Vincent Joseph Flynn (April 6, 1966 – June 19, 2013) was an American author of political thriller novels featuring the fictional assassin Mitch Rapp. He was a story consultant for the fifth season of the television series 24. He died of prostate cancer on June 19, 2013. Biography Early life and education Flynn was one of seven children born to Terry and Kathleen Flynn, and a graduate of Saint Thomas Academy (1984) and the University of St. Thomas with a B.A. in economics (1989). Early career After graduating, Flynn went to work for Kraft Foods as an account and sales marketing specialist. In 1991, he left Kraft to pursue a career as an aviator with the United States Marine Corps. One week before leaving for Officer Candidate School, he was medically disqualified from the Marine Aviation Program. In an effort to overcome the difficulties of dyslexia, Flynn forced himself into a daily writing and reading routine. His writing influences included Leon Uris, Tom Clancy, Ernest Hemingway, John Irving, Robert Ludlum, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Gore Vidal. Writing and media career Flynn's newfound interest in fiction motivated him to begin work on a novel of his own. While employed as a bartender in the St. Paul area, he completed his first book, Term Limits, which he self-published. Of the book, Flynn said: "I had just finished reading The Government Racket: Washington Waste from A to Z, by Martin L. Gross. It is without a doubt the most disheartening and enlightening book about politics that I've ever read. I was out jogging one day wondering what it would take to really change Washington, when my thoughts turned to a friend who had been shot and killed in Washington, D.C., several summers earlier. As I continued running, a story started to unfold." Pocket Books published the hardcover edition of Term Limits in 1998, and a mass market paperback in 1999, which spent several weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Subsequent works, including Flynn's 1999 novel Transfer of Power, his 2000 novel The Third Option, and his 2001 novel Separation of Power, also appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, with Separation of Power rising as high as No. 7. Flynn's fifth novel, Executive Power, was published in hardcover by Atria Books in 2003, followed by his sixth novel, Memorial Day in 2004, his seventh, Consent To Kill, in 2005, his eighth,