Before I start the introductions, I want to thank Vince’s readers, friends, and relatives for all the wonderful emails. I was prepared for some uncertainty from diehard fans but all I’ve received are well-wishes and enthusiasm. I really appreciate people taking the time to make me feel like one of the family.
So, a bit about me…
My career has had a lot of strange parallels to Vince’s. We both published our first books in 1997 and both were lucky enough to get positive reactions from thriller fans. We’re both fascinated with the dark side of politics and both well connected to the intelligence community. Vince was even nice enough to give me a terrific quote for the jacket of one of my books.
Even Mitch and I share a little history. If you recall, he joined the CIA in reaction to the love of his life dying in Pan Am 103. My father was the FBI’s lead man in the investigation of that terrorist attack. In fact, it happened during my college graduation dinner in London where he was stationed at the time. His assistant came to the restaurant and told him that a plane had gone down in a small Scottish town. That was the last I saw of him for months.
I regret having only met Vince briefly. Many years ago, Brad Thor tried to put together a weekend at his place in Utah for the three of us and Brad Meltzer but at the time everyone was having kids and struggling with workload. It’s so easy when you’re young to believe you have all the time in the world.
I’ve published twelve thrillers over my career, spanning a wide variety of subject matters and styles. They started with an FBI agent character who appeared in five novels and then branched out into everything from military-oriented plots, to threats revolving around cutting-edge science, to corporate intrigue.
My goal with The Survivor is to stick very closely to Vince’s style and to try to capture Mitch exactly as he did. I’m lucky that The Last Man included a lot of clues as to where Mitch’s story would go next. The hope is to create a book that even lifelong fans will have a hard time differentiating from the rest of the series. Not an easy task, but I’m working hard to get as close as I can.
Right now I’m in the middle of a website update that will add a page dedicated to Vince’s readers but, in the meantime, I’ve had a lot of people ask me which of my books are the most Flynn-like. If you’re interested in getting a feel for my style, I’d suggest picking up The Ares Decision or Fade.
Finally, I always love to hear from readers, so if you want to get in touch, go to the contact page at kylemills.com and shoot me an email. Feel free to ask me questions too, either through my website or this website and I’ll post some of the answers in future editions of this newsletter.
Once again, thanks for all the encouragement.
Kyle
