From The Real Book Spy to thriller author, here’s my own story of how I fell in love with mysteries and thrillers and why I can’t help but talk about them on the internet.
When I was a kid, I hardly ever read. In fact, if you had told the younger Ryan Steck that he would one day make a living covering, editing, and writing books, he would have laughed you out of the room.
And yet here we are.
As is the case with many things in life, my road to becoming a literary critic, publishing insider, freelance editor, and even an author, was never one I planned to travel down. Originally, my focus was on sports, and my dream was to write about football and baseball, maybe even the Olympics one day. Books, for the most part, weren’t on my radar. I always loved writing, though. And creating. One time, when I was a sophomore in high school, I had an English intern who gave us a last-minute creative writing assignment on a Friday afternoon. The catch was that we could write about anything we wanted and were told, verbatim, that we could have violence, cursing, whatever we wanted—no restrictions.
Well, like any fifteen-year-old, if you gave me an inch, I was going to take 100 miles. I went home and spent the weekend developing a short story about a kid named Matty Redd who, essentially, was a teenage vigilante and was forced to protect his school from a killer on the loose. It was sloppy, over the top, filled to the brim with violence, and, of course, there were swear words galore. What I hadn’t realized at the time, though, because I was too caught up in dropping F-bombs on paper and getting away with it, is that I had never taken an assignment so seriously in my life. I walked into class on Monday and proudly turned in my writing project. I thought I had nailed it, to be honest with you.
To make a very long story short, I found out the hard way that said writing assignment was actually designed to be a peer-to-peer project, and I can still remember the look on the poor kid’s face who had to read my short story aloud to the rest of the class. The next day, I was called down to the principal’s office and found my mother, father, my principal, and the superintendent waiting for me. (Side note: when you have that collection of people waiting for you as a teenager, it’s never going to be good news!) I noticed quickly that my principal was holding my short story assignment. After some back-and-forth, where the school officials explained to my parents that I had gone way, way too far with my project, I was suspended from school for a week.
Now, listen, I have the kind of parents who set the rules early in life. And one of them was, “If you get in trouble at school, you’re in trouble at home.” So, I knew immediately that I was in a bad way. To my great surprise, though, my mom, who never let me get away with anything, wanted to hold the school accountable too. She started asking good questions like, why were teenagers told they could write about anything they wanted, with no restrictions, only to be punished? And What did the teachers think would happen here? I was cheering my mom on, silently, of course, as she made some excellent points. In the end, I remember my mother finally saying, “My son took it too far, but he did the assignment. Didn’t he?” Nobody in the room knew what to say, but my suspension was still upheld.
That was the only time that I ever got in trouble at school but didn’t get in trouble at home.
Many years later, I was working as a sportswriter. It was my first year living the dream, except that it was more like an internship and not at all what I had expected. Worse, I was growing self-conscious about my writing, but couldn’t put my finger on why that was. I decided to step away from writing about sports and covering the NFL, and shortly thereafter, my doctor at the time diagnosed me with dyslexia. Boy, did that ever make sense! I only wish it had been caught when I was a kid, but nevertheless, I remember thinking, how can someone who is dyslexic write for a living? My doctor told me the best way to re-train my brain was to read. A lot.
That was one of the most significant days of my life. Not because of my dyslexia diagnosis. No, it’s what happened next that—no hyperbole—changed the course of my life forever.
I went home and, thinking that I should find a writer who was dyslexic and still managed to be successful, Googled “Dyslexic authors.” A nanosecond later, the search engine introduced me to the name Vince Flynn.
The rest, as they say, is history.
While I can’t say that I dove into Flynn’s work that night, it was only a week or two later when, to my shock, I turned on the television and saw reports that beloved Minnesota author, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Mitch Rapp series, Vince Flynn, had passed away at the age of forty-seven. Little did I know then what a profound impact Vince would ultimately have on my life. I had no clue what to expect that night when I finally jumped into his world of mayhem, following CIA operator Mitch Rapp all around the globe. I was hooked immediately, though, and binge-read his entire series in a few short days. That led to me starting a Mitch Rapp Fans website and a Twitter account, which then led to me searching for similar authors, finding their work, and growing passionate about other fictional universes and characters.
At the time I first started flying through Vince’s books, I had a kid with fairly serious health issues. They were on a new medication and had lost consciousness several times, and twice, we had paramedics in our home, stabilizing them before taking them to the hospital. My wife and I split duties, and it was my job to keep an eye on them during the night, where I used Flynn’s work to keep me awake so that I could constantly check on my child. It was a tough time for sure, and I found myself constantly looking for an escape, which Vince provided. The real world is hard, but there was something strangely comforting about following around my new friend, Mitch Rapp, that helped ease the pain, stress, fears, and anxiety I felt almost 24/7 back then. I grew to appreciate the stories I was consuming and the authors writing them, and as my passion expanded, so did my desire to connect with other readers.
Taking to social media, I began tweeting about what I was reading, offering random Mitch Rapp facts and whatnot. Eventually, I realized I didn’t want to write about sports anymore, but rather, I wanted to write about books. Armed with the limited sports reporting experience that I had, my goal was to cover mysteries and thrillers the same way I would the NFL. I wanted to report new book deals, announce new books, reveal their covers, and get to read them and offer my take. Finding a platform proved challenging, as I took freelance opportunities to write for many outlets. I also got into editing, working directly with authors. In fact, it was one of them—a man who very much was a mentor to me—who first encouraged me to launch my own website.
