Set decades before the events of his debut novel, THE TERMINAL LIST (2018), Carr opens with a powerful preface that frames the inspiration for the adventure he’s about to take his readers on while also revisiting the turmoil of 1968, before then immediately launching into a raw, viceral story that expands his already-established universe by going back in time to follow a young Navy SEAL named Tom Reece, the eventual father of James Reece, the protagonist of his mega-bestselling franchise.

Kicking things off in the jungles of Laos, Tom Reece can feel something is off. Tightening the grip on his 7.62 x 39 RPD machine gun—fitted with a modified barrel and a removed bipod, to make the weapon feel closer to the Stoner 63 he carried during his last SEAL deployment—Reece lays on the ground, rain misting all around him, watching, waiting for the enemy forces that he can sense long before he can see or hear. Now attached to Military Assistance Command, Vietnam—Studies and Observations Group, or “MACV-SOG” for short, Reece, second in command of Recon Team Havoc, knows that enemy forces are closing in around his six-man team, and fast. Nothing new for Havoc, who have made contact in eleven out of their last thirteen missions, except that the NVA trackers searching for them seemed to have gotten the drop on their exact location.

And that doesn’t just happen by chance.

Continuing to clutch his RPD, Reece lies in wait, hoping the NVA trackers will pass right on by, until a war dog and its handler stumble upon him, igniting a firefight that quickly turns the jungle into hell on earth.

The opening ambush—complete with chattering machine guns, downed helicopters, and a shocking final moment that’s too good to spoil—channels the unforgettable energy of THE TERMINAL LIST‘s early pages, and similarly, the very next chapter goes back four months in time to explain what led up to the carnage in Laos. That said, CRY HAVOC is far more than battlefield heroics. It’s a ruthless collision of shadow wars, spycraft, and Cold War espionage as Carr lifts the curtain on the clandestine world of MACV-SOG, layering authenticity on every page—from the KGB’s dark corridors to the muddy trails of Vietnam. The pacing is blistering, the action cinematic, and the stakes—both moral and personal—cut right to the bone.

What makes this book truly stand apart, though, is Carr’s refusal to play it safe. He doesn’t just deliver hot-lead firefights and pitch-perfect tradecraft; he probes the gray areas of loyalty, betrayal, and sacrifice with an emotional force that lingers long after the smoke clears. For those who caught Tom Reece’s cameo in ONLY THE DEAD, his full-length origin story may have felt inevitable—but CRY HAVOC is so much more than just an origin story. It’s a scorching, immersive thriller that proves yet again that nobody writes with more intensity, authenticity, or raw emotion than Jack Carr, and firmly cements him as not only the hottest author in the genre today, but a worthy heir to Tom Clancy’s throne.

With a new hero suiting up and going to war, Jack Carr plunges readers into an explosive, uncompromising, and unforgettable high-stakes collision between shadowy CIA paramilitary units and the world of Navy SEAL operations. It’s part military thriller, part historical fiction, part spy game—and 100% unputdownable. CRY HAVOC isn’t just the best book of the year . . . it’s the kind of story that’ll remind you why you fell in love with thrillers in the first place.

– The Real Book Spy