Some sequels are obligations. Others are events.

Season Two of The Terminal List is an event.

On Wednesday, October 21, Prime Video drops all eight episodes at once. That’s the whole season in one go, so clear your schedule. Chris Pratt returns as Navy SEAL Commander James Reece, and this time the source material is Jack Carr’s second novel, True Believer.

If you’ve read the book, you already know why I’ve been counting the days.

From Revenge to Redemption

Season One was a psychological revenge thriller. Reece had a list, and he worked his way through it with the cold precision of a man who had nothing left to lose.

So what does a man like that do once the list is finished?

That’s the question True Believer answers. Carr puts Reece on “a journey of violent redemption, finding a new purpose after finishing his list.”

To clear his name, Reece has to work with the CIA to stop a resurgent terrorist organization. The gut punch is who that organization has turned to its cause: his friend and former operator, Mo Farooq (Dar Salim). Along the way, Reece uncovers a conspiracy that “reaches from Moscow to Langley” and ties into his own family’s history.

The canvas gets much bigger, too. The story moves across the Indian Ocean, Mozambique, Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. The revenge story has turned into a globe-trotting espionage thriller.

The Trailer

Prime Video’s official trailer is out, and it delivers. Watch it here:

Authenticity Isn’t a Slogan

Here’s what separates The Terminal List from the Hollywood action fare that makes those of us who have carried a badge or a rifle smile.

The people making this show have done the job.

Seventeen military veterans worked on Season Two, in front of the camera and behind it. Five of the eight episodes were written by combat veterans. Four of the eight were co-directed or second-unit directed by combat veterans.

Look at the roster:

• Jack Carr, former Navy SEAL: co-creator, executive producer, and writer.

• Jared Shaw, former SEAL: executive producer, writer, actor, and technical advisor.

• Max Adams, former Army Ranger: executive producer, writer, and second unit director.

• Ray Mendoza, former SEAL: director.

• Kenny Sheard, former SEAL: writer and producer.

• Christian Brunetti, Army veteran: additional technical advising.

That isn’t a consultant brought in for a week to tell the actors how to hold their rifles. Veterans are writing the story and running the camera.

Chris Pratt put it best:

“This season is a love letter to the special operations community. … At its heart, this season is dedicated to the men and women who do this work—the people who operate in the shadows, make extraordinary sacrifices, and rarely ask for recognition. We wanted to honor them and get it right.”

Get it right. In my old line of work, there’s no higher standard.

As a retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent, and former member of FBI Miami SWAT, I spent plenty of time on the range and in tactical training. I can tell within a few seconds whether an actor has been taught to handle a weapon or just handed one. With this many veterans on the production, the gun handling, the movement, and the small details that most audiences never notice but we always do should be right.

The Team

The fan favorites are back. Tom Hopper returns as Raife Hastings, Reece’s brother in arms, and Constance Wu returns as journalist Katie Buranek. Dar Salim’s Mo Farooq comes back with a darker turn. Gabriel Luna joins as Freddy Strain.

The expanded international cast includes Costa Ronin, Olga Kurylenko, Yul Vazquez, Arnold Vosloo, Martin Sensmeier, Jeremy Bobb, and Shiraz Tzarfati. David DiGilio is back as showrunner, and Chris Pratt and Antoine Fuqua serve as executive producers alongside Carr.

The making-of feature shows how they pull it off:

Why Jack Carr Matters

I’ve had the privilege of sitting down with Jack Carr more than once on the First Draft podcast. We talked about Targeted: Beirut, Cry Havoc, The Fourth Option and more —and about his screenwriting work and cameos in this very series.

What comes through every time is that Carr writes from experience as a former Navy SEAL. He doesn’t guess what it feels like to make a hard decision with incomplete information and lives on the line. He knows.

That’s why Reece rings true. He isn’t a superhero. He is a professional with a code, and that code is tested by forces inside his own government as well as by enemies abroad.

As someone who spent years working counterintelligence matters, I’ll tell you the “Moscow to Langley” premise is not far-fetched. The most dangerous threats rarely announce themselves. Sometimes they’re sitting in the office down the hall.

Final Thought

The best thrillers entertain you and leave you thinking. True Believer did both on the page. If the trailer is any indication, Season Two will do the same on screen.

Mark your calendar for October 21 on Prime Video.

The mission isn’t over.

If you haven’t heard my conversations with Jack Carr, they’re in the First Draft podcast archive here on Substack. Start there, and you’ll understand why this series has the bones it does.

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I sat down with Lee Child and Andrew Child for Episode 18 of the First Draft Podcast to talk about Chain Reaction, the thirty-first Jack Reacher novel, out October 20th. What I got was a conversation about craft from two men who clearly enjoy talking about it, and who don’t hold much back.

It started where it usually starts for writers: with books, and with getting out.

Lee put it simply: “Reading was escaping from a fairly dull life.”

Andrew picked up the same word: “The key word there was escaping.”

Neither had a literary pedigree. Their father, Lee said, “found a lot of fun in words and language,” and in a house where most purchases were off the table, books were usually allowed. That was enough.

The Handoff

Lee was candid about why the partnership exists. As a young reader, he watched too many series die slowly: “The author had gotten bored or tired or run out of energy or run out of gas.”

So he made himself a promise: “If I ever sensed that I was running out of energy, I would stop the series.”

Around book twenty-four, he started to feel it. But walking away from a character readers love that much wasn’t an option. The answer was his younger brother.

The first collaboration was heavily hands-on, with two goals. Pull Reacher, as Lee put it, “slightly more into the 21st century.” And, at Andrew’s urging, bring back the early Reacher, who “would use words as weapons as well as fists.”

Then Lee stepped back, and back, and back, until Andrew was doing them on his own.

For Andrew’s own writing, he quipped laughingly: “My goal was to not sound like my brother.”

And then concerning the collaboration: “I wanted it to be that readers would never tell the difference… because it’s about Reacher, it’s not about us.”

That’s the right instinct. And it’s why the collaboration works. I’ve had a built-in bias against co-written books for a long time. Too many of them read co-written. This one doesn’t.

The Bad Guy Comes First

Chain Reaction puts Reacher in a world of AI and data centers. Don’t expect a tech manual. The brothers build from the villain backward, and they have no use for cartoons: “We don’t want Bond villains in their underground lair… stroking a white pussycat.”

Andrew was clear that the technology is backdrop, not subject: “We never go into the technology… It’s really more of a mirror about, you know, human behavior.”

On AI

I asked both of them what AI means for the profession. Neither hedged.

Lee tried it once on a hard question: “I thought, wow, this is like my dog has just built me a car. And then I suddenly realized, well, yeah, but it’s a pretty bad car.”

His point: a machine might eventually produce a serviceable Reacher novel, because that’s what it has learned. What it can’t produce is the strange, late-night idea that makes a book worth reading. There’s a scene in Chain Reaction where Reacher deals with a child. He told me there was “zero chance” a machine would have written that.

Andrew went further: “Would I say as an ally? … I see it more as the enemy.”

And: “If you want the reward, you’ve got to do the work… There’s no shortcut.”

Hard to argue with that.

No Outline, No Arc

Both write the same way. One scene, then figure out what happens next. Andrew described planning a by-the-book break-in scene, lock picks and all, before changing his mind: “In the end, I just thought, nah, it just burned the whole place down.”

Lee: “My method was always entirely improvised and I would love it when critics or readers would say, oh, I guessed it after 50 pages and I’m like, really, because I didn’t.”

Writing workshops will tell you your protagonist has to change. Reacher has disproved that for thirty-one books. Andrew borrowed a line from their father: “We want the books to be the same, but different. So Reacher stays the same, but he’s put into different environments and different arenas.”

That’s how you get the scene in Chain Reaction where Reacher meets a woman with a small child. Nobody planned it. Lee, a father of a daughter himself, said the instinct comes from remembering the years when “they’re just so little and sweet and vulnerable.”

Page vs. Screen

On the Amazon series, Lee explained the core problem: so much of Reacher lives inside his head, weighing options A, B and C before doing D. None of that makes it to the screen without dialogue to carry it.

Has the show changed how either of them sees Reacher? Not at all. Lee thinks Alan Ritchson has moved toward the books, not the other way around. One exception: “I cannot see past Maria Sten now. She is that character.”

Andrew had Reacher in his head well before the shelves did. Lee sent him the first manuscript, written in pencil, back when the family was counting on it: “He was like an imaginary extra brother that we would talk about like he was real.”

One More Thing

I asked Andrew what brought him to America. “That’s the easiest answer ever, a girl.”

His wife, historical mystery author Tasha Alexander. They’ve been happily married eighteen years now. What does he miss? Indian food in England, and Aston Villa live.

Chain Reaction is a strong addition to the Reacher universe, and proof the handoff is working. Reacher hasn’t changed. That’s the point.

Thanks to Sarah for setting this up.

Look for my full review at Townhall.com coming soon!

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Grab your copy on October 20th: Chain Reaction by Lee Child and Andrew Child (available wherever books are sold)

Alex Dekker’s Desert Heist combines Special Forces authenticity, ancient history, and old-fashioned adventure to introduce one of the most promising new voices in thriller fiction.

Every so often, a debut novel lands on my desk that makes me wonder where the author has been hiding. Alex Dekker’s Desert Heist is one of those books.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Dekker after reading his debut thriller, and I told him something I don’t say lightly: his writing belongs in the same conversation with some of the best writers working in the thriller genre today. Comparisons to Brad Thor, Jack Carr, and other established names are inevitable, particularly given Dekker’s background. But after finishing Desert Heist, I think those comparisons may actually undersell what he has accomplished.

Dekker has created something that stands very much on its own.

Desert Heist is part military thriller, part archaeological mystery, and part old-fashioned adventure story. Imagine taking the military authenticity readers expect from Thor or Carr, mixing it with the historical mysteries of Clive Cussler and Dan Brown, and adding a healthy dose of Indiana Jones. That gets you somewhere in the vicinity of what Dekker is doing.

But the formula works because the man writing it has actually lived in both worlds.

Dekker spent nearly twenty years in Army Special Forces, including service with the legendary 5th Special Forces Group and extensive time operating throughout the Middle East. He served as a Special Forces Intelligence Sergeant, speaks Arabic, and deployed repeatedly into places most Americans will experience only through television screens and newspaper headlines. At the same time, he possesses a lifelong fascination with history and archaeology.

Those two worlds converge in Nate Wilde.

Wilde is a former Green Beret who leaves the military to pursue archaeology and becomes obsessed with the legendary lost city of Ubar—the so-called “Atlantis of the Sands.” When the academic establishment rejects his proposal and the conventional avenues of exploration disappear, Wilde turns to the people he trusts most: his former Special Forces brothers. Soon they are moving through Yemen and into Saudi Arabia’s Empty Quarter in search of a mystery buried beneath the desert.

Naturally, other people are looking for it too.

What follows is a fast-moving adventure involving terrorists, a dangerous former Spetsnaz operative, ancient mysteries, modern geopolitics, and a discovery with potentially enormous implications. But what separates Desert Heist from the crowded military-thriller field is not the gunfights. It’s authenticity.

During our conversation, Dekker explained that the legend of Ubar was something he encountered through his years in the Middle East. Also known as Iram of the Pillars, the legend appears in Middle Eastern tradition, including the Quran and One Thousand and One Nights. Dekker had been fascinated by the story for years. When he began thinking about writing an Indiana Jones-style adventure grounded in historical fact and military realism, the Middle East was the natural setting—and Ubar became the natural mystery around which to build it.

That approach permeates the novel.

Dekker told me that one of his influences was Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, particularly the sensation of reading the story and wondering where historical fact ended and fiction began. Dekker wanted to reproduce that experience. His goal was to ground Desert Heist in enough legitimate history that curious readers could stop, search for something they encountered in the novel, and discover that the historical thread was real. That may be one of my favorite things about this book.

I knew very little about Ubar before reading Desert Heist. The novel made me want to know more. A good historical thriller entertains you. A very good one sends you down rabbit holes after you close the book. Dekker understands that distinction.

He also understands something else that is exceedingly difficult to fake: combat.

During his Special Forces career, Dekker was seriously wounded in a Taliban grenade attack in Afghanistan. He and the other Americans in his element, along with Afghan partners, were caught in an ambush and had to fight their way out before eventually being medically evacuated.

When I asked whether experiences like that affected the way he writes combat, his answer helped explain why the action in Desert Heist feels different. It isn’t imagined or derived solely from research.

Dekker described another incident in Iraq involving a fuel tanker used as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device. The blast knocked him off his feet. He remembers the sound, the fireball, the physical sensation and the disorientation. Elements of that experience eventually found their way into Desert Heist.

Readers with military and law-enforcement backgrounds immediately recognize when an author doesn’t understand weapons, tactics, violence, or how trained people behave under stress. One glaring mistake can pull an informed reader completely out of a story. I found nothing like that in Desert Heist.

But perhaps even more interesting is that Dekker applies the same standard to archaeology.

He told me he consulted archaeologists while developing the novel—not merely about historical facts, but about what archaeologists actually do on the ground, how excavations and expeditions work, how documents are handled, and even what the academic process looks like. His objective was simple: he didn’t want the archaeologist reading Desert Heist pulled out of the story any more than he wanted the Green Beret pulled out of it.

That attention to detail shows.

Yet for all the action, history, weapons, ancient mysteries, and exotic locations, I came away from my conversation with Dekker believing that another theme may ultimately be the heart of this series.

Brotherhood.

Nate Wilde and the men around him are not simply former operators assembled because Dekker needed a capable team for an adventure. They are men who once belonged to something extraordinarily close and then lost it.

Dekker explained that a twelve-man Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha becomes something resembling a second family. The men live together, train together, fight together, sleep in the same tents, share stories, and sometimes face death together. Over time, the team develops what Dekker described as almost a collective personality. Then one day it’s gone.

The operator retires or leaves the military and discovers that civilian life cannot completely replicate what he left behind. That experience informs the characters in Desert Heist. These men aren’t simply searching for Ubar. In different ways, they are searching for something missing in themselves.

