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Year of the Horse
EVERY ASSASSIN HAS A CODE
EVERY SECRET HAS A BODY COUNT
He’s brilliant, he’s broken, he’s a modern day meet interrogator Malcolm Chaucer. All he wanted was a quiet vacation in Paris…and maybe a second chance with his ex-wife, the fearless operative, Tempest MacLaren. Instead, he's pulled into the path of Caleb Moss, better known as Man O’ War, a legendary assassin on a bloody mission of vengeance.
Chaucer and Tempest are thrown into the middle of a manhunt that takes them from the rooftops of Paris, to a North Dakota survival bunker, to the jungles of Colombia.
With the Director of the CIA in the crosshairs, and a twenty-year-old conspiracy rising from the darkness, Chaucer and Tempest will have to outwit not just the deadliest man on earth, but also the shadowy organization his actions threaten to reveal.
Year of the Horse is a white-knuckle ride brimming with deadly twists and heart-pounding action. Perfect for fans of Jack Reacher, Jason Bourne and Orphan X.
Praise for T D
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “Could. Not. Stop. Reading!”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “Malcolm Chaucer is my new favorite spy.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “WOW!!! FANTASTIC AND UNPUTDOWNABLE!”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “This book is a masterpiece of storytelling.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “Malcolm Chaucer may have just passed Reacher as my favorite action hero!”
EVERY SECRET HAS A BODY COUNT
He’s brilliant, he’s broken, he’s a modern day meet interrogator Malcolm Chaucer. All he wanted was a quiet vacation in Paris…and maybe a second chance with his ex-wife, the fearless operative, Tempest MacLaren. Instead, he's pulled into the path of Caleb Moss, better known as Man O’ War, a legendary assassin on a bloody mission of vengeance.
Chaucer and Tempest are thrown into the middle of a manhunt that takes them from the rooftops of Paris, to a North Dakota survival bunker, to the jungles of Colombia.
With the Director of the CIA in the crosshairs, and a twenty-year-old conspiracy rising from the darkness, Chaucer and Tempest will have to outwit not just the deadliest man on earth, but also the shadowy organization his actions threaten to reveal.
Year of the Horse is a white-knuckle ride brimming with deadly twists and heart-pounding action. Perfect for fans of Jack Reacher, Jason Bourne and Orphan X.
Praise for T D
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “Could. Not. Stop. Reading!”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “Malcolm Chaucer is my new favorite spy.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “WOW!!! FANTASTIC AND UNPUTDOWNABLE!”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “This book is a masterpiece of storytelling.”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ “Malcolm Chaucer may have just passed Reacher as my favorite action hero!”
396 pages, Paperback
Published August 21, 2025
12 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 1, 2025
Keeps getting better!
I thoroughly enjoyed the first book. I couldn’t put this one down and love this one even more. I love the twists and turns as mysteries are slowly answered in a way that made me want to keep reading. All the action you expect in spy thriller but it is the character development of Chaucer and Tempest that sets this series apart. I keep wondering what will happen next and look forward to book 3!
I thoroughly enjoyed the first book. I couldn’t put this one down and love this one even more. I love the twists and turns as mysteries are slowly answered in a way that made me want to keep reading. All the action you expect in spy thriller but it is the character development of Chaucer and Tempest that sets this series apart. I keep wondering what will happen next and look forward to book 3!
September 2, 2025
The evolution of Malcolm “the Oracle” Chaucer continues. An ancient assassin returns to carry out a series of high profile murders that reluctantly pull Malcolm and Tempest back onto a stylish international stage.
From the deserts of Saudi Arabia to the sewers of Paris, our protagonists are pulled into a web of lies from another age. Tracking a friend, now foe, to Upstate New York and on to Grand Forks, North Dakota, this dysfunctional super couple must use every drop of the complimentary powers to stay alive and stay together. The action culminates logically in a “historical” location in Columbia that will make the reader smile.
