Into the Fire

(Reprinted from June 15th, 2010)

Consent to Kill by Vince Flynn, published in 2005, opens a small window for the reader to see the man Mitch Rapp aside from the CIA operative/assassin Mitch Rapp. The code of freelance assassins for hire differs only slightly from those sanctioned by government authorities doing their best to eliminate targets before those targets hurt or maim citizens, soldiers, or leaders within their governments. The extremes of the training, conditioning, and focus of these assassins can produce a sociopath if the thrill of the hunt and the success and reward of the kill override the moral choices involved in the assignment. In Consent to Kill Mitch Rapp faces the toughest challenge of his old-before-his-time life. Will he morph into an amoral killer or will he stay centered on a form of justice?

It’s fairly easy for some Christians to ignore the equalities of justice in the scripture verse “You reap what you sow” in favor of the verses “Turn the other cheek” and “Love your enemies”. When you pervert either of those scriptures and take them out of context, ignoring other verses and the overall picture of God and His Word, you come up with those people who refuse to admit there are consequences for evil. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.” When you extract godliness from this equation, you get politicians who like to think their mere words and political bartering will subdue those committed to destroying this country. One of the primary battles of the CIA is providing the “woe” to those who call evil good. And their primary tool for achieving this provision is Mitch Rapp loosely directed by Irene Kennedy. No one knows Mitchell Rapp like his boss CIA Director Irene Kennedy, but even Irene loses her cool with Mitch once in awhile when Mitch goes “off the reservation” of her large and flexible allowances for him.

In Consent to Kill Irene receives word from a Jordanian operative that there’s a “new” price on Mitch’s head—someone is reaching out to the hired killer providers to assassinate the assassin. Although nothing particularly different in this information, it means someone else has entered the fray, and Mitch needs to be extra alert.

As a reader, meeting the assassin who takes on the challenge of killing Mitch Rapp gives us the antithesis of Mitch’s character in that this hired killer has forfeited his moral accountability because of his own selfish disappointments in life and his ensuing bitterness sometimes bordering on rage. He proves he is clearly up to the challenge but his ego and lust for the hunt plus the enormous sum of money he demands from the middle man obscure the reality of his choices.

Perhaps some of Vince’s best writing comes in a powerful and gut-wrenching conclusion to this book. Being who I am, this confrontation brought me to tears. Because in this scene both Mitch and the assassin must decide who they are and who they will become. It’s a piece of writing that puts you there in the room, and you read it almost holding your breath. You read through it and go to the end of the book, and you close the book, and you go do what you’ve put off the entire day just so you could read Consent to Kill. And then when you lay your head on the pillow, tears seep out again. And you give thanks to God for people who give their lives for inconsequential people like yourself. And you thank God that He is bigger than you, that He sees people’s hearts, that He knows way beyond what man thinks and professes to know, and that ultimately you can trust Him.

Again, this novel is not for sensitive or squeamish readers. It’s tough, it’s harsh, it’s complicated to determine whether it’s revenge or simply justice.

Lord, someday you will reign in truth and justice. Until then humanity will be what it is. And the only source for Truth and Justice is you and in you. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.