Pike Logan Series: Book 20
Publication Date: April 21, 2026
New York Times bestselling author and former special forces officer Brad Taylor is back with a dynamic political thriller featuring Pike Logan as he goes head-to-head with an old enemy—and renowned assassin.
After its proxies are devastated and its offensive capability pummeled in the latest war in the middle east, a rogue group of Iranian regime officials create a brazen plot to strike back at their hated enemies once and for all. They envision a series of operational dominos culminating in a devastating attack, and the first step is the assassination of the Israeli prime minister. And there’s only one assassin with the skills to pull it off: Abdul Rahman, known in the shadows as the Ghost.
When a routine prison transfer is ambushed, the Ghost escapes and is given the assignment. The only Operator who can hunt him down is the man who stopped him before: Pike Logan.
Pike and his team soon learn that the mission involves something bigger than just the escape of his old enemy. Working with Mossad agents, the pursuit leads the Taskforce to Argentina. They work to unravel the scope of the attack, and the chase leads them through the tempestuous waterfalls of Iguazu and the Triple Frontier, to the vibrant streets of Buenos Aires, and the tiny village of Ushuaia at the “End of the World”.
As the team races against the clock, Pike learns the stakes are much greater than a single life – the consequences extend into the heartland of America itself. The Ghost may hold the key to an escalation that will upend the worldwide balance of power, and if Pike fails, the fallout won’t just be personal – it’ll be global.
In Shadow Strike, the twentieth installment of the bestselling Pike Logan series by Brad Taylor, Pike and his crack Taskforce team must unravel the lavish threads of an Iranian plot to strike back against their enemies—and face off against a ghost from Pike’s past before it is too late for America…and the world.
For ten years, Abdul Rahman has been a prisoner. Known in the shadow world as the Ghost, his legendary resume of assassinations and killings makes him an attractive client for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who engineer his escape during a routine prison transfer in the Utah desert that kills a sheriff’s deputy. The mission leader for the IRGC is Sardar, an elite member of the Pasdaran (Persian for “guardians”), who is cooking up a multi-pronged attack aimed at both the Great and Little Satans: America and Israel. The Ghost accepts Sardar’s offer to head to Argentina and infiltrate a diplomatic ceremony where the Israeli prime minister will speak. There, he will assassinate him. But Sardar has more planned, as the Ghost soon learns…
Meanwhile, the Ghost’s escape launches the Taskforce in a desperate bid to track the assassin’s progress across the Mexican border all the way to South America. There, Pike and his wife, Jennifer, along with Knuckles, Brett, and Veep, pick up the digital breadcrumbs only to see a far larger plot forming. When the team runs into Mossad agents Aaron and Shoshana—Shoshana is one of the best characters in this novel—they partner up to stop both the Ghost and the shadowy IRGC figures manipulating him before two major attacks go off in Argentina and the heart of the United States, Washington, D.C.
Will Pike, the only man who stopped the Ghost before, be able to repeat the feat before time runs out?
For those new to the series, Shadow Strike is a gripping story ripped directly from today’s headlines and can be read as a standalone. Taylor provides helpful explanations of certain previous events and returning characters for the newbie, while stoking a burning fire for readers to return to the beginning. Pike—a rugged, scarred, and battle-hardened special operator—is a joy to get to know; Taylor uses first-person voice in Pike’s chapters to bring readers intimately into Pike’s busy, almost feral head for hunting down terrorists. His wife, Jennifer, also has a long pedigree of special ops work and is a complete badass in her own right (making this reader want to go back to Taylor’s earlier novels to see how they met).
As the Ghost meets with his fellow conspirators—a mix of Iranian and Hezbollah fighters—he soon takes over the planning to assassinate the Israeli prime minister at a public event. But the more he engages with his Iranian proxies, the more he begins to doubt their intent and soon learns that shared interests do not always equal shared loyalties. What is Iran’s interest in striking a blow against the West? And how will this help the Ghost’s number one priority: Palestine and the Palestinian people? Returning readers of the series will surely enjoy the Ghost’s return after ten years of captivity, watching his earnest efforts to catch up to a hyper-connected world full of new tech and currency. What is clear is that another epic confrontation between Pike and his old nemesis is on the horizon, so get your popcorn ready!
Not only does Taylor know how to write rich, three-dimensional characters that possess grit, wit, and laser-focus intensity, but his ability to plot a complex storyline with deep insights into strategy, tactics, and the latest in innovative technology makes this novel a standout not to be missed.
If Shadow Strike is any indication of the quality of Taylor’s oeuvre, the Pike Logan series should be at the top of every political techno-thriller reader’s to-be-read stack ASAP. 
Brad Taylor, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.), is a twenty-one-year veteran of the U.S. Army Infantry and Special Forces, including eight years with the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment—Delta, popularly known as Delta Force. Taylor retired after serving more than two decades and participating in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, as well as classified operations around the globe. His final military post was as assistant professor of military science at The Citadel. Brad is a New York Times bestselling author of eighteen Pike Logan thrillers and is a security consultant on asymmetric threats for various agencies. He lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with his wife and two daughters.
