Don Bentley Books In Order

Publication Order of Matt Drake Books

Publication Order of Jack Ryan Universe Books

Chronological Order of Jack Ryan Universe Books

Publication Order of Mitch Rapp Books

Chronological Order of Mitch Rapp Books

Publication Order of Jack Ryan, Jr / Campus. Books

Don Bentley is an All-American author best known for writing the Matt Drake series of books. Bentley himself is a veteran of foreign wars for the United States of America. He spent a decade of his life in the U.S. Army as an Army Apache helicopter pilot. During his tenure in the U.S. Army, Bentley was stationed in South Korea, Germany, and Texas.

Bentley was also deployed to Afghanistan in his military career as a Troop Commander. He was sent there in support of Operation Enduring Freedom VI. Don was decorated for his service and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Air Medal with “V” device for valor.

It should come as no surprise based on his career and his writing style that Bentley was a lover of military thrillers. He enjoyed reading the genre while going up and had a desire to join the Army as well. He first discovered the genre from reading Tom Clancy as a teenager and Clancy became his first favorite author.

After leaving the armed forces, Bentley found work in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He was placed as a FBI special agent which lead to him being a member of the Dallas Office Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team.

He worked for the FBI for a number of years, but eventually left to pursue other opportunities. Don has found work for a number of companies that develop technology for the U.S. Special Operations Community. His education from Ohio State really helps with this line of work as he holds a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from that university. Additionally, and this applies to his writing career, Bentley holds an M.F.A in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University.

Bentley made his debut as an author in 2020 with the release of Without Sanction. This is the first book in the Matt Drake series which then continued with The Outside Man. Additionally, Bentley has been an author for the Tom Clancy/Jack Ryan Junior universe of books, writing Target Acquired.

At one point while he was working on becoming a writer, he had reached a particularly low point and met Nick Petrie of Peter Ash fame. He was ready to give up on writing, but Petrie told him “You’re me, two years ago. Don’t quit.” Those words stuck with Don and he went home and finished his next novel. That one was was read by an agent who agreed to represent him, and the rest is history.

Without Sanction introduces us to Defense Intelligence Agency operative Matt Drake. He was a member of a clandestine operation in Syria that went tragically wrong, but he was able to escape with his life. His failure ended up costing three people their lives and his best friend was left crippled. Drake is troubled by survivor’s guilt and struggling to deal with the memories of those who lost their lives. The wounds of Syria are very much fresh three months later. Matt tries to escape with a self-imposed exile, but he is soon dragged back into work and the world of espionage. A Pakistani scientist is working for an ISIS splinter cell to create a terrifying weapon of mass destruction. However, the scientist wants out and is willing to defect with the weapon, but there is only one man that he trust to get him out of Syria alive – Matt Drake. To move past his pain, Drake will have to return to the source of it and get this man out of alive.

The second book in the series is called The Outside Man. The career of Matt Drake has sent him to some of the most dangerous places around the world, but in this book he will find that the war is coming right to his front door. It is in Austin, Texas when Matt is attacked by a team of highly trained assassins right in the middle of broad daylight. Matt has no idea who they are or why they want him dead, but he is determined to keep those closest to him safe. His search to find out who is after him will take him across the world to some of the most dangerous places in the Middle East. There, he’ll find himself in the clutches of an old foe known as “the Devil” who has earned that name through cruelty. Drake finds himself in a world of double crosses with no boundary between those who are guilty and the others who are innocent. If Drake wants to make it out of this one alive, it is going to take all of his skills.

Bentley also worked as an author for the Jack Ryan Universe series of books. The series, originally created by Tom Clancy, has seen numerous authors lend their voices to these iconic characters. He wrote the 31st entry in the series which is known as Target Acquired. In this book, Jack Ryan Jr. is someone who will do anything for a friend, but that notion will be taken to the limit. Ding Chavez is Jack’s friends and Jack is doing him a favor as the book begins. Jack is sitting in an open air market in Israel. He is here to help a CIA team with a simple job. Jack is only here because Ding couldn’t make it though. Ding was friends with Peter Beltz in the Army and offered to help him with this job as a way to reconnect with an old buddy from the Army. However, Ding has to cancel at the last minute and needed Jack to take his place. The assignment is easy work and Jack is happy to do it for a friend. He’s merely an observer on this mission and he’s happy to accept some downtime after his last intense mission. Jack’s helpful nature gets him into trouble when he he hastens to help a woman and her young son and finds himself as the target of trained killers. Now, Jack is alone and outgunned. He’ll have to use all of the skills that he has (and then some) if he wants to keep this child alive.

2 Responses to “Don Bentley”

1. Margaret Johnson: 8 months ago

   Just ‘found’ you and I’m looking forward to reading all your books! I’ll let you know what I think of them! 😉

   Reply
2. Kenneth Gnazzo: 3 years ago

   Enjoyed reading both of your books, hope many more to come.

   Reply