WSJ: Former Navy SEAL Who Keeps Churning Out Hit Books

WSJ: Former Navy SEAL Who Keeps Churning Out Hit Books

Some writers sell fantasy, romance or mystery. Former Navy SEAL Jack Carr trades in his precise knowledge of guns and battlefield tactics.

I have listened to the first three of Carr’s books:  The Terminal List, True Believer and Savage Son.  Along with a knowledge of guns and tactics, he understands people and writes plausible scenarios.  I am a big fan of his books.

Jack Carr stacks up well with similar writers.  Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan books are more political action thrillers.  Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books are more crime action thrillers.  Mark Greaney wrote a few Jack Ryan books, but has his own Gray Man books which tend to be hyper-violent.  There are also authors like Michael Connelly who wrote the Harry Bosch series of detective action thrillers.  Those are more tracking clues, and less violence.

Jack Carr writes about former special forces personnel who aren’t looking for trouble, but it finds them.  The books tend toward figuring out who needs violence, making a plan, then executing complex tactics to bring the bad guys down with as much firepower as is necessary.

That ultrarealistic detail is Carr’s signature. It’s part of the formula propelling him to success in a competitive genre, military and political thrillers, where few newcomers break out. Drawing on his experience, Carr spins tales about a SEAL who begins on a mission to avenge the deaths of his family and winds up unraveling terrorist plots and global conspiracies.

If you are interested in the genre, Jack Carr is worth reading.