On January 5, 2021, Pike Logan returns to action in American Traitor, the 15th thriller from New York Times bestselling author Brad Taylor.
Pike, who was last seen in Hunter Killer, which came out earlier this year, was first introduced in the 2011 novel, One Rough Man. Since then, he’s gone on to become one of the premier heroes on the action-thriller scene today—as Taylor continues to dominate the genre. In his next outing, Pike Logan will take on his most dangerous mission yet, and Book Spy followers are getting an early peek at the hard-hitting cover reveal video, along with some exclusive remarks from Taylor—including how he came up with the plot idea for American Traitor.
Check it out below.
“This one is a little different in that it’s more Ghosts of War, more of a geopolitical landscape,” said Brad Taylor, exclusively to The Real Book Spy, about his next novel, American Traitor.
“Believe it or not, I got the idea from Operator Down. I was on a research trip, running around Africa—the book was about a coup, so I had to see how those looked—and they had a bunch of Chinese writing all over the wall. So I asked the guide that I was with, ‘what’s up with all the Chinese writing?’ and she said, ‘Oh, the Chinese are building this for free.’ And I thought, for free . . . what’s that mean? She told me they were doing it out the goodness of their heart.
“Anyways, that didn’t bother me at all for Operator Down because that book had nothing to do with China, but it stuck in my head.
“I Kept wondering what in the world is going on there. So I started doing research on the Belt and Road Initiative China’s got, where they’re basically funding a lot of stuff and then calling in the debts, taking over ports, and things like that. And then we lost an F35 in the Sea of Japan. A brand new joint strike fighter—which can fly circles around everything in the universe. A pilot, apparently, flew it straight into the ocean—not realizing he was flying straight into the ocean, which was odd.
“So, I had the germ of an idea. Then the Hong Kong protests started,” explained Taylor, “and we had the election in Taiwan coming up, and suddenly there was a lot of stuff being talking about around China. That’s where the plot came from.
“China has an enormous infrastructure of stealing stuff from the United States. And when I say stealing, I mean they actually do it outright where they actually steal it. But in other cases, they actually hire United States personnel to do it. For instance, Google refuses to work with our own Department of Defense but would gladly work for China’s Department of Defense because they make a ton of money. So, there was enough of an edge there to start a story, and I started doing the research. The story then built into, what if there was a Google-type of guy who was willing to sell his country out for the dollar? That’s kind of where the plot goes.”
“Few authors write about espionage, terrorism, and clandestine hit squads as well as Taylor does.”—Houston Press
Pike Logan must divert two world powers from engaging in a major conflict that could ignite a war in this pulse-pounding thriller from New York Times bestselling author and former Special Forces officer Brad Taylor.
Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill are enjoying a sunny vacation down under when they get disturbing news: their friend and colleague, Clifford Delmonty, is in serious trouble. While working as a contractor at an Australian F 35 facility, the former Taskforce member—callsign Dunkin—saw something he shouldn’t have, and now he’s on the run from Chinese agents.
Pike and Jennifer soon discover that Dunkin’s attackers are a dangerous part of a much larger scheme that could launch a full-on war between China and Taiwan. In their quest for dominance, China is determined to reclaim Taiwan—an ally the United States has sworn to protect. Pike learns that the Chinese have a devious plan to bait the small island nation into all-out war by destabilizing the government while manipulating an artificial intelligence defense system.
As the threat of conflict reaches a boiling point, Pike alone realizes that what is being seen is not what is happening. A soldier who has always been trained to fight and win, Pike is now against an invisible enemy—one he can’t actually attack. With the help of a Taiwanese intelligence agent, he races to prevent a catastrophic conflict from consuming a whole region of the world—and the lives of his teammates.
Brad Taylor, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.), is a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Army Infantry and Special Forces, including eight years with the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment – Delta, popularly known as Delta Force. Taylor retired in 2010 after serving more than two decades and participating in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, as well as classified operations around the globe. His final military post was as Assistant Professor of Military Science at The Citadel.
Brad has written fourteen New York Times bestsellers. When not writing, he serves as a security consultant on asymmetric threats for various agencies. He lives in Charleston, SC with his wife and two daughters.
Fans excited to get their hands on American Traitor can now pre-order the next Pike Logan thriller anywhere books are sold.
We’ll have full coverage of this one, including an extended Part 2 of the above interview, leading up to the book’s release. In the meantime, make sure you’re following Brad Taylor on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and his official website for more updates.
Praised as “One of the hardest working, most thoughtful, and fairest reviewers out there” by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, Ryan Steck has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). Steck also works full-time as a freelance editor and pens a monthly thriller column for CrimeReads. For more information, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He currently lives in Southwest Michigan with his wife and their six children.