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Jeremy Lopez, US Army Ranger #1
The Most Dangerous Man: A Jeremy Lopez, US Army Ranger Thriller
Not yet published
Expected 9 Jun 26The Grey Man meets “The Most Dangerous Game” in this military thriller from a U.S. Special Forces veteran turned investigative journalist.
There are rumors that in some corners of the world, wildlife poachers have become the prey themselves—hunted for the sport of one man hunting another.
Staff Sgt. Jeremy Lopez is a U.S. Army Ranger serving in the highly secretive Regimental Reconnaissance Company, providing support on covert missions in West Africa. When Lopez accepts the wrong drink in the wrong bar from the wrong woman, her face is the last thing he remembers before waking up in a locked dirty cell.
It soon becomes clear that this is no government facility–this is a holding cell for an elite hunting party, and Lopez has been chosen as their next quarry. These hunters started killing poachers who crossed their paths, and they’ve been building towards a more challenging game.
But Lopez isn’t he’s a hunter himself. When he’s set loose into the wilds, Lopez knows that he’ll need to get to work and do his survive, evade, escape, and kill.
Former US Army Ranger and Green Beret Jack Murphy delivers a military thriller that’s as urgent and technically accurate as it is explosive, perfect for fans of Mark Greaney and Jack Carr.
There are rumors that in some corners of the world, wildlife poachers have become the prey themselves—hunted for the sport of one man hunting another.
Staff Sgt. Jeremy Lopez is a U.S. Army Ranger serving in the highly secretive Regimental Reconnaissance Company, providing support on covert missions in West Africa. When Lopez accepts the wrong drink in the wrong bar from the wrong woman, her face is the last thing he remembers before waking up in a locked dirty cell.
It soon becomes clear that this is no government facility–this is a holding cell for an elite hunting party, and Lopez has been chosen as their next quarry. These hunters started killing poachers who crossed their paths, and they’ve been building towards a more challenging game.
But Lopez isn’t he’s a hunter himself. When he’s set loose into the wilds, Lopez knows that he’ll need to get to work and do his survive, evade, escape, and kill.
Former US Army Ranger and Green Beret Jack Murphy delivers a military thriller that’s as urgent and technically accurate as it is explosive, perfect for fans of Mark Greaney and Jack Carr.
- GenresThriller
304 pages, Paperback
Expected publication June 9, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Not quite the crossover between LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and JAWS as pitched to execs by two-time Academy Award winning screenwriter William Goldman, THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS deftly delivered an incredible thriller of two murderous lions on a bloody rampage in Africa and the hunter on their trail to end the carnage. From HATARI! to WHITE HUNTER BLACK HEART and BEAST, hunting big game in Africa is the exotic escape that makes for great silver screen distraction. When big game is no longer big enough, an intrepid US Army Ranger on temporary duty finds himself in the crosshairs deep in the heart of Africa. Even alone and hunted, he's a force to be reckoned with. To survive, he must become the ghost AND the darkness. This one's up close. Bloody. Personal. He's THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN.
Living and breathing the Ranger Creed, Jeremy Lopez is on temporary duty in east Africa, a stone-throw from the vast preserve of Benin, playground of the rich, armed and shameless. Fifteen years in, Ranger Regiment and the most elite Regimental Reconnaissance Company (RRC), the boy from rural Alabama nicknamed "J-Lo' has zero patience for officer ranks or nonsense. Accordingly, Lopez's career track is in slow grind, landing him as a one-man army in West Africa, looking at a potential one-night stand through a whiskey tumbler and ending up shackled in the middle of nowhere. Right there with him, all the baddies are present; Silicon Valley scum and titans of industry, led by a Ketamine micro-dosing billionaire from South Africa. Tired of the lions, leopards, elephants, cape buffalo, and rhinos, the murderous seven are looking to make it the big six by giving their taxidermist a heart attack when they bring him Lopez's head. They're on a quest to break the ultimate taboo...murder. Better than Sherman McCoy, they're the Masters of the Universe, the future of America and thus the world. On the wrong side of hunting rifles, Lopez can run but to survive, deception is more important than distance. Bringing the Wild West to Africa, THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN must take his hunters apart and break them--physically and mentally. It's kill or be killed. A dog eat dog world.
