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The Fourth Option #1
The Fourth Option: A Novel
When law enforcement, the courts, and the prison system fail, there is a fourth and final option. #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr launches a new thriller series cowritten with New York Times bestselling author M.P. Woodward.
Disillusioned by the government and institutions he dedicated his life to serving, former Navy SEAL and CIA ground branch operative Chris Walker is about to end his life when he receives a call that saves it. The wife of a teammate he lost in Afghanistan has now lost her son to the opioid crisis and needs Walker’s help. Thrust into a conspiracy that goes deeper than he ever imagined, Walker must go up against the system and the very Constitution he once swore an oath to support and defend in order to find justice for his friend’s widow.
With ambitious FBI agent Jarrett Stanton on his tail, Walker—accompanied by his loyal Belgian Malinois K-9 and using his off-the-grid VW pop-up camper filled with a hidden cache of weapons—takes justice into his own hands, exposing corruption and issuing a long-forgotten brand of lethal outlaw justice.
In the tradition of the great “stranger comes to town” Westerns of the past comes a modern interpretation of the mysterious vigilante gunslinger legend from “the hottest author on the thriller scene today” (The Real Book Spy). Get ready for a new kind of hero. Justice is coming.
Disillusioned by the government and institutions he dedicated his life to serving, former Navy SEAL and CIA ground branch operative Chris Walker is about to end his life when he receives a call that saves it. The wife of a teammate he lost in Afghanistan has now lost her son to the opioid crisis and needs Walker’s help. Thrust into a conspiracy that goes deeper than he ever imagined, Walker must go up against the system and the very Constitution he once swore an oath to support and defend in order to find justice for his friend’s widow.
With ambitious FBI agent Jarrett Stanton on his tail, Walker—accompanied by his loyal Belgian Malinois K-9 and using his off-the-grid VW pop-up camper filled with a hidden cache of weapons—takes justice into his own hands, exposing corruption and issuing a long-forgotten brand of lethal outlaw justice.
In the tradition of the great “stranger comes to town” Westerns of the past comes a modern interpretation of the mysterious vigilante gunslinger legend from “the hottest author on the thriller scene today” (The Real Book Spy). Get ready for a new kind of hero. Justice is coming.
432 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 12, 2026
About the author
Jack Carr
22 books7,546 followersJack Carr is a former Navy SEAL who led special operations teams as a Team Leader, Platoon Commander, Troop Commander and Task Unit Commander. Over his 20 years in Naval Special Warfare he transitioned from an enlisted SEAL sniper specializing in communications and intelligence, to a junior officer leading assault and sniper teams in Iraq and Afghanistan, to a platoon commander practicing counterinsurgency in the southern Philippines, to commanding a Special Operations Task Unit in the most Iranian influenced section of southern Iraq throughout the tumultuous drawdown of U.S. Forces. Jack retired from active duty in 2016. He lives with his wife and three children in Park City, Utah. He is the author of The Terminal List, True Believer, and Savage Son.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
On May 12, Justice rolls into town in a vintage Volkswagen camper van, a canine by his side. The Fourth Option isn’t just a reimagining of the classic western—it’s a warning of what happens when one of the nation’s most lethal warriors refuses to stand aside and make peace with evil.
The Fourth Option introduces readers to former Navy SEAL and CIA Ground Branch operator Chris Walker. When his ghosts become too much to bear, he’s on the verge of taking his own life, but a call from his past and a chance to pay a debt save him. After learning that violence has visited the family of his fallen brother-in-arms, Walker sets himself on a path of reckoning to the humid bayou of New Orleans, Louisiana, in his Volkswagen camper van with his canine companion, Paladin.
Armed with only a handful of clues—and even more questions—Chris Walker goes to work, applying the skills of his former trade to dismantle an enemy drug network with tentacles in every level of the justice system. While Walker takes justice into his own hands in the shadows of the Crescent City, FBI Special Agent Jarrett Stanton investigates tales of a specter rampaging across Louisiana, sending Walker, Stanton, and a drug ring on a violent collision course.
Jack Carr is a former Navy SEAL sniper and the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling James Reece series and the #1 New York Times bestseller Targeted: Beirut. His renowned storytelling prowess extends beyond the page to the screen with the hit series The Terminal List and The Terminal List: Dark Wolf. Carr delivers masterpiece after masterpiece, continuing that run with his first co-written thriller, The Fourth Option. While retaining his signature hallmarks—visceral action, captivating narratives, and unmatched authenticity—Carr ventures deeper into artistic and poetic territory.
Carr’s latest outing is an exceptionally enjoyable read. New Orleans makes for an intriguing setting for a brilliant telling of the classic “stranger comes to town” narrative. Chris Walker is a unique and compelling protagonist, fighting a battle within his soul while waging war through the streets and bayous of New Orleans. One of Carr’s staples is gritty action, and The Fourth Option undoubtedly raises the bar.
