On March 11, 2025, Special Agent Marcus Ryker returns for his final mission in The Beijing Betrayal, the latest thriller from New York Times bestselling author Joel C. Rosenberg.

Rosenberg, a prolific writer of both fiction and nonfiction, first took the thriller world by storm with his riveting debut, The Last Jihad, back in 2002. That book, written before 9/11, actually opened with a kamikaze attack that proved unthinkably timely ahead of its release. Beating headlines with his first book certainly foreshadowed what would come for Rosenberg, who has made a name for himself by writing books that tend to play out in real life.

In fact, there have been times when Rosenberg’s writing has been eerily prophetic—like in 2015, when Rosenberg’s longtime publisher, Tyndale House, had to move up the publication of The Third Target because the events of that story were, quite literally, playing out across breaking news tickers. That book, the first in a trilogy starring a New York Times foreign correspondent, followed the rise of ISIS and was written before the president of the United States had incorrectly referred to the terrorist group as the “JV team.”

The bottom line is that Rosenberg’s writing should be required reading for anyone who wants a glimpse of what the world might soon look like in the very near future.

Now, Rosenberg is back and ready to bring his latest series to an end.

Readers first met Marcus Ryker in The Kremlin Conspiracy (2018), which Rosenberg followed up with The Persian Gamble (2019), The Jerusalem Assassin (2020), The Beirut Protocol (2021), and The Libyan Diversion (2023). The release of The Beijing Betrayal officially makes the Ryker franchise Rosenberg’s longest-running series to date.

“It’s been almost a quarter of a century that I’ve been writing political thrillers,” said Rosenberg in an exclusive statement to The Real Book Spy, “and, as my readers well know, I’ve written a great deal about the threat of radical Islamism to the U.S., to Israel, and to our Sunni Arab allies. Radical Islamists see themselves as Muslim purists—many have called them ‘fundamentalists’—who are determined to use violence to drive all vestiges of Western ideologies and practices out of the Muslim Middle East and Central Asia. This includes their fervent desire to drive out all vestiges of Judaism, Zionism, and Christianity out of the regions they considered sacred and proprietary for Islam.”

“That said,” continued Rosenberg, “I’ve also written several novels over the years that deal with the threat of what I call ‘Apocalyptic Islamism.’ There’s an important difference between the two. Apocalyptic Islamists don’t want to simply use violence to purge Muslim lands from Judeo-Christian thinking and from Western philosophies and practices, including democracy and tolerance for more liberal religious and social practices. Rather, Apocalyptic Islamists are driven by their passion to bring about the ‘Last Days’ of human history and pave the way for the coming of their so-called Savior, the Mahdi, who will reign over the entire planet and force everyone to bow to him and worship him. Thus, Apocalyptic Islamists—like Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei—want to build, buy, or steal, and then use nuclear weapons to annihilate Israel, which they regard as the ‘Little Satan,’ and the United States, which they regard as the ‘Great Satan.’ They want to utterly vanquish and eradicate Judaism, Christianity, and all other religions in order to purify the earth for the Mahdi to conquer all and rule over all.”

As entertaining as such events have been when fictionalized in his books, which Rosenberg has covered over four different series throughout his career, the bestselling author—who is the editor-in-chief of ALL ISRAEL NEWS and ALL ARAB NEWS and the President and CEO of Near East Media—made clear that he takes these topics seriously, before offering insight into other dangers America may soon be staring down, and teasing his next book.

“These are threats that fill me with both fascination and fear,” Rosenberg said. “But obviously, they’re not the only threats facing the American people or Western civilization these days. That’s why in my current series involving CIA operative Marcus Ryker, I’ve been exploring other threats, including those posed by Russia, North Korea, and China.”

“In The Beijing Betrayal, Ryker uncovers a plot by the president of communist China to attack, invade, and conquer the democratic island of Taiwan—not some day, not in a decade, not in a few years, but now. Ryker is completely unprepared for what he finds. So are his superiors back at CIA headquarters in Langley, and at the White House. Yes, everyone in the administration knows that communist China poses a real and rising threat to American interests and allies in the Pacific. But no one is prepared for proof that Beijing is secretly plotting to attack Taiwan in the coming days, much less that they’re planning to attack U.S., Japanese, and Korean military assets simultaneously to prevent an effective defense of Taiwan.”

“It was immensely exciting and challenging—but also liberating—to write an entire political thriller that focuses on China and the Pacific Rim, rather than the Middle East. But for me, March 2025 can’t come fast enough. I honestly fear that The Beijing Betrayal could play out in real-time, that Beijing could actually attack Taiwan before the novel hits bookshelves. With Americans consumed by a high-stakes and divisive presidential campaign and a growing global perception of weakness emanating from the White House, it’s no longer far-fetched to think that Beijing is feeling tempted by this premise, ‘If we’re ever going to invade Taiwan and reunify China once and for all, is there a better time than 2024?'”

“To be clear,” Rosenberg emphasized, “I don’t see The Beijing Betrayal as prophetic. I’m not trying to predict what will happen geopolitically in the next few months or years. I’m simply trying to write a gripping, terrifying, compelling novel that will grab readers by the throat from the cover and the first page and never let them go. But yes, I’m also trying to warn, in a way, that the scenario I weave in this novel could very well happen if the U.S. and its allies do not pursue a far more convincing policy of ‘Peace Through Strength’ than we’re pursuing right now.

If history is any indicator . . . readers should run and not walk to get a copy of The Beijing Betrayal the second it hits store shelves because it just might shed light on things that are only now beginning to play out around us.

 

Release Date: March 11th, 2025

Tyndale House Publishers

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Joel C. Rosenberg is a New York Times bestselling author of 13 novels and five nonfiction books, with nearly 5 million copies sold. He has been interviewed on hundreds of radio and TV shows, including ABC’s Nightline, CNN, CNN Headline News, C-SPAN, Fox News, MSNBC, The History Channel, The Rush Limbaugh Show, The Sean Hannity Show, and The Glenn Beck Show. His articles and columns have been published by National Review,FoxNews.com, CNN.com, the Jerusalem Post, World magazine, and the Washington Times, among others. He has been profiled by the New York Times, the Washington Times, and the Jerusalem Post.

Joel has spoken to audiences and met with religious and government leaders all across the U.S. and Canada and around the world, including Israel, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, the UAE, Turkey, Afghanistan, Russia, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, India, South Korea, and the Philippines. He has also addressed audiences at the White House and the Pentagon, addressed members of Congress on Capitol Hill, members of the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, and a conference held at the European Union Parliament in Brussels. He is the founder and chairman of The Joshua Fund, a nonprofit educational and charitable organization he and his wife launched in 2006 to mobilize Christians to “bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, according to Genesis 12:1-3.”

 

 

Praised as “One of the hardest working, most thoughtful, and fairest reviewers out there” by 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 is building a growing community on Twitch. His debut thriller, FIELDS OF FIRE, which #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr says “will leave you speechless and begging for more,” is now available. His second novel, LETHAL RANGE, is also in bookstores, and his third book, OUT FOR BLOOD, was released on June 4th. For more information, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Facebook. To interact with other readers and talk about your favorite books and authors, join The Real Book Spy’s Discord server.