The Breakout

by Ryan David Jahn, Noah Michael Levine (Reader)

In this military thriller, a US Marine Corps sniper’s quest for vengeance traps him in a Mexican prison, and only his brothers in arms can rescue him.

James Murphy is a Marine Corps sniper. He’s done two tours in Afghanistan. He’s considered an American Hero. And James is out for revenge.

Alejandro Rocha, a massively powerful drug kingpin who operates out of La Paz, Mexico, is responsible for the death of James’s sister, and James intends to make Rocha pay for it.

James goes AWOL from his unit and travels to Mexico, ready to enact bloody vengeance, but before he can go through with his plan, the crooked police of La Paz arrest him. He’s quickly thrown into a dangerous prison on trumped-up charges. He knows he is marked for death while in this prison, and there’s nothing he can do about it. However, there is a group of people who can do something about it…

Discovering that James is wasting away in a Mexican prison, the Marines in his unit decide to risk court-martial themselves and go AWOL as well, ready to go to war to free their brother. And that’s just the beginning of the mayhem and violence…

1 pages, Audio CD

Published February 11, 2025

About the author

Ryan David Jahn grew up in Arizona, California, and Texas. He finished school at sixteen, worked several odd jobs, from record store clerk to janitor, and spent time in the army before moving to Los Angeles, where he muddled about in television and film for several years.

He published his first novel, Acts of Violence, which went on to win the Crime Writers' Association John Creasey Dagger, in 2009, and has since published four others: Low Life (2010); The Dispatcher (2011), which was long-listed for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger; The Last Tomorrow (2012); and The Gentle Assassin (2014). Translation rights to his works have been sold in twelve languages.

He now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife Jessica Alt Jahn and two daughters, Francine and Matilda.

Reviews

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the sister of Marine sniper James Murphy dies of a drug overdose, he goes to Mexico to hunt down and kill the man responsible. The drug kingpin has him arrested, imprisoned, and plans to have him killed. Murphy's squad mates make an unauthorized trip to Mexico to rescue him. Meanwhile the DEA has a mole leaking information about an undercover operation against the drug organization and an undercover agent. This thriller plays on Marines' legendary loyalty to fellow Marines.

[Craig Wakefield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would a decorated Marine sniper go AWOL to go after his sisters murderer? How does he know who this murderer is? Would his teammates also go AWOL to help a decorated Sniper? Would a decorated Marine sniper get courts martialed with a one month sentence? Just how good is a decorated Marine sniper? Can a decorated Marine sniper make a 1500 yard shot successfully? Just a few of the questions that are or are not answered in reading this book. Oh one more question. Does it matter?

[Leonard · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting story. It bordered on the ridiculous at some points. I know, it was a novel, but sniper rifles in the Marine Corps are tightly controlled, and they are never lost. I can see how the cartels control much of Mexico, and that they could be controlled by outside groups. I would have been interested to see how the other three Marines were punished by being U.A. from their duty station.

[Ryan Blanck · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Breakout is definitely an very good thriller novel. I borrowed this book from South Windsor Public Library weeks ago. This author is reminds of my first name and my dad's same first name and my brother's middle name on there because of really cool.

James Murphy is a U.S. Marine Corps sniper. He's done two tours in Afghanistan. He's considered an American hero. And now James is out for revenge. Alejandro Rocha, a massively powerful drug kingpin who operates out of La Paz, Mexico, is responsible for James's sister's death, and he intends to make Rocha pay for it. James goes AWOL from his unit and travels to Mexico, ready to enact bloody vengeance, but he can go through with his plan, he is arrested by the crooked police of La Paz. He's quickly thrown unto a dangerous prison on trumped-up charges. He knows he's marked for death while he's locked away and there's nothing he can do about it. However, there is one group of people who can. Discovering that James is waisting away in a Mexican prison, the marines in his unit decide to risk court-martial themselves and go AWOL as well, ready to go to war in order to break their brother out.

It's an novel with an twist of military thriller, crime fiction and action-adventure which between good vs. bad guys in there. I read this in 6 days but definitely an very good novel. Given 4 stars for the book and the story.

[Jackie Struthers · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was chosen by a member of my book club. Since it was a book club read, I finished it. Otherwise I would have DNFd this book.

This was not good. The writing is very bad and juvenile. I felt like this could have been written by a teenager for their English class. There was absolutely no emotional connection to the characters and the story barely made sense.

Also, there were just too many characters that didn't even really matter and even by the end of the book I was confused about who was in the DEA and who wasn't. Because there was no depth to the characters, it was extremely easy to forget who was who.

The whole premise of the book is that James is avenging his sister's murder. However, it is never even explained why he thinks she was murdered and not died of an overdose, other than he just has this feeling.

So based on a "feeling" he decides to go to Mexico and kill the leader of the cartel. Okay?

His friends somehow see on the news that he was arrested (why is this news worthy???) after being framed for drug possession and having a gun in his hotel room . The friends who we have no emotional connection with, decide they must break him out of the Mexican prison. Which they do with ease. It's not even hard. They just drive a car through the gate, hop out and take him away. His gf even gets outta the car and calls for him, showing her face, even though she has previously given her ID to this prison. Makes sense right? No it doesn't. Just like the rest of this book.

The big twist at the end is that the leader of the cartel is not Rocha, but is in fact the only person in the book who you might care about; who was playing triple agent. This made no sense and was clearly just added in as shock factor.

This book was poorly written and poorly thought out. I fear this is 6 hours of my life I will never get back.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good thriller I enjoyed this read. Quite a different way of filling in background as one reads the book.

[Alycia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was not my kind of book, not my style of writing but I could see someone enjoying it.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good plot twists.

[Bob Plummer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good novel that really keeps your attention and you'll lose alot of sleep because you can't put it down. Alot of twist and turns.