On June 17th, 2025, former Marine Raider Matthew Redd returns to action in Gone Dark, a book that New York Times bestselling author Craig Johnson (of the Walt Longmire series) calls”pulse-pounding” and says “fans the flames of a wildfire of a series!”
This will be a fun article to write.
If you don’t know by now, I am both Ryan Steck, the author, and the thriller insider and literary critic known as The Real Book Spy. I launched TRBS in 2015 and have spent the last ten years breaking exclusive news, compiling reading guides, conducting hundreds of interviews, and reviewing over a thousand books. But back in 2022, I made the jump to author when my debut novel, Fields of Fire, hit bookstores.
“You know Ryan Steck as the Real Book Spy. Now, get to know him as the author of Fields of Fire, his debut thriller featuring Marine Raider Matthew Redd in a battle that will leave you speechless and begging for more. Lock and load!” ―Jack Carr
Influenced by my two all-time favorite authors, C.J. Box and Vince Flynn, I set out to write a new kind of series, something unlike anything else in print today. I love Mitch Rapp, and I love Joe Pickett. I love the Wild West, but I also love the fireworks and excitement of big, hard-hitting action thrillers. So, my goal was to merge the two, overlapping the different genres while bringing a little Jack Reacher to the modern-day Western. And so far, I am so thankful and honored that many of you have taken a chance on me and checked out my books.
If you’ve yet to meet Matthew Redd, I humbly ask that you consider getting to know him. I wouldn’t have created him if I didn’t think he’d be a hit with my audience on The Real Book Spy. The series—which #1 bestselling author Don Winslow calls “Sons of Anarchy crashing into Yellowstone“—is now three books long. Fields of Fire, Lethal Range, and Out For Blood are all available in bookstores and online. I also wrote a prequel novella, Redd Christmas, which explains how Redd becomes the hero readers see in the books.
To date, my series has been endorsed by #1 New York Times bestselling authors Brad Thor, Jack Carr, C.J. Box, Nelson DeMille, Mark Greaney, Kyle Mills, and James Rollins, along with Brad Taylor, Don Winslow, T.J. Newman, Gregg Hurwitz, Steve Berry, and others.
My fourth book in the series, Gone Dark, is a special one for me. Dedicated to my daughter, the story follows Redd, who is sent in to investigate a group of smoke jumpers that have gone dark after dropping in to fight the raging wildfires sweeping across Montana. But when Redd finds the missing team, he discovers they’ve all been executed, which immediately leads him to wonder who’s killing smoke jumpers in the middle of a raging fire and why. Before he has time to consider his options, though, Redd hears a gunshot—and soon comes face-to-face with an assassin who has just executed a man and woman in the woods. The killer now has his sights set on a small boy named Jack, and Redd, who stands six-foot-three and a hulking 265 pounds, steps in to protect the boy, eventually going on the run with him as they try desperately to escape the inferno around them, and the killers who want little Jack dead.
Gone Dark is the most raw and personal story I’ve written yet. I’m really, really proud of this book, and I cannot wait to get it into your hands come June.
In this pulse-pounding thriller, former Marine Raider Matthew Redd, “a force to be reckoned with” (Jack Carr) and “the go-to man in a bad situation” (Brad Taylor), must face his greatest fears and figure out how to escape when the one way out goes up in flames.
Matthew Redd doesn’t go looking for trouble. But this time, it’s found him anyway . . . and he’s not the only one in the crosshairs.
Late-summer wildfires are a fact of life in Montana. But as an inferno nears Wellington, Matthew Redd gets the unusual call that a team of smokejumpers has suddenly gone dark. As head of the county’s fledgling search and rescue team, Redd drops into the fire zone and finds way more than he bargained for: a killer has taken out the smoke jumper team along with two civilians, and only a terrified young boy is left as a witness. Redd and little Jack narrowly escape the raging fire, and Redd calls in Gavin Kline, now acting director of the FBI, to investigate the bigger forces at play.
That afternoon, during one of her last clinic shifts before the birth of her second child, Emily Redd loses a young patient to an overdose. Fed up with yet another loss to the opioid crisis―this one a former schoolmate and a wounded veteran―Emily tracks down and confronts the retired doctor responsible for feeding her patient’s deadly addiction.
Hours later, when their home is attacked, Redd and Emily wonder which of them kicked a hornet’s nest―or if they’ve both stumbled onto pieces of a much bigger puzzle. As the fire closes in, they follow the connections from a corrupt doctor and a local opioid supplier all the way to a murdered whistleblower for a Big Pharma giant. As Redd’s concern for young Jack grows, those who want to silence him forever hunt him down. Redd will do whatever it takes to protect the boy and his family . . . even if it means he’ll have to outrun an inferno and come face-to-face with his greatest fear.
“Ryan Steck is the real deal! GONE DARK powers forward, with each scene slamming into the next like colliding freight cars. Matthew Redd is my new favorite thriller hero.” — Robert Crais, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Big Empty
“GONE DARK is wildly entertaining—Steck keeps raising the stakes, putting his characters into increasingly impossible situations, but Matthew Redd is a hero equal to every challenge. Vivid imagery, pulse-pounding suspense, and an all-time great dog— everything we read thrillers for.” — Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author of The Oligarch’s Daughter
With Gone Dark leading the way, 2025 is going to be a huge year for me personally. The Real Book Spy will be turning 10, and we have a ton of fun stuff planned for that. Additionally, my first Alex Hawke novel—you can read more about me taking over the late Ted Bell’s New York Times bestselling series here—Ted Bell’s Monarch, which James Patterson calls “that rarity in thrillers: first-class writing, wit, and suspense,” and “one of the best Alex Hawke thrillers,” comes out on March 25. Then, after Redd returns in the summer, my first co-authored book with Simon Gervais, The Second Son, will be published sometime in the fall. I’ll have details to share on that one soon, but in the meantime, Gone Dark and Monarch are currently available for pre-order anywhere books are sold.
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 in addition to running TRBS. He is the author of FIELDS OF FIRE, which #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr says “will leave you speechless and begging for more,” LETHAL RANGE, OUT FOR BLOOD, and TED BELL’S MONARCH. For more information, follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and BookBub. To interact with other readers and talk about your favorite books and authors, join The Real Book Spy’s Discord server.