What I like about this book is that Donnelly, an author of many screenplays, writes scenes with the fast pace and structure of a Hollywood movie (not surprising) while embracing the things that make a novel a novel. We go deep into the talented but damaged head of Malcolm Chaucer in a way that probably wouldn’t work in a movie or longform series. Only in print can we experience his unique talents and perspective.
I feel like Donnelly is kinda doing for thrillers what George R. R. Martin did for fantasy - bringing the discipline of efficient, dramatic TV-style scenes to fiction, successfully employing point of view character scene structure. Donnelly isn’t trying to upend the genre the way Martin did, but embrace it, showing us the great time we want from an international, location-hopping thriller.
Year of the Horse is a smart, fun pager-turner in an increasingly promising series.
From the deserts of Saudi Arabia to the sewers of Paris, our protagonists are pulled into a web of lies from another age. Tracking a friend, now foe, to Upstate New York and on to Grand Forks, North Dakota, this dysfunctional super couple must use every drop of the complimentary powers to stay alive and stay together. The action culminates logically in a “historical” location in Columbia that will make the reader smile.
What I like about this book is that Donnelly, an author of many screenplays, writes scenes with the fast pace and structure of a Hollywood movie (not surprising) while embracing the things that make a novel a novel. We go deep into the talented but damaged head of Malcolm Chaucer in a way that probably wouldn’t work in a movie or longform series. Only in print can we experience his unique talents and perspective.
I feel like Donnelly is kinda doing for thrillers what George R. R. Martin did for fantasy - bringing the discipline of efficient, dramatic TV-style scenes to fiction, successfully employing point of view character scene structure. Donnelly isn’t trying to upend the genre the way Martin did, but embrace it, showing us the great time we want from an international, location-hopping thriller.
Year of the Horse is a smart, fun pager-turner in an increasingly promising series.
January 11, 2026
T.D. Donnelly delivers another high-octane installment in his Malcolm Chaucer series with Year of the Horse, picking up where the explosive Year of the Rabbit left off. This time, the ex-CIA operative Chaucer teams up (and occasionally clashes) with his ex-wife Tempest as they race to protect the CIA Director from a lethal assassin while unraveling a decades-old conspiracy that could expose dangerous secrets.
Donnelly, a veteran Hollywood screenwriter (with credits on major films and adaptations of authors like Clive Cussler and Ray Bradbury), brings cinematic pacing and vivid action sequences to the page. The book is a white-knuckle thriller packed with global chases, deadly twists, betrayals, and hand-to-hand combat that fans of Jack Reacher, Jason Bourne, or Orphan X will devour. The stakes feel personal—Chaucer's ongoing struggle with PTSD adds emotional depth to the story.
If you want a gripping, no-holds-barred action-thriller with strong characters and plenty of surprises, Year of the Horse is a solid, adrenaline-fueled ride.
Donnelly, a veteran Hollywood screenwriter (with credits on major films and adaptations of authors like Clive Cussler and Ray Bradbury), brings cinematic pacing and vivid action sequences to the page. The book is a white-knuckle thriller packed with global chases, deadly twists, betrayals, and hand-to-hand combat that fans of Jack Reacher, Jason Bourne, or Orphan X will devour. The stakes feel personal—Chaucer's ongoing struggle with PTSD adds emotional depth to the story.
If you want a gripping, no-holds-barred action-thriller with strong characters and plenty of surprises, Year of the Horse is a solid, adrenaline-fueled ride.
November 7, 2025
Donnelly writes very cinematic thrillers. Action scenes are sculpted for the big screen, making this propulsive to read. Definitely looking forward to the next one. Read it now, before it gets turned into a movie!
October 6, 2025
The second thriller with The Oracle and The Widowmaker. Action from start to finish. Very cinematic written sequences. I really hope there will be more stories with those two unlikely MCs
November 7, 2025
Love the constant action. Kind of unbelievable. Not really a sit down and read cover to cover Who knows, maybe that would have made it more enjoyable
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews