The Outside Man

By: Don Bentley

Narrated by: Scott Brick

The fight for freedom has sent Matt Drake to some of the world's most dangerous spots. This time the war is coming to his front door in an electrifying thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Tom Clancy Target Acquired and Hostile Intent.

Broad daylight on an Austin, Texas, street and DIA operative Matt Drake is fighting for his life against a highly trained team of assassins. Who are they? Why do they want him dead? How will he protect those closest to him?

The answers will take him into some of the most dangerous spots in the Middle East and will put him in the clutches of an old foe known simply as the Devil. It's a world of double crosses, with no boundaries between the guilty and the innocent. It will take all of Drake's wiles to get out alive.

Critic reviews

"[A]nother super-charged, action-packed adventure that’s tailor-made for fans of Mark Greaney and Brad Taylor...Gritty, timely, and packed with nonstop, heart-thumping action, Don Bentley’s The Outside Man is a must-read for fans of propulsive, unputdownable thrillers."—The Real Book Spy

"[D]evoted action fans, will be right at home. All can benefit from Drake's insider tips: get military pepper spray if you can; the commercial stuff is a powder puff."—Booklist

“Bentley adds brains to the traditional brawn of yesteryear in crafting a thinking man's shoot-'em-up that keeps us on the edge of our seat from beginning to end.”—The Providence Journal

"[A] bloodied and world-weary Matt Drake has returned to try to save the world...The Outside Man...reinforc[es] Bentley’s status as a fresh and worthy entrant into the top tier of military-political thriller authors such as Brad Thor, the late Vince Flynn, James Haig and others."—BookTrib

“The Outside Man is among the rare class of sequels that outshine their predecessors….Bentley possesses that unique combination of storytelling ability and personal life experience that lends an air of realism which cannot be faked. For fans of writers like Simon Gervais, Mark Greaney, and Jack Carr, Don Bentley’s The Outside Man is sure to be a new favorite.”—Coffee or Die Magazine

Lots of action

The suspense and action were outstanding as well as the narrative.
I throughly enjoyed every minute of listening.

Drake Needs It? Suddenly, It's There!

I want to start with the good. Scott Brick is great. He nails voices so you know who is speaking without being told. He puts just the right amount of emotion into each sentence and makes it fit with the narrative in context. His voice makes you feel the frustration, understand the pain, and detest the evil oozing out of some of the characters. If Scott Brick reads a book, you know that the listening will be easy and enjoyable.

Bentley does most things well. His story telling is logical, emotional, mostly believable (see below), fast paced, and he develops the characters enough for you to be concerned about their safety, or conversely, want them to see into Justice's dark eyes. He has a knack for moving the story along at a good pace without losing you or boring you. And he never adds so many characters that you are asking yourself, "Now, who is this again?" He also isn't afraid to throw some curveballs at you - some that are just devastating. Most writers avoid what Bentley is willing to do.

I will seek out the next book for sure.

However, the main problem that I have with the book on the whole is the overuse of coincidence or deus ex machina. Over and over and over again, Bentley either uses coincidence to give away part of the story or provides fantastical solutions to problems. I didn't make a list as I listened but here are a few...

SPOILERS BELOW:

(Before the coincidental timing of WAY too many fortunate events for Drake, I have to say that I was a little put out by the way Bentely introduced and developed characters and then threw them away without even a mention. I am specifically referring to the Osprey pilot, Pom-Pom, who did everything asked, improvised to save Drake and his wife, but was then shot down. Once the Osprey went down, there was no mention of the crew that helped him save his wife. Not even when the figurative cavalry arrived to rescue him did Bentley mention that they were going to go to the wreckage site to see if there were survivors. These characters had served their purpose in the story and were tossed aside like so much garbage and then immediately forgotten.)

Drake is taken to a compound where one of the terrorist leaders, for some unexplained reason, takes him to the prison part of the compound. There he just so happens to come across one of the top Mossad leadership members who was captured. Why? Because later in the book Drake is going to need information and supplies. The foreshadowing was blatant. And of all of the hastily thrown together terrorist camps in the Middle East, not only does Drake go to the same one as the Mossad agent, he gets placed in the same cell as him. Not only that, but Drake recognizes who he is. This type of forcing the plot is frustrating.

But it doesn't end there. Drake manages to start escaping with the Mossad agent when he will be easily overwhelmed by sheer numbers, when all of a sudden, his "friend," who sold him out several chapters earlier in the book, comes to his aid. Even though Drake had nothing on him which would have led someone to his location and even though he had a bunch of misadventures between being betrayed and being rescued, this "friend" knew exactly where he was. Too much.

Finally, and this is a three-fer, his wife gets captured and is being taken away in a helicopter but Drake has no way to follow. He makes a phone call to his handler and, all of a sudden, an Osprey, which just happened to be five minutes away and already in the air, is re-tasked to him. So just as he is getting on the plane, someone gives him a stocked ballistic vest so that he can have it later when he gets shot and when he needs a medical kit and a lighter. The third coincidence/ex machina moment in this short scene is when Drake needs to disable the helicopter his wife is in without shooting it out of the sky. What did he happen to find in the Osprey? A sniper rifle, already zeroed, fully loaded, with tracer rounds. Come on!! I mean, all the helicopter needed was a rope and an elephant so he could tie the rope to one of its skids and the other to the elephant to bring the helicopter down safely. I wonder why that wasn't an option?

There are plenty more of these conveniences sprinkled throughout the book that only ever coincidentally helped Drake and too many to make the book as enjoyable as it could have been. It not that Bentley doesn't have talent - he's got it in spades. He just needs to ease up on all the magic in the book and it would be great.

Very good

Compelling story , narrator makes it so fun to listen to, Scott Brick is the best. Hope for another book with Matt Drake! He has great potential.

Outstanding story!

Don Bentley is one of the best! His military experiences certainly shine through his story lines. I’ve recently listened to other similar authors and would never waste my time with them. I’m not sure if authors write with the narrator in mind or if they choose the narrator after finishing the story. But after listening to over 80 books in this genre in the last year and a half, I can’t express how important it is to have a narrator who makes the story sound exciting. Scott Brick is outstanding and I would listen to any of his authors in any genre! Bentley & Brick make an unbeatable team.

The Devel Meets the Angel of Death

Great book. Lots of action and a compelling story. It keeps you very entertained to the very end. On to book #3.