Cold Barrel Zero

Intelligent, well-written thriller with intricate plot lines and a likable protagonist.. Especially effective description of how the U.S. is perceived by Middle East terrorists.

John Hayes was accused of killing a village of people which he did not do. Now the whole US government is looking for him and those who work with him . He is working to clear hi name but first he must expose what really happened those years ago so he can get back to his wife and daughter. They come across Thomas Bryne who he knew years ago and saves Tom from Colonel Riggs who is thinking he can use him to get to Hayes. The story progresses with Byrne and Hayes with the team are trying to get info they need to prove what happened.
Colonel Riggs thinks he knows what happened in the past and has made it his mission to bring Hayes and his crew in for what happened. He is working with a man who he does not quite trust but is committed to now. Caro is a terrorist using Riggs for his own purpose. Lots of action and what is the 'secret weapon' Hayes has taken away from Riggs? Well worth the read and surprises from start to finish.

A thriller about a rogue agent who is out for revenge, this is a well written adventure. Thomas Byrne is the man who can stop him from carrying out his plan - because he was once a close friend of the man who now wants to hand out death instead of justice.

John Hayes is a spec op soldier who was working deep cover. He is accused of a crime he didn't commit, labeled a terrorist and now the US government has a kill order out on him. He and a group of fellow agents are out to stop the real guilty party and clear their names if they can. This book grabs you from page one with non stop action and holds onto you til the end. I couldn't put it down. I received a copy of this book from net galley for an unbiased review.

Oh wow I liked this book. I read it almost straight through, even staying up when I should have been sleeping. Yes it is a military thriller, yes it is about terrorism and bad guys and all that stuff we have read about dozens of times before, but "Cold Barrel Zero" feels believable. I particularly liked that Thomas Byrnes was a medic and is now a surgeon. He fights but he also takes care of people.

Try "Cold Barrel Zero" as a relief from over the top military thrillers that we are deluged with these days.

I received a review copy of "Cold Barrel Zero" by Matthew Quirk (Mulholland) through NetGalley.com.

I raced through this book it was THAT good. Highly, HIGHLY recommended. Please e-mail me a reminder to post a 5-star review on Amazon when the book is released.

Outstanding, really enjoyed the characters, the twists and especially the ending. I would recommend to all who are looking for a rip=roaring read. You won't be disappointed.

Rarely do I read a novel based on war, violence and terrorism, and just as rarely does a book keep me ripping through the pages so rapidly and having to put it down out of sheer nervous exhaustion. Too often does a book with a premise like this start out interesting only to dissolve into a pathetic plot inhabited by cartoon-like characters -- this does NOT happen here, Author Matthew Quirk manipulates his readers well, so that in the beginning one is hard pressed to differentiate the good guys from the bad. Each character is very well developed and believable as the plot goes skimming along. Hayes, Riggs, and Byrne play very well as main characters and although the plot is complicated, clearly defined characters help keep it easy to follow. Description is well done with graphic scenes that are easy and exciting to imagine. I will be looking for the author's next book.

Deep cover special operative John Hayes and his team have been on a US government kill list since they were blamed for a mass slaughter of civilian interpreters. His former medic Tom Byrne has become an emergency trauma doctor but still can't forget the events of that battle. When the group's former commander Colonel Riggs contacts Byrne in order to help bring Hayes to justice, Byrne quickly becomes involved in a much bigger undercover op with terrorist implications that put the whole country at risk. And, after contacting John Hayes, Byrne really doesn't know which of them is actually telling the truth.

Although I don't read too many military thrillers, I can honestly say that Cold Barrel Zero's non-stop action made it hard to put down. Quirk created characters that I cared about and half-way through the book I still couldn't decide who was the enemy--Hayes or Riggs. It reminded me of Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt or Lee Child's Jack Reacher books--two of my favorite authors. And, I could definitely see this book being made into a movie like the Bruce Willis/John McClane Die Hard series or Steven Segal/Casey Ryback Under Siege movie. If you're looking for a new author, You won't go wrong with Matthew Quirk.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Never ending ups and downs. A great beach read you won't want to put down! Lee Child watch out!