Dekker pointed to a quiet scene between Nate and Tim aboard a boat as one of the portions of the novel he particularly enjoyed writing. It isn’t a firefight. There is no archaeological revelation. It’s simply two men who have experienced a great deal together attempting to close the distance that has grown between them.

Those moments give Desert Heist considerably more depth than its premise might initially suggest. There is also something refreshing about Dekker’s prose. It’s clean.

That was the word I used during our interview, and I think it’s still the best description. The writing is tight, the pacing is excellent, and Dekker doesn’t clutter his narrative with unnecessary exposition designed to demonstrate how much he knows. The military experience is there. The archaeology is there. The history is there. But all of it serves the story rather than overwhelming it.

That’s especially impressive considering this is a debut.

Even more remarkable, Dekker told me he wrote the initial draft in roughly three months.

When I jokingly asked him which was harder—the Special Forces Qualification Course or writing Desert Heist—there wasn’t much hesitation.

The Q Course.

Writing, he said, came naturally.

In fact, his bigger problem is apparently stopping. Dekker described writing five or ten thousand words before looking at the clock and realizing it was three in the morning.

Dekker has already completed the second Nate Wilde novel and was working on the third when we spoke. He told me he has ideas for approximately fifteen more books, generated in part by the historical rabbit holes he routinely explores.

“The adventures of Nate Wilde will continue as long as people are interested in reading them,” he told me.

There is a tendency whenever a new military thriller writer arrives to ask whether he might be “the next” Brad Thor, Jack Carr, Vince Flynn, or whoever happens to occupy the appropriate place on the bookshelf. I understand the impulse.

But I’m increasingly convinced it’s the wrong question to ask about Alex Dekker.

The better question is whether readers will eventually be comparing new authors to him. Desert Heist is that good.

It is an extraordinarily confident debut: intelligent without becoming academic, authentic without becoming technical, and fast-paced without sacrificing character. It takes readers somewhere unfamiliar, introduces them to a genuine historical mystery, and surrounds that mystery with characters worth following.

Most importantly, it’s fun.

Dekker told me that when readers finish the novel, he wants them to feel as though they went on an adventure with these characters and enjoyed the time they spent there.

Mission accomplished.

Desert Heist isn’t merely an impressive first novel. It is the beginning of what I suspect will be a very successful series—and the arrival of an author thriller readers are going to be hearing about for a long time.

Highly recommended.

Desert Heist by Alex Dekker is published by Emily Bestler Books/Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

About Alex Dekker

Alex Dekker served for nearly twenty years in the U.S. Army Special Forces, first with the 5th Special Forces Group and later with the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. A veteran of multiple deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations around the world, Dekker is also an Arabic speaker, student of history, and participant in archaeological digs. He holds a master’s degree in Applied Intelligence from Georgetown University. Desert Heist is his debut novel and the first installment in the Nate Wilde series.

Connect with Alex Dekker:

Website: AlexDekkerOfficial.com
Instagram: @alxdekker
X: @alxdekker
Facebook: Alex Dekker
TikTok: @alexdekkerofficial

Desert Heist is published by Emily Bestler Books/Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

The sawed-off Browning seen in Bonnie and Clyde’s most famous photographs goes to auction—with the scars and documentation of its violent history still intact.

There are historical objects that merely survive an era, and there are objects that seem to carry the whole weight of it.

Clyde Barrow’s sawed-off Browning Auto-5 belongs to the second category.

You have probably seen it before, even if you did not know exactly what you were looking at. It is the shotgun Bonnie Parker holds in the famous photograph in which she playfully aims a gun at Clyde’s chest. The image helped turn the couple into two of the most recognizable figures of the Public Enemy era: young, theatrical, armed, and seemingly amused by the danger gathering around them.

The same shotgun appears in other photographs of the Barrow Gang. Clyde holds it while sitting on the bumper of a car. In another image, it rests against the grille near W.D. Jones. And according to the contemporary account of Bienville Parish Sheriff Henderson Jordan, it was lying across Clyde’s lap when the law finally caught up with Bonnie and Clyde on May 23, 1934—his right hand still curled around its shortened stock.

Now that shotgun is being offered in Rock Island Auction Company’s August 21–23 Premier Auction in Bedford, Texas.

It is difficult to imagine a firearm with a more immediate connection to the rise and fall of Bonnie and Clyde. This was not a gun acquired after the fact, attributed by family lore, or connected to the couple by a vague story passed between collectors. The auction documentation traces it through photographs, witness statements, physical markings, an affidavit, and a 2026 analysis by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The gun itself is a Belgian-made, 16-gauge Browning Auto-5 manufactured around 1931. Its serial number is 93410. Barrow and his gang cut down both the barrel and the stock, reducing the shotgun to roughly 30¼ inches overall and turning it into the compact configuration commonly called a “Whippet.”

The name fits. Clyde reportedly carried the weapon concealed beneath his coat with a strap fashioned from a tire inner tube. His coat pocket was cut through so he could keep a hand near the muzzle and bring the gun into action quickly. W.D. Jones, who rode with the gang, later recalled that Clyde had the sawed-off 16-gauge with him “all the time.”

That detail matters. The Barrow Gang abandoned weapons during hurried escapes and running gunfights, yet this one appears to have remained close to Clyde from at least late 1932 until his death in 1934. It was not simply part of the gang’s arsenal. It was his constant companion.

The photograph that created the legend

Bonnie and Clyde were already killers by the spring of 1933, but the public did not yet know them as the stylish outlaw couple of American folklore.

That changed after the Joplin raid.

In April 1933, police approached the gang’s Missouri hideout believing they were confronting bootleggers. A gun battle followed, leaving two lawmen dead. The gang escaped, but they left behind photographs and a poem by Bonnie. When the pictures reached newspapers, Bonnie and Clyde became national celebrities.

The images supplied everything the public imagination needed: fast cars, fashionable clothes, guns, cigarettes, and a young couple apparently making sport of the law. Bonnie’s presence made the story irresistible to editors. Here was a woman not waiting at home for an outlaw, but posing with his weapons and appearing to share fully in the adventure.

The most famous photograph shows Bonnie pointing this Browning at Clyde as she reaches toward his waistband, acting out a holdup. The photograph looks spontaneous, but the shotgun can be identified in the details: the Browning receiver, its magazine cutoff, and the distinctive hanging strap used to carry it beneath Clyde’s coat.

The picture helped establish the myth. The object tells a much darker story.

From celebrity to revulsion

The popular image of Bonnie and Clyde as Depression-era Robin Hoods was never a good match for the record. Their robberies were often small and desperate. Their victims included storekeepers, motorists, prison officers, and police. By the end, the gang was blamed for at least twelve killings, nine of them law-enforcement officers.

Public sentiment hardened decisively after the murders of Texas Highway Patrol officers Edward Wheeler and H.D. Murphy near Grapevine on April 1, 1934. Murphy was killed days before his wedding, and newspapers published the wrenching story of his fiancée wearing her intended wedding dress to his funeral.

Auction documentation cites 1934 reports stating that ballistic testing connected Clyde’s 16-gauge Browning to shells from the Grapevine killings. Whatever glamour the photographs had created was gone. The couple were no longer being treated as charming young fugitives. They were hunted killers, and the hunt was tightening.

Former Texas Ranger Frank Hamer studied their movements and recognized a pattern of travel shaped by state borders and family visits. In Louisiana, he joined a six-man posse that included Maney Gault, Bob Alcorn, Ted Hinton, Sheriff Henderson Jordan, and Deputy Prentiss Oakley. The men waited along Louisiana State Highway 154 near Sailes, using the truck of Henry Methvin’s father as bait.

Shortly after 9 a.m. on May 23, Bonnie and Clyde approached in a stolen Ford V-8. The posse opened fire. More than one hundred rounds struck the car. Coroner J.L. Wade recorded seventeen entrance wounds in Clyde’s body and twenty-six in Bonnie’s.

The romantic story manufactured by the photographs ended in a ditch beside a Louisiana road.

A scar that matches the evidence

After the ambush, authorities removed an arsenal from the Ford: Browning Automatic Rifles, pistols, revolvers, ammunition, Bonnie’s cut-down Remington Model 11, and Clyde’s Browning Auto-5.

A photograph taken outside the Arcadia courthouse shows the recovered weapons spread before Deputy Sheriff A.B. Rogers. Near the center is the Browning now being offered by Rock Island Auction Company. A distinctive bullet strike is visible on the upper left side of its receiver.

That scar remains on the gun today.

Other marks also correspond with period evidence: damage to the forearm, wear on the shortened stock, grooves near the comb, and holes where Clyde’s improvised carrying strap had been attached. These are not incidental signs of age. They are points of identification that connect the physical gun to photographs taken immediately after the ambush.

The documented chain of custody begins with Deputy Prentiss Oakley, a member of the posse. A 1989 affidavit from Oakley’s widow identifies the shotgun by serial number and states that Oakley obtained it after the ambush, later giving it to his friend Al W. Davis around 1954. The listed provenance continues through Bobby M. Mathews and a private collection.

In April 2026, the ATF examined the firearm and its supporting evidence. According to the auction materials, the agency concluded that significant provenance had been established identifying it as the gun recovered at the scene and recognized its association with a historically significant event.

The uneasy power of an artifact

Bonnie and Clyde remain cultural icons because America has never entirely resolved what it wants them to be. They have been portrayed as star-crossed lovers, rebellious folk heroes, victims of brutal circumstances, and remorseless murderers. Pieces of each interpretation continue to cling to them.

This shotgun resists the easier versions of the story.

It was present for the private photographs that made Bonnie and Clyde famous. It was carried through robberies, escapes, and killings. It survived the ambush that ended their lives. Its battered metal and crudely shortened wood collapse the distance between the glamorous newspaper image and the violence behind it.

Rock Island Auction Company President Kevin Hogan calls it “the most infamous shotgun in American history.” That is a difficult claim to argue with. Few firearms are so recognizable without being recognized, so thoroughly woven into an American legend while remaining a physical witness to the reality beneath it.

The August 21–23 Premier Auction includes nearly 1,600 lots, among them a German Panzer tank and a 1911 pistol made from meteorite material. Yet even in that company, Clyde Barrow’s Browning stands apart.

Not because it is beautiful. Not because it is mechanically remarkable. And certainly not because the people who carried it deserve admiration.

It stands apart because history left its fingerprints on it—and one unmistakable bullet scar.

More information about the auction is available from Rock Island Auction Company

Editor's Note: Earlier this month, I traveled to FBI Headquarters for an exclusive interview with FBI Director Kash Patel inside the Bureau's newly established Director's Strategic Information Center (DSIC). The conversation explores the Bureau's reform agenda, operational priorities, and the challenges confronting federal law enforcement. Watch the complete interview below.

For most Americans, the FBI is an institution they encounter only through headlines. Major investigations, national security threats, violent crime initiatives, and counterterrorism operations often become public only after critical decisions have already been made. Rarely does the public have an opportunity to hear directly from the Director of the FBI in an extended, unscripted conversation about the challenges confronting the Bureau and the vision guiding its future.

Earlier this month, I was invited to FBI Headquarters for that conversation.

Director Kash Patel welcomed me and Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Chris Hinkle inside the Bureau’s newly established Director’s Strategic Information Center (DSIC) for what was the first long-form interview conducted from this remarkable facility. Designed to provide senior FBI leadership with real-time operational awareness during critical incidents, the DSIC also served as the backdrop for a wide-ranging discussion about the Bureau’s mission, leadership, and future.

As a retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent, I approached this interview from a perspective shaped by two decades inside the Bureau. Rather than focusing on headlines or political soundbites, my goal was to explore the philosophy behind Director Patel’s leadership and the reforms he believes are necessary to strengthen one of the world’s premier law enforcement organizations.

The result is a candid, 52-minute conversation covering some of the most consequential issues facing the FBI today. Whether you’re interested in federal law enforcement, national security, or the future of the Bureau itself, I believe you’ll find this discussion informative and thought-provoking.

Coming soon — detailed commentary and analysis from me at Townhall and Restoration of America.

I invite you to watch the complete interview below.

Advance review:

One of the enduring appeals of the thriller genre is its ability to transport readers into worlds where history, danger, and discovery collide. The best authors don’t merely tell stories—they invite readers to ask, “What if?” What if an ancient mystery isn’t a myth? What if a forgotten civilization holds secrets capable of reshaping our understanding of the past? And what if the people best equipped to uncover those secrets are not academics, but warriors?

Those questions drive Desert Heist, the debut novel from former Green Beret Alex Dekker, and the result is an entertaining blend of military thriller, archaeological adventure, and historical mystery that should appeal to fans of Brad Thor, Jack Carr, Clive Cussler, James Rollins, and, of course, Indiana Jones.

At the center of the story is Nate Wilde, a former Green Beret who leaves military service to pursue his lifelong fascination with archaeology. His obsession centers on one of history’s most intriguing mysteries—the lost city of Ubar, often called the “Atlantis of the Sands.” When traditional academic institutions dismiss his theories and refuse to support his research, Wilde does what many Special Forces operators would do: he builds his own team and launches the mission anyway.

Accompanied by trusted former Special Forces brothers, Wilde embarks on an unauthorized expedition through Yemen and into Saudi Arabia’s vast Empty Quarter, one of the most unforgiving environments on Earth. What begins as a quest for answers quickly becomes a fight for survival as terrorists, rival operatives, and shadowy organizations converge on the same prize.

The premise works because Dekker understands both sides of the equation. He knows how elite military teams operate, and he possesses a genuine passion for archaeology and ancient history. That combination gives Desert Heist an authenticity that many adventure thrillers struggle to achieve.

Dekker’s own background is impressive. He spent nearly twenty years serving as a Green Beret, including assignments with the legendary 5th Special Forces Group and deployments throughout Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and other hotspots around the world. During one deployment, he survived a Taliban grenade attack that left him seriously wounded before returning to active duty.

