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Once Upon A Time in Argentina
Disgraced Marine Raider Ryan McGowan is running out of time. Haunted by failure and battling the slow burn of depression, he needs one last shot at purpose––before it kills him.
When shadowy private military contractor Mike Hudson offers a high-risk job in the South Atlantic, Ryan jumps at the chance. The lead a crew of battle-hardened, disgruntled operators to police Argentina’s territorial waters and stop a massive fleet of Chinese fishing vessels that are causing billions in ecological and economic damage.
What begins as a straightforward maritime security detail quickly explodes into a brutal, no-holds-barred fight on the high seas. Outnumbered and outgunned, Ryan and his team must use every dirty trick from their special ops past to confront the ruthless fishing armada and the powerful interests protecting it.
Part military thriller and part neo-western, Once Upon A Time in Argentina delivers old-school, blood-soaked action with dark humor and unflinching grit.
For fans of Jack Carr, Mark Greaney’s Gray Man series, and Taylor Sheridan’s hard-edged storytelling––this is a high-octane ride you won’t want to miss.
When shadowy private military contractor Mike Hudson offers a high-risk job in the South Atlantic, Ryan jumps at the chance. The lead a crew of battle-hardened, disgruntled operators to police Argentina’s territorial waters and stop a massive fleet of Chinese fishing vessels that are causing billions in ecological and economic damage.
What begins as a straightforward maritime security detail quickly explodes into a brutal, no-holds-barred fight on the high seas. Outnumbered and outgunned, Ryan and his team must use every dirty trick from their special ops past to confront the ruthless fishing armada and the powerful interests protecting it.
Part military thriller and part neo-western, Once Upon A Time in Argentina delivers old-school, blood-soaked action with dark humor and unflinching grit.
For fans of Jack Carr, Mark Greaney’s Gray Man series, and Taylor Sheridan’s hard-edged storytelling––this is a high-octane ride you won’t want to miss.
360 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 2, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 28, 2026
Entertaining Plot, Bonus Star for IUU Fishing, but a Bad Book
I read this book on a whim because I needed some entertaining fiction, and someone on Twitter recommended it. And an IUU Fishing conflict was too much to resist. But, boy does Kidd ever need an editor. This makes 4chan green-text look like professional publishing. Fortunately, it was mostly enjoyable despite the nails-on-chalkboard syntax and grammar.
I found the characters to be mostly ridiculous, but I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt because my special forces friends are all officers, which may suffice to explain the disparity between Kidd's characters and the world I have experienced.
I read this book on a whim because I needed some entertaining fiction, and someone on Twitter recommended it. And an IUU Fishing conflict was too much to resist. But, boy does Kidd ever need an editor. This makes 4chan green-text look like professional publishing. Fortunately, it was mostly enjoyable despite the nails-on-chalkboard syntax and grammar.
I found the characters to be mostly ridiculous, but I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt because my special forces friends are all officers, which may suffice to explain the disparity between Kidd's characters and the world I have experienced.
May 16, 2026
I once heard Frank Kidd say something along the lines of "Everything can be a Western if you try hard enough" and damned if that isn't the truth about the paramilitary adventure. Though the story may revolve around modern day mercenaries conducting black ops missions quietly sanctioned by the Argentian government in order to curb the illegal fishing of their waters by Chinese trawlers, Once Upon A Time in Argentina still delivers on that classic western feel I've come to expect from Pulp West. With a cast of ex-military men of true grit, you won't find many soft corners amongst the rustling and gunfights on the Argentinian high seas.
Our lead man is Ryan McGowan, who at the onset shows us that even though you can take the man out of the military, you can't always take the military out of the man. We meet him in a period of the depressed dissatisfaction of civilian life after being discharged from the Marines. When he lives the fantasy many of us have (quitting our dead end job without notice or apology) and sets out to rewrite his life to something worth living again, he finds himself throwing in with the mysterious Mike, who convinces him to take up arms once more and fight the good fight once more. Or any fight, really.
"Life was fucking beautiful, and conflict was life."
There are a lot of lines that go hard in Once Upon A Time in Argentina, but that like stuck the most for me because I think it succinctly sums up the spirit of this novel. The conflicts take center-stage here; be they a man's struggles against himself and his circumstance, or a clash of personalities with other men, conflicts spanning international boundaries, or the betrayal of a code larger than one's self as we make our way through the world.
There are lots of strong themes in this novel; brotherhood, loyalty, morality, justice, with even a little environmentalism and romance thrown in amongst the choppy seas and flying bullets. If I had any critiques they would be that there is a lot of military jargon and abbreviations tossed around, some of which I knew while others were entirely foreign to me. I personally paused a few times to familiarize myself with the context before continuing with the story (which admittedly not every reader will do). As well, the character work for Ryan and Mike was aces, with the pair being two sides of the same coin at times, but the other guys on the team faded into the background a bit. This also could have been an artistic choice by the author, so I didn't ding the book too hard for that.
Overall this is an exciting page turner and a solid 3.5 stars from me (but we round up in these parts). The plot is tight, the pacing is fast without outpacing the reader, and it's absolutely balls-to-the-wall action-packed without being egregious or cartoony. Honestly, at times I found myself thinking it would make a great movie, so maybe Kidd will take a whack at turning it into a screenplay.
Our lead man is Ryan McGowan, who at the onset shows us that even though you can take the man out of the military, you can't always take the military out of the man. We meet him in a period of the depressed dissatisfaction of civilian life after being discharged from the Marines. When he lives the fantasy many of us have (quitting our dead end job without notice or apology) and sets out to rewrite his life to something worth living again, he finds himself throwing in with the mysterious Mike, who convinces him to take up arms once more and fight the good fight once more. Or any fight, really.