That man was Ted Bell, the New York Times bestselling author of the Alex Hawke series. (Spoiler: If you know me today, you might see how this will soon come full circle.)
“Ryan Steck. A Name known by any and all who labor in the vineyards of the thriller novel. Besides his encyclopedic knowledge of the genre, Ryan is a book doctor extraordinaire, an editor, and a huge promoter of us pencil pushers. More importantly, I will acknowledge his huge contribution to all of us. When I came of age in this thriller game, there was a pervasive air of competition between all of us writers. A given. But Ryan changed all that single-handly. He took it upon himself to turn us into a community. A group of people who became friends, not competitors, people who support the work of their fellow authors, and cheered their success. This is no small thing. It has made our profession much more satisfying and rewarding.” — Ted Bell, New York Times bestselling author of the Alex Hawke Series
Ten years ago, I thought up a website dedicated to all things thriller and even found a partner who would help with building a site, monetizing, and growing a readership. I called it “The Book Spy” and was really excited. Then I learned that my “partner” had gone and started registering everything solely in their name and was ripping off my entire concept with the intention of phasing me out. Once I learned that, I was furious but decided to strike first by launching my own site. I called it The REAL Book Spy, a very subtle but nuanced middle finger to my ex-partner. Anyone can start a website, and anyone can review books. But, not to sound like Tony Stark here, I am the Book Spy, and I was hellbent on taking back my idea for a one-stop shop website where readers could come to learn all about their favorite authors and characters, unlike anywhere else on the web.
It’s funny, but because I rushed to get the site up, I went with a very basic, simple design. The same one you see today. I’ve actually paid to have the website rebuilt twice, but I just never really liked the new look and kept coming back to the OG feel and layout. Maybe it’ll get a full makeover one day.
After a lot of years of book spying and still working full-time as a freelance editor, I got the itch to write myself. I had a few ideas but knew that whatever I wrote would have to be unlike anything else I’d covered as a critic or worked on as an editor. There are, to this day, three authors who are very special to me. Vince Flynn is one of them, obviously. The other two are Brad Thor and C.J. Box. I owe them everything, frankly, simply because they also played a major role in sparking my love of thrillers. They’ve also now both endorsed my books, something that still blows my mind. (Ted Bell deserves another mention here as well because he did so much for me on a personal level and taught me a lot about the industry and the craft of writing.) Nobody in the game today beats headlines like Brad Thor, and I promise that you’ll never find an author who can develop an entire case of characters like C.J. Box. If you aren’t already reading their work, please start. I promise you that you’ll be so glad you did.
As I worked on plotting out that first story concept, I kept coming back to one simple thought. How come we never see the Mitch Rapp-like characters, the Scot Harvaths, out west? I loved the Wild West. Box, for his part, writes the best modern-day westerns in print today. I simply adore his Joe Pickett series. Combining the action you get from Flynn and Thor with a setting and story you might find from Box intrigued me. I just needed the right character to anchor things. And that’s when I started wondering about what Matty Redd, who I first created over 20 years ago in high school, might be up to all these years later.
For those of you keeping score at home, Matthew Redd has gotten me a week off of school and a book deal. So, I guess it all worked out okay.
Since launching The Real Book Spy, more than 15 million people have visited the website. I’ve written thousands of book reviews, conducted over 500 author interviews, ran hundreds of exclusive articles either announcing a forthcoming title or breaking relevant industry news, and more. As an author, my debut novel, Fields Of Fire, came out in 2022, followed by Lethal Range in 2023. I also wrote a holiday-themed prequel novella called Redd Christmas and am set to release my third novel, Out For Blood, on June 4, 2024. Additionally, last year, I signed a two-book deal to take over Ted Bell’s Alex Hawke series. My first book in that franchise, Ted Bell Monarch, will hit bookstores on March 25, 2025.
Bell passed away in early 2023, and while I miss my friend dearly, it truly is the honor of a lifetime to carry on his legacy (and a real joy to work with his daughter, Byrdie Bell). I can’t wait for his fans to see what Lord Alexander Hawke is up to next year!
I was so sure that was going to be a sportswriter, but I instead fell in love with thrillers and mysteries because of the escape they provided me during a challenging time, and look how things played out. I’m forever grateful to all of the authors in my life who’ve supported and championed me as a reviewer and a writer. This sure isn’t the life I planned, but I wouldn’t change a single thing.
That is how I became The Real Book Spy and a thriller author.
Who’d have thought it, right?
(Quick Note: for a limited time, every hardcover copy of my new thriller, Out For Blood, will automatically come signed by me—no matter where you buy it—and include a bonus novella printed in the back of the book. So, if you haven’t already, please consider pre-ordering your copy today. Whether it’s a gift for someone else, or you pick it up because you’ve followed me as a Book Spy, or especially because you read my other books, I sincerely hope you enjoy it and can’t wait to hear what you all think of it this summer.)
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, comes out 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.