Fifteen years on the front lines of the war on terror leaves a long list of enemies, and one of Mitch Rapp's has the money to act on it. Vince Flynn's eighth Rapp novel sets a wealthy, well connected father against the CIA operative he blames for the loss of his son. The father does not come himself. He treats retribution as a purchase, hires professionals, and stays several layers back from the work.

Flynn works the whole apparatus instead of a single duel. The book rotates through the president, the decision makers at Langley, the foot soldiers who carry out the orders, and the men planning against them, so a choice made in Washington arrives later as somebody's assignment in the field. That structure keeps the question of who profits from each move in front of you, and it gives the hunt for Rapp a bureaucracy on both sides.

Eighth in the series, it leans on the standing Rapp has built inside the Agency and the enemies that came with it. The plot stands on its own for a newcomer, though the earlier books put more weight behind the pressure. Good for readers who want a thriller that is blunt, procedural and unsentimental about how Washington decides who lives with the consequences.