Consent to Kill
Encyclopedia
Consent to Kill is the seventh novel by Vince Flynn
and the sixth in a series that features CIA counterterrorism agent Mitch Rapp
. In this thriller, Flynn focuses on the war on terror exploring all its aspects, from the president of the United States
, to the CIA, the foot soldiers and the potentially deadly terrorists. His stories are detailed and thoroughly researched.
uncovered an Al-Qaeda
plot to use a nuclear weapon
obtained from abandoned Russian nuclear storage bunkers. The ultimate goal was the destruction of Washington, D.C.
, and Rapp was forced to torture the only man who knew the details of the plan: Waheed Abdullah. Rapp then faked Waheed's death to prevent the Saudi Government from learning of it and rescuing him, while preserving a useful source for himself. To keep Waheed from being discovered, Rapp puts him in an Afghan prison.
However, this plan backfired: Waheed's father, Saeed Ahmed Abdullah, a billionaire Saudi businessman and a jihadist himself, has learned that Rapp has "killed" his son. He places a $20 million dollar bounty on Rapp's head, and a former East German Stasi
officer, Erich Abel, begins to hunt Rapp. Abel learns about Saeed and his son through Prince Muhammed bin Rashid, who convinced Saeed to kill Rapp. Abel, through his contacts, encounters two assassins, a husband and wife team, Louie Gould and Claudia Morrell. For $10 million, they agree to kill Rapp. Claudia, who is pregnant, specifically asks Louis not to kill Rapp's wife, as she is also pregnant. He agrees, and leaves for America.
In Washington, Rapp is angered by the new Director of National Intelligence, Mark Ross, who authorized surveillance of Rapp's co-worker and friend, former Navy SEAL Scott Coleman. Ross sends the IRS to investigate Coleman and requests Coleman's personnel file from the Navy. Ross has ambitions to the presidency and views his current position as a stepping stone to the White House. He has no respect for Rapp because of Rapp's reckless antics and, despite Rapp's contributions, wants to fire him. Rapp decides to visit Ross to stop his investigation of Coleman, but he loses his famous temper when he finds a satellite photo of Coleman and discovers his friend was a topic of interest. He physically holds the National Security adviser by the collar and slapped him with a folder holding Coleman's files, to the shock of his aid. Rapp warns him not to interfere with the War on Terror. His words fall on deaf ears, though, and Ross decides that he must fire Rapp; since the latter has the president's full support, he decides he has to do it carefully.
Later Rapp injuries his left knee during a morning jog, and encounters the assassins Gould and Claudia, both dressed as bicyclists, examining his house. Rapp doesn't suspect anything and continues limping back towards his house. The next day, Rapp undergoes arthroscopic knee surgery. He and his wife Anna come home and as they settle down in their house, Louie detonates a bomb that kills Anna and throws a severely wounded Rapp into Cheasepeake Bay where he was saved by a nearby boater. The CIA fakes Rapp's death and brought him to a safehouse to recuperate. In a secret meeting with Irene Kennedy, Director of CIA, President Hayes tells Kennedy that Rapp has his consent to kill any and all people involved in the murder of his wife. Rashid, who is visiting U.S., finds out through Ross that Rapp is not yet dead and orders his assistant Saudi intelligence agent Nawaf Tayyib to kill Rapp and Abel. Tayib hires Latino gang leader Anibal Castillo to kill Rapp at the safehouse. He then goes hunting for Abel himself with two of his men.
Castillo and thirteen of his men attack the safehouse. Rapp kills all of Castillo's men, then wounds Castillo and brings him in to be questioned. Through different leads Rapp discovers Saeed as the one who put a bounty on his head. Rapp goes to Afghanistan and gets Waheed out of prison with Waheed being under the impression that it is a hostage exchange. Rapp has Waheed wear a vest full of explosives. As Waheed embraces his father in the street, Rapp pulls out a detonator and blows Saeed and Waheed and twelve of Saeed's bodyguards to pieces. The CIA in the meantime has found out about Erich Abel's role in hiring the assassins and sends Rapp to Abel's office. There Rapp finds Tayyib torturing Abel's secretary for information on Abel's whereabouts. Rapp kills Tayyib's men, then he and Coleman capture Tayyib. A guilty Claudia is revealed to be the one who gave the CIA information on Abel. Abel's secretary reveals to Rapp and Coleman that Abel is in Austria. Rapp flies there and captures Abel at his mountain retreat and tortures him for information. Abel reveals that Rashid was the mastermind behind the plot. He also gives information on the assassins. After hearing this, Rapp, who has become much more violent after the killing of his wife, burns Abel alive inside the house. He then travels to Spain where Rashid is staying. There Coleman bribes Rashid's guards, who are British SAS sympathetic to Rapp, to let them in. Rapp completely covers Tayyib with explosives and drops him off in front of the mosque where Rashid is staying. Once Rashid's personal guards have him in custody, Rapp detonates Tayyib's body, killing him and all the guards. Rapp finds Rashid and beats him severely before he puts a thermal grenade in his mouth and pulls the pin, melting Rashid's head.