Closely married to THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME by title and topic, THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN expounds that simple tactics are often the most effective. A combat vet Green Beret/Ranger by training and an investigative journalist by trade, the author leverages this to utmost effect, as THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN doesn't mess around. No lengthy intro. No proselytizing. No sermons. Title page, lock and load. Go. It's a wild action ride that takes advantage of atmospherics, tension and the thrill of the hunt. Reminding of AVENGING FORCE, SURVIVING THE GAME, HARD TARGET, and some elements of FIRST BLOOD and PREDATOR, THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN sets off a new thriller series with a bang. Among the snark and sniping, THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN slays with fire phrases like 5.11 tuxedo, memetic warfare and tree stacking. Timely and relevant, THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN explores today's cultural ethos and the world we live in, superimposed on a deadly game of cat and mouse, inadvertently advocating that the best man shall win. Outnumbered and outgunned, THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN delivers a breathtaking and savage tour de force thriller. Gear up and load out, THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN is running free.
Big thank you to Jack Murphy, Net Galley, and Crooked Lane Book for the thrilling ARC.
Review of advance copy received from Author
BOOK REVIEW The Most Dangerous Man by Jack Murphy
Jack Murphy leads the way giving readers a fresh Ranger story that trades chest beating for pulse pounding precision. As a respected voice, Jack doesn’t follow the genre, he says, Follow Me.
—————
Jack Murphy’s The Most Dangerous Man hits different because it comes from someone who has actually done the job. Ranger. Green Beret. Journalist. He writes with authority you cannot fake, cannot deny, and he does not need to explain.
What jumped out right away (literally) is the focus on the Regimental Reconnaissance Company. Most authors stay in the safe lane with douchy cliche broken down battle-weary SEALs, Delta, or CIA Ground Branch. Murphy goes where it is quieter and more lethal. RRC is rarely explored in fiction and he brings it forward without turning it into mythology. It feels controlled, deliberate, and real. And I love that the guy was tracked or tracking the whole time with authenticity.
Jeremy Lopez is a strong ballsy choice for a lead. A mixed race Ranger operating in spaces where elitism and quiet (and not so quiet) racism exist that adds weight without dragging the story into a lecture. You see it. You feel it. Then the mission keeps moving. That balance is not easy to pull off and Murphy puts the right amount of light on it for shades of contrast.
The violence is also earned. Not flashy for the sake of it. When it comes, it is direct and final. There is a certain satisfaction in watching the right people get what is coming to them. Call it justice delivered at speed. Don’t get me wrong, I love his old character series with Deckar and the expected grey matter splatter, but this could be an airport book rack best seller.
As noted, where Jack separates himself is in the tradecraft. Survival is not luck. It is process. It is TTPs. Movement, decision making, pressure, all of it tracks. You can tell he understands how professionals think when things go bad and how they stay alive when they should not.
There are also moments that will land for readers who know the deeper ecosystem. Subtle touches that reflect how an ISA operator would be in the same mess. Nothing loud. Just enough to signal credibility and know how JSOC pieces fit together. Drake Woolf would be proud.
Most important, this is not another recycled operator story. No inflated ego. No fantasy heroics. This is a thinking man’s thriller that still brings violence, suspense, and forward momentum.
Murphy didn’t just write another strong entry in the genre. He widened it. Just enough for other writers to attempt replication only to fall to their deaths over Jack’s punji stakes.
-JT Patten, Author, Task Force Orange series
Jack Murphy leads the way giving readers a fresh Ranger story that trades chest beating for pulse pounding precision. As a respected voice, Jack doesn’t follow the genre, he says, Follow Me.
—————
Jack Murphy’s The Most Dangerous Man hits different because it comes from someone who has actually done the job. Ranger. Green Beret. Journalist. He writes with authority you cannot fake, cannot deny, and he does not need to explain.
What jumped out right away (literally) is the focus on the Regimental Reconnaissance Company. Most authors stay in the safe lane with douchy cliche broken down battle-weary SEALs, Delta, or CIA Ground Branch. Murphy goes where it is quieter and more lethal. RRC is rarely explored in fiction and he brings it forward without turning it into mythology. It feels controlled, deliberate, and real. And I love that the guy was tracked or tracking the whole time with authenticity.
