American author Kyle Mills has announced his retirement from writing the Mitch Rapp series, following the release of Code Red. The last novel in the Rapp series written by Kyle will be released on September 12th, 2023.
Kyle Mills took over the series following the passing of Vince Flynn.
The last novel released by Vince Flynn prior to his death was The Last Man. Released on November 13th, 2012, it was the 13th book in the Mitch Rapp series.
Vince Flynn sadly passed away a few months later due to prostate cancer.
The series went on hiatus until 2015, when Kyle Mills wrote the first novel in the series, The Survivor. Kyle showed a true passion for the series and wrote it in his own way while staying true to the vision that Vince Flynn had created for the series.
Kyle went on to write 8 more novels, not including Code Red, with a release every year.
In a newsletter Kyle sent out, he stated that he may be “just nuts”, but that he also has his own character bouncing around in his head, and wants to write about them. He is planning on revising the Fade series, which had one novel released featuring Salam al-Fayed, a former Navy SEAL who also speaks Arabic.
It is very sad news that Kyle is giving up the series as he has done an incredible job. Thankfully, the Mitch Rapp character isn’t being retired.
Instead, Kyle is passing the baton onto Don Bentley. Along with writing numerous books within the Tom Clancy universe, Don Bentley also has his own character. That character is Matt Drake, who is an operative for the Defense Intelligence Agency.
The first novel in that series, Without Sanction, was a Best First Novel nominee at the ITW Awards in 2021.
Don stated that Vince Flynn was his favourite author and that he is very excited to continue the Rapp legacy. Based on previous release dates in the series, it’s likely we will see the first Don Bentley novel featuring Mitch Rapp in the fall of 2024, although no release date is confirmed yet.