Yet what may distinguish him from many military thriller authors is his lifelong fascination with history. Raised in part overseas and inspired by the iconic Petra sequence in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Dekker spent years exploring archaeological sites across the Middle East, volunteering on excavations, studying archaeology, and visiting many of the locations that ultimately inspired this novel.

That real-world experience is evident throughout Desert Heist. The novel’s greatest strength may be its setting. Readers aren’t simply dropped into a fictional landscape; they’re immersed in regions rich with historical significance and genuine archaeological mystery. Dekker builds his narrative around actual civilizations, historical questions, and ancient sites, creating a story that feels grounded even as it races through firefights, betrayals, and high-stakes discoveries.

In many respects, Nate Wilde feels like a literary fusion of Indiana Jones and a modern Special Forces operator. He’s equally comfortable analyzing ancient clues and navigating hostile territory. That combination gives the novel a unique flavor that helps distinguish it from more conventional military thrillers.

The action moves quickly, and Dekker wisely avoids getting bogged down in excessive technical detail. Readers looking for relentless pacing will find plenty to enjoy. The story unfolds like a globe-spanning treasure hunt layered atop a military operation, with enough twists and revelations to keep the pages turning.

Perhaps most impressive is the confidence of the writing for a debut novelist. Many first novels show flashes of potential while revealing obvious rough edges. Desert Heist feels different. Dekker writes with the assurance of someone who knows his subject matter intimately and understands what thriller readers expect from the genre.

Of course, every new series faces the challenge of introducing both a protagonist and a fictional universe. Here, Dekker succeeds in making Nate Wilde a character readers will likely want to follow into future adventures. His blend of intellectual curiosity, military competence, and determination provides a strong foundation for what could become a compelling series.

Ultimately, Desert Heist succeeds because it delivers exactly what it promises: an entertaining adventure grounded in real history and authentic military experience. It asks readers to consider a tantalizing possibility—that some of humanity’s greatest secrets may still lie buried beneath the sands, waiting for the right people to uncover them.

For thriller fans looking for a fresh voice this summer, Alex Dekker is an author worth watching. If Desert Heist is any indication, his debut may be only the beginning.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Desert Heist by Alex Dekker will be released July 28, 2026, from Atria Books and Emily Bestler Books.

One of the great privileges that has come from my work reviewing novels and hosting conversations on The First Draft podcast is the opportunity to develop relationships with some of the finest storytellers working today. Brad Thor is certainly among them.

Over the years, I have had the pleasure of speaking with Brad several times, and every conversation reinforces why he remains one of the premier voices in the modern political thriller genre. He is not merely a gifted storyteller. He is a serious student of history, geopolitics, intelligence, and the men and women who operate in the shadows to protect our way of life.

Before we began discussing Choke Point, Brad graciously thanked me for the time and thought I put into my reviews. That compliment meant a great deal because I have always viewed reviewing as an act of appreciation. Readers occasionally ask whether I would write a negative review. My answer has always been simple: my negative review is choosing not to write one.

Anyone who has attempted to create something—a novel, a work of scholarship, a piece of art—understands the countless hours, discipline, and emotional investment required to give an idea shape, form, and manifest it into existence. Even when I disagree with an author’s politics or worldview, I have long believed that we do ourselves a disservice when we are incapable of separating the artist from the art.

As Brad and I discussed, I may not agree with every viewpoint held by an actor, writer, or musician, but if they have created something excellent, I want to experience and appreciate the work on its own merits.

That spirit of intellectual honesty and mutual respect made our latest conversation particularly enjoyable.

For more than two decades, and with twenty five million books sold, Brad Thor occupies a unique place in the world of political thrillers. While many authors write about espionage and geopolitics, Thor has built his reputation on something more ambitious: stories so deeply rooted in reality that readers are often left wondering where the facts end and the fiction begins.

As Thor explained:

“I call what I do faction, where you don’t know where the facts end and the fiction begins.”

That formula has produced twenty-five Scott Harvath novels, beginning with The Lions of Lucerne and continuing with his newest release, Choke Point—a novel that may be one of his most timely and thought-provoking works yet. Available everywhere 06-16-2026!

A Cover That Tells a Story

Before we ever discussed covert operations, Chinese influence campaigns, or modern intelligence warfare, I had to ask Brad about something that immediately caught my attention—the cover.

Choke Point may be one of the most visually striking entries in the Harvath series. Like Dead Fall before it, the artwork demonstrates something that publishers have always known: readers do, in fact, judge books by their covers.

The cover was created by Jimmy Iacobelli, art director at Atria Books, who works with Thor early in the creative process. For Choke Point, Thor wanted the dragon to symbolize the elite Chinese intelligence apparatus at the heart of the novel. The original concept involved a dragon formed from smoke—something dangerous, elusive, and impossible to grasp.

It is an appropriate metaphor for the invisible battles that define the modern intelligence landscape.

China’s Long Game and the Real-World Origins of Choke Point

One of the reasons the Scott Harvath series has remained so compelling is Thor’s ability to identify real geopolitical fault lines and ask the unsettling question: What if?

In this case, that question grew out of China’s long-standing interest in bypassing the Strait of Malacca, a maritime chokepoint that could be closed by the United States Navy during a conflict.

China explored the possibility of a canal through southern Thailand, but Thailand refused.

For Thor, that refusal sparked a novelist’s curiosity.

“I looked at that and thought, knowing the Chinese, I’m sure they haven’t given up.”

What followed was a classic Brad Thor thought experiment. What if China could destabilize Thailand? What if insurgency, political unrest, and regional conflict created a government more willing to advance Beijing’s strategic objectives?

And what if all of it happened without a single Chinese fingerprint being left behind?

That is the gray world of intelligence operations—the world where the most effective victories are often achieved without a shot being fired.

The Most Dangerous Enemy Is One of Our Own

One of the most fascinating aspects of Choke Point is its antagonist.

Rather than creating a one-dimensional villain, Thor crafted a former American warrior—an explosive ordnance disposal specialist who entered the SEAL Teams through a very real military pathway and eventually became one of the most dangerous men in the world.

His downfall is rooted in a loss of identity after being cast out of the community that defined him.

The result is a villain who is terrifying not because he is purely evil, but because he is understandable.

As Thor explained:

“Now Harvath is hunting essentially one of our own.”

It is a brilliant narrative choice because the adversary possesses many of the same skills, training, and mindset as the hero pursuing him.

The best villains are often those whose pain we can understand, even when we reject the choices they make.

The New Battlefield Is the Human Mind

As a retired FBI counterintelligence professional, this portion of our discussion was especially meaningful to me.

Too many Americans still imagine intelligence operations through the lens of the Cold War—dead drops, coded messages, and shadowy figures exchanging briefcases in dark alleys.

Today’s battlefield is often a smartphone.

Foreign adversaries understand that they do not necessarily need to defeat America militarily. They can weaken America by amplifying division, eroding trust, and manipulating citizens into believing ideas that were carefully planted by hostile actors.

Thor offered a particularly important warning:

“Our enemies want to create disunity.”

He also described our tendency toward poor “digital hygiene,” especially in online communities where we believe we are surrounded by like-minded people and therefore lower our guard.

The greatest intelligence operations are often the ones in which the target never realizes he has been manipulated.

That reality makes stories like Choke Point more than entertainment. They serve as reminders of the world as it actually exists.

“They’re the Best. If Anyone Can Get to the Bottom of This, It’s the Bureau.”

As a retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent, I would be remiss if I did not mention one particular line in Choke Point that made me smile.

When Scott Harvath is confronted with a complex investigation, he speaks about the FBI’s Evidence Response Team and says:

“They’re the best. If anyone can get to the bottom of this, it’s the Bureau.”

The FBI has endured controversy and criticism in recent years. Some of that criticism has been deserved. Some has been exaggerated. But what remains unchanged is the extraordinary work performed every day by thousands of agents, intelligence analysts, professional staff, and specialists who dedicate their lives to protecting the American people.

Brad’s response reflected his long familiarity with the Bureau:

“It’s a tremendous organization that has done so much good for our country.”

He continued:

“I’ve always admired the standard that the FBI holds itself to.”

No institution composed of human beings will ever be perfect. But the measure of an institution is not whether individuals occasionally fail to meet the standard—it is whether the institution maintains a standard worthy of striving toward.

The FBI at its best has always represented that ideal.

What Scott Harvath Taught His Creator

I asked Brad what twenty-five novels had taught him about Scott Harvath—what he understood about the character now that he did not know when he wrote The Lions of Lucerne.

His answer was perhaps the most profound moment of our conversation.

“There is no American dream without those willing to protect it.”

That statement captures the essence of the entire Harvath series.

The freedoms we enjoy do not exist by accident. They endure because soldiers, intelligence officers, law enforcement professionals, diplomats, and countless others quietly accept burdens most Americans will never see.

Harvath is fictional.

The men and women he represents are not.

From Page to Screen: The Future of Cold Zero

We also discussed the long-awaited adaptation of Cold Zero, one of my personal favorites in the Harvath series.

Thor shared that screenwriter Nic Pizzolatto, creator of True Detective and writer of The Magnificent Seven adaptation, is actively working on the screenplay. The goal, according to Thor, is not merely to create another spy film, but something larger in scope—a modern thriller in the spirit of The Hunt for Red October.

As a longtime reader of the series, that is exciting news.

Too often, beloved novels lose something in the transition to the screen. But Thor offered a thoughtful perspective on adaptation: the book and the film are different artistic mediums, and the key is partnering with filmmakers who understand both the original story and the demands of cinema.

If the adaptation captures the authenticity, tension, and scale of Cold Zero, audiences are in for something special.

Final Thoughts

Twenty-five books into the Scott Harvath series, Brad Thor continues to accomplish something rare.

He entertains.

He educates.

And he reminds readers that beneath the headlines of our daily lives, there exists a complex world of intelligence, diplomacy, military power, and individuals who willingly step into danger so that others may live in peace.

Choke Point is another exceptional entry into the Harvath universe—a fast-paced, meticulously researched thriller that feels less like an escape from reality and more like a warning about where reality may be headed.

Twenty-five novels later, Scott Harvath remains one of the most compelling figures in modern thriller fiction.

After speaking once again with the man who created him, it is easy to understand why.

Look for my full review of Choke Point at Townhall.com!

Connect with Brad Thor

Official Website:
BradThor.com

Follow Brad on Social Media:

• Instagram: @realbradthor

• Threads: @realbradthor

Purchase Choke Point:
Order the latest Scott Harvath thriller directly from Brad’s official book page:
Choke Point by Brad Thor

I was recently invited to deliver a commencement address to the 2026 graduating class of a Northern Virginia Home School Combine. The following are my remarks in their entirety:

Graduates, parents, teachers, families, and friends—

Thank you for allowing me to spend a few moments with you on a day that marks both an ending and a beginning.

To the fourteen graduates seated before me—seven young men and seven young women—you are stepping across a threshold today. You are leaving behind one season of life and entering another. The world will tell you that commencement is primarily about achievement, independence, and self-creation. But I want to suggest something very different.

You were not self-created.

You were made.

You were designed with great intention—as Christ said, the very hairs of your head are numbered.

And because you were designed, your life has meaning beyond what culture, politics, corporations, or social media attempt to assign to it.

That truth matters now more than ever.

We live in an age deeply confused about identity—which must ultimately be found in Christ, for “he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it”—purpose, truth, and even reality itself. Your generation is constantly told that freedom means the absence of boundaries, that truth is subjective, and that fulfillment comes from looking inward rather than upward.

But Scripture teaches the opposite.

King David wrote in Psalm 139:

“For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
—Psalm 139:13–14

You are not accidents of biology or products of historical inevitability. You are image-bearers of Almighty God.

And because of that, your life is of inestimable value and bears cosmic responsibility.

The great challenge of adulthood is not merely discovering what you want to do. It is discovering who you are called to be.

Character matters more than credentials.

Conviction matters more than popularity.

Truth matters more than comfort.

In many ways, your generation is inheriting a civilization standing at a crossroads. Our nation is politically divided, culturally disoriented, and spiritually exhausted. Institutions that once anchored society—family, church, community, and even trust itself—have been weakened.

But history teaches us something important: renewal rarely begins with crowds.

It begins with small groups of committed people who refuse to surrender truth—and who relentlessly speak it to power.

The Founders of this nation understood that freedom was inseparable from virtue. John Adams famously warned:

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

The Constitution does not sustain itself. Liberty does not sustain itself. Civilization itself does not sustain itself.

Each generation must choose whether it will preserve what it inherited or squander it.

And that choice now belongs to you.

Some of you will become teachers, mothers, fathers, business owners, pastors, craftsmen, writers, nurses, entrepreneurs, or public servants. Some of you may enter the military, law enforcement, law, ministry, or public office.

Whatever path you take, never equate competence with character.

The world already has enough talented people without integrity.

What it desperately lacks are men and women of courage.

Daniel had courage in Babylon.

Esther had courage in Persia.

The Apostles had courage before Rome.

And courage is not loudness. It is not outrage. It is not social media engagement.

Courage is the quiet willingness to stand for truth when standing costs something.

You will discover very quickly that the world rewards conformity. It rewards silence. It rewards compromise disguised as sophistication.

Do not fall for it.

As the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12:2:

“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Guard your mind carefully.

What you repeatedly consume will shape what you ultimately become. There is an old Native American adage about two wolves that live within each of us—one good, one evil. The one who predominates is the one you feed.

Your mind is plastic, malleable, and constructs architecture in conformity to your thoughts.

Read good books.

Readers are leaders.

Read physical books. The tactile and spatial experience impacts the mind in a unique and more permanent way.

Study history.

Learn to think deeply and critically.

Turn off the noise occasionally.

Kevin O’Leary recently said of Elon Musk on the Gutfeld! that he is uniquely “100% signal.” No noise. And that, in part, is why he is so wildly successful.

“Signal” is that single-minded focus on a worthy goal of which the Bible speaks.

God commands Christians:

“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might…”
—Ecclesiastes 9:10

Your generation is drowning in information while starving for wisdom.

Wisdom requires stillness.

Wisdom requires humility.

Wisdom requires truth.