I intended to just read a few chapters before I got down to the business of the day. Yeah, right. What business and what day? Before I realized it the early morning had become late afternoon and the book was finished. While the plot of the misunderstood elite fighting team desperately trying to come home is almost a cliche, this story moves so fast and covers such fertile ground that the reader never has enough time or reason to question the story. And this story moves quickly, both the action and the character development move together seamlessly to create tension and urgency as the unknown fate of a bomb hangs in the balance. Finally there is a surprise ending, something that rarely happens in these books; a sweet extra added on that was entirely unexpected. This is a great ride of a book that I strongly recommend.

For years, I've insisted that nobody can touch Stephen King for getting my full attention within the first few pages (if you don't believe me, read the first chapter of "Mr. Mercedes.)" Well now, Mr. King has some serious serious competition: In this one, author Matthew Quirk writes an absolute killer of an intro. No doubt, I said to myself as I kept reading several more chapters, I'm gonna love this one.

When I agreed to read it (thanks to the offer from the publisher, via NetGalley, for the advance copy in exchange for a review), I admit to having second thoughts. Quite honestly, I've grown a bit weary of stories about Special Ops guys gone rogue, now wanted by government leaders who once fell all over themselves praising their accomplishments - leaders who most likely are themselves corrupt. I still feel that way, and this book saddles up that template from start to finish. But in this case, boy, what a ride it is in between!

John Hayes, a Special Operations superstar, apparently betrayed his soldiers while on a deep-cover mission overseas. Now, he's back in the United States and on the run, trying to avoid being captured or killed by the very folks who sent him on that mission. One of his colleagues in other missions, Thomas Byrne, exchanged his weapons for life as a surgeon; but he can't escape his past and the guilt he continues to feel. The two old friends meet up now under very different circumstances - if Byrne finds Hayes, he's to capture him. But as readers might expect, nothing is ever black and white. The two old friends - made enemies by the government they both trusted - do find each other; but the story Hayes tells is quite different from the one Byrne has come to believe.

So who's telling the truth? That, too, isn't exactly black and white. The action turns explosive - literally - as the two try to work out their differences and ferret out what really happened and who the "baddies" really are. I'll admit the super-human action got a little wild and crazy from about the mid-point on (shades of Ian Fleming's "Thunderball" and Clive Cussler's NUMA Files series), but the writing remained top-notch throughout, with at least one twist I didn't see coming. So even though I was thinking "Movie!" for the second half of the book, I couldn't wait to get to the last page.

Will there be a follow-up? To be sure, that seems like a good bet. If that happens, it's a sure bet I'll be in line waiting to read it!

Detailed military style thriller that will keep you guessing all the way to the finish. Never quite sure who are the bad guys or good guys, this book takes you on a fast paced roller coaster ride that is exhilarating as it is enjoyable. Great characters. I hope to see them again in future books.

I read this novel -- which was almost 400 pages long -- in two sittings, which in itself speaks to how good of a thriller it was. It was exciting from the first page to the last, with non-stop action and interesting cast of characters.

The most interesting was unwilling protagonist Thomas Byrne, the field medic turned doctor that was pulled into the story by the government's need for help, due to his knowledge of a rogue agent that just committed a string of terror attacks. The rogue black ops agent in question, John Hayes, a former commanding officer of Byrne's, is painted in shades of gray, which leaves Byrne unsure exactly who and what to trust.

This "nothing is what it seems" uncertainty is -- along with the breakneck pace of the action -- what really drives the novel, so I don't want to say much about the plot, other than to say everything comes together to a satisfying conclusion at the end, and it is well worth a read. Highly recommend for anyone that likes to read military thrillers.

This is a well-written, action-packed book with a timely plot. Quirk writes so that readers feel a real urgency for the characters to stop an act of terrorism. Characters are richly developed and complex, and their loyalty to each other in all situations -- no matter how dangerous -- is touching. There's a great twist at the end of the story, which makes the book even more outstanding. Highly recommend.

This is probably the best of the Black Ops genre I have read. Layers of deceit and conspiracies keep the characters and the reader guessing as non-stop action prevails. The story is realistic, but quite imaginative. Some of the characters are recovering from deep hurts and obsessive guilt. From time to time this clouds their judgment and leads to major problems. It is hard to rave about this book without giving away to much. Suffice it to say, you can't go wrong if you like well-told, suspenseful thrillers. Note: the summary does not do justice to the actual story, which is much richer in terms of characters and relationships.

Who would want to read Cold Barrel Zero, by Matthew Quirk? Anyone who likes novels with lots of action, lots of technical descriptions of weaponry, medical details, and elaborate fighting and battle scenes. Cold Barrel Zero has all that and more.

Quirk loves plot twists, cliffhangers, and keeping the reader guessing about who's on whose side. One key character, Thomas Byrne, starts and finishes as the good guy. We know this because the portions of the novel that focus on Byrne are written in the first person from his perspective. There are some unquestionably bad guys, as well as some more ambiguous characters. Their portions are written in the third person. I don't want to make too much of the shifting perspectives and voices, but I wasn't that big a fan of the style.

Byrne, a veteran who is working as an ER doctor and trying to forget about the trauma behind him in his time of service, has the bad luck of being close by when some of his former buddies rob an armored truck. Byrne comes under suspicion and doesn't know whether to trust his buddies or the military officials who come after him. Quirk's plot is twisted, unpredictable, and, depending on your perspective may be either hard to follow or satisfyingly complex. Several points of resolution caught me by surprise!

I am reluctant to compare Quirk to other authors. There are definitely some with whom he shares the genre of military suspense fiction. But he has his own voice; you can read those comparisons elsewhere. Quirk's writing is fast-paced and realistic. He clearly gets a thrill out of keeping the reader in the dark and on the edge of his seat, making for a darkly entertaining read.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

For thriller fans, Quirk delivers in spades. A breakneck pace with confrontations on nearly every page. Tough to put this one down, trust me.

When a Special Forces Black Team becomes expendable it becomes quite a problem to eliminate them, especially since they are very good at what they do.

The other issue is that they should not have had a “kill order” placed on them in the first place. They did nothing wrong, although one particular military officer has convinced the Pentagon and the White House that they have gone rogue.

The novel is fast paced, good on details about how a Special Forces Team would work together and gives you a thrill of a ride as you join them and two “outsiders” who are thrown together to try and clear the names of the operators as well as stop major terrorist threats inside the United States.

You will find that you are unsure of which side to cheer for at first, but then as things become a bit more clear you find that you are wanting the truth to come out and for corrupt individuals to eventually pay for their crimes.

But trust me, just when you think you have things figured out another twist comes into play and the most evil characters will surprise you.

Enjoy!

In this fast paced thriller, former U.S. Marine medical corpsman Thomas Byrne still suffers guilt over the death of some of his teammates in Afghanistan. Now a doctor, he hopes to escape his nightmares while vacationing in California. However, once there he finds himself drawn in to a clandestine operation with his old mentor and former Captain, John Hayes. Hayes, operating outside official jurisdiction, has assembled a group of loyal teammates in an effort to stop an imminent terrorist attack within the United States. Twists and turns abound with a sense of urgency that will hold your interest until the final, unexpected conclusion.

Thank you to Net Galley and Mulholland Books for the opportunity to read the ARC of this suspenseful story!

The first thing I thought when I finished this book was "this should be a movie". This book is high impacted, intense and action packed. If you like reading or watching a great action movie or book then this is the book for you. This book is none stop from beginning to end. It makes you keep guessing who's side you should be rooting for. The really should make a movie out of this book.

I really enjoyed - had to finish - right in the middle of the day! Loved the characters, the story, the depth of intrigue - all of it...going back to read author's "the 500."

I'm speechless. OK, almost. This was REALLY good. The plot had more twists and turns than a Rocky Mountain switchback. I spent half the book trying to decide whether Hayes was a good guy or a bad guy. Cold Barrel Zero kept my attention until the very last page. There's something you will. Not. See. Coming.

Military thrillers can be hard to follow for readers without a military background (we like them, too ;) ). Quirk conveyed the military and weapons info in a way that made it both understandable and interesting as well as sliding it neatly into the storyline, which sounds easy but really isn't.

5 Stars. HIGHLY recommended!