Mike Maden

Mike Maden is an American thriller writer with a Ph.D. in political science focused on conflict and technology in international relations, a background that shows up directly in his techno-heavy approach to military and espionage fiction. He built his own following with the Drone series — Drone, Blue Warrior, Drone Command, and Drone Threat — a run of techno-thrillers centered on unmanned warfare that drew on his academic work analyzing modern conflict. In 2017, Maden was selected to take over the Jack Ryan Jr. novels within Tom Clancy's Ryanverse, succeeding previous writer Grant Blackwood. He wrote four entries in the spin-off series — Point of Contact, Line of Sight, Enemy Contact, and Firing Point — following Jack Ryan Jr. as a CIA analyst turned field operative navigating the same high-stakes geopolitical plots his father's series is known for, before the character passed to a later writer. New readers interested in Maden's own voice should start with Drone; those coming from the wider Clancy universe should start with Point of Contact, written to be accessible without requiring the earlier Jack Ryan Jr. novels by other authors. Maden has also lectured and consulted on Middle East affairs and modern warfare, drawing on that expertise across both bodies of work.