"Life was fucking beautiful, and conflict was life."
There are a lot of lines that go hard in Once Upon A Time in Argentina, but that like stuck the most for me because I think it succinctly sums up the spirit of this novel. The conflicts take center-stage here; be they a man's struggles against himself and his circumstance, or a clash of personalities with other men, conflicts spanning international boundaries, or the betrayal of a code larger than one's self as we make our way through the world.
There are lots of strong themes in this novel; brotherhood, loyalty, morality, justice, with even a little environmentalism and romance thrown in amongst the choppy seas and flying bullets. If I had any critiques they would be that there is a lot of military jargon and abbreviations tossed around, some of which I knew while others were entirely foreign to me. I personally paused a few times to familiarize myself with the context before continuing with the story (which admittedly not every reader will do). As well, the character work for Ryan and Mike was aces, with the pair being two sides of the same coin at times, but the other guys on the team faded into the background a bit. This also could have been an artistic choice by the author, so I didn't ding the book too hard for that.
Overall this is an exciting page turner and a solid 3.5 stars from me (but we round up in these parts). The plot is tight, the pacing is fast without outpacing the reader, and it's absolutely balls-to-the-wall action-packed without being egregious or cartoony. Honestly, at times I found myself thinking it would make a great movie, so maybe Kidd will take a whack at turning it into a screenplay.
October 13, 2026
I don't typically leave reviews, nor am I acclaimed critic to take this with grain of salt.
The book is fast paced, and a little bit all over the place. The storyline is a bit of time hops from older events, and new, and flashbacks. There isn't anything too hard to keep pace with, but less continuity if that's what you enjoy.
The story itself is a fantastic premise of a former marine turned paper pusher who gets fed up with life and is recruited for a nondescript mission where right and wrong are a blurred line. Characters are fleshed out and you like some and don't like others, but not much past that.
Reminds me of Fight Club with the numbness and duality, and then if Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men had a baby with the villains and violence.
Read it in two days, fun read. Couple spelling errors. Would recommend to someone, but only someone who i wouldn't think would be easily offended.
The book is fast paced, and a little bit all over the place. The storyline is a bit of time hops from older events, and new, and flashbacks. There isn't anything too hard to keep pace with, but less continuity if that's what you enjoy.
The story itself is a fantastic premise of a former marine turned paper pusher who gets fed up with life and is recruited for a nondescript mission where right and wrong are a blurred line. Characters are fleshed out and you like some and don't like others, but not much past that.
Reminds me of Fight Club with the numbness and duality, and then if Blood Meridian and No Country for Old Men had a baby with the villains and violence.
Read it in two days, fun read. Couple spelling errors. Would recommend to someone, but only someone who i wouldn't think would be easily offended.
July 2, 2026
OUATIA is terrific on its own but it shines even brighter when you put it side by side with its better known ilk. It was especially great to have the “one sitting read” hype and a company man saying it was “too in the know” being 100% believable.
I didn’t like that Frank tried to be too bang bang straight shooter (hardboiled/Hemingway?) and reused a word from the sentence before early on AND I was a little miffed at the spontaneous origin story midway (but it was short and turned out to be fully merited) otherwise I loved every minute and was routinely in awe of the “craft”.
The, what I’m calling, midpoint escalation; and expertly arranged fully believable while still propulsive multi-thread resolution were especially satisfying. Either he is very very good or he got some amazing advice.
I think we have a movie here.
I didn’t like that Frank tried to be too bang bang straight shooter (hardboiled/Hemingway?) and reused a word from the sentence before early on AND I was a little miffed at the spontaneous origin story midway (but it was short and turned out to be fully merited) otherwise I loved every minute and was routinely in awe of the “craft”.
The, what I’m calling, midpoint escalation; and expertly arranged fully believable while still propulsive multi-thread resolution were especially satisfying. Either he is very very good or he got some amazing advice.
I think we have a movie here.
April 29, 2026
A tightly plotted adventure involving mercenaries hired to attack Chinese fishing vessels poaching fish in Argentinian waters. The protagonist is a former Marine sick of the corporate world, recruited by another Iraqi war veteran. Likewise, the crew is all veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Of course things are not as they seem. True to category the story contains doublecrosses betrayals, and surprises, all fitting into the plot like a well-built jigsaw puzzle.
The Argentinian setting is an original touch, and it's been too long since we've seen adventure stories about mercenaries.
The Argentinian setting is an original touch, and it's been too long since we've seen adventure stories about mercenaries.
April 7, 2026
Entertaining Paramilitary Thriller
What does a disaffected combat soldier do to survive modern civilian life? He doesn’t, unless something interesting comes along. Solid page-turner with lots of action.
What does a disaffected combat soldier do to survive modern civilian life? He doesn’t, unless something interesting comes along. Solid page-turner with lots of action.
October 7, 2026
Book found me at the perfect time in my life, on deployment with nothing going on. Was great to crack it open to engage in a little day dreaming of a life I could see myself living. Story was unique and probably not too far off from the reality.
May 4, 2026
Really well done thriller that hooks you in
June 28, 2026
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this in one sitting while pulling barracks duty. I’d read more if Kidd comes up with a series! I look forward to reading more from him and hope his next book comes soon.
September 23, 2026
I think this might have pushed me to finally read some Hemingway
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews