Rating: 
Summary: Bit of a slip, this time
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Bit of a slip, this time
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Kudos to Wynne: another winner
Review: 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
Rating: 
Summary: READ IT!
Review: Awesome plot development, characters and overall story. Wynne is a fine author and a great operator. Why read the rest when you can read a book by someone who has been there? Wynne never fails to keep the pages turning!
Rating:
Summary: Outback battles
Review: Good action with some mystical stuff thrown in. The author knows his stuff and it shows, I await his next work.
Rating:
Summary: A huge dropoff from his first one
Review: I loved Mr. Wynne's first book, but this one was just too much to swallow. Even if I believed in the Australian black magic upon which so much of the plot depends, isn't it a bit too much of a coincidence that the hero's main squeeze that has a girlfriend in Minneapolis with an encyclopedic knowledge of said black magic and Australian geography? Further, this girl hops on a plane with him after spending one night with him, rocketing to Australia to risk her life to avenge a the death of a cop she never met? If you've read Mr. Wynne's first book and plan to read his third, this one is a must because the third book has the heroes of the first two meeting and teaming up. If you haven't and are looking to give Mr. Wynne's work a test drive, try "No Other Option" instead. Mr. Wynne gets two of his three stars for technical knowledge alone, and a third for the way he made the bad guy almost likeable. The fourth and fifth stars would have been for a realistic and gripping plot, but sadly this book had neither. It's not a bad way to kill a flight, but if you've read "No Other Option," this is going to disappoint you.
Rating:
Summary: Dining with death
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Senior Citizen gets adrenaline rush from book.
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A surreal novel
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Good Read
Review: This one of the best thillers I read in along time. The author draws you in with the great story line and believeable characters. Once I started this book I could not put it down.
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