The Third Option

By Vince Flynn

THE NEW YORK TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER

Mitch Rapp, the CIA's top counterterrorism operative, is sent on his final mission, to eliminate a European industrialist who has been selling sensitive equipment to one of terrorism's most notorious sponsors. But he doesn't know that the ultimate target of this mission is himself.

Set up by forces within the US who do not want the next Director-elect of the CIA to take over, and therefore need a disaster for the present regime, Mitch refuses to die ... the conspirators have made an awful miscalculation. They have enraged one of the most lethal and efficient killers the CIA has ever produced. Now they will pay.

AMERICAN ASSASSIN, book one in the series, is soon to be a MAJOR MOTION PICTURE starring Dylan O'Brien (Maze Runner), Taylor Kitsch (True Detective) and Michael Keaton.

Praise for the Mitch Rapp series
'Sizzles with inside information and CIA secrets' Dan Brown
'A cracking, uncompromising yarn that literally takes no prisoners' The Times
'Vince Flynn clearly has one eye on Lee Child's action thriller throne with this twist-laden story. . . instantly gripping' Shortlist
'Action-packed, in-your-face, adrenalin-pumped super-hero macho escapist fiction that does exactly what it says on the label' Irish Independent

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Release date: Sep 4, 2008
• ISBN: 9781847395764

Vince Flynn

#1 New York Times bestselling author Vince Flynn (1966–2013) created one of contemporary fiction’s most popular heroes: CIA counterterrorist agent Mitch Rapp, featured in thirteen of Flynn’s acclaimed political thrillers. All of his novels are New York Times bestsellers, including his stand-alone debut novel, Term Limits.

Reviews for The Third Option

[coachtim30 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"The Third Option" is a really solid addition to the Mitch Rapp series. In this book, Rapp is set up in Germany during a planned assassination of a corrupt German businessman. Who's behind the trap? Is it his top supporter in the CIA, Irene Kennedy, or some other person or group? Author Vince Flynn slowly reveals more about each of his main characters, in this, the 4th book in the series as Rapp returns to the country to track down those that tried to kill him. The book is a real page-turner that's hard to put down.

[dbree007 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mitch Rapp, secret cia operative, black ops. Another guy who operates above or below the law.

[sdgareth · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Excellent read, fast pace, better than the previous book. Roll on Rapp

[buffalogr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bad ass assassin Mitch Rapp at it again--this time he almost gets killed by our own government. He pulls off a hit in Germany and is betrayed in the process. It's a pretty quick read and lots gets glossed over, but that's OK--just like the creamy filling in the Oreo cookie. The girl friend and the quasi daughter don't play much of a role, nor does his sidekick, except in his mind. Plenty of bad guys abound. It's a plot with global impact -- our hero is successful and let's go on to the next book in the series.

[alan1946 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another fast paced and lively action novel. Mitch is revealed as being more complex as the series goes on. He would love to get out of the murderous business that he is in, but there is always something preventing him from doing so, much to this reader's pleasure.

[edwardsgt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read this in the wrong order to the book which follows but it hardly mattered. Fast paced action all the way.

[nursewidener · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Would you listen to The Third Option again? I would listen any of the Mitch Rapp stories again. Not only is the plot filled twists and turns and political along with military intrigue, Mitch is out killing all the bad guys. Mitch is helped out by a new set of characters who add an extra layer of kick ass to the story. This story and real any of the Mitch Rapp sagas is recommended to readers who like the military/political thriller genre of books. What did you like best about this story? The no nonsense way Flynn writes his stories. He has created a hero who is American's answer to terrorist even if the people or politicians don't he out there taken care of the bad guys. The interactions between Kennedy and Rapp are some the most interesting conversations between a boss and worker, but Rapp will assassinate the people in his way and sleep like a baby in the morning. If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be? Framed, Pissed, and out for blood, just another day on the job for Mitch Rapp.

[readerofall · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good Action but political drama grew dull and one-dimensional

[mattbuis · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

the worst mitch rapp book yet.

[lanes_3_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A good summer read. Fast paced, spy action.

[gaill_25 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lots of suspense & numerous characters, fast moving, interesting right to the end.

[samsattler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"The Third Option," published in 2000, is the third book in Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series and, while the book still holds up well as a political thriller, today's readers will almost certainly think about how much has happened in the decade following its publication. Mitch is in Germany on what he plans as his last counterterrorism mission: taking out a wealthy German industrialist before the man can supply Saddam Hussein's scientists with the material needed for Iraq to produce nuclear weapons to benefit those waging war on the West.One more kill, and Vince plans to walk away from his old life and into the arms of the woman he plans to spend the rest of his life with - but, in Vince's business, things have a way of getting complicated. Vince Rapp is not used to failure but this time, despite his best efforts, the mission goes badly and he finds himself on the run in Europe, wondering who set-him up and why they did it. All he knows is that someone is going to pay the ultimate price for what they did to him - even if the order came from inside the Agency.When he finally surfaces to confront his bosses in Washington D.C. about their knowledge of what happened in Germany, Rapp becomes convinced that CIA Director Stansfield and Irene Kennedy, Director of the Counterterrorism Center, are as much in the dark as he is. Director Stansfield, Rapp learns, is dying of cancer and Stansfield strongly believes that Irene Kennedy is the only choice to succeed him. However, some powerful government people disagree with Stansfield and they considered Rapp and his mission to be expendable if the ensuing embarrassment would keep Kennedy from the nomination."The Third Option" is a first rate thriller throughout but I was disappointed in its open-ended finish. It is obvious that the fourth book of the Mitch Rapp series picks up exactly where this third book ends - and that might have been more acceptable back in 2000 when there were only three books in the series. But now there are ten of them, and the earlier books can be difficult to find in libraries and bookstores, so it might be a while before I find out how book three's chief villain is finally brought to justice. Bummer.Rated at: 4.0

[dspoon_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.