It’s official. On September 24th, Mitch Rapp is back in Lethal Agent, a brand new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kyle Mills.
Lethal Agent is the 18th book in Vince Flynn’s beloved franchise and the fifth book written by Kyle Mills, who took over the series following Flynn’s death in 2013. Chronologically, the new entry will follow last year’s Red War, which saw Rapp, the CIA’s top counterterrorism operative, take on the Russian president, who became hellbent on starting a war in order to help hide his grim cancer diagnosis. This time around, Mitch is set to face the first bioterrorism attack of his career, while CIA Director Irene Kennedy deals with a “toxic” presidential election that would have major consequences for her, both personally and professionally.
See the official plot details below.
A toxic presidential election is underway in an America already badly weakened by internal divisions. While politicians focus entirely on maintaining their own power and privilege, 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 US.
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.
“In the world of black-ops thrillers, Mitch Rapp remains the gold standard” (Booklist, starred review).
Not for nothing, but this might be the most fitting title in the series since American Assassin (2010), as Rapp is literally a lethal agent. In fact, we just crowned him the most lethal character currently in the thriller genre back in December, due to his efforts in Red War. As for what readers can expect with the new book, Mills told me in an interview last September that he “really wanted to do something non-political,” in 2019, but that he just couldn’t not address certain things going on in the real world.
“There’s a biological threat in the next one, plus a very divisive presidential campaign, and that plays a big role,” said Mills. “The guy running for president is a really awful guy who is bad for Irene Kennedy (as the CIA director) and bad for America. That’s all playing out in the background while the guy is manipulated by another country, and ISIS uses his campaign to try and drive Americans apart. To me, that’s what is happening right now so I couldn’t get around it.
“There’s no question that what’s going on politically in the United States, and even culturally, is on everybody’s mind. It’s almost like the elephant in the room. You either, as a writer, have to make a conscious choice to ignore it, or to address it. I tried to ignore it, but it didn’t work. Finally, I realized I had to embrace the elephant, or it’s going to be a really scattered book.”
Lethal Agent, scheduled to hit U.S. bookstores on September 24th, is currently available for pre-order wherever books are sold. In the meantime, make sure you visit Kyle Mills’ official website and that 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.