And this brings me to a poem I selected for today from the English poet and Anglican priest Malcolm Guite from his book, Waiting On The Word. I selected it because I believe it captures something essential about the Christian life, about wisdom, and about the truth of who we are before God.

Guite writes:

“I cannot think unless I have been thought,
Nor can I speak unless I have been spoken.
I cannot teach except as I am taught,
Or break the bread except as I am broken.

O Mind behind the mind through which I seek,
O Light within the light by which I see,
O Word beneath the words with which I speak,
O founding, unfound Wisdom, finding me,

O sounding Song whose depth is sounding me,
O Memory of time, reminding me,
My Ground of Being, always grounding me,
My Maker’s Bounding Line, defining me,

Come, hidden Wisdom, come with all you bring,
Come to me now, disguised as everything.”

That poem stands in direct opposition to the spirit of our age.

Our culture tells us to invent ourselves. Christianity teaches us that we are first known by God.

Our culture celebrates radical autonomy. Scripture teaches dependence upon the Creator.

Our culture says strength means self-assertion. Christ teaches that strength emerges through humility, sacrifice, obedience, and service.

And perhaps my favorite line in the poem is this:

“My Maker’s Bounding Line, defining me…”

That line reminds us that limits are not oppression. Boundaries are not cruelty. God’s design is not restriction—it is definition.

A train is freest on the tracks it was designed for.

A nation is freest under ordered liberty and moral law.

And a human being is freest when living according to the design of the Creator.

The Declaration of Independence’s phrase “the pursuit of happiness” did not mean pleasure or comfort as we often define it today. To the Founders—and to the ancient world that shaped them—it meant the pursuit of virtue, truth, and the highest good.

That truth is deeply Biblical.

The Gospel of John opens with these words:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
—John 1:1

Christ is the fixed point in an unstable age.

Not politics.

Not trends.

Not institutions.

Not social media.

Christ.

And yet, I also believe deeply in the importance of preserving the constitutional republic we have inherited. The American experiment—though imperfect—was founded upon enduring truths: that rights come from God, not government; that liberty requires responsibility; and that human beings, because they are fallen, must never be trusted with unchecked power.

As Martin Luther King Jr. put it, the Bill of Rights is a promissory note. And that promise—unique in all of political history—has been fulfilled to an extent never before seen in the history of mankind.

That framework matters.

Protect it.

Study it.

Understand it.

Do not outsource your citizenship.

A free society survives only when good people remain engaged.

But remember this carefully: politics is downstream from culture, and culture is downstream from faith.

The ultimate battle for civilization is not first political. It is spiritual and moral.

Which means your greatest contribution to this country may not come through activism or argument, but through becoming faithful men and women of integrity.

Build strong families.

Honor your word.

Serve your communities.

Defend truth.

Remain faithful to Christ.

And do not underestimate the power of ordinary faithfulness over a lifetime.

The world celebrates celebrity. God often works through quiet obedience.

Before I close, let me speak directly to the young men for a moment.

The world desperately needs honorable men again.

Men who protect rather than exploit.

Men who lead with humility.

Men who embrace responsibility instead of avoiding it.

Men willing to sacrifice for others.

Be strong. But also be good.

Dr. Jordan Peterson once observed that a harmless man is not necessarily a good man. A good man is one capable of strength, discipline, and even force—but who keeps those things under moral restraint and voluntary control.

This is also the “rugged individualism” of which Ronald Reagan spoke.

Christ Himself embodied that paradox perfectly. His meekness was not weakness, but restrained omnipotence—as a lamb led to the slaughter who could have called ten thousand angels to render judgment upon the earth.

And to the young women—

Do not let corrupt culture diminish the extraordinary strength, dignity, and influence of godly women. Civilization itself rests upon the moral and spiritual influence of women who shape families, communities, and future generations.

The Bible describes women with the greatest regard and records their actions as playing some of the most pivotal roles in God’s redemptive plan—women of great strength and industry, most notably described in Proverbs 31, and ultimately in the life of Mary, the mother of Christ Himself.

Never believe that motherhood, faithfulness, compassion, wisdom, or virtue are lesser callings.

They are civilization-building callings.

Finally, graduates, understand this:

Your life will not ultimately be measured by wealth, status, followers, or applause.

It will be measured by faithfulness.

By whether you loved God.

By whether you loved others.

By whether you stood firm when compromise was easier.

And by whether, at the end of your life, you could say with the Apostle Paul:

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
—2 Timothy 4:7

That is the goal.

Not merely success.

But to be found faithful.

Congratulations to each of you. Your journey is just beginning.

May God bless you, guide you, and sustain you in the years ahead.

Thank you.

My discussion with Jack Carr for Episode 15 of The First Draft Podcast falls squarely into the latter category.

We set out to talk about his latest novel, The Fourth Option. What followed was something far more expansive—an exploration of writing as craft, storytelling as responsibility, and the enduring tension between justice and the systems meant to uphold it.

This episode is also an advance review of a book that marks the genesis of a character that resonates with me even more than Carr’s now storied and lethal James Reece.

Chris Walker is a permutation within the Jack Carr ecosystem of apex predators. A modern interpretation of the great Western gunslinger, charged by the laws of nature to bring retribution and balance to the lawless expanse of the frontier. Though the long arm of the law has long since tamed the blood red and boundless horizons of the West, the murderous spirit of Dodge City still lurks within the precincts and wards of our inner cities. Metropolises whose sighing streets long for an avenger of blood who can expunge the grief of injustices with steel wielded by a man as cold as the driven snow with no weak nerve nor fear. (Fans of Unforgiven will get that reference.)

Carr finds justice at the end of a smoking barrel with his new character Chris Walker — a complex character that embodies the spirit of the warrior poet, philosopher, and monstrous creature of war so vital to the survival of the civil society. He deals death with an existential certainty, with the impersonal and terrifying conviction of a force of nature.

Vengeance certainly belongs to God, but in the grey, Walker is a reckoning.

Walker’s infernal prey are those who are destined for the seventh circle of hell — betrayers of oath, office, and the bonds of human decency.

We meet Walker as he stares into the abyss of a cold forged barrel, nested in the distinctive bushing characteristic of a Colt 1911. His own hand grips the venerable weapon. A gun wielded by warriors since its inception. The mighty .45 caliber cartridge was born out of the necessity to destroy this planet’s most dangerous creature — man. Specifically indigenous combatants hyped up on Khat. Carried by soldiers during every Great War, and prized to this day, Walker looks to the genius of Browning to blot out his guilt in one immutable act. His 84’ Volkswagen Westfalia Vanagon is about to be his casket, bier, and tomb.

Carr gets all the details right, and develops a character of special relevance to me. FBI Agent Jarrett Stanton. Analytical right down to his Apple Watch, Stanton is representative of the ideal J. Edgar Hoover had in mind when he assembled black suit, white shirt, and black tie G-men. A facsimile copy of the Constitution occupies the place of prominence behind his desk, since his fealty is to its truths, principles, and aspirations. The character rings true of so many men and women I had the privilege to work with during my twenty year career. Carr does the men and women of the FBI a great service by not just getting the details correct about FBI minutia, but far more importantly, by capturing the spirit and dignity of the G-man as manifested not just in legend, but in the men and women of today’s FBI.

A Story That Refused to Stay on the Shelf

Carr’s newest novel didn’t begin as a book.

“The fourth option was in the lineup… and it just wouldn’t leave me.”

Originally conceived as one of several story concepts during his transition from military service, The Fourth Option lingered—persistent, unresolved, demanding attention. At one point, it was even developed into a full television treatment.

But Carr recognized something essential:

“I knew there wouldn’t be a book that someone could go to to see what was my best effort at the time… and so as soon as I got the opportunity, I clawed both those ideas back.”

That decision matters. In an era where stories are increasingly shaped for screens first, Carr deliberately chose the novel as the primary medium—the place where his “best effort” would live, unconstrained.

The Discipline of Getting It Right

One of the defining characteristics of Carr’s work—and something that came through clearly in our discussion—is his almost relentless commitment to authenticity.

“All of these are going to get my whole heart and soul into every single word. That’s what I owe that reader who’s trusting me with their time.”

That ethos is not marketing language. It’s operational.

Carr consults subject matter experts across disciplines—FBI agents, EOD technicians, K9 handlers—not to impress casual readers, but to avoid breaking immersion for those who know the world intimately.

“I don’t want to pull somebody out of the story with a mistake.”

That’s a principle I’ve seen firsthand from the law enforcement side of the house. You can get 95% of something right—but it’s the 5% that’s wrong that destroys credibility with a core audience.

Carr understands that.

The Character of the Fourth Option

At the center of the novel is a character who, in many ways, represents a departure from the James Reece archetype.

And interestingly, it’s a character I found myself relating to more.

“I want him to move… more into someone who’s an investigator… rather than that problem eliminator mindset.”

This shift is significant.

Where Reece embodies the warrior ethos, the protagonist of The Fourth Option operates in the gray space—where justice is not always delivered cleanly through institutions, and where the moral calculus becomes far more complex.

Carr frames it through a familiar escalation model:

“First option is diplomacy. Second option, overt military action. Third option, covert action… and now we have the fourth option.”

That fourth option—the one not formally acknowledged—resonates deeply with anyone who has spent time inside the system and has seen its limitations.

As I put it to him:

“Anybody that’s been in law enforcement kind of has that secret wish that they were the fourth option… because you’ve seen so much injustice… how the system doesn’t always work.”

Carr doesn’t romanticize that tension—but he doesn’t ignore it either. He leans into it.

Craft Over Formula

One of the more fascinating aspects of our conversation was Carr’s approach to character development.

It’s not formulaic. It’s not academic.

It’s organic.

“I don’t know them yet… I get to know them when I put them in conversation with somebody else.”

That approach tracks with something many writers struggle to articulate: characters aren’t built—they’re discovered.

Carr doesn’t begin with exhaustive profiles. He begins with roles, context, and conflict. The rest emerges through interaction.

“I’m getting to know them in real time… because I’m putting them in conversation.”

That method produces something readers instinctively recognize: authenticity.

Detail as Storytelling

Carr also addressed a common critique of the thriller genre—the use of technical detail.

His response reframes the issue entirely:

“Gear… tells a story… It tells me something about their level of training and competency.”

This is where some writers run the danger of overwhelming the reader. Carr, by contrast, uses detail with intent. A weapon, a vehicle, even a watch—these aren’t accessories. They’re signals.

They communicate background, mindset, and capability without exposition.

That’s not excess. That’s discipline.

The Reader in the Age of Distraction

Perhaps the most sobering part of our conversation had nothing to do with the novel itself.

It was Carr’s reflection on the modern reader.

“Readers are just dropping off a cliff… because of these devices that we carry around.”

He’s not wrong.

We are operating in an environment where long-form reading competes directly with algorithm-driven platforms engineered to fragment attention and amplify outrage.

Carr sees the consequence clearly:

“You’re developing compassion and empathy through reading… which you’re not getting as you’re being controlled by an algorithm.”

That observation goes beyond publishing. It touches on culture itself.

And it underscores why books like The Fourth Option still matter.

Final Assessment

The Fourth Option is not simply a departure from the James Reece universe—it’s an expansion.

It introduces a character operating in a different moral and professional lane. It explores justice not as a clean outcome, but as a contested space. And it does so with the same commitment to authenticity and craft that has defined Carr’s work from the beginning.

As I told him directly:

“You’ve delivered on that promise… it’s seamless… a beautifully written book.”

And that’s the truth.

Carr is not just writing thrillers. He’s elevating the genre—pushing it toward something more layered, more literary, and ultimately more enduring.

Social Media

John Nantz
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Jack Carr
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Buy the Book
The Fourth Option — Available May 12 wherever books are sold.

Mark Greaney belongs squarely in the latter category. With The Hard Line, the fifteenth installment in the Gray Man series, Greaney doesn’t just raise the stakes—he reframes them.

I had the opportunity to sit down with him for Episode 14 of The First Draft Podcast, and what emerged from that conversation wasn’t just a discussion about a new book. It was a window into the mindset of a writer who understands something many in the genre overlook:

The consequences of violence don’t end when the page turns.

As Greaney put it:

“What if one of the random people that Court affected or killed… wasn’t nameless and faceless… and had somebody… who could come after Court for that?”

That idea—the human cost of the “collateral characters” in action fiction—is the beating heart of The Hard Line. It’s a subtle but powerful shift. In most thrillers, the henchmen exist to be dispatched. In this story, one of them matters.

And that changes everything.

The result is a narrative that feels more grounded, more morally complex, and frankly, more honest. As I told Greaney during our conversation, the opening sequences immediately pull you into that tension:

“Your heroes aren’t always pure as the driven snow… there’s baggage.”

That’s exactly right. Court Gentry isn’t operating in a vacuum. His past actions cast long shadows—and in this case, those shadows are armed and coming for him.

Greaney leaned into that reality deliberately:

“Some of these guys are just trying to get a paycheck… and end up on the wrong side of Court Gentry.”

That line alone tells you what kind of book this is. Not just action—but reflection.

What makes Greaney particularly interesting, especially to someone with my background, is the way he approaches realism.

He doesn’t come from law enforcement or intelligence. But you wouldn’t know that from the page.

That’s not accidental.

“I’ve been training with weapons for over 20 years… you get a lot of things that you know are right… and sometimes you’re just making it up for the entertainment value.”

There’s an honesty in that answer that I respect. Because every writer in this space faces the same tension—authenticity versus responsibility.

And Greaney is fully aware of that line:

“I definitely do sometimes get things wrong just for the purpose of let’s not just make a blueprint here.”

That’s not a flaw. That’s judgment.

It’s also a reminder that the best thriller writers aren’t just storytellers—they’re curators of information. They decide what to reveal, what to obscure, and what to reshape for the sake of both realism and restraint.

We also got into process—and here, Greaney sounds like a lot of writers who have actually produced at a high level.

Not the romanticized version. The real one.

“I am a wannabe outliner… which means more of a pantser.”

There’s something reassuring about that. Fifteen Gray Man novels. Twenty-seven books overall. And still chasing the mythical “perfect outline.”

