Jon’s Trilogy — Sean’s File — Boone’s File
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Jon’s Trilogy Book 1: The Anvil of the Craftsman
A doctoral candidate in Theological Studies is recruited by an acquaintance in the U.S. State Department for outreach to the most troublesome province in Iraq. The many challenges of nation building expand the mission from diplomacy into a survival situation, as local and international interests position themselves to oppose the initiative
Terrorism and counter-terror operations threaten to keep the team from leaving the relative safety of Baghdad, until a former USAF Special Tactics operative hunting the men who want to kill them is assigned to be their protector. Provincial and regional stability stand in the balance as the simple questions posed during a tribal council explode into a clash of loyalty, faith, schism, and betrayal. The outcome will shape the future of two nations.
“Anvil” has ranked as the Amazon No. 1 Free Bestseller in Political Fiction six times and has been rated in the top fifth of the first percentile of titles in Political Fiction as sorted by average customer review.
approx. 98,600 words / 333 pp.
In full release on December 17, 2011.
AOTC RE, out on March 21, 2015, is offered as a free download where available.
2013 Best of the Independent eBook Awards: Awarded Best Editing
Named Runner-up in Best Action/Adventure and Best Villain
Jon’s Trilogy Book 2: The Britteridge Heresy
As the 2008 troop surge fully engages the insurgency in Iraq, a vengeful terrorist intends to take the fight to America. He begins with the State Department team who helped turn the tide in Al Anbar Province. Simultaneous strikes on targets abroad and stateside deliver the message nothing is forgiven.
Rumors surface of pending attacks intended to impact the will of a wavering public. The State Department and military personnel closest to understanding the intent of the attackers come together in an attempt to find and stop those already responsible for wreaking domestic havoc. A terrifying plot of revenge is uncovered targeting not only individuals, but the sense of security for an entire nation.
Jon Anthony is disturbed to discover the only thing able to distract his pursuers from the plot is an intense desire to see him die. The momentum of a nation’s war effort will hinge on offering himself as bait for a vicious enemy.
Approx, 85,400 words / 283 pp. print length.
In full release on August 11, 2012.
Jon’s Trilogy Book 3: Killing Doctor Jon
Jon Anthony’s unwilling celebrity and outspoken personal beliefs continue to outrage his enemies at home and abroad. Pursuant to a fatwa against Anthony, Islamists leverage the fortune of an Oil Minister in a bid to avenge an outrage against the true faith.
Nominally Christian extremists stateside become unwitting allies of a global strategy by a bitter foe. After life-changing attacks at home and armed only with his faith, Jon Anthony wages a personal crusade against those whom he holds responsible.
Circumstances take Anthony back to the Middle East to pursue a final showdown as he encounters old friends and unlikely allies along the way. At stake is his life, along with the political stability of the Arabian Peninsula.
Approx. 84,500 words / 279 pp. print length.
In full release on March 22, 2013.
Sean’s File Book 1: Operation Naji
Whether you know him as Matt Kameldorn, Drew Domenick, or Daniel Sean Ritter, this is the first tale in his professional history. “Sean’s File” opens with “Operation Naji.”
In 1991, the military declares an Air Force pilot missing in action and presumes him dead after a rescue effort locates his devastated F-15 in the Iraqi desert. Three years later, a chance encounter ignites a crisis of conscience in a conflicted Iraqi veteran. Washington becomes aware of a politically lethal possibility: that an American remains the prisoner of the ruling Ba’athist regime.
Once the SpecOps unit assembled to investigate confirms the truth, they face the same question as did their chain of command in 1991—is the life of one man worth the risk of losing many more? The honor and commitment of elite operators weigh against the consequences of a failed mission: classified deaths, and the responsibility for provoking another conflict in Iraq.
The goal becomes straightforward if not simple: deliver the message that in dealing with those who ignore the rules of war, there are no rules.
Approx. 83,100 words / 282 pp. print length.
In full release on December 28, 2013.
Sean’s File Book 2: Romeo Down (A Short Story)
Where does a man’s strength originate? In 1991, within the time frame of the short, brutal air war above Iraq, two men unknowingly discover the same answer during an intense CSAR (Combat Search And Rescue) operation.
A short story, “Romeo Down” is an account of the action resulting in the award of Daniel Sean Ritter’s first Silver Star. Alluded to in dialogue within the first novel of Sean’s File: Operation Naji, this episode stands alone as a spoiler-free companion volume to that title.
Approximately 8000 words / 30 pp. print length.
In full release November 9, 2014 and offered as a free download where available.
2015 Best of the Independent eBook Awards: Romeo Down was honored as Best Short Story.
Sean’s File Book 3: King of a Lesser Hill
In 1995’s Bosnia and Herzegovina, a USAF pilot, forced to eject over Serb-controlled territory, evades capture with the help of a young Bosnian woman and a sympathetic band of Croat militia. With a ruthless Serbian commander also on the hunt, it falls to Daniel Sean Ritter and his sergeants—now designated the Deep Recovery Team—to find the American first.
