The Importance Of Mitch Rapp In Consent To Kill

Ticktock, ticktock…the sound of the clock is all that Mitch Rapp can hear inside the scantily furnished CIA safe-house. The past 24 hours are a blur in his mind, but he is able to recall the important details. There was an explosion, his house is gone, his wife is dead, and he is injured. Rapp is able to ascertain everyone who is responsible, and now he is out for revenge. There are several important searches in the novel Consent to Kill, both figurative and literal. The three most important are: the president’s search for closure, Rapp’s search for the assassins, and lastly Rapp’s search for his own identity.

The first important search in Consent to Kill is the president’s search for closure before leaving office. This is supported by the president stating: “I have a vice president who is in over his head, I have a deeply flawed attorney general, a secretary of state who is more concerned with appeasing foreign governments than protecting our own long-term national security, and I have a new director of national intelligence that will probably throw party when he learns that I have Parkinson’s. The point is Irene, that I don't plan on spending my last year in office refereeing battles between my cabinet members,” the president said

This is a physical search rather than one of righteousness or personal continuity, but it is important nevertheless. Rapp’s search for the assassins constitutes the majority of the rising action in the novel. Flynn writes, “Failure was unacceptable. The thought of them getting away
(Metaphor) with it, the knowledge that the longer he stayed cooped up in this room, the more likely it was that the killers would simply disappear, was what stopped his descent into darkness and depression” (Flynn 458). It is a gross understatement to say that Rapp is depressed. In fact, he is drowning in a sea of