What matters isn’t the method. It’s the output.

And his discipline is clear:

“If I can get a thousand words a day, I’m a good human being… if I can get 2000 words a day, I’m a rock star.”

Every writer understands that calculus—whether they admit it or not.

One of the more interesting parts of our conversation touched on the evolution of espionage itself—and how that impacts storytelling.

In an era of mass surveillance, biometric tracking, and digital footprints, the old tradecraft is harder to sell.

Greaney didn’t hesitate:

“I think it makes it harder… I wish I was writing spy novels in 1967… with dead drops and chalk.”

And yet—even now—those old methods still linger.

That’s something I’ve seen firsthand, and it’s something Greaney captures well: the coexistence of old-school tradecraft and modern surveillance realities.

It’s not one or the other. It’s both.

What struck me most about this conversation, though, wasn’t just the technical side or even the storytelling philosophy.

It was the long view.

Greaney didn’t break through overnight. He spent years writing—quietly, persistently—before The Gray Man ever saw the light of day.

“It took me 20 years to get published… a lot of people aspire to it and never put in the work.”

That’s the difference.

Not talent. Not connections.

Work.

The Hard Line delivers exactly what you want from a Gray Man novel—tight pacing, global stakes, and relentless tension.

But it also delivers something more:

Perspective.

It asks the reader to consider the cost of the mission—not just for the hero, but for everyone in his wake.

And that’s what elevates it.

If you’re a fan of the genre, this one belongs at the top of your list.

And if you’re a writer, there’s just as much to learn from how it was built as there is to enjoy on the page.

Look for my full review at Townhall.com coming soon!

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Mark Greaney
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Grab your copy:
The Hard Line by Mark Greaney (available wherever books are sold)

There are co-written thrillers that feel assembled, and then there are co-written thrillers that feel forged.

Cold Zero, the new collaboration between Ward Larsen and Brad Thor, belongs firmly in the second category.

That is not faint praise. I have long been skeptical of co-written thrillers. Too often, the seams show. The voice shifts. The pacing gets uneven. The machinery of the collaboration becomes visible on the page. But Cold Zero does something rare. It reads with the confidence, precision, and momentum of a novel written by one author at the top of his game.

That was my impression before I spoke with Larsen and Thor. It was only reinforced afterward.

What emerged from both conversations was a revealing look at how this novel came together, why it works, and why this book already feels built for the screen.

“The more we got into it, the more we realized how little difference there was in kind of the way we wrote and the way we approached our writing.”
— Ward Larsen

That explains a great deal.

One of the striking things about Cold Zero is that it never reads like a stitched-together enterprise. It does not feel like alternating chapters from two different sensibilities. It feels unified. Fluid. Controlled. Larsen told me that as the process developed, he and Thor discovered just how naturally their styles aligned.

“One of us would write some chapters and send it to the other, and the other one would edit it, and we just kind of went back and forth like that.”
— Ward Larsen

Simple in theory. Difficult in practice.

Anybody who has ever done serious writing understands that collaboration at that level is not easy. A novel is not a memo. It is not a policy draft. It is voice, cadence, instinct, structure, tension, and imagination all working together at once. Yet Larsen and Thor seem to have found a process that respected both the work and each other.

Larsen explained that the two worked in chunks, mapping out several chapters at a time, writing, editing, exchanging, and then moving forward again. Over time, what might have begun as an experiment became rhythm.

And rhythm matters in a thriller.

Cold Zero moves. And like a bomb cyclone delivers bone chilling drama.

That is one of its greatest strengths. The book opens like a force of nature — kinetic energy enervating crafted prose — and it never really lets off the accelerator. But it also avoids one of the traps that can plague high-concept thrillers: drowning the reader in technical exposition merely to prove the authors did their homework.

There is technical credibility here, certainly. But it is disciplined. It serves the story rather than smothering it.

“You have to strike a balance… You don’t want to drop anybody out. You don’t want to bore any readers. I tend towards the narrative.”
— Ward Larsen

That instinct serves the book well. Larsen, with his aviation background, brings obvious authority to the material, especially when the conversation turns to aircraft systems, vulnerabilities, and the plausibility of the novel’s central scenario. But even then, he does not descend into the weeds for their own sake. He keeps his eye on the same thing the reader cares about: tension.

And there is plenty of it.

The premise is exactly the sort of idea that thriller readers love because it feels both cinematic and uncomfortably plausible: a commercial aircraft traversing the Arctic goes down with highly sensitive technology aboard, triggering a race involving U.S., Russian, and Chinese interests to recover it first.

It is a big idea. But it is grounded in a simple question.

“I’ve been fascinated with the fact that so many commercial airliners go over the North Pole to save time and fuel. And we’ve never lost one. And I thought, what if one went down up there?”
— Brad Thor

That is the question at the heart of Cold Zero, and it is a very good one.

Thor told me the idea had been with him for years. What makes it work, however, is not just the concept. It is the execution. The Arctic setting, the race to recover sensitive AI technology, the geopolitical stakes, the pressure of time, and the vulnerability of modern systems all converge in a way that feels urgent without feeling overwrought.

Larsen was especially interesting on the issue of technological compromise. He noted that aviation manufacturers have every incentive to protect aircraft systems from intrusion, but also acknowledged the basic reality that modern technology carries vulnerabilities and that writers have a duty to think seriously about them.

“If I can think of this, so can the bad guys. And we need to keep up our guard.”
— Ward Larsen

That line captures something essential about the best thriller fiction — the genre is not prophecy; it is stress-testing. It is the imaginative exercise of asking where the weak points are before somebody with malign intent finds them first.

Thor, for his part, spoke less like an engineer and more like a dramatist, which is exactly what gives Cold Zero its propulsion. He described a philosophy of writing that is built around avoiding the obvious and surprising the reader.

“Take the first four things that come into your head and throw them out.”
— Brad Thor

That is terrific advice, and it shows in the novel. The plot does not simply advance. It twists, redirects, and tightens. Thor clearly understands that modern thriller readers are sophisticated. They have read a lot. They see standard moves coming. So the writer must think beyond the first solution, beyond the most obvious turn, and beyond the easiest escape route.

That requires real craft. It also requires stress.

“Easy reading is damn hard writing.”
— Brad Thor

That may be the single best line in either interview, because it is exactly right.

Cold Zero reads effortlessly, but that ease is hard-won. It is the product of two disciplined professionals doing the invisible labor that keeps the reader from ever feeling the labor. The pages turn quickly not because the book is thin, but because the writing is efficient. Clean. Purposeful. Built to carry the reader forward.

Another point of interest from both interviews was that neither Thor nor Larsen is an outliner in the rigid sense. Both described themselves as “pantsers,” seat-of-the-pants writers who discover parts of the story in the act of writing it.

That can be dangerous in lesser hands. Here, it seems to have generated energy.

“By being a seat-of-the-pants writer, you are putting yourself in the reader’s position.”
— Ward Larsen

That is a perceptive point. The sense of discovery in Cold Zero feels authentic because, in important respects, it was authentic. The authors were not merely executing a preloaded blueprint. They were solving the story as they went, which may be one reason the book feels so alive.

Thor also offered a useful metaphor for how he thinks about his work. He compared his writing career to an amusement park, with each Scott Harvath novel functioning as a new roller coaster. A co-written book, then, had to meet the same standard as the rides he builds on his own.

“It had to be as good as the stuff I write on my own.”
— Brad Thor

That was the standard, and Cold Zero clears it.

Thor also gave insight into why a writer with an established and successful solo franchise would want to co-author a novel in the first place. Part of it is practical. Readers always want the next book sooner. Part of it is creative. Not every strong idea fits an existing protagonist or series framework. And part of it, plainly, is that collaboration can inject fresh energy into what is otherwise a very solitary profession.

That energy comes through in Cold Zero. Both men seemed to genuinely enjoy writing it.

“We really had a good time writing this book.”
— Ward Larsen

“Every experience… was good. It was positive.”
— Brad Thor

That joy matters. Readers can tell when a book has been written mechanically, out of obligation, or under the dead weight of formula. Cold Zero does not feel like that. It feels sharp. It feels engaged. It feels like two veteran writers pushing each other in useful ways.

And then there is the Hollywood angle.

Thor confirmed that Cold Zero has been picked up by Netflix as a feature film, not a series. He said producer-director Pete Berg is attached, with True Detective creator Nick Pizzolatto writing the screenplay. That is a serious combination of names, and it is easy to understand why the novel attracted that kind of interest.

The story is cinematic by nature. But more importantly, it has the structural integrity to support adaptation. This is not just a flashy premise. It is a well-built thriller with enough tension, atmosphere, and technical credibility to sustain a film if the adaptation stays true to the story’s core.

Thor made clear that he and Larsen will not be writing the screenplay, but they do expect to be available for technical consultation where useful. That sounds right. A film adaptation will necessarily become its own thing. But the details still matter, especially in material like this, where logistics, signals, systems, and decision chains help create the sense that what you are watching could happen.

In the end, what most impressed me in these conversations was not merely the professionalism of both men, though there is plenty of that. It was the seriousness with which they approached entertainment.

That may sound paradoxical, but it is not.

Readers today have no shortage of distractions. A book has to justify its claim on your time. It has to earn your attention. Cold Zero does. It is worth the investment. It is worth the hours. And for readers who, like me, have sometimes approached co-written thrillers with caution, it may do something even more significant.

It may restore your faith.

If you enjoy smart, fast-moving thrillers with geopolitical stakes, technological tension, and a narrative that never loses altitude, Cold Zero deserves a place on your list.

And after speaking with both Ward Larsen and Brad Thor, I am even more convinced that this is only the beginning of what could become a very productive collaboration.

Listen to the episode for the full conversations with Ward Larsen and Brad Thor, where we discuss the origins of Cold Zero, the realities of co-writing, AI and modern thriller fiction, the coming Netflix adaptation, and why this book works as well as it does.

Don’t miss my full review coming to Townhall soon!

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Brad Thor

Brad Thor is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Scott Harvath thriller series and co-author of Cold Zero.

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Ward Larsen

Ward Larsen is a bestselling thriller author and former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot who flew the A-10 Warthog. He is the creator of the popular David Slaton espionage series and co-author of Cold Zero.

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Buy Cold Zero

You can purchase Cold Zero here:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1668002215

I read it cover to cover.

It’s honest. It’s detailed. And it’s courageous.

Her book has already drawn significant attention — including a strong endorsement from President Donald Trump — but what struck me most wasn’t the politics. It was the character.

Nicole doesn’t come across as embittered. She comes across as resolved.

Resolved to tell the truth.

Resolved to honor the good.

Resolved to call out the bad.

FBI One vs. FBI Two

Nicole frames her book around a distinction that many inside the Bureau instinctively understand but rarely articulate publicly: there are, functionally, two FBIs.

FBI One — the quiet professionals. The agents working violent crime. Counterterrorism. Counterintelligence. Crimes against children. Fugitive task forces. The men and women who show up at 3 a.m., execute warrants, rescue kids, chase down predators, and put cuffs on violent offenders.

FBI Two — the politicized leadership class. The executives and headquarters officials who allowed investigations like Crossfire Hurricane to exist at all.

As Nicole put it plainly:

“You can disagree with what FBI Two is doing, but you really need to always honor and respect FBI One.”

That distinction matters.

Because if we lose sight of it, we dishonor the very people who have sacrificed the most.

9/11: The Moment That Changed Everything

Before the Bureau, Nicole was thriving on Wall Street. She graduated from BYU at 20. Worked at Merrill Lynch. Earned her Series 7 and 63 licenses. Became a vice president before age 30. Later worked at a hedge fund managing billions in assets.

Then came September 11, 2001.

She was in New York that morning.

“I was working 8:46 a.m. I hear the loud crash… It was absolutely horrifying. It’s something that our nation must never, ever forget.”

That day altered the trajectory of her life.

She made a vow — to give back. To serve. Eventually, she applied to the FBI.

That decision led her from hedge fund boardrooms to Quantico barracks.

And yes — the barracks stories are real.

Mice. Roaches. Bed bugs. Nutter Butters sacrificed to the rodents.

No one, in our experience, “loved” Quantico.

But we endured it. Because the mission mattered.

Laura — and the Cost of Service

One of the most powerful parts of The Two FBIs centers on Nicole’s best friend, Special Agent Laura Schwartzenberger, who was killed in the line of duty while executing a warrant against a child predator.

Nicole’s voice shifts when she speaks of Laura.

It’s not political. It’s personal.

“She was a hero… protecting children… Her young boys should be proud that their mother worked for the FBI — not ashamed.”

That, ultimately, is why the FBI One/FBI Two distinction matters so much to her.

Critique the institution where necessary.

But never smear the agents who have paid the ultimate price.

Why She Resigned — and Didn’t “Whistleblow”

One of the most revealing parts of our conversation centered on her decision to resign rather than pursue a formal whistleblower route.

Nicole wasn’t forced out.

She had no disciplinary record.

No OPR issues.

No administrative action.

“I genuinely loved being an FBI special agent. I didn’t come to the FBI for a pension, and I certainly was not going to stay there for a pension.”

She tried internal channels. She filled out the employee surveys — using “every single character space possible.”

She stayed nearly a year after first contemplating departure.

She prayed.

She sought counsel from her father.

And ultimately concluded:

“You are going to have a stronger impact outside of the Bureau than you will inside.”

She turned in her badge quietly.

No press conference.

No going-away party.

Just a decision of conscience.

As I told her during the interview, that decision gave her credibility. It reflected deliberation, not impulsiveness.

Comey, Midyear Exam, and Crossfire Hurricane

Nicole draws a direct line between James Comey’s July 5, 2016 press conference exonerating Hillary Clinton in the “Midyear Exam” investigation and the subsequent Crossfire Hurricane probe targeting President Trump’s campaign.

Like many agents at the time, she was stunned.

“That’s the moment that I realized we are now a political pawn.”

The gravity of Clinton’s handling of classified and SAP-designated information was lost on much of the public. Meanwhile, the pivot to Crossfire Hurricane consumed the institution’s credibility for years.