The novel delivers a riveting mix of a cerebral investigative story and a brutal “stranger comes to town” thriller. Carr takes the stakes to a new level with some of his most brutal fight and torture scenes yet. The Fourth Option is a book that begs to be read and is hard to put down. I highly recommend that readers add this thrilling read to their shelves.
Readers will remember Chris Walker long after they turn the final page.
The Fourth Option introduces readers to former Navy SEAL and CIA Ground Branch operator Chris Walker. When his ghosts become too much to bear, he’s on the verge of taking his own life, but a call from his past and a chance to pay a debt save him. After learning that violence has visited the family of his fallen brother-in-arms, Walker sets himself on a path of reckoning to the humid bayou of New Orleans, Louisiana, in his Volkswagen camper van with his canine companion, Paladin.
Armed with only a handful of clues—and even more questions—Chris Walker goes to work, applying the skills of his former trade to dismantle an enemy drug network with tentacles in every level of the justice system. While Walker takes justice into his own hands in the shadows of the Crescent City, FBI Special Agent Jarrett Stanton investigates tales of a specter rampaging across Louisiana, sending Walker, Stanton, and a drug ring on a violent collision course.
Jack Carr is a former Navy SEAL sniper and the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling James Reece series and the #1 New York Times bestseller Targeted: Beirut. His renowned storytelling prowess extends beyond the page to the screen with the hit series The Terminal List and The Terminal List: Dark Wolf. Carr delivers masterpiece after masterpiece, continuing that run with his first co-written thriller, The Fourth Option. While retaining his signature hallmarks—visceral action, captivating narratives, and unmatched authenticity—Carr ventures deeper into artistic and poetic territory.
Carr’s latest outing is an exceptionally enjoyable read. New Orleans makes for an intriguing setting for a brilliant telling of the classic “stranger comes to town” narrative. Chris Walker is a unique and compelling protagonist, fighting a battle within his soul while waging war through the streets and bayous of New Orleans. One of Carr’s staples is gritty action, and The Fourth Option undoubtedly raises the bar.
The novel delivers a riveting mix of a cerebral investigative story and a brutal “stranger comes to town” thriller. Carr takes the stakes to a new level with some of his most brutal fight and torture scenes yet. The Fourth Option is a book that begs to be read and is hard to put down. I highly recommend that readers add this thrilling read to their shelves.
Readers will remember Chris Walker long after they turn the final page.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I was lucky enough to get an early copy of The Fourth Option from NetGalley to read and review.
The Fourth Option is a novel about taking matters into your own hands when you can't trust the authorities.
What starts as a sad tale seemingly at its conclusion, quickly moves across the country to settle in New Orleans.
With death and mystery surrounding the drug trade, Chris Walker is forced by his set of principles and an old promise, to solve what has happened to Conner Straub.
What follows is classic Jack Carr. Revenge, vigilantism, call it what you want, but he makes his mark on the community in his search for answers.
With enough twists to keep you guessing, and a story that is compelling and captivating, you won't be able to hold off finishing this book for long.
I love these collaborations between two authors. You get two viewpoints, two sets of ideas and they refine each other's processes and writing. It always makes for a better book. MP Woodward writes an excellent story off of Carr's ideas. They are both improved when together.
For fans of The Handler, you won't be disappointed. For fans of Carr, you will see his style throughout. If you are just discovering one of these authors, this is an excellent place to begin. Then quickly grab another of their works and continue.
The Fourth Option is an option none of us ever really hope will be our only option. It is vicious, unrelenting and beyond most of our capabilities. But for Chris Walker, it was the only one. And as you read through his story, you will understand why he takes this path, what he feels he must do and why. You will feel for him and cheer for him along the way.
I can only hope this is not the last of him that we see.
The Fourth Option is a novel about taking matters into your own hands when you can't trust the authorities.
What starts as a sad tale seemingly at its conclusion, quickly moves across the country to settle in New Orleans.
With death and mystery surrounding the drug trade, Chris Walker is forced by his set of principles and an old promise, to solve what has happened to Conner Straub.
What follows is classic Jack Carr. Revenge, vigilantism, call it what you want, but he makes his mark on the community in his search for answers.
With enough twists to keep you guessing, and a story that is compelling and captivating, you won't be able to hold off finishing this book for long.
I love these collaborations between two authors. You get two viewpoints, two sets of ideas and they refine each other's processes and writing. It always makes for a better book. MP Woodward writes an excellent story off of Carr's ideas. They are both improved when together.
For fans of The Handler, you won't be disappointed. For fans of Carr, you will see his style throughout. If you are just discovering one of these authors, this is an excellent place to begin. Then quickly grab another of their works and continue.
The Fourth Option is an option none of us ever really hope will be our only option. It is vicious, unrelenting and beyond most of our capabilities. But for Chris Walker, it was the only one. And as you read through his story, you will understand why he takes this path, what he feels he must do and why. You will feel for him and cheer for him along the way.
