A statement from Flynn's publisher, Simon & Schuster, Inc., said he died Wednesday.
Flynn self-published his first book, "Term Limits," in 1997 before landing a publishing deal. "Term Limits" became a New York Times bestseller. Most of his books centered on the character Mitch Rapp, a counterterrorism operative.
He averaged a book a year.
Flynn announced in 2011 that he had been diagnosed with stage three metastatic prostate cancer.