No Return

A Novel

By: Brett Battles

Narrated by: Scott Brick

An F-18 Navy fighter careens out of the blue sky above the Mojave desert. A TV cameraman who grew up in a small town just miles away can see what is going to happen next. Frantically, Wes Stewart races to the downed jet and tries to save the pilot’s life. When the plane explodes, Wes escapes without harm—and plunges into a murderous conspiracy.

It’s been fifteen years since Wes has been back to the desolate land of his childhood. Now he finds himself up against the U.S. military, the local police, and someone who is tracking his every move. In the moments he spent with the dying pilot, Wes discovered something that could get him killed. But while he tries to untangle a web of lies and secrets surrounding the crash, another danger is stalking him. And this one he will never see coming.

©2012 Brett Battles (P)2012 Random House

Critic reviews

“No Return tells a story as clean and spare as the desert itself, stripped to the essentials: story, character, setting, emotion—and presented with an urgency that sets a new standard for pace. Brett Battles deserves thriller stardom.” (Tim Hallinan, author of The Queen of Patpong)

“The best word I can use to describe his writing is addictive.” (James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of The Devil’s Colony)

“Sure-footed and clever, No Return is a great read.” (Meg Gardiner, author of The Nightmare Thief)

Another Excellent Book! Keep it up B. Battles

Brett Battles is one of my favorite authors. I have listened to the Jonathan Quinn s

Nice Twists

This book was enjoyable on so many levels. It was suspenseful and had some surprising twists. Excellent book for long trips or monotonous housecleaning!

Scott Brick

Need I say more?
Almost always worth the risk. You can bet at least the reader will be good. I’m starting to feel like we are running out of books. I miss some of my old favorites. But keep hoping they’ll finish the ones we still waiting for.

Good story, horrible character interaction

Any additional comments?

This Brett Battles guy, well, he has some interesting action story ideas. He throws in some curves and some twists and turns. It's fun reading. However, his characters are just plain dumb. The way they interact and the conversations they have are cringe worthy. I'm a sci fi nut. You can convince me most anything is real, but in no universe or alternate reality do people make conversations the way Battles writes them. I'm not saying don't get the book. It's an easy listen, mindless action story. Just be prepared for the ridiculous dialogue. Too bad because if he would get help with character development, he would be an awesome writer.

Too many unbelievable coincidences

I love the idea of this book, but there is a secondary plot that just feels to convenient and ultimately unbelievable.

The bad guys are just to good at being bad and not getting caught with little shown experience at being bad. I think if the story had kept to the main plot then the book could have been much more satisfying.

Scott Brick is excellent as always!

Great combo

Excellent story read by Scott Brick -what could be better?! A late plot twist complicated the ending. Highly recommend.

Wonderful Brett Battles stand alone novel!

When I find an thriller author I really like I purchase all of his/her novels. I recently purchased No Return and Rewinder to complete my Brett Battles library. (I have the complete works of quite a number of other authors including Vince Flynn, Ben Coes, Brad Thor, Karin Slaughter, Brad Taylor, Bob Meyer, Michael Connelly, Patricia Cornwell, Brad Metzler, Mark Dawson, Brian Haig, David Baldacci, Greg Iles, Charles Todd, Daniel Silva, Dalton Fury, Tom Clancy, Harlan Coben, Lee Child, Lisa Gardner, Mark Greaney, Michael Koryta, Nelson DeMille, T. R. Regan, and a few others. I prefer the audiobooks, but I buy the KIindle versions when the books ar not available from Audible. It is little wonder that my Audible library is approaching 900 books and my Kindle library is over 500 books.)

No Return is set in the desert town of China Lake, California where Brett Battles grew up and where a Naval air base is located. The major plot line is about a plane that crashed near the town with the pilot being misidentified by the Navy. The subplot is about a death that occurred in the town while the main character was growing up there. As usual with Brett Battles the characters are well developed and the story has lots of suspense.

The narrator is Scott Brick who also narrates Brett Battles entire Jonathan Quinn series. Scott Brick is one of many excellent narrators, and he happens to be my favorite.

In addition to the Quinn series, Battles has another great series named Project Eden which is narrated by McLeod Andrews, another excellent narrator. He also has the short Logan Harper series which is not as good as well as being co-writer of the two book Alexandra Poe tseries which I find disappointing.

One of the really nice aspects of the the more recent Battles novels that are narrated by Scott Brick is that they end with a 15 to 20 minute interview of Battles by Brick. That is true of No Return.

I highly recommend No Return for those who like thrillers.

Great story - well narrated

Would you consider the audio edition of No Return to be better than the print version?

Good storyline although a bit far fetched in some areas but storyline held together well
Havent read the print version but enjoyed the narration

What other book might you compare No Return to and why?

no real comparison

What does Scott Brick bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Great narrator - brings the characters and story to life

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not really - many twists and turns that you need to think about

Moves very well

If you could sum up No Return in three words, what would they be?

Thrums with intrigue

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes. The character who practiced Eastern medicine made the predictable zig-zag because his character was so enigmatic.

Have you listened to any of Scott Brick’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Probably. I listen to many books.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I found that this one was hard to turn off, so yes.

Any additional comments?

I loved the blending of cultures, the strength of the characters, and that the female protagonist was not the cliche warrior princess. Something about the development of this character made her feel unusual. Each character was strongly developed and strongly distinguished by the narrator.

Worth the time

Good Story. Great if you are looking for a relatively short exciting story. i recomend