M.P. Woodward’s latest newsletter is out and there is a lot in it—because Woodward has been absolutely dominating!

Read Woodward’s newsletter in full below, and sign up to received directly in your email.

Friends—

Just like that, my favorite month of the year—May—is already slipping away.

Here in the Cascade Mountains of the Pacific Northwest, the snowmelt has filled the lakes to the brim, and the hills are alive with fresh green. It’s the kind of season that invites you to pull up a chair, take in the view, and lose yourself in a great book.

Speaking of which… Have you picked up THE FOURTH OPTION yet?

I co-authored THE FOURTH OPTION with former Navy SEAL officer Jack Carr, and it’s been a remarkable ride. Working with Jack was a pleasure. And—I think for both of us—this story was something special. Jack has taken the book everywhere—from Fox News to Good Morning America—and readers have responded in force, sending it straight to the top of the New York Times bestseller list.

The novel’s main character, Chris Walker, isn’t just another operator. He’s a man forged by experience and shadowed by it—a former commando with a relentless sense of purpose and a mind as sharp as it is complicated. Writing him meant digging into what drives someone like that—part warrior, part philosopher, all resolve.  In the tradition of the stranger-comes-to-town western, Chris Walker delivers some rough justice to a number of corrupt lawmen in New Orleans.

Diving into that research put me in contact with multiple veteran operators—like Jack—and down to New Orleans for several weeks, a city I came to appreciate almost as much as the Buffalo Trace rye in a proper Sazerac. There’s no better place to explore atmosphere, tension, and history layered on top of itself—and all of it found its way into the book.

If you haven’t grabbed a copy yet, you can find it here: THE FOURTH OPTION

May brought another incredible moment for me.

I had the honor of traveling to the U.S. Naval Academy to receive the “Author of the Year” award from the U.S. Naval Institute for RED TIDE – A NOVEL OF THE NEXT PACIFIC WAR. The highlight of that event for me was when a four-star admiral—former commander of all U.S. forces in the Pacific—told me he had actively worried about the scenario presented in the story, loved the book, and asked me to sign his copy. That’s a moment I will never forget.

If you haven’t read it yet, you can find it here: RED TIDE

Yours truly, with my wife, Stacia, and members of the USNI editorial board (Claire Noble, Padraic Carlin, a Virginia-class sub commander, and Admiral Adam Kane).

And now for what’s ahead.

I’m excited to officially share that my brand-new thriller series—THE ATTACHÉ—is coming next summer from Crown, an imprint of Penguin Random House. This is a project I’ve been deeply immersed in, and I can’t wait to bring you into that world next year.

In the meantime, I’m putting the final red-pen edits on my upcoming Tom Clancy Jack Ryan Sr. novel, THE COLDEST WAR, which releases this November and is now available for preorder: THE COLDEST WAR

There’s much more to tell you about both these books—but I’ll save those reveals for another time.

Over the past months, research has taken me across Norway, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Turkey, and Egypt—each location adding new texture and realism to the stories ahead. I look forward to sharing more from those journeys as each book approaches launch.

Until then, thank you—as always—for reading, for supporting, and for coming along on the ride.

It truly makes all of this worth it.

Sincerely,
M.P. Woodward