In Nicole’s view:

“James Comey destroyed the FBI.”

Strong words. But they reflect a sentiment I’ve heard echoed repeatedly by field agents over the last decade.

The damage to morale and public trust was profound.

Writing the Book

Nicole completed her first full draft in roughly seven months. She navigated HarperCollins’ Broadside imprint, legal review, FBI pre-publication review (which she said was relatively smooth), and even made 1,500 last-minute edits in proof stage.

That’s the part of writing no one sees.

The grind.

The revisions.

The doubt.

But the result is a book that is clear, readable, and accessible — even for readers unfamiliar with the internal structure of the Bureau or DOJ.

President Trump’s Personal Call

One of the most striking moments in our discussion was Nicole’s account of a personal call from President Trump.

She became emotional recounting Special Agent Laura’s sacrifice.

And Trump listened.

“He said, ‘You never have to apologize. I genuinely care. I want to hear what you have to say.’”

That distinction — between anger at institutional misconduct and respect for rank-and-file agents — is central to the thesis of her book.

Even someone who was, in her words, “the victim of FBI Two,” can still acknowledge FBI One.

Final Thoughts

The Two FBIs is not a screed.

It’s not written by someone forced out.

It’s not written by someone who hated the Bureau.

It’s written by someone who loved it.

And who still loves the agents doing the heavy lifting.

As we wrapped the conversation, the mutual respect was clear.

We may critique leadership.

We may demand accountability.

But we should never forget the men and women who run toward danger, execute warrants, rescue children, and bury friends.

That’s FBI One.

And they deserve our respect.

If you’re interested in the inner workings of the Bureau, the controversies of the last decade, or the human cost behind the headlines, I recommend you pick up The Two FBIs by Nicole Parker.

And as always, thank you for supporting this podcast, this Substack, and serious conversations about the institutions that shape our republic.

In the shadows, we endure.

Also, stay tuned for my upcoming full book review at Townhall.com

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If this conversation resonated with you, here’s where you can follow the work and stay connected.

John Nantz

Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent | Newsmax Commentator | Fox News Commentator | Columnist

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Nicole Parker

Former FBI Special Agent | Fox News Contributor | Author of The Two FBIs

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Purchase The Two FBIs

You can order Nicole’s book here:

• HarperCollins (Broadside imprint):
  https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-two-fbis-nicole-parker

• Also available wherever books are sold, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and major retailers.

And yes—his grandfather was J.R.R. Tolkien. But this conversation wasn’t about trading on a name. It was about what war does to young men, what ideology does to families, and what it costs to spend years building a book that may never see daylight.

“Not a thriller”—and why that matters

Early on I asked how he classifies the novel. His answer was immediate: he used to write thrillers. This one is a deliberate departure.

“The idea is that the story is being carried forward by the characters…rather than the characters being the servants of the plot.”

That distinction matters. In a thriller, plot is king. In No Man’s Land, the plot is compelling—but it’s compelling the way history is compelling: because you know something dreadful is coming, and you can’t stop watching the ordinary people walk toward it.

He described the book as “historical fiction” and “literary fiction,” with a simple aim: transport the reader back 100 years and make it real.

Politics before family: Daniel’s tragedy, England’s fracture

One of the first things that grabbed me was Daniel—the father—written as a socialist, an atheist, and a man whose politics outrun his obligations. Tolkien explained why: pre-war England wasn’t a calm prelude. It was tense, divided, and increasingly unstable.

Industrial disputes were widespread. The country was strained. People expected the breaking point to come from domestic crisis—labor unrest, Ireland—anything but an assassination in the Balkans that would pull the entire map into a conflagration.

Daniel’s story becomes a doorway into that moment.

“A justified strike…drags his family into debt and disaster.”

There’s a key irony Tolkien builds into the narrative: Daniel is hired because he’s a union man—because others want his “class warfare” credentials—yet he’s personally burned out by the cost, and the mismatch creates tension that ripples through the mining town.

That theme hits close to home in any age: when ideology becomes identity, it eventually sends the bill—often to the people closest to you.

The draft, the shame, and the “white feather” world

Tolkien and I spent time on something modern Americans struggle to feel in their bones: the social and psychological pressure of a mass mobilization.

He talks about characters at home and one young man, Brice, desperate not to be sent. He tries to marry to avoid service. And then there’s the public ritual of shame:

Women handing men “white feathers” for refusing to go.

That detail isn’t just period color; it’s a visceral description of social coercion—community enforcement—honor weaponized into compliance. Despite one’s personal positions on the draft, Tolkien crafts a powerful confrontation between duty and deep seated instincts.

He also described a striking scene: a young man thinks he’s going to the cinema for comedy, and instead finds himself swept into a recruitment drive inside the theater—tables set up, pressure building, the whole room closing in.

Whether you agree with a given war or not, the machinery of social compulsion is real—and novels are one of the only ways to make readers feel what they’ve never lived.

“Pals battalions” and the catastrophic math of World War I

Here’s where Tolkien moves from history to horror.

In the early war years, Britain didn’t have conscription. So to drive volunteers, the government pushed the idea of “Pals battalions”—join up, and you’ll fight alongside your friends, your co-workers, the men from your town.

It sounded humane. In practice it created concentrated tragedy.

On the first day of the Battle of the Somme—July 1, 1916—units placed at the front were annihilated. Some towns were relatively untouched. Others lost a generation in hours.

This is not abstract history. It’s demographic devastation.

And it’s one of the centerpieces of No Man’s Land—a long novel (Tolkien notes it’s about 210,000 words) that “needed to breathe,” because the subject matter doesn’t fit into a neat, commercial-sized container.

Is The Lord of the Rings about World War I?

I raised a question you hear often: whether The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings were meant as allegory for World War I and industrialized warfare.

Tolkien’s answer was careful: no, not allegory—not a one-to-one moral lesson.

“I write stories…The point…is to create a world.”

But he also made an important distinction: a work doesn’t have to be allegory to be shaped by experience. He argues that trench warfare—the Somme “hellscape”—would have had a searing effect on the imaginative mind of his grandfather coming out of Oxford and rural England.

He even pointed to the “Dead Marshes” imagery as a place where readers can feel the Western Front echoing in the background—not as propaganda, but as memory transmuted into myth.

Craft: the “armature,” the brief, the research agony

For writers, Tolkien’s process is worth the price of admission.

He can’t “pants” these books. His legal training shaped him: he builds something like a full case file.

• A synopsis of roughly 10–11 pages (about 5,000 words)

• Publisher alignment—no “crazy surprises”

• Then the deep work: research that can exceed the writing time

• Then editing—each stage “an agony”

He borrowed a sculptor’s metaphor from his mother: the outline is an “armature”—bones without flesh. If the armature is too rigid, you can’t make the thing live.

That’s the tightrope: structure enough to guide you, loose enough to let characters breathe.

Imposter syndrome, identity, and the shadow of a famous name

This was one of the more human moments of the conversation.

He talked about wanting “an identity of my own,” especially after Peter Jackson’s films amplified the Tolkien name into the stratosphere. And when I asked directly about imposter syndrome, he didn’t hesitate:

“Yes. I think imposter syndrome is absolutely right.”

He described self-consciousness as a practical threat to good prose: you need an inner ear that can hear rhythm and truth—but not in a way that freezes you.

He also shared something that many authors won’t say out loud: the fear of writing a massive book for years and watching it die in a drawer.

That pressure is real. And it explains why publication isn’t just a sterile career objective —it feels like vindication that the sacrifice wasn’t wasted.

The hidden thread: why war books still matter

Tolkien called these “war books,” and made a comparison that startled me—in a good way: that they’re war books in the same strong sense that The Lord of the Rings is a war book.

Not because they’re manifestos. Because they’re about what war does to the interior life:

• to young men drafted or pressured into service,

• to families who live under casualty lists,

• to villages marked by memorials,

• to nations that think they’re marching into glory and wake up in mud.

As someone whose family still carries the aftershock of the Vietnam War, that theme landed. The era changes. The human cost doesn’t. Though time has shown that Vietnam was no mere folly, war can never be undertaken blind to it catastrophic impact on individual lives.

A note on length—and why editors matter

He told the story plainly: the book was long, hard to place, and then the right editor—Nan Talese—read it and “fell in love with it.”

That’s a reminder worth keeping: the difference between a book that lives and a book that dies is sometimes one reader with authority who gets it.

If you’re a reader (or a writer), here’s what to watch for

A few takeaways from my seat:

• Character carries the weight. Tolkien isn’t racing you to a twist; he’s walking you into history with people you’ll care about.

• War is not scenery. It’s the moral atmosphere—the pressure system that distorts everything underneath it.

• Ideology has a body count. Sometimes literal. Sometimes domestic. Ideologues are impervious to reason or facts, and collectivist or fascist politics have plunged the world into bloody conflict — for some, the real costs are only truly understood when confronted with the destruction of those they love the most dearly.

• Structure matters. The “armature” is real. So is the freedom required to make it breathe.

No Man’s Land is available in multiple editions (including the Nan A. Talese/Doubleday hardcover and later reprints).

If you listened to the episode (or read the novel), I’d like to hear what stood out to you most: the pre-war social fracture, the draft-and-shame culture, or the Somme itself.

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Wednesday, January 14, 2026, I had the opportunity to testify before Congress on an issue that has defined the last several years of public trust in federal law enforcement: leadership—and what happens when it is absent.

For more than two decades, I served inside the FBI. I know what the Bureau looks like when it is operating at its best, and I know what it looks like when political incentives distort priorities, suppress initiative, and quietly sideline real investigative work for narrative driven investigations.

My testimony addressed three core realities:

1. The Biden-era DOJ and FBI were consumed by political narrative enforcement, not threat-based prioritization, driven by logical investigative analysis focused on evidence.

2. The January 6 pipe bomb investigation stalled not because it was unsolvable, but because it was inconvenient.

3. Leadership changes matter—and with the appointment of Kash Patel and Dan Bongino, the FBI finally recommitted resources and expertise to identify the Pipe Bomb subject.

4. Attempts to subvert the prosecution of the FBI’s pipe bomb subject by the grifting class and their debunked “patsy” theory. Online Black Pill operatives, masquerading as journalists, have propounded silly theories based on “gait analysis.” The person identified by The Blaze was not the person arrested by the FBI. Subsequently, the tabloid class Blaze “journalists” have been humiliated by having to retract their factually incorrect story. Clawing back credibility demands they attempt to subvert the government’s prosecution of the real Pipe Bomb subject. Much more detail to come at my Townhall column.

Below is my testimony exactly as delivered.

Congressional Testimony (Verbatim)

Chairman Loudermilk, Ranking Member Raskin and Members of the Subcommittee, I would like to thank you for the invitation to speak with you today. It’s an honor to share my perspectives, derived from twenty-six years in law enforcement, twenty of those as an FBI agent.

The Biden-era FBI and DOJ presided over some of the most controversial investigations and prosecutions in modern history. From the January 6th investigations, to the Mar-a-Lago raid, Merrick Garland’s DOJ, in concert with former FBI Director Christopher Wray, has successfully tarnished our most respected institutions of justice and national security with the odious stigmas of politicization and weaponization.

American citizens have been rightly outraged at the inexcusable malfeasance of a relatively few senior executives. A bifurcated FBI held highly politicized investigations in the compartmentalized precincts of the Hoover Building. While the vast investigative experience and far more rigorous oversight of field agents and division level management was in large part circumvented, providing insulated political hacks with the unchecked latitude to pursue political opponents. For instance, as documented by DOJ Inspector General findings, the Crossfire Hurricane investigation was predicated on a thin tissue of preposterous fictions spun by operatives of the Clinton campaign, and given the imprimatur of compromised members of the intelligence community.

What we witnessed during Biden-era weaponization was appalling. I watched the events of January 6th unfold at a Washington Field Office offsite. I was initially struck by the peaceful and civilized conduct demonstrated by the vast majority of protesters, which quickly devolved into disgust as radical elements, wearing the uniform of Antifa anarchists, began a campaign of agitation and vandalism which drew a minority of the more gullible into criminal acts. The Biden administration and a complicit mainstream media wasted no time in labeling it as an “insurrection,” an event to rival September 11th, or the Confederate insurrection of the Civil War. However, the only casualty of January 6th was an Air Force veteran and Trump supporter, Ashli Babbitt. The objective was obvious, to stigmatize Republican protest and bludgeon President Trump and his supporters with bigoted labels such as “White supremacists,” “White Nationalist Extremists,” or “Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists,” or RMVE.

This political narrative bears directly on the issue of why Chris Wray’s FBI failed to identify the Pipe Bomb subject. The answer, in my opinion, isn’t a sensational one; therefore, it has eluded most of the podcasting class. It was simply a function of good leadership, or the lack thereof.

Biden’s FBI was directed to conduct the most sweeping investigation in its history…absurdly, of mostly federal trespassers. And the political narrative driven by Biden through his Attorney General Merrick Garland was myopically focused on the unicorn of Violent White Extremism. In simple terms, finding the Pipe Bomb subject was not a priority for Wray’s FBI. The incentive structure was shifted and FBI resources were squandered on chasing political chimeras. The obsession with persecuting Trump supporters left no institutional impetus to get to the bottom of the Pipe Bomber mystery.

Elections matter and the Trump victory has paid out some unexpected dividends. The appointment and confirmation of FBI Director Kash Patel, and the appointment of former Deputy Director Dan Bongino has everything to do with finally discovering who planted those viable pipe bombs at the DNC and RNC headquarters. In short, DD Bongino recommitted FBI investigative resources, and assigned a group of Task Force Officers assembled from local and state jurisdictions. Combined with a new type of FBI CAST analysis, this group of FBI Agents and TFOs worked seamlessly to bring about the identification and arrest of Brian Cole Jr.. The current disposition of this case comes down to a simple matter of priorities — and an election of great consequence.

