This article was originally posted on (my other website) the Mitch Rapp website MitchRappFan.com -click here for all things Mitch Rapp! 

Back in October, during an interview I did with Kyle Mills for The Life Sentence, I asked him about the prequel trilogy of Rapp novels that Vince Flynn had begun.

If you aren’t aware of the chronological order verses written order of the series, the first Mitch Rapp novel Vince Flynn wrote was Transfer of Power in 1999. Nine books later, after completing Pursuit of Honor, Vince went back to the beginning and decided to tell Rapp’s origin story.

In the fall of 2010 American Assassin hit bookstores, detailing the events of Rapp’s recruitment into the CIA, his training, and his first operation.

In 2012, after missing his original publication date due to complication of his battle against prostate cancer, Flynn released Kill Shot, a direct sequel to American Assassin. One more book was planned to finish the prequel trilogy, but first Vince wanted to revisit the current timeline of Rapp, so he wrote The Last Man (which also came out in 2012).

Sadly, The Last Man – with the exception of a mere three pages of The Survivor, which Vince wrote – was Flynn’s final novel. He passed away in June of 2013, having never been able to go back and write a sequel to Kill Shot.

Fast forward to October 6, 2015…

Kyle Mills has completed The Survivor, the first novel in his three book deal, which debuted as a #1 New York Times bestseller. During my interview with him, he acknowledged the many lose ends that have never been tied up from the two prequel books, and expressed his desire to finish the trilogy at some point.

I would like to finish the prequel trilogy and wrap up all those loose ends, because I imagine that Vince was planning on doing that at some point, since he left so much open at the end of Kill Shot.

Like most fans, I was thrilled to hear him say this, and I told him as much off the record. I was really looking forward to this for several reasons…

*** SPOILER ALERT *** DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU HAVE NOT READ AMERICAN ASSASSIN AND KILL SHOT! SKIP TO THE NEXT HEADER, AND CONTINUE ON FROM THERE!First of all, the readers have absolutely no clue what happened with Greta. Greta was Mitch’s love interest in the first two prequel novels, and a fan-favorite character. Personally, I prefer her over Anna Rielly (Rapp’s wife later in the series) for Mitch.

At the end of Kill Shot, Rapp is essentially forbidden to see her by Thomas Stansfield, who is friends with her grandfather. For those reading the series for the first time in chronological order, it’s incredibly frustrating to finish Kill Shot and move on to Transfer of Power (next in order) only to never hear any mention of Greta again.

Oh, and by the way, everything I just said about Greta – same goes for Victor. Victor, the character fans hated for two novels, who Rapp left a bloody mess at the end of Kill Shot. Yeah, we don’t ever find out what happened to him, either.

Rafique Aziz, arguably the most known bad guy in the entire series, has a cameo in Kill Shot. We know Rapp spends a significant amount of time hunting him down between the ending of that book and the start of Transfer of Power. We also know that at some point Mitch receives a gnarly scar on his jaw from the terrorist, who then gets away.

Those are just a few of the things fans are waiting to have tied up.

Waiting Game

Unfortunately, we’ll just have to keep waiting. In the January edition of the Vince Flynn newsletter, Kyle Mills was asked about his plans to finish the prequel trilogy during a fan Q&A. Here’s his answer:

What a bummer! I guess all those unanswered questions from American Assassin and Kill Shot will just continue to go unanswered for the time being. I appreciate Kyle Mills keeping the door open by saying “it’ll get done one way or another,” and I sincerely hope that the publisher will make it happen in the future.

Until then, we wait.

2016 book update

The second novel on Mills’ contract will take place after The Survivor, though it doesn’t sound like a sequel by any means. It should come out this fall, probably in October. For more on that, see my previous write-up detailing everything we know so far.

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