Customer Reviews

Warrior in the Shadows

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've been a thriller writer for more than thirty years (FIRST BLOOD, THE FIFTH PROFESSION), and I can't recall being this excited about a new talent. As Stephen Coonts notes on this book's cover, Marcus Wynne is a been-there-and-done-it action writer. A former paratrooper and Federal Air Marshal, he uses authentic details, many of which have not been in a novel before. His writing is also exceedingly vivid. A great ride.

Alfie Woodward combines the skills that he learned as an Australian Special Air Forces soldier with his Aboriginal spiritual beliefs to form an incredibly successful killing machine. He leaves behind quite a crime scene starring his latest victim, Minneapolis banker Madison Simmons as Alfie not only paints an Aboriginal painting using his victim's blood, he also strips meat and organs from the corpse, fries them, and eats them.

Police Sergeant Bobby Lee Martaine heads the murder investigation that includes his military buddy Charley Payne as a civilian contract forensic photographer. Charley takes his copies of the weird photos to his artist girlfriend Mara Steinway who introduces him to Aboriginal art expert Kativa Patel. She explains the murder ritual of killing with a blunt object and eating the deceased to reduce their afterlife prowess, and concludes the portrait is the signature of the killer. When Bobby, his wife, and eight year old child is murdered, Charley knows that he has his own ritual to perform on the Aboriginal killer.

Warrior in the Shadow is an exciting police procedural that grabs the audience with its opening salvo about Madison being eaten and never lets go until the final confrontation to include Kativa in the Outback. The superb story line is a police procedural thriller that enables the audience to observe a different much greater depth side than Crocodile Dundee provided. Marcus Wynne lives up to his surname with a winner that genre fans will devour, but not with bacon.

Harriet Klausner

After finishing 'No Other Option', I made a bee line to the bookstore to get Marcus Wynne's latest. Warrior in the Shadows dances along the metaphysical with a tension underneath that builds till you can't stand it. I have to carefully turn certain pages so as to not accidently see ahead and spoil whats coming next in a sequence that is like being out on a recon mission. You feel as though you are there. I believe the author was.

Gary Delaney

Aside from the intelligent action, Marcus Wynne has the rare ability to blend charasmatic depth to his central characters. This is a rare skill in the action genre.

Im on the road 160 days a year and go through books very quickly...I know a book is great when I dont want it to end...I felt that way with both of Marcus's books, you cant' but help like the characters.

Wynne's books are now on my short list of authors... if youre looking for orginal stories, subtle and witty dialogue, read both his books.

Tony Blauer

The pull behind Warriors in the Shadows was so great, I almost missed going to daily Mass. The smooth transitions of events from chapter to chapter took such hold of me I would have stayed up all night if my 70-year-old eyes let me. Needless to say, I gave up breakfast just to finish the book. This is a real 'wow' book and so satisfying. Even the descriptions of weapons seemed to be integral to the plot and I even read them if just to compare weapons, and for a little old lady, that is something. I love the battle scene. The writer's descriptions sure took me into the cave and yet made me see and feel for the aborigines. I see them as powerful despite their ancient practices especially in this technological world.

This was another good book by Marcus Wynne.He has turned out to be one of the most unique writers that I have read. In this
book our hero is Charley Payne.He has left his employment at the
CIA to become a forensic photographer for the Minneapolis police.
Payne is called in to photograph scene where the victim is
partially devoured.Charley also notices a painting on the wall from the Aboriginis.
The murderer is Alfie Woodard who is an Aborigini warrior who also served in the SAS.Alfie is a contract killer who works for
Jay Burrell a big drug dealer.Alfie uses his tribal practices to
strike fear in his victims.Alfie kills one of Charley Payne's friends and his family.
Charley hooks up with Kativa Patel,an expert in Laura region art.They fly together to Australia to pursue Alfie Woodard.Once
there a battle ensues.
This is another good book fron Marcus Wynne who has come up
with another frightening villain in Alfie Woodard.In "No Other Option" Jonny Maxwell were scary as well.Buy this book and read it. It is excellent.