Jeremy Lopez is a strong ballsy choice for a lead. A mixed race Ranger operating in spaces where elitism and quiet (and not so quiet) racism exist that adds weight without dragging the story into a lecture. You see it. You feel it. Then the mission keeps moving. That balance is not easy to pull off and Murphy puts the right amount of light on it for shades of contrast.
The violence is also earned. Not flashy for the sake of it. When it comes, it is direct and final. There is a certain satisfaction in watching the right people get what is coming to them. Call it justice delivered at speed. Don’t get me wrong, I love his old character series with Deckar and the expected grey matter splatter, but this could be an airport book rack best seller.
As noted, where Jack separates himself is in the tradecraft. Survival is not luck. It is process. It is TTPs. Movement, decision making, pressure, all of it tracks. You can tell he understands how professionals think when things go bad and how they stay alive when they should not.
There are also moments that will land for readers who know the deeper ecosystem. Subtle touches that reflect how an ISA operator would be in the same mess. Nothing loud. Just enough to signal credibility and know how JSOC pieces fit together. Drake Woolf would be proud.
Most important, this is not another recycled operator story. No inflated ego. No fantasy heroics. This is a thinking man’s thriller that still brings violence, suspense, and forward momentum.
Murphy didn’t just write another strong entry in the genre. He widened it. Just enough for other writers to attempt replication only to fall to their deaths over Jack’s punji stakes.
-JT Patten, Author, Task Force Orange series
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Well well well.
It’s like The Hunger Games, but not?
Jeremy Lopez, an Army Ranger, gets unknowingly drugged & captured, only to be hunted. Yes, you read that right, HUNTED. Now he’s in for basically the fight of his life. He has to run, defeat these bad guys & also rescue his comrade, because “no man left behind” all while making sure he stays alive in order to do so.
My fav quotes:
"Honey, you slipped a Mickey in my drink and shanghaied me across an international border in order for a group of fucking psychopathic whack jobs to hunt me like an animal for sport. You're like some kind of fucked-up version of Charlize Theron."
"No, nothing like me. I kill to survive, not for
petty vanity."
"SIT THE FUCK down right there," one of the JSOC officers ordered Lopez.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, & the author for my copy of this arc.
All opinions are my own and my review reflects as such. 🌍🏃🏽💨⌛️
It’s like The Hunger Games, but not?
Jeremy Lopez, an Army Ranger, gets unknowingly drugged & captured, only to be hunted. Yes, you read that right, HUNTED. Now he’s in for basically the fight of his life. He has to run, defeat these bad guys & also rescue his comrade, because “no man left behind” all while making sure he stays alive in order to do so.
My fav quotes:
"Honey, you slipped a Mickey in my drink and shanghaied me across an international border in order for a group of fucking psychopathic whack jobs to hunt me like an animal for sport. You're like some kind of fucked-up version of Charlize Theron."
"No, nothing like me. I kill to survive, not for
petty vanity."
"SIT THE FUCK down right there," one of the JSOC officers ordered Lopez.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, & the author for my copy of this arc.
All opinions are my own and my review reflects as such. 🌍🏃🏽💨⌛️
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
An Army Ranger was drugged and captured to be used as the prey for a group of wealthy men who were on a safari in Africa to kill people not animals . I'm not sure who was the audience for this book. The writing style was right for a middle school student. The themes, the violence and the language were for an adult. The plot was unrealistic with one unarmed man eventually disposing of all of the original hunters, plus a second group, including women and children, who were flown in to finish the job the original hunters were unable to do. Skip this one. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc with no pressure for a positive review. One star because I had to choose a star.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This is a fantastic book. Great non-stop action. For what I like to think is an improbable premise, the author did a great job making it seem like a possibility. There were great, likeable characters and those that you really disliked but both were very believable.
I'll be looking for more books by this author moving forward.
I'll be looking for more books by this author moving forward.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Lopez, an Army Ranger, is drugged and taken out to the African savanna. He is forced to run, prey for wealthy hunters on a murderous safari. Lots of thrills as Lopez tries to outsmart the hunters. Fast fun read.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
This was a great and fast paced story. It is in need of some editing, but I loved every minute of it. A little. Unbelievable in parts but, I think it worked for this story. It also had a very nice ending. This book was a pleasant surprise.
May 18, 2026
An old school survival story filled with carnage and chaos. I don’t read many military thrillers, but this one was excellent.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews