AMERICAN ASSASSIN (Mitch Rapp #1) by Vince Flynn ⭐⭐

I imagine you could pick this or a number of other spy-thrillers at a bookstore (or more likely, an airport) and have the same experience, none of which would include anything transformative. You choose these because you know what you’re gonna get, and maybe you get lucky and find an exceptional one. I gave this a try because it was in our house and looked like a quick read. I wish it had been quicker.

I don’t know that I’ve read any Vince Flynn before, but this one felt like a lesser Bourne Identity. I found my attention wavering from beginning to end, for some reason both bookends being the most interesting parts along with a brutally entertaining torture scene. I was mostly bored the rest of the time. This felt like a lesson in telling versus showing in writing, and how abusing the former can work to move the plot along but maybe won’t move you in any significant way.

I noticed a lot of repeated descriptor phrases as well — ‘college puke’, ‘sphinx-like’, ‘clandestine’. And while repeating things isn’t always a negative, none of the phrases sound like anything worth using so much. Just another way the book came off like five hundred pages of cliches rather than the riveting, politically-charged page-turner I was hoping for.

Knowing this was a prequel to an already successful series, I’d maybe give the original a try in a pinch. Otherwise, I plan to leave this behind for someone else to discover when we fly home in a few days.