An elite platoon of Special Forces soldiers infiltrates a forbidding Afghan war zone on horseback in search of vast treasure in this lyrical, thrilling blend of military fiction and Western.
When Corporal Elijah Russell's superb horsemanship is revealed during a firefight in northern Iraq, the young Army Ranger is assigned to an elite Special Forces unit preparing to stage a secret mission in eastern Afghanistan. Elijah's task is to train the Green Berets—fiercely loyal to their enigmatic commander, Captain Wynne—to ride the horses they will use to execute this mission through treacherous mountain terrain. But as the team presses farther into enemy territory, the nature of their operation only becomes more mysterious, and Wynne's charismatic power takes on a darker cast. Ultimately, Elijah finds himself forced to make a choice: on one side, his best friend and his most deeply held beliefs; on the other, a commanding officer driven by a messianic zeal for his mission.
Based on the author's extensive interviews with Green Berets, Army Rangers, and other veterans, this taut page-turner brilliantly fuses the war novel and the Western into a compellingly original tale.
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“Wynne's War is a deep and beautifully written story of men, war, and madness, told by a young American master. A page-turner of poetic and savage grace, of our time but transcending it, this novel takes its rightful place among the great American literature of war.”
— Nic Pizzolatto, Edgar Award finalist
“This novel feels like Cormac McCarthy meets Tim O’Brien. I could not stop reading it.”
— Philipp Meyer, New York Times bestselling author“Gwyn depicts the eventful mission with tight dramatic control and a flair for suspenseful twists. His cleverest touch is to transplant the vintage conventions of the Western into his battle pieces.”
— Wall Street Journal“Gwyn’s combat scenes are realistic, meticulous, and passionate.”
— Booklist“A gripping tale of men at war in the desolate snow-capped mountains of eastern Afghanistan and captures the essence of close combat…Its gritty realism is part of the strength.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)“The book pulsates with a verisimilitude that places readers in the war-torn mountains of Afghanistan…[A] well-researched, heart-pounding novel.”
— Library JournalBe the first to write a review about this audiobook!
Aaron Gwyn was raised on a cattle ranch in rural Oklahoma. He is the author of three novels and the story collection, Dog on the Cross, a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award. His novel, All God’s Children, was a finalist for the 2021 Spur Award for Best Traditional Novel. His writing has appeared in Esquire, McSweeney’s, Glimmer Train, Missouri Review, Gettysburg Review, and New Stories from the South. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he is an associate professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and contributes book reviews, articles, and narrative nonfiction to Esquire.
Michael Kramer is an AudioFile Earphones Award winner, a finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration, and recipient of a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award. He is also an actor and director in the Washington, DC, area, where he is active in the area’s theater scene and has appeared in productions at the Shakespeare Theatre, the Kennedy Center, and Theater J.