May brings a real feast of books to get your teeth into, and one title I’m recommending from last year, in case you missed it.
My top pick for the month is The Fourth Option from Jack Carr and M.P. Woodward. This is the first time Carr has collaborated on a fictional title, and it’s his first fictional title outside the James Reece series. Partnered up with M.P. Woodward, this has a new and different feel. The character Chris Walker is carrying a very different burden and at the opening of the novel is moments away from blowing his brains out. Saved from that fate by an unexpected call, he starts a journey to bring justice to New Orleans. Chris Walker is a character you are going to want to follow from the beginning. Although no future books have been announced, I can’t imagine this series ending here. Read my review Why The Fourth Option is Not Your Typical Thriller, as well as my deep dive Chris Walker’s Warrior Code in The Fourth Option.
Second up is Riptide from Jack Stewart and Chad Robichaux. I’m only just digging into this book so can’t say much more than it’s turning out to be a great follow up to the first novel in the series, Silent Horizons, and Foster Quinn is a complex character but one that I find increasingly compelling. Read my review of the first book in the series, Silent Horizons – Where the Drone Shadow Meets the Operator’s Soul. The Stewart-Robichaux partnership is turning out great. May seems to be the month for co-writing partnerships that hit the mark.
The third book to look out for this month is Rules of Engagement from Ward Larsen. This is the next title in the Jack Ryan Sr. series. Larsen steps in to deliver a single novel in the series and delivers a functional technothriller that long-term fans of the series won’t want to miss. It’s one of the weakest entries in the series for a while but nonetheless, it was great to see new tech and a greater role for fast jets than we’ve seen for some time in the series. Check out my review Does Ward Larsen Stick the Landing in Rules of Engagement?
Lastly, I want to recommend you double back to pick up a novel that may have passed you by last year. In my opinion, M.P. Woodward delivered 2025’s book of the year, Red Tide. If the collaboration with Jack Carr has only just brought Woodward to your attention, trust me and go back and pick up Red Tide. It isn’t just a novel, it’s a shot across the bow. Woodward blends technical authenticity, geopolitical urgency, and deeply human storytelling into something rare: a thriller that entertains at full throttle while forcing you to think about the real-world stakes. It’s a book that belongs on the same shelf as Red Storm Rising, not as an imitation but as its modern Pacific counterpart, a work that understands the changing nature of naval warfare and the families who fight it. Read my review A Modern Masterpiece: M.P. Woodward’s Red Tide Rises to the Occasion.
The Fourth Option – Jack Carr & M.P. Woodward
Available: May 12, 2026
Publisher: Atria
When law enforcement, the courts, and the prison system fail, there is a fourth and final option. #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr launches a new thriller series cowritten with New York Times bestselling author M.P. Woodward.
Disillusioned by the government and institutions he dedicated his life to serving, former Navy SEAL and CIA ground branch operative Chris Walker is about to end his life when he receives a call that saves it. The wife of a teammate he lost in Afghanistan has now lost her son to the opioid crisis and needs Walker’s help. Thrust into a conspiracy that goes deeper than he ever imagined, Walker must go up against the system and the very Constitution he once swore an oath to support and defend in order to find justice for his friend’s widow.
With ambitious FBI agent Jarrett Stanton on his tail, Walker—accompanied by his loyal Belgian Malinois K-9 and using his off-the-grid VW pop-up camper filled with a hidden cache of weapons—takes justice into his own hands, exposing corruption and issuing a long-forgotten brand of lethal outlaw justice.
In the tradition of the great “stranger comes to town” Westerns of the past comes a modern interpretation of the mysterious vigilante gunslinger legend from “the hottest author on the thriller scene today” (The Real Book Spy). Get ready for a new kind of hero. Justice is coming.
Riptide – Jack Stewart & Chad Robichaux
Available: May 12, 2026
Publisher: Tyndale Fiction
A shadow war rages. Only one man can drag it into the light.
Still haunted by his former teammate’s betrayal and the unveiling of a conspiracy that runs deeper than he imagined, Foster Quinn is once more thrust back into the world he thought he left behind. In the sweltering heat off the coast of Key West, a mission to seize a billionaire’s yacht ends in a chilling revelation: America’s enemies aren’t just beyond our borders—they might be sitting in Congress.
When a powerful Texas businessman recruits Foster to investigate the political malfeasance behind the death of his son, Foster is pulled into a web of corruption that leads him from a luxury megayacht in the Caribbean to a tech mogul’s grand estate in the Pacific Northwest. As he hunts down the men pulling the strings, Foster must resist the temptation in his search for justice to be swept away by revenge. He’ll need all his training and resilience to unravel a plot driven by greed and masked by patriotism. Especially when the war becomes personal, and he realizes it’s coming to his own turf.
The sequel to the USA Today bestseller Silent Horizons, Riptide is an exhilarating, ripped-from-the-headlines thriller that blurs the line between duty and revenge—and leaves no one above suspicion.
Tom Clancy Rules of Engagement – Ward Larsen
Available: May 19, 2026
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
When a member of his Cabinet is killed in a plane crash President Jack Ryan suspects that the “accident” is anything but in this latest shocking entry in this #1 New York Times bestselling series.
The White House is stunned when the Secretary of Commerce is killed in a plane crash in Turkey. President Jack Ryan isn’t ready to write this off as a simple accident. Not only has he lost a good friend, but the Secretary was on an important mission: on the surface he was making an appearance at an economic conference, but the CIA was also using the flight as cover to extract an important asset from the Middle East.
Soon, Lt. Commander Katie Ryan and her team are working with the investigators to find the cause of the tragedy, but one shocking revelation changes everything. There were supposed to be 16 people on the plane, but there are only 15 bodies.
The quest for answers will lead the team deeper and deeper into a quagmire of lies and deception that will force President Ryan to face an unprincipled enemy with global ambitions.
Red Tide – M.P. Woodward
Available: Out now
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
America’s Navy is stretched to the breaking point. China’s combat fleet grows. And both countries compete for access to advanced semiconductor chips produced only in Taiwan. Can Will Cole succeed in the impossible in time?
Rear Adm. Will Cole, outgoing operations officer (N3) of the Pacific Fleet, knows this is a recipe for disaster. But after decades at sea, he is ready to pass the torch to the next generation of “fighting Coles”: his eldest, Henry, a Navy lieutenant who flies F-18s; his middle son Jaime, a merchant marine officer; and his daughter Lu back home. When the new Cold War turns hot, however, Cole must abandon his plans. Proven right when the missiles start flying, Cole’s reward is an order to do the impossible: destroy the Chinese fleet and retake Taiwan—before it’s too late.