Alex Ryan

Alex Ryan is the shared pen name of writing team Brian Andrews, a former U.S. Navy officer and nuclear engineer, and Jeffrey Wilson, a former Green Beret medic turned trauma surgeon. Together they used the byline for a short, self-contained two-book run: Beijing Red (2016) and Hong Kong Black (2017), espionage thrillers following covert operative Nick Foley through a bioweapon conspiracy originating in China and a follow-up crisis across East Asia. The books lean on real biosecurity and intelligence-tradecraft detail, filtered through a fast, plot-forward style built for readers who want their spy fiction technically grounded rather than gadget-driven. Andrews and Wilson retired the Alex Ryan name after just two books and have written everything since under their own names: the long-running Task Force Ember series Tier One, the military thrillers Sons of Valor and The Shepherds, and several continuation novels in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan universe, including Act of Defiance, Defense Protocol and Executive Power. New readers curious about the Alex Ryan books specifically should start with Beijing Red, though anyone who enjoys it is really discovering Andrews and Wilson's writing partnership, which continues at a steady pace under their real names today. There is no film or TV adaptation of the Nick Foley novels.