Jake Keller, the star of David Ricciardi‘s critically-acclaimed series, returns to action on June 15th in Shadow Target, one of this summer’s most anticipated new thrillers.
Though it’s almost hard to imagine now, Keller wasn’t always the hardened, battle-tested operator he is today. Back in Ricciardi’s eye-popping debut, Without Warning (2018), Keller (who went by Zac Miller back then) was a lower-level CIA analyst who suddenly found himself thrown into the fires after a mission he subbed in on at the last minute went horribly wrong. Since then, Jake has come a long way, but if he’s going to survive Ricciardi’s latest adventure, the CIA man will need to call upon every ounce of experience he’s gained so far in his short career.
Check out the official plot details below.
Someone is assassinating CIA field officers and Jake Keller’s name is next on the list in the latest thrilling novel from the author Publishers Weekly calls “a fresh voice in the crowded spy thriller field.”
Jake doesn’t know who is trying to kill him and he doesn’t know why. Still, it’s a threat he can’t ignore.
When his small plane crashes in the Alps, Jake is the only survivor. A rescue helicopter soon arrives, but the men inside are not there to save anyone. They are determined to complete the murderous job they started.
Jake escapes from the mountainside deathtrap, but it won’t be the only attempt on his life. If he’s to have any chance at surviving, he’ll have to find out who’s behind the killings. But the circle of people Jake can trust is distressingly small as he suspects that someone inside the Agency is feeding his every move to the very people who are trying to end his life.
Jake’s quest takes him to the candle-lit cathedrals of Paris and the rain-slicked streets of London. He makes contact with old friends and new enemies along the way—but his true nemesis may be closer than he imagines.
A keen outdoorsman, David Ricciardi incorporates many personal experiences into his work. He’s backpacked through the mountains of the western United States and Alaska, received extensive training from law enforcement and U.S. special operations personnel, and once woke up for a two A.M. watch aboard a sailboat only to discover that it was headed the wrong way through the Atlantic sea-lanes in heavy weather, with one of the crew suffering from hypothermia. In addition to being an avid sailor, David is also a certified scuba-rescue diver and a former ski instructor.
Readers excited to pre-order Shadow Target, the next Jake Keller thriller, can now do so here or anywhere else books are sold.
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. Additionally, he co-hosts ThrillerTalk, a new podcast with K.J. Howe. 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.