David Ricciardi Books In Order

Publication Order of Jake Keller Books

David Ricciardi is bestselling American author of thriller novels famously known for his thriller/fiction novel Warning Light. As a passionate outdoorsman, Ricciardi integrated most of his personal experiences into his debut novel. He has backpacked and camped through the mountains of the United States West and Alaska with through weapons training from the United States Special Operations personnel and law enforcement. David is also a certified scuba diver, former ski instructor, and a competitive sailor. When not writing, you will find David making use of his degree in economics to sharpen his 23-year career as a bond trader.

In his debut thriller fiction novel, Warning Light, David Ricciardi introduces his main character, Zack Miller, an analyst working for the CIA London based station. When compared, both David Ricciardi and his creation (Zack Miller) have a lot in common. For example, they both love sailing, backcountry shooting sports, scuba diving. However, the author admits that indeed Zack is better at what he does than any him. Ricciardi’s applied unique approach to make Warning Light an authentic story without adding any superficial stories just to make his book sale. What you will love about this action-packed novel is the fact that there are no underwater gunfights, or rooftop motorcycle chases and everything in there is something that any real-life person could do in the quest for survival if their life depended on. Ricciardi’s novel is a great recommendation for those who love survival and action genre as the story follows your normal regular guy main character who is tossed into a nearly hopeless situation by chance. Things look even more desolate when he discovers that no one apart from his captors realizes that he is missing.

Ricciardi admits that he was greatly inspired by a local librarian a few years ago who recommended a book to his wife before writing his debut novel. The book’s title was Five Past Midnight, by James. After a week of reading the story, Ricciardi went back to the library and searched for other interesting books and found a book called Essential Guide to Writing a Novel that prompted him to write a novel.

Warning Light

The Warning Light is a baptism of fire for Zac Miller, and it is one of the top young lead characters in this high stakes, action packed, fast paced debut thriller novel by David Ricciardi.

The novel opens up a mid-flight, with a commercial flight headed to Singapore reroutes and makes an emergency landing in Iran after experiencing severe commercial issues. While Iran’s is not their first emergency landing choice, the only runway that the plane is capable of landing on is located at a military base. As the passenger deplane the Airbus, Zack Miller, a 28-year-old American tech consultant uses his mobile phone to take a photo of the beautiful pink sunset far beyond the mountains. While his fellow passengers think of nothing about Zack Miller’s short-lived photograph session- the Iranian soldiers witness it and moment later, Zack is sent to an cross-examination room starring down a colonel of the Revolutionary Guard who charges him of being an undercover agent.

While not a professional spy, Zack Miller is actually an analyst working for the CIA on a classified mission known as Operation Snapshot. The airplane mechanical failure, even though real to the pilots and the flight crew- it was all staged. This entire operation was designed to get a better analysis on the ground in Iran and take photographs of a mountainside where the CIA has a strong belief that the Iranians are hiding something lethal.

However, just before the operation launch, the agent assigned to this mission was found to be known to the Iranians and with the ground operational window soon closing, Zac instead begged his superiors to send him on a quest that he soon regrets. Armed with just basic hand to hand combat skills- thanks to the many months of training he underwent at the CIA operations training facility and the strong instincts, Zac manages to escape captivity only to find himself on the run in the desert heavily pursued by armed soldiers.

Making it worse, unknown to Miller, the Iranians soldiers put someone disguising himself as Miller on the plane that eventually lands in Singapore. The double identity commits several crimes including murder and leaves behind Zack’s DNA which causes Zac’s superior to believe that he has gone rogue.

Desperate to head back home and deliver the evidence that he had obtained, Zack must first make his way across the sandy desert, then navigate the open sea and somehow zigzag his way back to Europe. Warning Light is an incredible journey full many twists and turns, as the author, Ricciardi takes readers on an epic relentless ride.

From the heart racing chapters to the satisfying ending, David Ricciardi relies on his attention to even the smallest details to add some realism to his debut novel. When you first meet Zac, he is an untested, unproven, and flawed character and this makes him a likable character, unlike another protagonist who are introduced sharp with their skills. Over the course of Zac’s journey, the author masterfully develops Zac into a solid main character, the reminiscent of a young Jack Ryan. Forged through fire and combat-tested, the Zac you finally meet on the last page is an entirely different character you meet on the introduction pages. David Ricciardi treats his fans to an exciting front row seat view of the complete maturation process that this young covert agent is subjected to most grueling circumstances, delivering a thorough, action spiced, and an enjoyable reading experience along the way.

Warning Light first published in 2014 by Amazon Digital Services is a brilliant read. Ricciardi has beautifully incorporated historical events from the Middle East into this action-packed story- an indicator that the author cleverly well researched before writing. Overall, the book could be considered a combination of adventure travel guide, part history lesson and James Bond movie all integrated together. What you will also love about Zac is the fact that even though he suffers defeats, one after the other as he tries to flee from his captors, he does not give up. Ricciardi’s uses a unique approach that takes a break from the usual spy thriller novels common in other works making his book feel like a mashed bit of The Odyssey, Survivorman, and All is Lost.

2 Responses to “David Ricciardi”

1. Richard: 6 months ago

   Awesome read thumbs up

   Reply
2. Stefan Margolis: 1 year ago

   Just finished Shadow Target, the last book in the series so far. I say ”so far” as i can’t wait see if there is a follow on book. It’s always a little depressing when you finish a great book series, feels like your best friend just moved out of town. Please don’t let it end like this, I need more

   Reply