After reading NO OTHER OPTION, I could not wait to get my hands on Marcus Wynne's next thriller, WARRIOR IN THE SHADOWS. Perhaps because I thoroughly enjoyed NOO, I found this one to be a disappointment.

Like the former, MW gives the reader some background about the antagonist, which I enjoyed, however, this time around I feel he leaned way too heavily on the mystical journey stuff. While I do read fantasy/sci-fi where this is often featured, I didn't see it as necessary for this kind of story. Maybe it took me by surprise as the previous book had none of this.

MW writes men in action very well. Charley Payne is an interesting character. The one time CIA shooter tires of a life of violence and becomes a shooter of a different sort, a photographer who occasionally takes crime scene pix for the local police to help pay the rent.

Alfie Woodard is an excellent villian. Abused as a youth because of his Aboriginal heritage, he finds a home in the SAS where he learns the killing arts. Later he hangs out in the Outback where he studies the dark arts with a witch doctor of sorts. He combines these skills to become an enforcer for an international drug dealer.

The story has several large holes which are difficult to ignore. While I'm sure drug dealers will sometimes order someone killed in a particularly brutal fashion to send a message to others, I doubt they would approve of their hitman using such a distinctive M.O. time after time. The killing ritual, which includes cannabilism and wall painting with the victims bodily fluids seems excessively high profile and bound to draw some unwanted attention, which it does. Charley's current girlfriend just happens to know someone who is an expert in Aboriginal art and folklore. With little argument, she drops everything and flies halfway around the world with a man she just met to catch a killer with magical psychic powers.

The climatic showdown, gets too entangled in the black magic stuff. Still, for it's flaws, Marcus Wynne knows how to tell a story. I never once considered not finishing this book. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if it was my first MW book. I look forward to BROTHERS IN ARMS, which I understand teams Charley Payne with the hero of No Other Option.

This is not quite a police type crime novel, not quite a spy thriller, and not quite a fantasy novel. It is somewhat a mixture of the three. There are two main protagonists. The first is an Australian aborigine, Alfie Woodard, who served in the Australian Special Air Service, then became a shaman who walked down the dark path before becoming an enforcer for an international drug dealer. Alfie has a habit of painting primative pictures in his victims' blood, and cooking and eating parts of their bodies, part of a ritual from the dark side.

The second protagonist is Charley Payne, a former member of United States Army Special Forces, who became a contract killer for the CIA. He dropped out of the CIA work (but is still in their active files) and became a forensic photographer for the Minneapolis police department.

When Alfie murders one of Charley's friends along with the friend's family, Charley chases after him, going to Australia for revenge. Charley is able to activate old assets, as his former employer has an interest in both Alfie and Alfie's boss.

Some of the novel may seem a little unrealistic, but surreal novels tend to be that way. There is sorcery and connections to a dream world. Some parts seem a little unfinished, as you may wonder what happened to some of the secondary characters, but overall it is a good story if you like this type of fiction. I prefer stories that are not surreal, but rated it based on its genre. I will pass it on to a friend who likes this type novel.

I would give the novel an R rating based on content. It is not a story for children.

Marcus Wynne makes the unbelievable believable and the unreal real, as his former CIA-agent hero is drawn into a series of ritual murders in modern Minneapolis.

Wynne leads us halfway around the world into an aboriginal dream world as two powerful men meet in the Australian bush for an inevitable and ultimate clash.

You will want to slow down so that the book won't end, while Wynne is nudging you to turn to the next page. It isn't easy to pause even for a short break. Hang onto your didgeridoo. This one is a keeper.

The action and weaponery use and descriptions in Wynne books are so descriptive and accurate, you find yourself nodding in agreement and understanding because this guy has obviously had real world experience. Warning: Page turner. If you start reading Wynne books, they will consume your mind until you have completed reading the book. So start reading Friday after work so nothing else interrupts you until you finish.