Books by James C Ryan

There was a time when the Cold War ended. The United States found itself in a position of unquestioned power. Deception was a tool in the possession of both major powers and redesigned weapons placed in strategic locations could provide an edge for the nation that was ready and willing to use them. For more than forty years the United States military had seeded parts of Europe with nuclear mines meant to slow an aggressor in case of preemptive invasion. Miniaturization was the key to creating tactical, mobile nuclear devices. The United States was the first to achieve miniaturization of nuclear warheads and nuclear devices. Eventually, the Soviet Union caught up and placed nuclear devices at strategic locations within the United States. This is a fictional story of that effort and how it involved the retired personnel of both the United States intelligence community and a select number of current opponents from two of the major nation-states as they fought in the battle to achieve supremacy for a future nuclear war and inadvertently planted the seeds for more than a new Cold War.

For the second time in the history of the world, the Church of Rome is under attack and its enemies can finally foresee its downfall and destruction. Only one individual, a Jesuit monsignor, holds the key to turning back this tsunami of chaos. But can he succeed? He advances his ideas in a book that describes the current predicament in which the Church finds itself, comparing it to the First Reformation of the 15th Century, but also describing the need for a current Second Reformation in a step-by-step program of Church reform. Not only are his ideas confronting immoral, corrupt high Church officials in positions of power who seek his elimination but they also attempt to discredit the movement that his writing promotes. In this ultimate battle of Good and Evil, the Monsignor acquires allies from an unusual source who agree to assist him, but for secret, different motivations.

From the eighth century, onward, the term assassin has come to mean the agent of an organized, clandestine, secret effort to eliminate enemies. The study of this effort is complex and takes many turns. In modern times, the assassin lives on as agent of the nation state who employs the same methods to eliminate enemies. As before, the individual assassin must be well-trained in many skills which include proficiency in languages, fighting arts, self-discipline, patience, and ingenuity. Often, the modern assassin will have the complete support of his nation state in carrying out the mission, but never an admission of ownership or attribution. An assassin, by his very nature, must be self-motivated, fearless, organized, cunning, and ruthless. The Nation States hunt for such an individual when met with success also embraces the fear of what this type of individual can do to his patron. Therein lays the story of the ultimate assassin.

A serial murderer/caregiver and her accomplices devise what they demonstrate is the perfect means to murder twelve sickly senior citizens of Seaside Hills Senior community and abscond with their estates. Only one person, Carol Olmstead, now a resident of Oceana, another nearby senior community, puts the clues together with the help of close associates to trap the clever perpetrators. Meanwhile, events in Carol's Oceana community spiral out of control with the mysterious disappearance of the manager of Oceana%u2019s golf course and the probability that a murderer is resident in Oceana. Simultaneously, a drug ring operating out of Oceana is discovered with terrifying implications for Oceana's residents.This is the second book in an action packed murder mystery/thriller trilogy dealing with Carol Olmstead, former Treasury agent and super sleuth, resident of Oceana, a senior homeowners association in Southern California.

The People's Republic of China's Ministry of State Security, operating from its Washington, D.C. embassy, steal a secret U.S. program. It's disclosure will secure for China Iran's ample supply of petrochemicals and place the U.S. government before the World Court accused of starting World War Three. Action skips across continents as strategists move and counter-move to gain advantage in this international game of espionage and military conflict. Bonds among allies are stretched as national survival threatens to destroy cooperation. Only two men - one, China's foremost diplomat/spy - and, the second, the Deputy Director of FBI's National Security Branch - have the tenacity, cunning and competitiveness to achieve their individual nation's goals. But only at the expense of completely thwarting the other.

Murder in OceanaReaching back twenty years into the Cold War, disgraced Soviet spy master, Ivan Serov, sets out to assassinate twenty of his former agents in an act of revenge against the man responsible for his imprisonment. Only Carol Olmstead, a retired government agent, now a resident of a Southern California senior community, stands between Serov and success. A match of two Titans engaged in a cerebral, action-paced, adventure-mystery that keeps you on the edge of your seat.