Former Navy Fighter Pilot and Dallas Author to Revive Bestselling Military Thriller Series

A New York Times bestselling military thriller book series, originally written by the late detective fiction writer W.E.B. Griffin, is getting an action-packed revival via a Dallas author. 

Direct Action, the 10th installment in the Presidential Agent series, hits shelves Tuesday, Dec. 16. Jack Stewart, the Dallas author and retired U.S. Navy fighter pilot behind the new book, is celebrating the release at the flagship Half Price Books in Dallas.

William Edmund Butterworth III, aka W.E.B. Griffin, wrote over 200 books — under many pseudonyms — before he died in 2019. The Korean War veteran is known for crafting authentic military thrillers and detective fiction. His son, William E. Butterworth IV, is among the writers who have continued the Presidential Agent series as a co-author. Stewart is the sole author of Direct Action, though Griffin’s name still appears on the cover.

Direct Action finds the seasoned presidential agent gravely injured in a mass shooting. He passes the torch to a young U.S. Marine captain, who is tasked with searching for the perpetrators and uncovers a deadly plot. Smart, snappy dialogue energizes the exhilarating mystery at the heart of Direct Action. Readers can look forward to dual timelines and flashbacks that keep the story connected to fan-favorite characters from earlier Presidential Agent books.

In his first outing in the series, Stewart, who’s been a fan of Griffin’s work since childhood, said it was important to honor Griffin’s writing style and the characters that have carried the series for over twenty years.

“[Griffin was] very good about finding ways of connecting characters,” Stewart tells us. “As a fan of his writing early on, I wanted to honor that legacy in this book. I really wanted to find those threads from earlier books and carry them through.”

The Presidential Agent series is the latest release from Griffin’s bibliography — he wrote the first five installments and is a co-author on books six through nine. The creative process for Stewart started with researching what readers thought of the most recent book, 2021’s Rogue Asset.

“One thing that I found pretty common among the reviews was that the readers, the fans of the series, were really itching to get back to those characters from [the original books],” Stewart says. “I really [needed] to do my research and find out how I can bring these guys back into the story.”

Another priority was realism, a trait of Griffin’s writing that came somewhat instinctually for Stewart, who spent 23 years in the Navy piloting fighter jets.

“I have a unique perspective with a lot of my writing, not only just in the aviation side of it, but also the special operations side — I’ve at least been able to witness that firsthand,” says Stewart, who’s a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School, more colloquially known as Top Gun.

Nowadays, Stewart is accustomed to leveraging his real-world experience via military thriller storytelling. He’s a six-time author who credits include the USA Today bestseller, Silent Horizons. 

Direct Action marks Stewart’s seventh novel. He’ll be joined in conversation by novelist Don Bentley at the book release event on Dec. 16. Bentley is at the helm of the Mitch Rapp series created by Vince Flynn and inspired American Assassin (2017), the Michael Keaton and Dylan O’Brien-led action thriller film. A book signing will follow the discussion, which begins at 7 p.m.

An event ticket, available online, includes a copy of the book.