No Other Option [Paperback]

Marcus Wynne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 2004

Jonny Maxwell is loose in Middle America. A trail of bodies left in his wake. He was once America's best. A member of Project Dominance Rain, an elite cauldron of the cream of America's military and intelligence community, his betrayal has brought dishonor to his team, and now they must send in the one man who knew Maxwell best, Master Sergeant Dale Miller. They fought side by side. They watched each other's back in the world's hot spots. Maxwell and Miller know each other's tactics, they know each other's mind, and they both understand their mission: kill or be killed.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Jonny Maxwell is a rapist, a murderer, and a thief who cuts a bloody swath across the Midwest after a breakout from Leavenworth. But he's also an ex- operative for Dominance Rain, an ultra-secret special ops team spawned by the CIA and the Defense Department. Pursuing him are Minnesota state and local cops, the Fugitive Investigative Strike Team, a supercharged cadre of U.S. marshals, and Dale Miller, his Rain teammate and formerly his best friend, who's been assigned to bring him in. Jonny's smart, tough, and ruthless, and Marcus Wynne's debut thriller, while short on narrative coherence, nuance, and character development, is long on weaponry, explosives, and testosterone. It's your basic chase movie dressed up as a thriller, and while the outcome is never in doubt, there are enough eviscerated bodies and exploding booby traps to keep the action moving until the last paragraph. Wynne throws in a little subplot involving a romance between a trash-talking Minneapolis lady detective and the taciturn hero trailing the man who taught him his tradecraft, but it hardly matters to the lovers or the reader. --Jane Adams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

The love of pure violence fuels Wynne's breathless first thriller, populated by characters for whom bloodshed is a way of life. These people are not all criminals; they are athletes, police and soldiers who seek and thrive on a violent lifestyle, perpetually in danger of crossing the fine line between sane and psychopathic behavior. Jonny Maxwell, once the mastermind of the Defense Department's Special Operations Command, was a spy, infiltrator and killer virtually a one-man army who loved every minute of his high-risk adventures. Jonny, unfortunately, had one serious flaw: he was insane, a serial rapist who used his skills to avoid detection for years. When his partner/prot‚g‚ and only friend, Dale Miller, learned the truth about him, his testimony sent Jonny to prison. But at the start of the novel, Jonny has escaped. It is assumed he will either flee the country and join a mercenary army or use his talents to embark on a life of crime, and Dale is assigned to "bring him down." Na‹vely, Dale interprets this to mean he must return Jonny to prison, but his superiors want Jonny killed. Wynne keeps technical detail about secret operations and weaponry to a necessary minimum, avoiding techno-babble, and his characters are well drawn particularly Jonny, who is a formidable villain without ever becoming a caricature. At the heart of this thoughtful thriller is a compelling question: why does a man go bad? Intelligent in content and competent in execution, this is a most suspenseful and entertaining tale. (Sept. 26)Forecast: This strong first thriller comes complete with a blurb from Stephen Coonts and the stamp of authenticity conferred by Wynne's experience as a paratrooper and counter-terrorism instructor sales should be healthy.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 392 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (December 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812549449
• ISBN-13: 978-0812549447
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,312,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marcus Wynne is a charter member of the Been There, Done That Club. He's got all the T-shirts and knows all the secret handshakes. He enjoys poetry, ballet, knife fighting, and serial monogamy with fierce feminists. He is the author of NO OTHER OPTION, WARRIOR IN THE SHADOWS, BROTHERS IN ARMS, WITH A VENGEANCE, JOHNNY WYLDE, AIR MARSHALS, LOVELADY and, most recently, TOO WYLDE. He manages, with more than a little help from his friends, to eke out a living in this silly business.

www.marcuswynne.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Who Will Guard the Guards?, October 23, 2001

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: No Other Option (Hardcover)

This engaging combination of military action thriller and police procedural is a first novel by Marcus Wynne, who has considerable credentials in the same fields of expertise as many of his characters. It pursues an old theme, that of the good soldier gone bad, and does so with a quiet competence that makes it a very convincing read.

Jonny Maxwell was once the top member of Dominance Rain, a secret CIA dirty work team. All of the team are the very best, but Jonny was even a little bit better. Unfortunately, his tastes also ran to violent sex with unwilling victims. Finally discovered, Maxwell was sentenced to a long prison term. Unfortunately, luck and a bit of planning enables him to escape. Dale Miller, once Jonny's best friend, is assigned to aid a team of U.S. Marshals in bringing Jonny back quickly, before the entire special forces group is exposed.

The first part of the book tells the story of Maxwell's escape and the efforts of Dale Miller and the Marshals (led by Jed Loveless) to bring him in. Miller and Loveless have a love/hate relationship that subtly interferes with the effectiveness of the team. As the Marshals bicker, Maxwell cut's a grim swath in the Milwaukee area. Jonny seems to be able to run rings around his pursuit at will. He engineers deadly bank theft that turns into a major slaughter. Then he manages to fake his death, fool the Marshals, and leave Dale mystified. Maxwell isn't just good at what he does, he is deadly, and hates to leave witnesses.

The story turns to Minneapolis, the next stop on Maxwell's quest for the resources to succesfully flee the U.S. and set up a new life. Unfortunately for Jonny (and his victims) his penchant for rape brings him to the attention of Detective Nina Capushek of the Sex Crime Unit. When Nina recognizes the Jonny Maxwell's signature in a recent rape case she comes into contact with Dale Miller. Fearing the worst, Dale arrives in Minneapolis and, in very short order, is providing assistance to the Minneapolis police. The violence escalates and the book proceeds inexorably to its final confrontation.

Characterization is just right for this kind of book. Jonny's behavior unfolds a piece at a time, as the story requires. Rather than long explanations of his childhood trauma, we are given sudden, sharp insights. Indeed, Marcus Wynne is what I would call a 'just enough' author. Each character has just enough detail, there is just enough armament detail to satisfy the military enthusiasm, and just enough violence to keep the reader riveted. "No Other Option" is far better than just a decent first novel. We are promised that there is more to come, and I'm looking forward to it.

Marc Ruby - for The Mystery Reader

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TOP NOTCH SPEC. OPS. THRILLER, September 4, 2001

By 

Joe Spenser (Dayton, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: No Other Option (Hardcover)

NO OTHER OPTION is a book about covert operations by a person who has been there. Marcus Wynne is a former special operator in the U.S. Army, Federal Air Marshal,executive bodyguard,researcher and trainer. Now he has directed his talents in to a novel that gives the reader a first hand look at black operations. I had the pleasure of reading an advanced copy of this book and I was most impressed. Mr. Wynne has a good handle on the weapons, techniques and mindset of those who must operate in the shadows. Based on a true story, NO OTHER OPTION is about the nationwide manhunt for a special operator who goes "off the reservation" and becomes a serial ... murderer. Pursued by his former partner and a group of U.S. Marshals, the story gets deep into how shadow warriors live and work. HIGH INTENSITY STORY LINE!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wynne is a winner., October 2, 2003

By 

T. King (Brooklyn, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: No Other Option (Paperback)

I've read truckloads of thrillers. Most of them are pretty standard fare and follow a basic formula. The end is almost never in doubt. But it's not about the destination, it's about the journey and Marcus Wynne takes the reader on a very suspenseful and exciting one with No Other Option.

Some may say that the characters lack significant depth and they would be right. But let's face it, this isn't Pulitzer winning material. If that's what your looking for look elsewhere. For me, the characters are as fleshed out as they need to be.

I rank Mr. Wynne right up there with my favorites in this genre, most notably Stephen Hunter. I can't wait to read Warrior in the Shadows.