Critics of Director Patel and the investigation into the Pipe Bomb subject have based their allegations on the conjecture of internet cranks utilizing hobbyist analysis of cell phone tower data, among other things. Conversely, the CAST and TFO professionals formulated new and specifically tailored algorithms to demystify cell tower data that had been opaque to investigators up to that point. In essence, we’re being asked to believe that stalwarts of the conservative movement, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Patel, former DD Bongino, and the esteemed U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro, have all colluded to railroad an innocent man.

The bottom line is this: President Trump’s FBI got their man by dint of good leadership. This bodes very good things for the American people and their FBI.

Final Thought

This case was never about technological limits. It was about will.

When leadership signals that outcomes matter more than the pursuit of the truth, investigations suffer. When priorities are clear, resources follow. And when politics stops crowding out professionalism, the Bureau works.

That is the lesson of the Pipe Bomber case—and it is one the country should not forget.

Hopefully your Christmas has been rich in family, friends, good food, and gifts given and received in love. If any of these things has been lacking, we are still the potential recipients of a vast treasure — miraculous things which, like a forgotten but precious trove of gems, are not appreciated apart from careful consideration and thoughtful mediation.

The truth about Christmas is colossal with cosmic ramifications, and attested to by an infallible instrument. Christ’s birth, which no serious historian denies, was not just an historical artifact, but was an instance of supernatural manifestation. Not only was it the incarnation of God himself, but also the fulfillment of the prophetic narrative recorded for all time in the inspired pages of the Bible — God’s completed word to us today.

Christianity is anchored in history, and prophecy —written hundreds or thousands of years in advance.

The claim of Scripture is not merely that Jesus was born, but that His birth was foretold with precision, preserved across centuries, and fulfilled in real time.

Christmas is not a legend retold. It is history foretold.

The Promise Begins At The Dawn Of History

Genesis 3:15

(Dated c. 1400–1200 BC; Mosaic authorship)

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Immediately after the Fall, God declares that redemption would come through the seed of a woman—a striking phrase in an ancient patriarchal culture. The victory would be costly (“his heel”), but a decisive death blow to the Accuser (“thy head”).

The Line Is Chosen, Not Invented

Genesis 12:3

“And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

Genesis 22:18

“And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”

Genesis 49:10

(Dated c. 1300–1000 BC)

“The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

The messianic line narrows. Kingship is anticipated. Expectation sharpens.

A Throne Promised Beyond Mortality

2 Samuel 7:12–13

(c. 1000–900 BC)

“And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee…
and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.”

Israel understood what we often forget: no merely human dynasty lasts forever.

A Child Unlike Any Other

Isaiah 7:14

(c. 740–700 BC)

“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Isaiah 9:6–7

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace…
from henceforth even for ever.”

Isaiah does not describe merely a symbolic figure. He describes an historic event and a virgin born child which will bear0 titles of divinity.

The Birthplace Named in Advance

Micah 5:2

(c. 735–700 BC)

“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

Bethlehem was obscure. Politically irrelevant. Precisely the point.

The Incarnation Answered Its Critics Before They Spoke

Skeptics often claim that Christianity is a later theological construction imposed upon Jewish Scripture.

That argument collapses under scrutiny.

The Dead Sea Scrolls confirm that Isaiah, Micah, and the Psalms existed centuries before Christ. These were not edited after the fact. They were preserved, copied, and guarded—often by communities that rejected Jesus outright.

Christianity did not invent prophecy.
It recognized its fulfillment.

The Manger Explained by Christ Himself

Jesus did not leave His purpose open to interpretation.

“For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.”
— John 6:33

“And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
— John 6:35

Then comes a promise of extraordinary assurance:

“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
— John 6:37

This is not ambiguity. It is certainty.

God is sovereign in salvation—and no one who comes to Christ in repentance and faith is rejected.

“Drawn” to Christ

Later in the same discourse, Jesus adds:

“No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”
— John 6:44

The Greek word translated draw is ἕλκω (helkō).

It is the same word used to describe dragging a net full of fish or pulling a sword from its sheath.

The meaning is clear:
God effectively draws the heart—through truth, conviction, and grace—without violating the will. The sinner comes freely, yet not independently. God instills in the dead heart the gifts of faith and repentance.

“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” — Ephesians 2:4-9

Christmas is heaven reaching down to rescue, not merely to inspire mankind to good deeds of charity.

Romans: The Meaning of Christmas Made Plain

The Apostle Paul explains why the incarnation was necessary.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
— Romans 3:23–24

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
— Romans 5:8

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
— Romans 6:23

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”
— Romans 10:9

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
— Romans 10:13

Repentance is not optional.
Faith is not inherited.
Grace is not earned.

Christmas Demands a Response

If the promises were written centuries in advance…
If the Child of Bethlehem fulfilled them in humility and through the shedding of his blood…
If Christ Himself declares that none who come to Him are cast out…

Then Christmas is not merely something to observe.

It is something to answer.

Turn from sin. Trust not in your own righteousness, but in Christ alone—born of a virgin, crucified for sinners, risen in power, and reigning forever.

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures…”

— I Corinthians 15:3,4

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
— Romans 5:1

The Father still draws.
The Son still receives.
The promise still stands.

Respond to His call. Ask Jesus to save you from your sins and reign as Lord of your life. Then you too will inherit treasures of grace without price, and experience life without end.

Merry Christmas.

The Wellness box is something special. It’s far more than a monthly resupply of valued products, favorite snacks, or highly effective and measurably impactful supplements. It is all of that and a growing list of can’t-do-without stuff.

More importantly, the Wellness box that arrives on our door is a statement of and commitment to the America First ethos. We’ve decided to not only invest in our health, but to be better stewards of our dollars in terms of product quality, and by supporting a manufacturer that eschews the woke practices of many big box retailers.

As much as is possible, we’re simply not going to contribute to corporate wokesterism. If we have a choice, we’re choosing made in America, and made by companies that revere our founding documents and recognize providence.

Not all membership-based or big-box retailers are built on the same philosophy — and the differences matter.

Sam’s Club (Walmart)

Sam’s Club operates within Walmart’s long-standing DEI and ESG corporate framework, developed over the past decade as part of big-retail governance. Walmart emphasized equity-based hiring, supplier diversity mandates, and internal DEI training, and while some language has been softened recently, the underlying structure remains. Sam’s Club is still tied to a global supply chain and third-party manufacturing model, meaning it sources most products from external vendors — many overseas — and reflects the priorities of a massive corporate bureaucracy.

Costco

Costco has taken a more explicit stance. Unlike many retailers that quietly retreated, Costco has publicly defended and reaffirmed its DEI programs, rejecting shareholder proposals that questioned legal and financial risk. Its leadership frames DEI as a core value of corporate governance. Costco avoids direct corporate political donations, but the perception of ideological alignment comes from its overt defense of progressive corporate policies, not from neutrality or silence.

Target

Target has gone further than either Sam’s Club or Costco in brand-level activism. It has openly aligned itself with progressive cultural causes through merchandising, marketing campaigns, and public social-issue statements. Target’s approach integrates DEI, ESG, and cultural messaging directly into its brand identity, making it the most visible — and polarizing — of the three.

The Wellness Store

The Wellness Store stands apart entirely. It operates on an America-First, manufacturer-to-customer model. It manufactures nearly all of its own products in the United States -- except for its makeup line (of French manufacture) -- controlling quality, sourcing, and formulation end-to-end.

The other exception is Riverbend Ranch meat products, which are sourced separately, but held to the strictest standards. In keeping with The Wellness Store’s business model, Riverbend Ranch is one hundred percent owned and operated by American ranch families. The beef is of exceptional quality with no hormones or antibiotics used -- ever.

Just as importantly, The Wellness Store has explicitly rejected DEI mandates, ESG ideology, and “woke” corporate activism. No political lectures. No corporate social engineering. No outsourced values. Instead, the focus remains on American manufacturing, clean formulations, family-oriented principles, and long-term customer relationships.

Because The Wellness Store owns its manufacturing, it doesn’t answer to activist suppliers, foreign factories, or ideological compliance regimes. That independence is intentional — and increasingly rare.

The takeaway

Sam’s Club: Big-box retail shaped by corporate DEI and global sourcing.

Costco: Actively defends progressive corporate governance policies.

Target: Openly integrates social activism into its brand.

The Wellness Store: American-made, vertically integrated, values-driven — without ideological mandates.

Same word — membership — but radically different philosophies behind it.

For us the choice is clear, though The Wellness store doesn’t have absolutely everything. We still do some shopping at Costco from time to time. But, we’ve replaced most of our regular shopping with the huge selection of items available in the online store. It’s simple, efficient, cost effective (most households save between $400 and $600 per month) and the products are delivered right to our front door.

We’re done diverting so much of our hard earned dollars to the woke left who’ve insinuated themselves into our lives through the big brand clubs and stores. We’re done with inferior products containing toxic chemicals. And we’re embracing smart stewardship with The Wellness Shopping Club Store.

It’s even approved by our German Shepherd Pepper!

Every year on this day, I find myself returning to one voice that never failed to cut through the noise—Rush Limbaugh’s Thanksgiving broadcast, where he laid out the truth behind America’s first harvest celebration.

Rush always reminded us that the Pilgrims weren’t saved by luck, nor by a sanitized myth. They were saved by faith, perseverance, and the rediscovery of individual responsibility. It’s a story with more relevance today than ever.

“The real story of Thanksgiving is not the commonly believed one. The true story is that socialism failed.”
— Rush Limbaugh, Thanksgiving Broadcast

Rush’s point wasn’t abstract economics. It was human nature. The Pilgrims originally agreed to a communal system—every man working for the colony, every harvest shared equally. But the result was predictable: disincentive, resentment, and scarcity. The colony nearly starved.

Only after Governor Bradford shifted to private plots—letting families reap the fruit of their own labor—did abundance return.

“What they had to do was ditch the collectivism… and then they produced so much food they had enough to trade.”
— Rush Limbaugh

What I appreciate most about Rush’s annual retelling isn’t so much the political lesson. It’s the spiritual one. That even after suffering, loss, and brutal winters, the Pilgrims paused to give thanks—not because life was easy, but because Providence had sustained them through a trial they didn’t think they’d survive.

Their gratitude was an act of undaunted faith.

It’s easy today, in a culture of chronic outrage and endless distraction, to forget that gratitude is a discipline. A habit. And at times, a quiet rebellion against bitterness.

This morning, I’m thankful for many things—my family, the freedoms we still enjoy, and the enduring American character that has carried this nation through wars, depressions, and cultural storms far worse than our current moment.

But I’m also thankful for truth-tellers like Rush, who spent decades reminding Americans of who we are and where we come from.

“Thanksgiving is not just a holiday. It is a reminder of how blessed we are to live in this nation.”
— Rush Limbaugh

But beneath the political lesson sits a deeper spiritual truth the Pilgrims knew well—gratitude is a discipline shaped in hardship, not ease. Their faith was forged in suffering, yet they still gathered to give thanks for God’s sustaining hand.

Scripture captures this posture perfectly:

“In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
— 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (KJV)

The Pilgrims’ gratitude wasn’t sentimental optimism. It was an act of courage—an acknowledgment that even in scarcity, God had not abandoned them.

And the heart of Christian thanksgiving is always Christ Himself:

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”
— Colossians 1:14 (KJV)

That is the wellspring of our gratitude. Not simply harvest or abundance—but redemption. Freedom from darkness. A hope purchased by the Lamb and obtained by faith alone in Christ alone.

“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”
— Psalm 107:2 (KJV)

This morning, I’m thankful for many things—my family, the freedoms we still enjoy, and the enduring American character that has carried this nation through wars, depressions, and cultural storms far worse than our current moment.

But above all, I’m grateful for the One who makes thanksgiving possible at all:

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive… honour, and glory, and blessing.”
— Revelation 5:12 (KJV)

Rush said it often, and he was right:

“Thanksgiving is not just a holiday. It is a reminder of how blessed we are to live in this nation.”
— Rush Limbaugh

And for the believer, it is a reminder of how blessed we are to know His mercies are renewed like the morning.

It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22,23

May we all carry that reminder into our homes today—honoring the faith, grit, and gratitude that built this country.

Happy Thanksgiving.
From my family to yours.

When The Book of Sheen first came across my desk, I approached it the way I do most celebrity memoirs—open-minded, but with tempered expectations. I’ve read enough over the years to notice the familiar patterns: ghost-polished prose, a few headline-ready confessions, and just enough vulnerability to pass editorial muster.

This book is not that.

Within a few pages, it was clear Charlie Sheen wasn’t phoning in anything—not the writing, not the storytelling, not the introspection. His sentences carry a lyrical sharpness, a kind of lived-in artistry that only comes from someone who rejected the ghostwriter’s shortcut and faced the blank page alone.

As Charlie told me:

“Every word had to come from me… I didn’t want a counterfeit version of my own life.”

That decision changed everything—including the tone and honesty of our conversation.

A Writer at Heart

Early in the interview, I highlighted one of the lines that stopped me cold—his description of a teacher whose apology “like a dead rat, the word ‘sorry’ limply tumbled from her mouth (again).” A turn of phrase, artful, authentic, and crafted with skill.

Charlie laughed and said he simply refused to be “a cliché factory.”
He didn’t want lazy writing. Didn’t want recycled language. Didn’t want the soft landing of Hollywood tropes.

In a world where originality is rare—and often punished—this was refreshing.

He told me he agonized over the first sentence of every chapter. He talked about writing by hand, editing longhand outlines, and sometimes fighting through construction noise, parenting demands, and the “obstacle course” of life just to hold onto a thought. Writing wasn’t therapy—it was trench warfare.

And he loved it.

The Line That Stunned Me

There’s a passage in Chapter 54 that I’ll be thinking about for a long time.

Reflecting on his decision to get sober, Charlie writes about his daughter Sam—not as the “final straw,” but as something deeper:

“Sam wasn’t my final straw. She was my first harvest.”

That line floored me.
It wasn’t in the documentary. It wasn’t in the press cycle. It came straight from a place of spiritual clarity—one reached the hard way.

