9 Books for Mitch Rapp Fans

The source material for the movie Shooter, Point of Impact is the first in Stephen Hunter’s Bob Lee Swagger series. At the core of the series is Swagger, a hardened man suffering from PTSD. He lives a solitary existence with his dog in the Arkansas hills. 

His penchant for being a deadly sniper (he went by the name “Bob the Nailer”) goes without saying, I mean he loads his own ammunition. When he is called back into action, the whole offer you can’t refuse deal, Swagger is quickly caught in a bit of a double cross. Backed into the corner, a lesser soldier might fail but, then again, Swagger has more up his sleeve than any mere antagonist.

James Reece could probably stand toe-to-toe with Mitch Rapp. He’s a Navy SEAL with enough experience and talent to stave off even the worst injuries. In Savage Son, the third entry in the Terminal List series, Reece is recovering from brain surgery in the wilderness of Montana when the Oliver Gray, the man that killed Reece’s father, enlists the Russian mafia to hunt down Reece. 

Reece’s becomes hunted and he must take out Gray at all costs. This leads to tons of action scenes where Reece never comes off as larger than life, while still being a cunning soldier and fighter, the sort of balance so very difficult to achieve. This combination makes it a great option for readers looking for more books like Mitch Rapp.

Leather’s series stars Dan “Spider” Shepherd, an SAS trooper that ventured into far more interesting (read: undercover and shadow agent) work. For readers looking for authors like to Vince Flynn, Stephen Leather is a fantastic choice—and Hard Landing is the first in Leather’s long-running series. Here we see Spider already a seasoned professional used to undercover work. 

There’s a drug baron offing people that might know about his crimes, Spider is put on the job. Naturally, Spider’s safety is tested as he ventures into the darkness, his entire life tested as he exerts confidence and cunning to take down a well-connected drug cartel.

If you’re a fan of the Mitch Rapp books that ratchet up the thrills by way of jet-setting across the country—from Lisbon to China and beyond—then you’ll get a kick out of the many adventures of Dewey Andreas. Author Ben Coes could go head-to-to with Vince Flynn—and then some.

A covert operative with hardened wits and sharp teeth, Andreas finds himself facing off against his biggest and deadliest assignment yet—one of China’s most powerful men, Fao Bhang, head of the Ministry of State Security, puts out an order to kill Andreas. Of course, the action never quits and it’s a constant back and forth between Andreas and his assailants, which gives him plenty of opportunities to showcase his military training. 

In his third outing, series star and CIA agent John Wells finds himself burnt out from his undercover work in Afghanistan. He demonstrates a more empathetic side to the world of covert espionage, and Berenson deftly paints the picture of an expert soldier facing his inner demons. 

Fans of Mitch Rapp will enjoy Wells’ abilities, including all the action happening on the page; however, what might really win them over is Wells at wit’s end. He’s just a guy in the end, a fan of adventure and motorcycles. Berenson pushes Wells into a corner when a terrorist attack occurs on the bridges of Washington. And he just might lose those closest to him during the process.

A military mastermind with a decorated CIA career, Ryan Kealey has seen it all. He’s perhaps more desensitized than even your most internet-obsessed, horror fanatic but life still keeps on going, and Kealey can’t stand to be alone with is demons. He keeps busy and takes an assignment from the CIA involving a former US soldier named Jason March. Kealey is one character who might just give Mitch Rapp a run for his money.

Things are personal given that Kealey was the one that trained March, so going after the soldier inevitably triggers Kealey’s demons. In this series opener, Andrew Britton places Kealey in a situation that just might render his star a nervous wreck. The beauty here? It’s in the telling.

Brad Thor might be one of the authors most often recommended to fans of Vince Flynn—and with good reason. An agent and ex-Navy SEAL, Scot Harvath carries all the trademark character traits you see in any of the books on this list, while also managing to be infinitely relatable. He doesn’t just steamroll over all his enemies; he is flawed, and utterly human. 

The series begins with Harvath messing up, causing none other than the president to be kidnapped. The thriller has Harvath rushing to fix all that he got wrong. In his way is the Fatah, a deadly terrorist organization, and a coalition of high-ranking government officials and corporate businessmen that operate entirely outside of law and order. Harvath is framed for murder and ends up chased by pretty much everyone, landing him exile in the mountains of Switzerland. There’s so much to this thriller, it’s an exciting and infinitely entertaining mad rush of a redemption plot.

One of the lesser known series on this list, which makes it all the more exciting to talk about, Robert White’s flawed and memorable star, Rick Fuller, has seen some things. He washes all the trauma and bad times from years of finishing assignments (as depicted in the previous entries in the series) with booze. Guilt can really destroy a person, and at the beginning of Made to be Broken, it looks like maybe it’ll finally be the enemy that takes him down. But then Harriet Casey, an MI6 agent whose beauty and seductive skills know no bounds, enters his life, literally walking in and showing him a picture of him on her phone. The chance encounter brings Fuller from rock bottom and back into the throes of multiple double-crosses and the cutthroat world of political espionage.

Before donning the pen to take over where Vince Flynn left Mitch Rapp, author Kyle Mills was writing his own wave of thrillers and had his own star agent, Mark Beamon. Every bit a badass and expert special agent, Beamon demonstrates a sense of rebellious wit that results in him butting heads frequently with his FBI higherups. In Darkness Falls, Beamon deals with an incredibly deadly lab-created bacteria that can eat oil. With no way to destroy the bacteria, Erin Neal, an expert is brought in to assist Beamon. Mills demonstrates his ability to build the stakes and keep readers turning pages. No wonder Flynn handed over Rapp’s future to him; there was little doubt that Mills would be able to keep Rapp on track.