Stung by setbacks inflicted by an opposing coalition on multiple fronts, Serb paramilitary forces escalate operations as their window of opportunity narrows. Atrocities, reprisals, and response fuel a final conflagration in the embers of war. Its disposition will hinge on the courage found in those who have discovered the passions of Bosnia are ones from which they are unable to walk away.
Approx. 83,300 words / 290 pp. print length.
In full release as of September 30, 2016.
The Yemeni Package (Sean’s File Book 4)
The year is 1999. Following a failed attack on a USAF base, the leader of an emergent and radical Islamic organization is offered to the United States by his captors. Under political oversight in the persona of a beautiful and deadly female case officer and aided by an apostate cleric, a mothballed Air Force Special Operations unit designated Deep Recovery is tapped for the mission. Their task: quietly deliver a captured terrorist, held overseas, into American custody.
Blindsided by the scope of an opposing force drawn from the ranks of a fanatical cult of personality, Daniel Sean Ritter’s mission intensifies once matters turn deadly. A simple detainee transfer then becomes a hunt for the most wanted man in the region.
Domestic and international political pressures erode their civilian leadership’s resolve. Its operators in the field are left diminished and isolated, forced into a quandary of whom their government wishes to prevail … and into the realization that true strength sometimes is found where there is no one to trust but oneself.
Approx. 81,900 wds. / 300 pp. print length.
In full release as of January 18, 2018.
Twenty-Four Hours to Midnight (Sean’s File Book 5)
Today is built on the past. Eight hundred enemy face him. A thousand civilians shelter behind him. The conflict was personal then, and nothing has changed.
Daniel Sean Ritter, operating in an environment where neither InterLynk nor an uncommitted United States government can help, seeks to safeguard his wife’s Iraqi family during an ISIS advance. There, he learns the enemy campaign is led by One Who Got Away during his Iraq War.
Haunted by memories of rare setbacks a decade ago but unwilling to again disengage from an unresolved contest, Ritter takes up arms with his stepson Gabir. With a small band of isolated local militia, a single honorable course of action remains: to do what they can, where they are, with what they have.
Approx. 82,800 words / 302 pp. print length.
In full release as of December 15, 2020.
Sister’s Shadow (Sean’s File Book 6)
Sabrina Crnjak, forever scarred by childhood tragedies arising out of the Bosnian Civil War, now uses her pain as motivation in bringing the instigators of atrocities to justice. When a former Serb defense minister is granted a shocking acquittal in the Hague, the unacceptable outcome provokes her in-depth investigation.
Soon Brina finds herself the target of forces wishing to make both Goran Kos and his pursuer simply disappear. After a lone protector appears, the conflict intensifies as evidence, secreted away years prior, threatens to reveal war criminals who would benefit from present-day inclusion in a continental economy.
With the archive vital to the survival of both sides, a deadly contest ensues. Overwhelming manpower and seemingly inexhaustible resources threaten to crush both Brina and a man whose depth of connection to her life she can only suspect … Daniel Sean Ritter.
Approx. 90,300 words / 333 pp. print length
In full release as of September 25, 2021.
Boone’s File Book 1: Absinthe and Chocolate
The “intel” game is changing; international intelligence entities react to the growing influence of an emergent private sector effort. The USIC’s Director of National Intelligence assigns Dr. Rebecca Boone Hildebrandt, a case officer empowered to take any necessary action, to safeguard the firm’s growing data store.
Strikes, targeting key company players, force suspending operations in securing corporate infrastructure and remaining personnel. The agent responsible for covertly shepherding InterLynk responds to attacks targeting her principals; to counterbalance an attempted hostile takeover of the private company, Boone gathers her own assets: no strangers to direct action.
Ranging from Switzerland through New York City to the Russian forests, the resulting covert conflict pits committed professionals from the spectrum of international intelligence against equals. The prize: technology housing intelligence that could reverse the balance of power between East and West.
Approx, 83,900 words / 288 pp. print length.
In full release as of September 10, 2014.
2015 Best of the Independent eBook Awards: Absinthe was honored as Best Thriller. This series lead title is now a free download through most venues.
Boone’s File Book 2: The Bonus Pool
A Chinese dissident, targeted by his government for assassination, flees to asylum in Paris through a joint effort of the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Peter McAllen’s InterLynk. A rogue intelligence agent, now freelancing, accepts Beijing’s contract to eliminate the man as a threat to Communist regional control. It is an opportunity to damage McAllen’s organization in the process.
A pool of InterLynk contributors is exposed, and the life of a man capable of changing the spiritual direction of the world’s largest authoritarian regime is on the table. His guardian and her allies must match wits with a ruthless adversary.
The challenge before Boone Hildebrandt and InterLynk Field Operations: find and neutralize a deadly assassin. At risk with a spiritual leader for a movement numbering in the tens of millions is ongoing contributor confidence vital to the existence of the West’s preeminent private intelligence firm.
