Jack Carr is not only a New York Times best-selling author. He’s a retired NAVY Seal and grandson of a World War II veteran.
Carr recently released the sixth book in his James Reece series, Only The Dead. In the latest installment, the fictional Navy SEAL battles a devastating global conspiracy in which “secrets from the past have the uncanny ability of rising to the surface in the present.”
“If it seems what the protagonist is doing is real, that’s because it all comes from a real place, it all comes from my heart and soul right onto the page,” he said.
Carr said his past shaped not only his career in the Navy but as a writer. Carr’s grandfather was killed on Okinawa in 1945 and he grew up knowing he wanted to join the military.
“I have his medals, I have his Marine Corps wings, black and white photographs of him and his squadron,” said Carr.
Carr and his dad watched episodes of the TV show “Black Sheep Squadron” and numerous movies about World War II as he grew up.
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“I knew one day that I would join the military,” he said.
Carr’s mother was a librarian, sparking in him a love of the written word, especially books by such authors as Tom Clancy, which he said solidified his desire to become a SEAL.
“What they were really doing, now that I look back, is that they were giving me an early education in the art of storytelling,” he said.
Carr joined the Navy in 1996 with the ultimate goal of getting through SEAL training. During his more than two decades in the service, he served as a special operations teams team leader, platoon commander, troop commander and task unit commander.
He spent time in the Phillippines and led assault and sniper teams in both Iraq and Afghanistan before transitioning out of the Navy in 2016 as he was putting the finishing touches on his first novel, “The Terminal List.”
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That book has since been adapted into a highly successful Amazon Prime Video series starring Chris Pratt. Carr has continued the storyline in five other New York Times bestsellers, The Terminal List, True Believer, Savage Son, The Devil’s Hand, and In the Blood.
“My protagonist is not the person in this book [Only The Dead] that he was in the first book,” said Carr. “He’s adapting, he’s evolving, he’s learning from past successes and failures.”
Carr also hosts a podcast and releases merchandise, with 100 percent of the profits going to veteran-focused organizations.
To learn more, visit here.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.