Oath of Loyalty is a pretty entertaining but outlandish continuation of the Mitch Rapp series originally created by the late Vince Flynn. Kyle Mills has been writing the latest installments for the past several years.
In this story, President Anthony Cook is the current occupant of the Oval Office, and he is a corrupt piece of work. Mitch Rapp is reeling from the discovery of a recent betrayal from one of his most trusted friends. His feud with the current fictional president has led him to live in exile from the United States. CIA Director Irene Kennedy has brokered a truce between the two men, but the president is not sure that Rapp will honor that and decides to make a presumptive strike. Rapp is currently in a relationship with a former assassin who has a young daughter. He has a complicated situation with this woman, Claudia, in that her deceased husband was responsible for the death of Rapp’s wife. Claudia also has a young daughter who has come to love Mitch as well. Anyway, President Cook’s fear of Mitch Rapp leads him to break the truce in the typical Washington sleazy manner by influencing Claudia’s past enemies to make a move. Rapp has a more direct way to take his opponents off the board, and he is not letting Cook’s current position prevent him from doing what he does best.
Mills has done a pretty decent job of emulating Flynn’s style of writing. Although the plot is an interesting idea, the implausibility of the characters and the situation is a little distracting. I also am not sure that I like that Rapp has become a bit of a mythical boogeyman throughout the halls of Capitol Hill. He seems a little too indestructible sometimes, which sort of dilutes the suspense. There is also a new recurring character who is a trillionaire. It’s still fun to see what Rapp and his regular allies will get into. I guess none of these new pieces is really impossible, but it is getting a little harder to suspend disbelief as the series progresses. I do wonder what Vince Flynn would think of the direction his series has taken since his demise.
Vince Flynn fans who have followed Mills’ efforts to keep Mitch Rapp alive, figuratively will likely not be too disappointed. I wasn’t either, but I think Mills would do well to show some restraint in his plot ideas. I still had fun reading this, and the final confrontation between Rapp and the president is worth the journey. I will be reading the next one.
Next up, time to return to Michael Connelly’s L.A. seen through the eyes of detectives, Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch with The Dark Hours.
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