Approx. 87,000 words / 298 pp.
In full release as of June 9, 2015.
Boone’s File Book 3: One Last Scent of Jasmine
In the aftermath of a midnight raid on a critical defense contractor, Boone Hildebrandt finds herself entangled in a covert plot: one meant to transfer missile defense technology to a foreign power. When a White House Senior Staffer dies, Executive Branch players become suspect in a budding case of international intrigue.
Deducing the international intelligence agency InterLynk has involved itself in negating the initiative, a Senior Advisor to the President orders the Director of National Intelligence to bring the private firm under control. The task falls to his new Senior Case Officer and on-again love interest: call her Boone.
Torn between conflicting loyalties, she is challenged to balance duty, secrets, and developing faith as events test her personal and professional fortitude. Powers romantic, domestic, and international emerge equally determined to overcome any opposition. Boone and InterLynk must press forward in a dangerous contest; in threatening the peace of the Northern Hemisphere, the stakes allow no choice other than playing to win.
Approx. 96, 250 words / 330 pp. print length.
In full release as of February 16, 2016.
Boone’s File Book 4: Meat for the Lion
Boone, now a former covert operative, looks forward to a fulfilling marriage, new career, and brighter days. Investigative journalism by one of her country’s most prominent news personalities, however, begins to unravel a thread of actualities thought to have been classified out of existence. Political players also seek to uncover Boone’s past actions: now threats to her new life.
When not only Boone’s people but the servants of the ill-intended and powerful are targeted for elimination, the result is an undeclared war between the keepers and the kept. Forced back into a high-stakes game against international players, she will need to call on all her resources in order to defend those whom she loves against two of the world’s most powerful men.
Approx. 92,370 wds./ 323 pp. print length.
In full release as of June 28, 2017.
Boone’s File Book 5: A Garden in Russia
Spring brings changes: for Boone, the joy of an expectant mother. Both the U.S. and the Russian Federation see tumultuous presidencies reach unexpected ends; in Moscow, the cause is death at the hands of an InterLynk associate.
Washington political operatives seek to shore up a legacy of failure in order to preserve their party’s viability. In Russia, a resurgent movement exploits political turmoil to propose governance in the style of the last century’s Cold War. To those ends, all pursue a family on the run in the Mediterranean: loved ones whose safety is critical to ensure an assassin’s testimony.
Thrust into an international, unavoidable contest of deadly professionals, Boone’s challenge is to summon her faith and overcome fears inhibiting decisive action. Justice, integrity of governance, and the narrative of history in two countries await the outcome.
Approx. 91,500 words / 329 pp. print length.
In full release as of August 30, 2018.
Ghosts of the Republic (Boone’s File Book 6)
Homicides of prominent figures spike inside the Beltway, and D.C. is on edge.
Presented with an ultimatum from the Director of National Intelligence to find their killers or shoulder the blame, Peter McAllen’s people devote themselves to a singularly vital mission. Interested parties range from Congressional inquisitors to agents of a spiteful liberal news media determined to ferret out InterLynk’s every past move and present ally. None of them are helping.
Boone, Daniel Sean Ritter, and their allies navigate an alarming scenario. If prime movers are using threats to political stability in the world’s last superpower to institute a constitutional crisis, who can they trust?
Ghosts also may be considered an auxiliary title in Sean’s File.
Approx. 85,000 words / 315 pp. print length.
In full release as of February 28, 2020.
Two Years With Master Quan (Boone’s File Book 7)
It is 2004. After earning a PhD in Physiology, academic prodigy Rebecca Boone Hildebrandt, drawn to Vietnam by her lust for adventure, nears completion of another two-year course of study. Here, her instructor is a master of martial arts and former wartime-era associate of her father.
After drug traffickers expanding their operations force a confrontation with the righteous old man, operatives of the West draw him into another covert war. Thrust from a study of martial arts into their most serious application, Boone joins a face-off against a hardened criminal organization backed by local communist beneficiaries.
In their frustration, an opposition seeking to prevail proves desperate enough to kidnap an honored patriarch of his village. Boone, one French DGSE asset, and an agent of the American CIA stand as the last hope for his release from the center of a trap set just for them.
Approx. 83,110 words / 292 pp. print length
In full release as of April 18, 2022.
Vae Obscurum 
Glad I took a look at your titles.
Thanks for stopping by, Nike!
BTW I am only a thousand percent jealous of your 1. writing ability 2. writing speed and 3. ability to craft a lot of incredibly intricate stories without losing quality and 4. Teaching your readers (and many writers) how it’s done. There are more things, I just won’t go there right now
So many layers of internal conflict. I’ve read all of the Boone fictions (save the one coming up) and reading the Anvil of the Craftsman now. Sigh. You’re awesome.
Who’s awesome? -You’re- awesome! Thanks for the kind words.