Transfer of Power
Transfer of Power is the first Mitch Rapp novel, the book that launched Vince Flynn's bestselling counterterrorism series. A team of trained Islamist operatives storms the White House during a state event, killing Secret Service agents and seizing dozens of hostages, including the president and the First Lady. The vice president, sworn in under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, is willing to negotiate. The CIA director and a small circle of operatives are not. Rapp, a former college lacrosse player recruited after the Pan Am 103 bombing killed his fiancée, has spent years in Beirut hunting the men responsible for that attack. Now he is asked to lead a quiet, deniable team into the most secure building in the world. Flynn's procedural detail, Beltway politics, and clipped action set the template for the post-9/11 Washington thriller, though the novel was published in 1999.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about Transfer of Power
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
When a Hezbollah strike team backed by a Saudi prince takes the White House and most of the Cabinet hostage in the East Wing, the President is sealed in the underground bunker with a small Secret Service detail.
Yes. Transfer of Power (1999) is the first novel in Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp thriller series in publication order. American Assassin (2010) is a prequel covering Rapp's recruitment.
Vince Flynn wrote 13 Mitch Rapp novels before his death in 2013. Kyle Mills has continued the series; as of 2025 there are more than 22 main books.
Transfer of Power was written by Vince Flynn, published in 2001 by Atria Books.
Transfer of Power is 552 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Transfer of Power takes most readers 8 to 12 hours to finish.
Transfer of Power is a standalone novel by Vince Flynn, not part of a series.
Transfer of Power is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.