COLD BARREL ZERO, Matthew Quirk's new thriller, is somewhat different from his first two books, THE 500 and THE DIRECTIVE. The common thread running through all three novels is the excellence of craftwork, balanced in equal parts by top-notch storytelling, memorable characterization, fine plotting and exquisite pacing. While the first two titles were closer to financial thrillers, his latest is a full-on military/espionage work that plays on the reader's emotions throughout. To (generally) name but one example: Quirk switches from a pulse-pounding scene to a peaceful and enigmatic vignette that ends on a poignant note, taking the reader from a heart-in-the-mouth moment to a lump-in-the-throat experience within the space of a few pages. There aren’t many authors who can control and, yes, manipulate readers’ emotions like that. Quirk is most definitely one of them.

The title of the book takes its name from a shooting term that applies to the exact impact of the very first round shot from a cold rifle barrel. There is a lot of shooting, as well as explosions, karate and the like, but surprisingly few killings, though it is an Afghan war atrocity reported in the book’s past that really gets things rolling in this exquisite, rock-and-a-hard-place thriller. The individual in that bad place is a former Navy medical corpsman named Thomas Byrne, who distinguished himself in a Middle Eastern battle known as K-38. Byrne amassed an impressive battle count of enemy dead and saved the life of John Hayes, his commanding officer and a Special Ops legend.

"Quirk gets the action moving quickly while ratcheting up the suspense and anxiety incrementally throughout the narrative."

Byrne left the service and used his newly acquired medical degree to become an emergency room trauma surgeon, crisscrossing the United States to fill in where needed but never staying too long in one place. He still sees the ghosts of battle haunting him on a regular basis, but has acquired what is close to the semblance of a normal life. That is, until the past suddenly and forcefully intrudes upon his present when Riggs, a high-ranking government official with a military background, all but abducts him and brings him up to speed with some startling news.

Hayes, once an officer beloved by those with whom he served, went rogue on his last deep cover operation, initiating the mass murder of civilians who had assisted him. He has been on the run, disgraced and hunted by the country he betrayed, but has returned to the US and put together a team that has acquired the means to unleash a series of domestic attacks. Riggs wants to use Byrne, who saved Hayes’ life in combat, as a Judas goat to bring him out into the open and terminate his operation. Hayes, though, manages to trip up Riggs’ plan and tells Byrne a story that is quite different. Byrne just wants to be left alone. Neither of the stories he has heard are entirely believable, and he basically would like to hit the reset button on the past couple of days and go back to what he had been doing, which is practicing medicine and saving lives under pressure, while spending time with his love interest along the way.

As becomes extremely clear, however, that is simply not going to happen. The question isn’t who is lying to Byrne. Everyone is, including a number of people no one would ever suspect. Worse, they are all working at cross-purposes against each other. The betrayals and deceit begin manifesting themselves about a fourth of the way through the book, and continue to do so practically up until the final page. Byrne has to navigate his way through a minefield for which everyone has given him a different map. The question that soon comes to the forefront is what his safest course is. And why is everyone doing what they are doing? You will never guess the answer, even though Byrne’s life depends on it.

Quirk gets the action moving quickly while ratcheting up the suspense and anxiety incrementally throughout the narrative. He also drops helpful factoids and nuggets along the way --- if you’ve ever wanted to hijack an armored car, this book has your go-to instructions --- while giving the reader in-the-moment views of firefights and fistfights. Quirk, in the space of just a couple of novels, became a fixture on the must-read list of many thriller aficionados. COLD BARREL ZERO, his best book to date, demonstrates why.