Mitch Rapp faces an Iranian foe bent on destabilizing the Middle East.

Preventing a looming war in the Middle East while delivering justice for the nearly 3,000 Americans killed on 9/11 would be a big ask for anyone. Mitch Rapp isn’t just anyone.

Don Bentley is the New York Times Bestselling author the Matt Drake thriller series, four books in the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan Jr. series. Capture or Kill marks his entrance into the Vince Flynn Mitch Rapp series.

This was my first read of this series. It’s interesting to start at the point a new author takes over, especially when there really is a hardcore fanbase, first established by Vince Flynn but then continued after Vince’s death by Kyle Mills. There have been some concerned voices among fans as to whether Don will be an appropriate guardian of Vince’s legacy. And yet I’ve never seen such an outpouring of warmth for another book and author as I have for this one.

So anyway, it’s interesting for me because I’m coming at this almost completely fresh, with only the knowledge of the American Assassin movie. I get the opportunity to read and consider this for exactly what it is. Let’s get into that.

I was rapidly hooked. I started reading later in the evening than I usually would, thinking I’d do a couple of chapters just to prime me for reading during my commute the next day and suddenly I found I was seventeen chapters in and less than four hours before I had to wake up.

The rooting in real events seemed to keep the story so taught. There were times where I felt I was in an intel briefing, and I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. Really had the feeling I was in a FOB in Afghanistan and Don was laying out the operational details. I posted on X “Is this a thriller with an intel brief or an intel brief that’s thrilling?”

What had me hooked was the way the book was able to take me back to that period in time when Afghanistan was so much in the popular consciousness. And it was impressive how the story was tucked into a very narrow fictional window within a well documented reality. Credit goes to Don for having told the fictional story but also having been so informative about the window within which the story took place.

There were some awesome scenes, the Ranger rescue operation, Bin Laden’s compound, and the final helicopter takedown. I’m trying to avoid spoilers.

Don Bentley’s passion for helicopters came through loud and clear, but so did his respect and reverence for all his brothers in arms, despite a generous helping of jokes.

I thoroughly enjoyed Capture or Kill and hope to read more like it. In my estimation it was a solid entry into the series that read well. I’ll definitely be picking up the series as a whole and working my way through them all. Perhaps in time for the next installment, #24.