Jon F Merz

Raider X Jon F Merz

They were the deadliest ships of World War II. From 1940-1943, German commerce raiders disguised as peaceful cargo ships and flying the flags of neutral and allied nations, prowled the oceans searching for unsuspecting Allied shipping. These heavily armed yet carefully disguised warships roamed like twentieth-century pirates, striking in the blackness of night or slicing out of the foggy seas like hungry sharks. The British Admiralty has had enough. Hundreds of thousands of tons of Allied shipping have been lost to the nine known German commerce raiders. And intelligence suggests that a tenth commerce raider - known only as Raider X - is now scouring the seas in search of hapless victims. Unable to set a trap for these elusive ghosts, the British devise another plan. Bait, in the guise of one expendable man, Harlan Thatcher, will spell an end to Raider X before she can carry out her awful agenda. Thatcher's mission is simple: travel on the most attractive merchant ship on the seas and when Raider X strikes, endure long enough to be taken captive on board. Once there, destroy the ship and her crew. It's certain suicide. But Thatcher's got little choice but to accept. After surviving a brutal attack on the merchant ship he travels on, Thatcher becomes a prisoner of the German Navy. But he's not alone. There are other survivors as well. One of them, a raven-haired beauty named Cyra, may not be what she claims. And as quickly as Thatcher becomes the hunter, he may also become the hunted.

About the Author: Jon F. Merz is the author of over 50 novels (including the bestselling Lawson Vampire supernatural espionage series) ranging from urban fantasy to espionage and sword & sorcery fantasy. Prior to becoming a full-time writer Jon served in the United States Air Force and worked for the US government, protected a variety of Fortune 500 executives, and taught defensive tactics to government agencies like the State Department, Bureau of Prisons, and others. He is an active CrossFitter, a 5th degree black belt in Togakure-ryu Ninjutsu, enjoys doing GORUCK challenges, and in 2014 started modeling and acting, most recently starring as Alfred P. Sloan in THE CARS THAT MADE AMERICA on the History Channel and in the new scifi thriller MOTHER/ANDROID (coming soon from Miramax). He lives each and every day by the motto, "Who Dares Lives."