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The Cost of Competence
Stealing Stealth follows a CIA officer tasked with protecting a new stealth technology who must enlist the help of a brilliant thief to stop it from falling into the wrong hands. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I wrote the initial draft of this story when I was deployed in Afghanistan. I was constantly in this battle with what is said and what is left unsaid, in an intriguing chess match with men who were both my ally and not at the same time. To capture this specific paranoia, I thought of the mid-1970s. We often look at the Cold War through the lens of the 80s. That was the end. But just before that, everything was messy. The Church Committee was exposing CIA secrets, Vietnam had just ended, and trust in institutions was crumbling. I wanted to drop a “Boy Scout” character like John Olson into that moral grey zone and force him to work with someone like Gabrielle Hyde, who represents pure, chaotic individualism. The stealth technology itself was the perfect catalyst because it represented a revolution in warfare that terrified everyone. The idea that a plane could be invisible to radar felt like magic in 1977.
There was a lot of time spent crafting the character traits in this novel. What was the most important factor for you to get right in your characters?
Competence. Nothing kills a thriller faster than characters who make stupid decisions just for the sake of the plot. I wanted Olson and Hyde to be masters of their respective crafts. When they fail, it’s because they were outmaneuvered by a smarter opponent, not because they were making bad choices. I also wanted to explore the cost of competence. For Olson, his dedication to the CIA cost him his personal life. For Hyde, her tragic youth led to brilliance as a thief, but it also left her isolated. The most important factor was ensuring that even when they were enemies, they respected each other’s skills. That mutual respect is the engine of the book.
How did you balance the action scenes with the story elements and still keep a fast pace in the story?
My background in special operations taught me that real action is rarely a continuous two-hour firefight. It’s hours of tension followed by seconds of chaos. I tried to replicate that rhythm, but with a better balance. Also, it is important that the reader cares. 1970s politics and game-changing aircraft technology are complicated enough, but I needed the reader to feel that pressure. Then, as the tension built through briefing room politics, the surveillance, and the planning, the reader finally felt the stakes. The pacing comes from the pressure cooker effect; the clock is ticking, and the walls are closing in. Then I added the guns.
What is the next book that you are working on, and when can your fans expect it to be out?
The next book is Arctic Fire, releasing in April 2026. It is a tonal shift from the spy world of Stealing Stealth. It’s a Neo-Western Noir set in the Alaskan wilderness, following a female Marine veteran who uncovers a conspiracy in a small, frozen town. Think Wind River meets Sicario. After that comes Eye of the Caldera. It’s a high-octane disaster thriller inspired by incredible true events and a declassified CIA operation. It drops in the Fall of 2026.
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At the height of the Cold War, America’s revolutionary stealth technology could tip the balance of power. Now the race to control it threatens to derail a critical nuclear treaty between the world’s two superpowers.
Soviet operatives are close to acquiring this game-changing military secret. CIA Officer Olson has just seven days to protect America’s biggest technological advantage from falling into the wrong hands. His only hope lies with the brilliant thief he couldn’t catch: Gabrielle Hyde.
Inside the secretive Skunk Works facility, nothing is what it seems. Hyde and Olson discover Moscow isn’t the only enemy. A traitor from within is thwarting their every move. With both the FBI and KGB closing in and bodies piling up, Olson faces an impossible choice: follow orders from an agency that no longer trusts him or follow Hyde into an elaborate con against his own government.
From a decorated Air Force Colonel with 26 years in special operations and field command comes an authentic Cold War thriller where the greatest threats wear familiar faces.
Trust no one. Question everything. And never underestimate Gabrielle Hyde.
For fans of David McCloskey’s Damascus Station, John le Carré, and Daniel Silva, Stealing Stealth is a high-stakes heist where the only way to protect freedom is to steal its deepest secret.
Stealing Stealth
Stealing Stealth is a Cold War spy thriller about a master thief and a burned-but-still-burning CIA case officer who get pulled into a fight over the future of stealth technology. We meet Gabrielle Hyde in 1975 Toronto, dropping into a dusty old government office from a ventilation shaft to steal classified files while half the law-enforcement world hunts her. At the same time, John Olson, a young CIA case officer with something to prove, becomes obsessed with catching her and then with stopping a legendary Soviet operator, Sasha Morozov, from getting his hands on America’s experimental stealth aircraft research, the kind of “perfect first-strike weapon” that could tip the whole Cold War. Their paths cross, collide, and eventually twist together as they race from rooftops and embassies to African markets and the secretive Skunk Works facility, trying to plug leaks, uncover a mole, and keep a fragile nuclear treaty from falling apart.
Reading it, I felt like I was sitting in a dark theater watching one of those big, old-school spy movies. The writing leans into atmosphere: the musty FBI outpost, the humid chaos of Mogadishu’s markets, the cold wind high over Toronto when Olson literally throws himself between rooftops after Hyde. Scenes play out in clean, visual language that made it easy for me to track the action without getting lost in technical detail. I liked how the book switches perspectives between Gabrielle, Olson, and even Morozov, so I never felt like I was stuck on just one side of the board. The pacing feels very much like a modern spy thriller: bursts of intense action, then quieter conversations where people argue about loyalty, politics, and what it costs to do this kind of work. There are moments where the briefing-room talk about treaties and stealth programs slows things down a bit, but most of the time it adds weight instead of drag, reminding me this is not just about a cool gadget in a metal case, it is about who gets to shape the world.
What stuck with me most were the choices the characters are forced to make. Olson is haunted by a failed operation in Somalia and the death of his partner; that guilt colors everything he does after, especially when he is ordered to stand down and decides to ignore it. Gabrielle is fun to watch because she is both playful and ruthless, a thief who talks about capability as a kind of moral authority and treats sexism in the agencies as another lock to pick. The book lets her be brilliant without sanding off her sharp edges, and I appreciated that. Morozov could have been a cartoon villain, but instead, we see his grief for his granddaughter and the way he is forced back into being “the Demon” when she is taken and ransomed for the stealth data. It does not excuse what he does, but it makes him more human and more unsettling. I also liked the thread about institutions versus individuals: the CIA, FBI, and political leadership spend as much energy protecting careers and narratives as they do protecting the country, and Olson and Hyde are constantly working around their own side as much as they are fighting the enemy.
Stealing Stealth is a solid, character-driven spy thriller with a techno edge, the kind of book you pick up for the rooftop chases and Cold War tension and stay for the messy loyalties and bruised hearts underneath. If you like stories in the vein of Cold War espionage, enjoy the mix of spies, thieves, and experimental weapons, and you appreciate a capable female lead who is always three moves ahead, this book will likely hit the spot for you.
Pages: 474 | ASIN : B0FSL2KVB8
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