Ward Larsen

Ward Larsen flew F-16s in the U.S. Air Force — twenty-two combat missions during Operation Desert Storm — then went on to work as a federal law-enforcement officer, airline captain and trained aircraft accident investigator, expertise he's put directly to use across two long-running thriller series. Jammer Davis, an NTSB air-crash investigator, anchors Larsen's earlier series (Fly By Wire, Fly By Night, Passenger 19), each sending an ordinary-seeming disaster into conspiracy territory with an insider's precision about flight mechanics and crash investigation. His bigger series, though, is David Slaton: a former Mossad assassin trying, across nine novels and counting, to walk away from a trade that keeps pulling him back for one more job, all while attempting a family life his work constantly endangers. Larsen relaunched Slaton with Assassin's Game in 2014, a decade after introducing the character in his 2004 debut, The Perfect Assassin, and Dark Vector (2025) marks a new phase for the series with the introduction of CIA officer Tru Miller as a co-lead. Beyond his series work, Larsen has written standalone thrillers including the WWII-set Stealing Trinity, the disinformation-focused Deep Fake, and Cold Zero, a 2026 Arctic-set collaboration with Brad Thor. Most recently, Larsen joined the rotating slate of authors continuing Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan franchise with Rules of Engagement (2026). New readers should start with Assassin's Game, the more commonly cited entry point to his flagship series. A multiple Florida Book Award winner, Larsen continues to publish across all three strands of his career.