Ryan Steck, The Real Book Spy

Thriller Author Ward Larsen Is Set To Launch A New Series In 2018

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When it comes to really good, under-the-radar thriller writers, Ward Larsen is at the top of the list of the genre’s most underrated talents.

Already, Larsen has created and developed two characters–Jammer Davis and David Slaton–each starring in their own series. Slaton especially has become a fan-favorite. Introduced in The Perfect Assassin (2006), the dangerously lethal Israeli assassin has appeared in three novels to date–with the fourth, Assassin’s Code, set to come out on August 22, 2017.

With his David Slaton series taking on more readers with each new book, Larsen is expanding his publishing schedule next year to include the fifth Slaton book, plus a new thriller called Cutting Edge that kicks off a new series about a Coast Guard rescue swimmer named Trey DeBolt.

Written in the same vein as Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Identity, Larsen’s Cutting Edge features a plot centered around DeBolt, whose helicopter goes down during a tragic rescue mission in Alaska–only to wake up days later in a cabin in Maine.

Trey DeBolt is a young man at the crest of life. His role as a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Alaska offers him a rewarding job and limitless adventure. Then a tragic accident alters his life: during a harrowing rescue, his helicopter goes down.
Severely injured, DeBolt awakens in a seaside cabin in Maine, thousands of miles from where the accident occurred. His nurse lets slip that he has been officially declared dead. Back in Alaska, however, Coast Guard investigator Shannon Lund uncovers evidence that DeBolt might still be alive, and her search to find him quickly becomes personal.
The nurse who has been treating DeBolt is brutally killed by military-trained assassins, while a bizarre vision guides DeBolt to safety. Other images appear, impossible revelations that are unfailingly accurate. As he runs for his life, DeBolt discovers he has been drawn into an ultra-secret government project.
“My reasons for writing Cutting Edge were two-fold,” Larsen told The Real Book Spy. “First, I didn’t want to get in too much of a rut with the Slaton books. I think every writer needs to go in a different direction now and again to keep things fresh. Secondly, I had what I thought was a killer idea for a plot.
“This day in age, access to information has become increasingly important. The internet permeates our everyday lives, often unseen and in the background. The basic premise of Cutting Edge: What if one man had access to all the world’s information? And taking it a step further, what if he had the backing of the most powerful hacking agency on earth?
In regards to whether his new book will be more of a sci-fi or a techno-thriller, Larsen explained: “This book sounds a bit sci-fi, but every bit of technology I co-opted is either in place or being researched. Elon Musk recently announced a major initiative to develop brain-internet meshing. It might be ten years off, maybe twenty-five, but in another generation, the idea of putting a cell phone to one’s ear will seem as nostalgic as a flip-phone.”
Cutting Edge doesn’t come out until January 23, 2018, but fans anxious to get their pre-orders in can do so here. In the meantime, don’t forget to pick up a copy of Assassin’s Code later on this summer!

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