In the epilogue, set nine months later, Rapp trails Louie and Claudia to Tahiti. Claudia has had her baby and Louie has retired. Rapp aims a gun at Louie Gould's head, but once he hears that the baby was named after his wife, he realizes she would not want her death avenged like this. He turns and leaves Louie, Claudia, and Anna unharmed. He then throws the gun into the ocean and continues walking down the boardwalk outside.
but it has not yet been picked up by a studio.
On January 1, 2010, Variety announced that Antoine Fuqua
(Training Day
, Shooter
) will direct spy thriller Consent to Kill for CBS Films
with Lorenzo DiBonaventura and Nick Wechsler producing.
CBS Films
has expressed interest in Gerard Butler
, Colin Farrell
or Matthew Fox
for the role of Mitch Rapp
.
Vince Flynn
Vince Flynn is a best-selling American author of political thriller novels. He lives with his wife and three children in the Twin Cities. He was a frequent guest on the Glenn Beck program on the Fox News Channel...
and the sixth in a series that features CIA counterterrorism agent Mitch Rapp
Mitch Rapp
Mitch Rapp is a fictional character in a series of novels by Vince Flynn and in the planned film adaptation of what was to be Consent to Kill, but now changed to American Assassin.http://www.movierewind.com/2011/new-mitch-rapp-movie/ The character first appeared in ISBN 0-671-02319-5 Transfer of...
. In this thriller, Flynn focuses on the war on terror exploring all its aspects, from the president of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, to the CIA, the foot soldiers and the potentially deadly terrorists. His stories are detailed and thoroughly researched.
Plot summary
In Flynn's previous novel, Memorial Day, CIA counter-terror operative and assassin Mitch RappMitch Rapp
Mitch Rapp is a fictional character in a series of novels by Vince Flynn and in the planned film adaptation of what was to be Consent to Kill, but now changed to American Assassin.http://www.movierewind.com/2011/new-mitch-rapp-movie/ The character first appeared in ISBN 0-671-02319-5 Transfer of...
uncovered an Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
plot to use a nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
obtained from abandoned Russian nuclear storage bunkers. The ultimate goal was the destruction of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and Rapp was forced to torture the only man who knew the details of the plan: Waheed Abdullah. Rapp then faked Waheed's death to prevent the Saudi Government from learning of it and rescuing him, while preserving a useful source for himself. To keep Waheed from being discovered, Rapp puts him in an Afghan prison.
However, this plan backfired: Waheed's father, Saeed Ahmed Abdullah, a billionaire Saudi businessman and a jihadist himself, has learned that Rapp has "killed" his son. He places a $20 million dollar bounty on Rapp's head, and a former East German Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
officer, Erich Abel, begins to hunt Rapp. Abel learns about Saeed and his son through Prince Muhammed bin Rashid, who convinced Saeed to kill Rapp. Abel, through his contacts, encounters two assassins, a husband and wife team, Louie Gould and Claudia Morrell. For $10 million, they agree to kill Rapp. Claudia, who is pregnant, specifically asks Louis not to kill Rapp's wife, as she is also pregnant. He agrees, and leaves for America.
In Washington, Rapp is angered by the new Director of National Intelligence, Mark Ross, who authorized surveillance of Rapp's co-worker and friend, former Navy SEAL Scott Coleman. Ross sends the IRS to investigate Coleman and requests Coleman's personnel file from the Navy. Ross has ambitions to the presidency and views his current position as a stepping stone to the White House. He has no respect for Rapp because of Rapp's reckless antics and, despite Rapp's contributions, wants to fire him. Rapp decides to visit Ross to stop his investigation of Coleman, but he loses his famous temper when he finds a satellite photo of Coleman and discovers his friend was a topic of interest. He physically holds the National Security adviser by the collar and slapped him with a folder holding Coleman's files, to the shock of his aid. Rapp warns him not to interfere with the War on Terror. His words fall on deaf ears, though, and Ross decides that he must fire Rapp; since the latter has the president's full support, he decides he has to do it carefully.
Later Rapp injuries his left knee during a morning jog, and encounters the assassins Gould and Claudia, both dressed as bicyclists, examining his house. Rapp doesn't suspect anything and continues limping back towards his house. The next day, Rapp undergoes arthroscopic knee surgery. He and his wife Anna come home and as they settle down in their house, Louie detonates a bomb that kills Anna and throws a severely wounded Rapp into Cheasepeake Bay where he was saved by a nearby boater. The CIA fakes Rapp's death and brought him to a safehouse to recuperate. In a secret meeting with Irene Kennedy, Director of CIA, President Hayes tells Kennedy that Rapp has his consent to kill any and all people involved in the murder of his wife. Rashid, who is visiting U.S., finds out through Ross that Rapp is not yet dead and orders his assistant Saudi intelligence agent Nawaf Tayyib to kill Rapp and Abel. Tayib hires Latino gang leader Anibal Castillo to kill Rapp at the safehouse. He then goes hunting for Abel himself with two of his men.