As I told Charlie during the conversation, his story reminded me of the ancient pattern described in Ecclesiastes—Solomon’s pursuit of every possible pleasure only to discover how empty it all was. The Book of Sheen mirrors that arc driven by painful honesty and rigorous self-reflection.

Charlie paused when I said that.

“No one has ever framed it like that,” he said quietly.

On Doubt, Imposter Syndrome, and the Fear of Meeting the “Sober Self”

Writers often talk about imposter syndrome, but hearing Charlie describe it—someone with global fame, iconic roles, decades in the spotlight—was unexpectedly humanizing.

He spoke about the isolation of writing, the fear of facing the sober version of himself, and the existential question few people in recovery ever articulate:

“What if you meet the sober guy… and you don’t like him?”

That level of honesty is rare.

It also explains why this book resonates far beyond Hollywood gossip or tabloid caricatures. It’s a human story—raw, self-aware, and surprisingly philosophical.

Baseball, Fathers, and Becoming “Red, White, and Blue” Again

The conversation turned to baseball, to childhood dreams, to our shared Dayton roots. Charlie laughed about preferring to play baseball as opposed to being an MLB spectator because he usually misses the gameplay for spending time with fans or hearing his box yell for him to “go relieve the pitcher.”

But beneath the humor was something deeper — family.

His father Martin Sheen, he said, taught him one phrase that carried him through the darkest valleys:

“No matter what.”

It shaped his work ethic.
It shaped his recovery.
And whether he intended it or not, it shapes this book.

Why The Book of Sheen Matters

Before speaking with him, I didn’t expect the book to hit me the way it did. But it did. And I told him exactly that.

This isn’t a “celebrity tell-all.”
It’s not self-indulgent.
It’s not manufactured.

It’s a story about:

• temptation

• brokenness

• searching for identity

• facing yourself honestly

• and fighting your way back from the edge

It is, in many ways, a story of redemption—wrapped in humor, grit, and hard-earned wisdom.

Who knew the man behind “winning” had this kind of writer inside him?

Be sure to subscribe for free so you won’t miss upcoming episodes. And, look for my full review at Townhall.com soon! The Book of Sheen can be purchased at your favorite bookseller.

Connect with Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen

• X: @charliesheen

• Instagram: @charliesheen

Follow Charlie for updates on The Book of Sheen, behind-the-scenes stories, and future projects.

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John Nantz

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Follow me for more long-form conversations with authors, deep-dive book reviews, and commentary from my years in the FBI and national security world.

The Motion to Dismiss

In the ongoing defamation litigation between FBI Director Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, and podcasting crank and former FBI Agent Kyle Seraphin, a motion to dismiss was filed by Seraphin’s attorneys a few days ago on 11-04-2025. The gravamen of the argument is simple — Kyle was just joking.

One of the fundamental problems with this proposition is the existence of video, the very podcast in question. The Defendant’s motion cites Isaacks, 146 S.W.3d at 154 (quoting Turner v. KTRK Television, Inc., 38 S.W.3d 103, 114 (Tex.2000)). In which the Texas Supreme Court established the standard for evaluating defamation — “how a person of ordinary intelligence would perceive it.”

If you’re reading this post, I feel confident in saying that you’re a person of more than ordinary intelligence. So, take a look at the video from Seraphin’s podcast and decide for yourself if Seraphin was making statements of fact which he asserted to be true. Or, was he just joking around with his straight man and mentee Steve Friend?

In the few seconds before Seraphin launches into his tirade against Wilkins, Seraphin makes, in his mind, a very serious point about the Comey “honeypot” operation — which Patel investigated and debunked. Additionally, Seraphin’s “show” is based on the stated assumption that he’s a “truth teller.” Comedian and satirist are no where to be found in association with his social media persona. Additionally, the law does not require a Plaintiff to sue over every instance of defamation in order to bring a claim for a particular instance of defamation.

My initial Substack piece on this topic covered Ms. Wilkin’s complaint, and details her assertions as to actual malice. Her attorney’s request for a jury trial indicates a high degree of confidence on their part. Contrarily, the Defendant’s request for oral argument seems to indicate a pessimism with regard to the success of the motion to dismiss.

Seraphin continues to harass and denigrate Ms. Wilkins on his X account. Be forewarned, if you scroll his account, you see some of the most profane and vile material on X. Here’s just a sampling.

Seraphin’s pathologies run deep. He regularly argues for the abolishment of the 19th amendment, and has taken up an anti-Semitic tone with staunch conservative NYT bestseller, and commentator Mark Levin. These days, he’s sounding a lot like Nick Fuentes — inveterate Groyper.

In my opinion, the motion to dismiss will likely fail. There is simply too much, as a matter of law, to substantiate Ms. Wilkin’s claims and request for a jury trial.

Seraphin is being represented by Edward J. Loya, Jr. of Dorsey & Whitney LLP, partnering with Dykema Gossett PLLC. A brief look into Dorsey & Whitney raises some interesting questions:

Dorsey & Whitney’s Political Footprint

According to OpenSecrets.org, Dorsey employees and its PAC contributed about $315,000 to political campaigns during the 2024 federal election cycle.

The firm’s official political action committee — the Dorsey National Fund — distributed approximately 61% of its donations to Democrats and 39% to Republicans.

But when all individual attorney donations are counted, the lean becomes far sharper. Independent analysis from Excess of Democracy found that roughly 98.5% of Dorsey’s political giving favored Democratic candidates or liberal-aligned committees.

“Big Law no longer hides its ideological preferences — it advertises them in data.”

The numbers don’t lie. While the firm maintains a posture of professional neutrality, its giving patterns mirror the broader culture of elite American law: progressive, urban, and institutionally aligned with the Democratic Party.

Culture and Ideology

Dorsey has long emphasized its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, earning a 100% rating from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation in 2017 for LGBTQ+ workplace policies.

That commitment is emblematic. Most of the American legal industry, once priding itself on neutrality and even-handed representation, now operates within a cultural monoculture where certain political and social orthodoxies are assumed rather than debated.

“The commanding heights of American law have shifted — from neutral guardians of process to participants in a political culture that overwhelmingly leans left.”

The Broader Picture

The real significance lies in the revolving door between Big Law and the federal government.

Firms like Dorsey employ the same attorneys who once prosecuted public-corruption and national-security cases — attorneys who now represent corporations, foreign clients, and political entities before those same agencies.

Edward Loya’s career embodies that crossover: the courtroom credibility of a former DOJ prosecutor combined with the institutional prestige of a firm deeply embedded in America’s legal-political establishment.

For those concerned with the intersection of law, politics, and accountability, Dorsey & Whitney offers a telling case study. It remains a model of professional excellence — yet its financial and ideological profile reflects an unmistakable alignment with the prevailing current of progressive power.

Seraphin’s choice of representation is interesting. It’s just another piece of the puzzle in determining who Seraphin really is. He’s made very public statements about rejecting the MAGA ethos, culture, and its presidential candidate — Donald J. Trump. It also speaks to his relentless campaign designed to undermine the legitimacy of Trump’s pick for FBI Director — Kash Patel. Seraphin’s ire is also regularly directed at FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino. A one-time friend and supporter.

In my opinion, justice will be served by a victory for Alexis Wilkins. A victory not just for her, but for every woman harried and harangued by misogyny.

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Every now and then, a book arrives that forces those who served to stop and take stock — to remember what the oath meant, and where things went wrong. Nicole Parker’s forthcoming memoir, The Two FBIs: The Bravery and Betrayal I Saw in My Time at the Bureau (HarperCollins, November 11, 2025), is one of those books.

For anyone who’s worn the badge, Parker’s title alone lands with quiet force. She’s not talking about field offices or divisions, but a philosophical divide that cleaved asunder the Bureau’s soul — the majority faithful to its original charter, the other compromised by politics, bureaucracy, and ideological drift.

A Tale of Two Bureaus

Parker, who left a successful career in finance after witnessing the attacks of 9/11, joined the FBI out of a sense of duty and calling. What she found, over more than a decade of service, was an institution still capable of extraordinary heroism — but increasingly mired in internal politics, skewed priorities, and leadership failures.

Her book unfolds across thematic chapters like “The FBI at Its Best,” “The Quantico Crucible,” “Feeding the FBI Stat Machine,” “James Comey Changes the Game,” and “Special Agent Laura Schwartzenberger.” Together, they form both a memoir and a diagnosis.

Parker describes FBI 1 — the men and women she calls “the true agents,” mission-focused, self-sacrificing, apolitical — and FBI 2 — the bureaucratic class obsessed with performance metrics, social engineering, and optics.

In her own words:

“There really are two FBIs. I call it FBI 1 versus FBI 2.”

The contrast she draws is stark. On one end, courage and quiet service. On the other, a headquarters culture that rewards compliance, punishes dissent, and dilutes standards in the name of “modernization.”

Where the Bureau Lost Its Bearings

In one of the book’s most compelling themes, Parker confronts the internal culture shift she witnessed firsthand:

“The FBI and their DEI hiring… their hiring standards changed drastically. The type of individuals they were looking to hire — agents and support staff — changed drastically.”

The reader senses not resentment but heartbreak. Parker isn’t attacking diversity; she’s indicting the replacement of meritocracy with political litmus tests. The Bureau she joined valued excellence and courage. The Bureau she left, she argues, was increasingly consumed with appearances.

She recounts field experiences that lay bare this contradiction. Two of her colleagues were murdered while executing a warrant on a dangerous predator — without SWAT support. Yet, she notes, those teams were later deployed to arrest January 6 protestors for non-violent misdemeanors.

Her conclusion is as simple as it is damning:

“It’s all about when it fits their narrative and when it’s convenient for them. But this is not equal enforcement of the law.”

Faith, Duty, and the Breaking Point

For Parker, this isn’t just a policy critique — it’s moral and spiritual. On her X feed, she’s written openly about her faith as the motivating force behind her decision to serve:

“I detail my motivating faith, working in finance prior to the FBI, witnessing 9/11, applying to the FBI…”

That sense of calling shapes the entire narrative. Parker doesn’t write like a cynic. She writes like someone who loved the Bureau deeply enough to mourn its decline — and who still believes redemption is possible. In fact, current FBI Director Kash Patel has moved the FBI, with aggressiveness and rapidity, toward substantive and lasting reform.

Her chapter on “Special Agent Laura Schwartzenberger” — one of the agents killed in the 2021 Sunrise, Florida shooting — is both tribute and warning. It’s a reminder that heroism still exists, even when leadership fails.

Endorsements and the National Conversation

Early endorsements reflect the broad resonance of Parker’s story. Joe Piscopo calls her “all heart and soul,” urging,

“For those of us who are trying so hard to take our country back, reading The Two FBIs is a must.”

Maria Bartiromo writes:

“Nicole Parker has done a masterful job of exposing the forces against good within the FBI… We should be grateful for truth-tellers like Nicole.”

Even former President Donald Trump weighed in on Truth Social, and endorsed the book. On Instagram, Parker responded:

“Grateful and deeply humbled by PRESIDENT TRUMP’s endorsement of my new book The Two FBIs.”

That endorsement, combined with strong coverage across talk radio and conservative media — including The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show — situates Parker’s book not merely as memoir, but as part of a national debate over accountability, reform, and the meaning of service.

Public Reaction and Media Response

On social media, Parker’s posts alternate between reflection and rallying cry. She praises local law enforcement for acts of courage — “We cannot forget that we have officers doing their jobs…” — while calling out hypocrisy at the institutional level.

She’s been featured in Facebook interviews where she restates the premise:

“There really were two FBIs: FBI 1 — people doing honest, good, hard work — and FBI 2 — those who were not.”

The response has been swift. Early commenters echo a sense of vindication: current and retired agents posting messages of gratitude, civilians saying her story confirms what they suspected. The discussion threads read like reunions of disillusioned patriots who never stopped believing in the mission.

A Mirror for Those Who Served

There’s something profoundly familiar about Parker’s voice to anyone who’s carried the Bureau credentials. You hear the cadence of briefing rooms, the caution of field reports, the conscience of someone who still expects the system to live up to its promise.

She doesn’t write from vengeance, but from a deep sense of responsibility. That’s what separates The Two FBIs from the usual “tell-all” from disaffected former employees and so-called “whistleblowers.” It’s not revenge literature; it’s a eulogy and a blueprint rolled into one.

Strengths and Limitations

Strengths:

• Deep authenticity; Parker’s lived experience grounds every page.

• Clear structure; her “two FBIs” framing makes the complex cultural critique accessible.

• Emotionally resonant; chapters like “Laura Schwartzenberger” remind readers that real lives hang in the balance of leadership failure.

Limitations:

• Readers seeking academic neutrality won’t find it here. Parker writes with moral clarity, not detachment.

• The partisanship of some endorsements may lead critics to dismiss her as political — an unfair but predictable response.

Still, in the context of where the Bureau now stands, her message couldn’t be more relevant.

A Book for This Moment

In a time when many Americans no longer trust the institutions sworn to protect them, The Two FBIs is a vital testimony. Parker’s voice joins a growing chorus of former and retired agents who refuse to let silence or cynicism define them.

She doesn’t just recount what went wrong — she calls for what could go right again. Her courage reminds us that patriotism isn’t blind loyalty; it’s holding your institution to the same standard you swore to uphold.

For those who’ve served, or still serve, The Two FBIs may read like a mirror — painful, necessary, and overdue. For those who haven’t, it’s a rare look behind the badge at an agency torn between two identities: one noble, one lost.

As Joe Piscopo put it best:

“For those of us trying so hard to take our country back, reading The Two FBIs is a must.”

Final Word

The Two FBIs isn’t just a memoir — it’s a reckoning. It’s a call to the men and women still inside to remember why they joined, and to those outside to understand what’s at stake if the Bureau continues down its present course.

For readers who believe that truth still matters, and that reform begins with courage, Nicole Parker’s story delivers both.

Be sure to subscribe for free, so you don’t miss my upcoming interview with Parker and my full review at Townhall.com coming soon!

Publication Date: November 11, 2025
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN-13: 978-0-063-42175-9
Available for pre-order via major retailers.