I can only hope this is not the last of him that we see.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
#1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr never misses—and this time, he doesn’t just raise the stakes . . . he burns the whole system down.
Set outside his mega-bestselling James Reece universe, Carr, who by all accounts has proven to be atop the food chain of today’s modern thrillersphere, brings on his first co-author, fellow New York Times bestseller M.P. Woodward (Tom Clancy's The Coldest War, etc.), to introduce a brand new hero in former Navy SEAL and CIA ground branch operative Chris Walker—a character very much cut from the same cloth as Reece, but battling a whole different set of demons.
The story still hits with the force of the The Terminal List series, but in a lot of ways, The Fourth Option punches a little deeper.
Right off rip, readers meet Chris Walker—who, following a TBI, is medically retired—at rock bottom, sitting on the sofa of his customized ’84 Volkswagen Westfalia Vanagon, his weighty 1911 in his hand, ready to punch his own ticket and end the pain he’s carried since losing John Staub, his close friend and teammate, in Afghanistan. Then his phone chirps, announcing the arrival of a new text message—the sender offering him a lifeline in the form of a new mission that gives him renewed purpose.
And a reason for him to put that 1911 back to work, sighting new enemies who need to be dealt with.
In an ironic twist, the sender is none other than . . .
Read my full review here: https://therealbookspy.substack.com/p...
Set outside his mega-bestselling James Reece universe, Carr, who by all accounts has proven to be atop the food chain of today’s modern thrillersphere, brings on his first co-author, fellow New York Times bestseller M.P. Woodward (Tom Clancy's The Coldest War, etc.), to introduce a brand new hero in former Navy SEAL and CIA ground branch operative Chris Walker—a character very much cut from the same cloth as Reece, but battling a whole different set of demons.
The story still hits with the force of the The Terminal List series, but in a lot of ways, The Fourth Option punches a little deeper.
Right off rip, readers meet Chris Walker—who, following a TBI, is medically retired—at rock bottom, sitting on the sofa of his customized ’84 Volkswagen Westfalia Vanagon, his weighty 1911 in his hand, ready to punch his own ticket and end the pain he’s carried since losing John Staub, his close friend and teammate, in Afghanistan. Then his phone chirps, announcing the arrival of a new text message—the sender offering him a lifeline in the form of a new mission that gives him renewed purpose.
And a reason for him to put that 1911 back to work, sighting new enemies who need to be dealt with.
In an ironic twist, the sender is none other than . . .
Read my full review here: https://therealbookspy.substack.com/p...
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
READ MY FULL REVIEW AT Best Thriller Books
The Fourth Option is a gloriously unhinged rampage of violence and vigilante justice against greed and corruption, combined with suffering, loyalty and philosophical musings that add an unexpected level of contemplation, intellectualism and emotion to a story filled with death and destruction. This collaboration between Jack Carr and M.P. Woodward is raw, savage, dark, and masterfully executed to balance viciousness with a flicker of buried humanity.
A must read for thriller fans, The Fourth Option is a juggernaut of vengeance and reckoning. Relentless and ruthless from start to finish.
The Fourth Option is a gloriously unhinged rampage of violence and vigilante justice against greed and corruption, combined with suffering, loyalty and philosophical musings that add an unexpected level of contemplation, intellectualism and emotion to a story filled with death and destruction. This collaboration between Jack Carr and M.P. Woodward is raw, savage, dark, and masterfully executed to balance viciousness with a flicker of buried humanity.
A must read for thriller fans, The Fourth Option is a juggernaut of vengeance and reckoning. Relentless and ruthless from start to finish.
May 14, 2026
One of Carr's weakest outings and I love his books and have read all of them. Maybe it's because it is co-written and the writing is weaker - maybe because characters "tell each other what is going on" rather than showing what is going on and letting the reader figure it out - maybe because all of the "bad guys" are interchangeable and there are more of them than are necessary, -- and maybe because it is exactly the same as a dozen other books from the last three years with the same revenge storyline. Chris Walker is an uninteresting person so there is little to root for in this grungy hasn't taken a shower or cut his hair in a year persona.
May 14, 2026
Jack Carr delivers again
The Fourth Option introduces new characters and new storylines that are begging for a sequel. Great writing and pacing. Fun story. Jack Carr and MP Woodward delivered a great thriller. Can’t wait for the next one!
The Fourth Option introduces new characters and new storylines that are begging for a sequel. Great writing and pacing. Fun story. Jack Carr and MP Woodward delivered a great thriller. Can’t wait for the next one!
Review of advance copy received from Author
Total page-turner! Loved the shift from The Terminal List. New main character… a Warrior poet named Chris Walker. I bet this one will turn into a movie.
May 13, 2026
I thought it was the start of a refreshing new series. I was hooked and intrigued by the plot line the entire time. Excited to see where this goes.
May 14, 2026
4.5 vigilante justice, corruption and cartels... with a four-legged sidekick. This is going to be a great series for me!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews