable when the ICBMs start flying.”
This time around, though, Mills is aiming for something different. Something, perhaps, more in the vein of Flynn himself.
“After spending a year pushing Vince’s style about as far as it could go into geopolitics, I was in the mood to narrow my focus. With Lethal Agent, I wanted to create something that felt like old-school Flynn—a book about Mitch kicking terrorist ass while corrupt forces in Washington try to take him down,” wrote Mills.
“Of course, I couldn’t make it too easy on everyone’s favorite CIA assassin. I set much of the book in Mexico and pitched him against a threat that a lot of fans have been asking for—bioweapons. Once again, he finds himself in an unfamiliar operating theater with a problem that can’t necessarily be solved with a few rounds from his infamous Glock.”
The promise of a throwback, “old-school Flynn” novel should be more than enough to send fans scrambling to pre-order Lethal Agent in bunches, well ahead of it’s September 24th release. In the meantime, though, check out the rest of Mills’ blog post, which offers more insight into Lethal Agent, including some info about a new character that sounds similar to a couple of old Flynn favorites.
Read Mills’ post here, then make sure you’re following him on Facebook and Twitter for more updates.
Praised as “one of today’s finest book reviewers” by New York Times bestselling author Gayle Lynds, Ryan Steck (“The Godfather of the thriller genre” — Ben Coes) has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). Steck also works full-time as a freelance editor and pens a monthly thriller column for CrimeReads. For more information, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He currently lives in Southwest Michigan with his wife and their six children.