Meet Steve Stratton

Background: Steve Stratton started his Army career at the White House Communications Agency supporting the communications needs of President’s Ford and Carter, Vice President’s Rockefeller and Mondale and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. His work took him around the world introducing him to new cultures, ways of thinking, and the various agencies tasked with projecting and protecting American interests abroad.

The jump from WHCA to the US Secret Service was an easy transition but after several years and election campaign Steve left for the commercial sector.

Steve was awarded his Green Beret in 1986. From the 80’s through 2000 he deployed counter-drug and training missions in the SOUTHCOM region.

During this time his civilian work included supporting CENTCOM, SOCOM, and DIA.

Today he develops cyber security products that support the DOD and Intelligence Community.

Book Genre: Military Thriller

Hook Or Blurb: A family vacation in Mexico ends in death. Army Special Forces leader Lance Bear Wolf’s parents are killed attempting to save lives. To avenge his parents, Wolf targets a Sinaloa Cartel lieutenant and his sadistic sister Eliana Cortes.

The US and Mexican Governments are powerless to help. Wolf, a Crow Indian by birth, starts his own covert guerrilla war, attacking the cartel with help from family and teammates. In the depth of his darkness, Wolf attacks sites in Los Angeles creating an all out war between the Tijuana and Sinaloa cartels. But revenge comes at a high cost to his friends as a cartel assassin speaks his language of death. The cartel’s Mexican government insiders label Wolf a terrorist. The FBI leads a multi-agency investigation taking Wolf to the brink of losing everything, before the President forms Shadow Tier, a new covert unit built from special operations National Guard and Reservist personnel.

Their mission, to take the fight across the border to the Sinaloa Cartel. Wolf lets go of his need for revenge, and in the end, he saves Eliana and his own soul.

Book Outline: Lance Bear Wolf, a Crow Indian by birth, and Special Forces leader stops with his parents for lunch in Mexico. Wolf and his father fight to save lives during a drug cartel shooting. Eliana Cortes, a leader in the Sinaloa Cartel, gives the order to kill the American’s. Wolf’s father is killed, his mother critically wounded.

The cartel kills the mother in her hospital bed. Wolf vows revenge no matter the cost. He devises a plan to capture a cartel member. The plan works, it’s the cartel intelligence chief, but he is killed by the cartel in an attempted rescue. The police deport Wolf and his family. Once back Wolf starts planning his revenge using a hunting trip and training missions to cover his tracks.

Wolf builds a team of like minded men. A training mission along the Arizona border provides their cover story. They cross the border to attack one of the cartel’s key transportation hubs in Mexico. The cartel responds by sending a Florida drug gang to kill Wolf and when that doesn’t work an assassin. Mexican Army Captain Gonzalez, a friend of Wolf’s, is attacked during a family dinner. Wolf gets the wife and kids to Ft. Bragg while the Captain continues to covertly support Wolf’s attacks.

Wolf is losing to the darkness of revenge as he breaks his own pre-set boundaries. He attacks cartel sites in Los Angeles knowing US law enforcement will investigate. The assassin kills Wolf’s mentor Colonel Gates and a cartel hating Mexican Homicide Detective, Lieutenant Cardenas.

Against his best friends advice, Wolf crosses the border to attack cartel production sites and aircraft. He is successful but is badly wounded in the process. Cartel moles have Wolf labeled an international terrorist and Mexico’s most wanted man. The FBI leads the investigation and the DEA, Treasury Department and other agencies join in.

Wolf is at his lowest, near giving up when he is summoned to US Special Operations Command. A Colonel Davidson has convinced the President that Wolf and his team have done more to damage Sinaloa Cartel in the last four months then all the efforts of previous ten plus years by the US Government.

A new classified unit, code name Shadow Tier, is formed. Wolf is head of operations, their first mission to capture or kill Alejandro and Eliana Cortes.

The Shadow Tier team captures Eliana. Sinaloa Cartel boss El Chapo, wants to trade Eliana for her brother Alejandro. They execute the exchange and Wolf ends up saving Alejandro from a kill team. Wolf targets El Chapo and they just miss.

The story ends with two cartel leaders headed into WITSEC. Eliana takes over as head of the cartel’s west coast operations, reporting into Shadow Tier. The team has proven itself, but there are unanswered questions. An underground site in Mexico, a possible Bin Laden connection, plus growing Islamic extremism. Wolf says, “Its an uncertain future we face, we have to be ready.”

Authors With A Similar Style: Brad Thor, Jack Carr, Andrews and Wilson. Well-developed characters and plot with just enough tech to be interesting without boring the readers.

Read Reviews: Kashif Steve Todd

How To Contact Steve: Website, Twitter and Facebook.