Product Description

When diplomacy has failed and military intervention is deemed inappropriate, our leaders often turn to a silent and dark community for results. This is a course of action not always taken by wise and honorable men. In certain circles it is known as

The Third Option

Fresh from retaking a battle-scarred White House after a vicious terrorist attack, Mitch Rapp, the CIA's top counter-terrorism operative, is sent on his final mission. His target: a well-known German industrialist who has been selling highly sensitive equipment to one of the world's most notorious sponsors of terrorism. As Rapp meticulously prepares to take the man out, he has no idea that there are forces within his own government that are plotting to use him.

The conspirators have devised a bold plan that will damage the president and ruin the career of the incoming director of the CIA's Counter-terrorism Center. Unfortunately, they have made one horrible miscalculation: they have chosen Mitch Rapp as their pawn. Their worst nightmare is about to be realized. They have enraged one of the most lethal and efficient killers the CIA has ever produced -- and he will stop at nothing until he finds out who set him up.

With action that sizzles from the opening paragraph and insider details that bring the story to vivid life, The Third Option showcases a New York Times bestselling author who is just hitting the peak of his extraordinary storytelling powers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1295569 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-01
• Formats: Abridged, Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 4
• Binding: Audio Cassette

Amazon.com Review
Rancorous political infighting surrounds the selection of a successor to the dying head of the CIA just as Mitch Rapp, the agency's top operative, embarks on a dangerous mission to take out a well-known German industrialist believed to be supplying Middle East terrorists with highly sensitive equipment critical to constructing a nuclear bomb. When Rapp's ultimately successful mission is compromised from within, ailing CIA director Thomas Stansfield puts his imprimatur on the efforts of his chosen successor, Irene Kennedy, director of the agency's Counterterrorism Center, to identify the powerful interests both inside and outside the agency that wanted Rapp to fail.

The motive soon becomes clear; there are people who'll stop at nothing to remove Kennedy from the helm of the agency after Stansfield dies. One thing they didn't count on was Rapp's survival, and now he's a lethal weapon whose sights are fixed directly on the most powerful among them. This is a strong, swift thriller, a bit predictable (the senator in the black hat has dogs named Caesar and Brutus) but nonetheless involving. Author Vince Flynn sustains the dramatic tension from the opening paragraph to the last; in Mitch Rapp, he's got the makings of a promising series hero. --Jane Adams

From Publishers Weekly
A CIA counterterrorist gets caught in the middle of a deadly Beltway power play in Flynn's (Balance of Power) latest political thriller. Long on one-dimensional characters, action scenes and espionage details, it falls short on comprehensible plotting. Battle-scarred protagonist Mitch Rapp returns to take on a sensitive new assignment in Europe, only to have things go awry when his two CIA colleagues turn on him following the assassination of a wealthy German count who has been selling arms to Saddam Hussein. Rapp survives their double-dealing, but he is forced to go underground to decipher the labyrinthine chain of political connections and to learn who was trying to have him killed. Back in Washington, a similar game of spy-versus-spy is being conducted by the elderly, dying director of the CIA and his chosen successor. Rapp eventually surfaces to help his bosses, but things get personal for the ace counterterrorist when Rapp's bride-to-be is kidnapped as part of the ongoing political maneuvers. Flynn sweats the small stuff to bring his conspiracy to life, but he also introduces enough secondary characters to populate two novels, and he frequently stalls the narrative momentum by providing an overwhelming level of detail regarding various high-tech gadgets and espionage operations. The biggest disappointment, though, comes at the end, when the book is exposed as a shameless setup for a sequel. Flynn is a popular writer, but his third thriller won't do much to enhance his critical reputation or his sales. 9-city author tour. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Flynn hits his stride in this thriller about high-end Washington politics, the second featuring underground counterterrorist Mitch Rapp. This time Rapp is unofficially hired by the CIA to assassinate a German businessman who has been secretly chummy with Saddam Hussein. Rapp does his job, but the couple hired to help him try to sabotage him instead. Rapp must track down the rogue couple and figure out whom they're working for if he is to survive. Flynn's high-energy prose sets a terrific pace, and he generates plenty of suspense. Unfortunately, he doesn't deliver the goods in the end. The conclusion, designed more to set up the next installment in the series than to wrap up this one, will leave readers distinctly unsatisfied. On the other hand, they will be clamoring for more. Flynn has an exciting, Ludlum-like series going here, but he needs to learn how to hit a tonic chord on the last page. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Good Reading...but...
This is my third Flynn Book in as many weeks and it lacks the intensity of the first two. I sensed Flynn pushed the manuscript through a little to fast and was not able to offer the quality equal to his first two books. My advice would be to wait for the paperback. Warning: If you insist on reading The Third Option, I would strongly suggest that you read Term Limits and Transfer of Power first. Reading both beforehand will offer greater insight into those who Mitch Rapp trusts and why and frankly they're both great books. Otherwise some of the pieces will not fit.

A SUSPENSEFUL, ACTION-PACKED NOVEL!
THE THIRD OPTION by Vince Flynn is the type of thriller that fans of the espionage/political intrigue genre are always on the lookout for. The novel deals with Mitch Rapp who is a member of the CIA's highly secret Orion Team. He's their top assassin. When the first option of diplomacy and the second option of military force fail, the United States turns to its third option of covert action as a way of dealing with terrorist's attacks. It is our last option of fighting back, and it usually involves assassination. Mitch Rapp is on the verge of resigning from the CIA. He has met the woman of his dreams and wants to live a normal life. He decides, however, to take one last assignment. His job will be to go into Germany as part of a team and assassinate a German industrialist who has been selling materials for building a nuclear device to one of our country's leading enemies. What Rapp isn't aware of is that he's to be killed after he completes his mission. When the German police find his body next to that of the industrialist, the CIA will be publicly blamed, thus ending the career of Irene Kennedy, head of the department that runs the Orion Team and who is slated to take over as Director of the CIA. Rapp isn't an easy man to eliminate. The people assigned to take him out fail in their attempt. Returning to the United States by covert means, Rapp is determined to track down the individuals who tried to kill him and to extract the names of those in the U.S. Government who authorized the hit. Rapp doesn't care how high up the list of names goes; if he has his way, he will kill every last one of the people involved in this conspiracy. THE THIRD OPTION has the ring of authenticity about it that strongly reminded me of the earlier novels of Tom Clancy. Its author has a real working knowledge of the Central Intelligence Agency and is able to take the reader deep behind the scenes of intelligence gathering and covert assassination, not to mention the dynamics that come into play as the Agency struggles to survive the manipulations of Congress and the President of the United States. Though the plot of this novel is complex in nature, there is certainly enough action to keep us diehard fans of the "spy" genre glued to our seats as we try to desperately guess the ending. I will say this about the final outcome; as in real life, the bad guys don't always get what's coming to them. I have to also say that I really enjoyed the character of Mitch Rapp. Here is a man with a strict code of honor who isn't afraid to kill in order to protect himself or his loved ones. This is certainly the type of guy you want as a friend and not as an enemy. I hope the author will continue to write future novels with Mitch Rapp in them. He's got a great character here. Anyway, if you want to enter the New Year with some fun reading, pick up a copy of THE THIRD OPTION, then check out the first two novels by Vince Flynn, TERM LIMITS & TRANSFER OF POWER.

Flynn writes a taut political thriller
I have now read all but one of Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series. Five in all, I think. I did not read them in the order they were written. Much to Flynn's credit, they don't have to be read in order. Each volume stands alone.

Mitch Rapp is an assassin, a part of the Orion Team, a clandestine effort known only to a few in the U.S. government. The President,a very few people at the CIA who povide covert assistance and a very few members of Congress. The purpose of the Orion Team is to bring the war on terror to the terrorists with surgical, fatal strikes. Mitch Rapp is the chosen instrument and he is very good at his job. But Mitch wants out. He has met and fallen in love with Anna Reilly, a television reporter.

This will be Rapp's last job, he thinks. The assasination of a German Count who has done business with Saddam once too often. The CIA has provided two helpers for the task. One of them tries to murder Rapp seconds after he has dispatched the German.

(...)

The plot, as it is with all Flynn novels, is convoluted with double-crosses as common as snow in the mountains. When Flynn writes a political thriller, it is indeed political. He is hard on appeasers and obviously sees many politicians as self-serving and even traitorous.

Flynn's Mitch Rapp and all the other characters are richly drawn. They are all believable: good guys and bad guys alike. The suspense is tight on every page. And the body count grows with every page.

Flynn is, in my opinion, the absolute master of the political thriller. "The Third Option" is, again in my opinion, a masterpiece of the genre.

Jerry