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Rambo on Their Minds
An original short story from iconic thriller collection Match Up, edited by Lee Child, featuring a never-before-seen pairing between bestsellers Gayle Lynds and David Morrell, featuring Liz Sansborough and the legendary Rambo.
For more exciting short story pairings, don't miss all eleven short stories in Match Up!
49 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 6, 2018
83 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Gayle Lynds
74 books232 followersNew York Times bestseller Gayle Lynds is the award-winning author of ten international espionage novels. Library Journal calls her “the reigning queen of espionage fiction.” The London Observer says she’s a “kick-ass thriller writer.” Lee Child calls her “today’s best espionage writer.”
Born in Omaha, NE, and raised in Council Bluffs, IA, Gayle graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in journalism. While there, she often sneaked into classes and readings at the renowned Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She was blessed by remarkable teachers — among them were John Irving in rhetoric and Kurt Vonnegut in a literature class. For her, the university was a lively petri dish of books, writing, and adventure.
Gayle officially began her writing career as a reporter for The Arizona Republic, where a series of her investigative pieces made such an impact that they led to changes in state legislation. Later she took a job as an editor with rare Top Secret security clearance at a private think tank that did government work. Assorted shadowy figures passed through, and not only ideas but engineers and artists seemed to bounce off the walls. She was inspired. She wanted to write about what she was seeing and experiencing.
Expressing her love of mainstream literature, she wrote short stories that were published in literary journals. Simultaneously, she wrote male pulp novels in the Nick Carter series. Soon the two forms began to jell in her mind. The first novel under her own name, Gayle Lynds, was Masquerade, a New York Times bestseller that Publishers Weekly later listed as one of the top ten spy novels of all time.
Others of her novels have been prize winners. The Last Spymaster won Best Novel from both the American Authors Association and the Military Writers Society of America. The Book of Spies was a finalist for both the Nero and Audie awards. The Coil won Best Contemporary Novel from Affaire de Coeur. Mosaic was RT Thriller of the Year. Mesmerized was a Daphne du Maurier Award finalist. With Robert Ludlum, she created the Covert-One series, one of which, The Hades Factor, was a CBS miniseries.
Gayle’s previous husband was Dennis Lynds, an award-winning detective novelist who died in 2005. They had lived several decades in Santa Barbara, CA, where they raised their children. In 2011, a new stage of her life began when she married John C. Sheldon, a long-time resident of Maine. A retired judge, John is a former prosecutor and defense attorney and Visiting Scholar to Harvard Law School. Today they live on fourteen acres of oaks, maples, hemlocks, and white pine outside Portland. A voracious reader, John had never written fiction when they met. Now they have collaborated on three short stories.
Gayle is a member of the Association for Intelligence Operatives and cofounder (with David Morrell) and former copresident of International Thriller Writers, Inc. ITW’s annual celebration is ThrillerFest, held every July in New York City.
Born in Omaha, NE, and raised in Council Bluffs, IA, Gayle graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in journalism. While there, she often sneaked into classes and readings at the renowned Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She was blessed by remarkable teachers — among them were John Irving in rhetoric and Kurt Vonnegut in a literature class. For her, the university was a lively petri dish of books, writing, and adventure.
Gayle officially began her writing career as a reporter for The Arizona Republic, where a series of her investigative pieces made such an impact that they led to changes in state legislation. Later she took a job as an editor with rare Top Secret security clearance at a private think tank that did government work. Assorted shadowy figures passed through, and not only ideas but engineers and artists seemed to bounce off the walls. She was inspired. She wanted to write about what she was seeing and experiencing.
Expressing her love of mainstream literature, she wrote short stories that were published in literary journals. Simultaneously, she wrote male pulp novels in the Nick Carter series. Soon the two forms began to jell in her mind. The first novel under her own name, Gayle Lynds, was Masquerade, a New York Times bestseller that Publishers Weekly later listed as one of the top ten spy novels of all time.
Others of her novels have been prize winners. The Last Spymaster won Best Novel from both the American Authors Association and the Military Writers Society of America. The Book of Spies was a finalist for both the Nero and Audie awards. The Coil won Best Contemporary Novel from Affaire de Coeur. Mosaic was RT Thriller of the Year. Mesmerized was a Daphne du Maurier Award finalist. With Robert Ludlum, she created the Covert-One series, one of which, The Hades Factor, was a CBS miniseries.
Gayle’s previous husband was Dennis Lynds, an award-winning detective novelist who died in 2005. They had lived several decades in Santa Barbara, CA, where they raised their children. In 2011, a new stage of her life began when she married John C. Sheldon, a long-time resident of Maine. A retired judge, John is a former prosecutor and defense attorney and Visiting Scholar to Harvard Law School. Today they live on fourteen acres of oaks, maples, hemlocks, and white pine outside Portland. A voracious reader, John had never written fiction when they met. Now they have collaborated on three short stories.
Gayle is a member of the Association for Intelligence Operatives and cofounder (with David Morrell) and former copresident of International Thriller Writers, Inc. ITW’s annual celebration is ThrillerFest, held every July in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 6, 2021
4.5 Stars
rounded up to 5 Stars.
February 27, 2024
I only wanted to read the Jack Reacher story in Matchup, but the Rambo story caught my eye. It evidently was the first new Rambo in over thirty years. Of course he was killed at the end of the novel First Blood in 1972 which would mean he'd been dead for 45 by that point. That point is confirmed within the story itself in case the reader hadn't read the original (I had). Short story long (so-to-speak) it's a bait-and-switch. David Morrell may have had something to do with the story, but Rambo really doesn't. Okay until the ridiculous ending.
January 24, 2024
I’m loving these mash up books
I’ve never read any of Gayle Lynds books, but have read a few David Morrell’s books. I wonder how Rambo would be portrayed in this story. Well-it was a perfect way to make him part of this really good story.
I’ve never read any of Gayle Lynds books, but have read a few David Morrell’s books. I wonder how Rambo would be portrayed in this story. Well-it was a perfect way to make him part of this really good story.
September 2, 2018
Again, I don't really read thrillers, but I was pretty entertained by this one.
June 16, 2020
Exciting little thriller.
October 7, 2022
One of the best of the entire series. It had me at the edge of the seat since the first page. Full of suspense, an authentic thriller with no more or less a comma.
July 3, 2024
Great Actiln
This short read was action packed through and through. I really enjoyed reading this read. This was an exciting story.
This short read was action packed through and through. I really enjoyed reading this read. This was an exciting story.
December 4, 2024
Not a Rambo kind of reader. Kristi & Abby Tabby
July 1, 2025
Entertaining
Each volume of The MatchUp Collection I’ve read has been entertaining. The series is a fun way to introduce unknown (to me) authors.
Each volume of The MatchUp Collection I’ve read has been entertaining. The series is a fun way to introduce unknown (to me) authors.
November 2, 2020
This short story kept my attention from start to finish. Both the good guys and the bad guys referenced Rambo in their game plan.
March 23, 2018
Setting: Blue Ridge Mountains. (A place I'd love to visit). Liz Sansborough is kidnapped. Her fiance gets the video and instructions. "The best weapon a human has is his mind," Rambo. What a thriller. The action continued throughout the entire story, speeding up at the end. And... what an ending. Makes me want to read other books that Liz Sansborough is in.
September 21, 2019
RESCUE
A lot of references to Rambo in this one. It is short, but the f word still enters as well as violence.
A lot of references to Rambo in this one. It is short, but the f word still enters as well as violence.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews