By Susan L. Rife
The Sarasota Herald Tribune (FL)
http://www.heraldtribune.com/
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Political thriller writer Vince Flynn had spent 10 books in the company of one Mitch Rapp, counterterrorism operative and, to be honest, Flynn was a little tired of him.Vince Flynn "I started to get sick of him after 'Consent to Kill' (2005)," said Flynn. "He was so miserable for those next two books, 'Protect and Defend' and 'Act of Treason,' I started to get frustrated. I thought, what am I going to do with him?"
In "Extreme Measures" (2008), Flynn brought some new characters into Rapp's shadowy covert-ops world (one that is so detailed that his work has been scrutinized by the federal government).
"That really re-energized the franchise and Rapp the character," said Flynn, who will discuss his latest novel at Selby Library next Sunday.
Still, continuing to move forward in time didn't appeal to Flynn, so he considered the alternative: moving backward.
"I've always wanted to write the prequel," he said. "I was nervous that the longer I waited, the harder it would be to write it. The longer I go, the more I get away from him at the beginning."
In the just-published "American Assassin," Flynn goes back to Rapp's first assignment and how he moved from gifted college athlete to CIA super agent. It wasn't hard to find an appropriate trigger point that would pitch Rapp into the world of clandestine operatives: the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which Rapp's fianceé is killed.
Rapp goes searching for answers, and for retribution, which makes him an ideal candidate for CIA Operations Director Thomas Stansfield's team of operatives who will delve into the growing terrorist threat from the Middle East over the next 30 years.
"I started to get sick of him after 'Consent to Kill' (2005)," said Flynn. "He was so miserable for those next two books, 'Protect and Defend' and 'Act of Treason,' I started to get frustrated. I thought, what am I going to do with him?"
In "Extreme Measures" (2008), Flynn brought some new characters into Rapp's shadowy covert-ops world (one that is so detailed that his work has been scrutinized by the federal government).
"That really re-energized the franchise and Rapp the character," said Flynn, who will discuss his latest novel at Selby Library next Sunday.
Still, continuing to move forward in time didn't appeal to Flynn, so he considered the alternative: moving backward.
"I've always wanted to write the prequel," he said. "I was nervous that the longer I waited, the harder it would be to write it. The longer I go, the more I get away from him at the beginning."
In the just-published "American Assassin," Flynn goes back to Rapp's first assignment and how he moved from gifted college athlete to CIA super agent. It wasn't hard to find an appropriate trigger point that would pitch Rapp into the world of clandestine operatives: the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in which Rapp's fianceé is killed.
Rapp goes searching for answers, and for retribution, which makes him an ideal candidate for CIA Operations Director Thomas Stansfield's team of operatives who will delve into the growing terrorist threat from the Middle East over the next 30 years.
"The hard part was going back and researching the time warp, what was Beirut like in 1993, what was the Soviet Union like in 1993," said Flynn.
"American Assassin" may become the first of a trilogy prequel to the Mitch Rapp series.
"It was so much damn fun," he said, "just like writing a great story."
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