Castillo and thirteen of his men attack the safehouse. Rapp kills all of Castillo's men, then wounds Castillo and brings him in to be questioned. Through different leads Rapp discovers Saeed as the one who put a bounty on his head. Rapp goes to Afghanistan and gets Waheed out of prison with Waheed being under the impression that it is a hostage exchange. Rapp has Waheed wear a vest full of explosives. As Waheed embraces his father in the street, Rapp pulls out a detonator and blows Saeed and Waheed and twelve of Saeed's bodyguards to pieces. The CIA in the meantime has found out about Erich Abel's role in hiring the assassins and sends Rapp to Abel's office. There Rapp finds Tayyib torturing Abel's secretary for information on Abel's whereabouts. Rapp kills Tayyib's men, then he and Coleman capture Tayyib. A guilty Claudia is revealed to be the one who gave the CIA information on Abel. Abel's secretary reveals to Rapp and Coleman that Abel is in Austria. Rapp flies there and captures Abel at his mountain retreat and tortures him for information. Abel reveals that Rashid was the mastermind behind the plot. He also gives information on the assassins. After hearing this, Rapp, who has become much more violent after the killing of his wife, burns Abel alive inside the house. He then travels to Spain where Rashid is staying. There Coleman bribes Rashid's guards, who are British SAS sympathetic to Rapp, to let them in. Rapp completely covers Tayyib with explosives and drops him off in front of the mosque where Rashid is staying. Once Rashid's personal guards have him in custody, Rapp detonates Tayyib's body, killing him and all the guards. Rapp finds Rashid and beats him severely before he puts a thermal grenade in his mouth and pulls the pin, melting Rashid's head.
In the epilogue, set nine months later, Rapp trails Louie and Claudia to Tahiti. Claudia has had her baby and Louie has retired. Rapp aims a gun at Louie Gould's head, but once he hears that the baby was named after his wife, he realizes she would not want her death avenged like this. He turns and leaves Louie, Claudia, and Anna unharmed. He then throws the gun into the ocean and continues walking down the boardwalk outside.
Movie
In a radio interview on the Hugh Hewitt show on February 6, 2009, Vince Flynn disclosed that he has signed a movie deal for this book to be the first of the Mitch Rapp books to make it to the large screen. The screenplay was written by Jonathan LemkinJonathan Lemkin
Jonathan Lemkin is an American screenwriter. He has written for the television series 21 Jump Street, Beverly Hills, 90210, and Hill Street Blues. He has also written the films Showdown in Little Tokyo , Lethal Weapon 4, Red Planet, and adapted The Devil's Advocate and Shooter from novels...
but it has not yet been picked up by a studio.
On January 1, 2010, Variety announced that Antoine Fuqua
Antoine Fuqua
Antoine Fuqua is an American film director. He directed the film Training Day as well as Tears of the Sun, King Arthur, Shooter and Brooklyn's Finest...
(Training Day
Training Day
Training Day is a 2001 crime drama film directed by Antoine Fuqua, written by David Ayer, starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. The film follows two LAPD narcotics detectives over a 24-hour period in the gang neighborhoods of South and East Los Angeles.The film was a box office success and...
, Shooter
Shooter
Shooter may refer to:Films* Shooter , a 2000 short film depicting four paparazzi on a stakeout* Shooters , a 2001 UK television drama documentary film, set in Liverpool* Shooters , a 2002 theatrical film...
) will direct spy thriller Consent to Kill for CBS Films
CBS Films
CBS Films is an American film production company founded in 2007, a feature film division of CBS Corporation. CBS Films is located on Wilshire Boulevard in West Los Angeles.-Company history:...
with Lorenzo DiBonaventura and Nick Wechsler producing.
CBS Films
CBS Films
CBS Films is an American film production company founded in 2007, a feature film division of CBS Corporation. CBS Films is located on Wilshire Boulevard in West Los Angeles.-Company history:...
has expressed interest in Gerard Butler
Gerard Butler
Gerard James Butler is a Scottish actor who has appeared on film, stage, and television. A trained lawyer, Butler turned to acting in the mid-1990s with small roles in productions such as the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies , which he followed with steady work on television, most notably in...
, Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell
Colin James Farrell is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such film as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T....
or Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox (actor)
Matthew Chandler Fox is an American actor. He is mostly known for his role as Charlie Salinger on Party of Five, and for portraying Jack Shephard on the supernatural drama television series Lost.- Early life :...
for the role of Mitch Rapp
Mitch Rapp
Mitch Rapp is a fictional character in a series of novels by Vince Flynn and in the planned film adaptation of what was to be Consent to Kill, but now changed to American Assassin.http://www.movierewind.com/2011/new-mitch-rapp-movie/ The character first appeared in ISBN 0-671-02319-5 Transfer of...
.