After entering into Mitch Rapp’s world following Vince Flynn’s death in 2013, Kyle Mills now prepares to exit the series after writing an incredible nine books. He has one more breathtaking adventure for the readers before packing up.
Set after the events of Oath of Loyalty (2022), CIA counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp’s honour is tested when a man he gave an IOU to in exchange for a favour in a previous book comes calling to claim the IOU.
He is Mexican billionaire Damian Losa, who happens to be one of the biggest and most powerful criminals in the world. Knowing that Rapp is a man of his word, Losa is confident that he can get the honour-bound American assassin to look into a new drug the Syrian government has been distributing. Even when the mysterious drug is said to be causing irreversible brain damage and killing at an alarming rate. Its very existence is a real threat to Losa’s own drug empire, and he wants to know who is behind it.
Initially, it’s believed that the drug is just a way to generate cash for the Syrians’ dwindling finances. However, Rapp and his team quickly realise that’s all a cover, and that the drug was actually developed by Russia’s asymmetrical warfare unit as a weapon to be used against the West. That gets Rapp’s attention, and pretty soon, the action starts rolling, leading to the kind of mayhem, bloody shootouts, and hard-hitting action that readers have come to expect as Rapp once again risks it all to prevent a new kind of attack that threatens to bring America to her knees.
While it was Vince Flynn who created and first introduced readers to Mitch Rapp back in 1999’s Transfer of Power, ultimately turning him into a household name and one of the great heroes of thriller, it must be acknowledged that Kyle Mills has contributed much to this series, and its protagonist, since taking over with The Survivor (2014). Plenty of other characters have transcended their creators to varying degrees of success, but in truth, there’s no comparison to Mills’ achievement. With virtually no drop-off, both in terms of relevancy and quality, Mills took over for Flynn and ushered in a new era of Mitch Rapp - an era that has involved ISIS and now a post-ISIS plethora of threats too. In fact, Mills helped set the tone for the post-Islamic era of threats and, in turn, played a major role in redefining the genre.
Simply put, Code Red has everything that made readers fall in love with Kyle Mills, which only underscores how sad it is to see him go.
Non-stop action, memorable moments between beloved characters, and a relevant plot that yet again feels ripped straight from next week’s headlines - all these make Code Red a not-to-be-missed thriller.