Gone Dark
Gone Dark (Matthew Redd #4)
By: Ryan Steck
“This wasn’t a rescue mission anymore. It was a crime scene.”
Even though this is only my second Matthew Redd book, I feel like I’m pretty invested in his hero persona. In the previous book, Out for Blood, he single-handedly takes out a team up in the mountains, his home terrain, and then leads a showdown at the town courthouse.
There are no less shootouts in this book and he has the same ferocious sidekick, Rubble (see my spoiler at the end if you want to know if Rubble dies or not— it’s something I always need to know so maybe you do too).
Gone Dark is non-stop action just like Out for Blood and I’m here for it! I could not put this book down. It was always one more chapter, one more chapter, and I definitely stayed up too late multiple nights.
What I love about the action in the book is that it’s not just the same action sequence that just happens to take up the whole book. There is movement and change of scenery. It is one overarching plot— save the kid, get the bad guy— but there are several encounters or problems that they have to get through and then they are moved onto the next one. It’s not a car chase scene that lasts 30 pages.
It’s a smokejumper crime scene. Then it’s a double homicide crime scene. Then it’s surviving the wildfire. Then it’s a home attack. Then a motel attack. Then a car chase. Then a fight scene in the woods, etc. You get the idea.
It reads like a movie and one you’d definitely want to watch. Matthew Redd is the classic former-military-turned-protective-family-man-who-still-does-side-ops guy that everyone loves to root for.
Culture has its own choice words about ‘masculinity’ but I don’t know how you can read a book like this and think ‘we need less of these kind of men’. He’s not a bro, he’s a man who uses his strength to sacrifice himself for the good and protection of others.
What I also love is Mikey’s character. He’s a softer masculine figure and best friend to Matthew. He also has a family. Steck does a good job of showing both the tender and the fierce sides of both of these men in the ways they fight together and just have a real friendship.
There is also the developing relationship between Redd and his biological dad who is FBI. The history of that relationship takes place in previous books but the series shows the ongoing progress they are making to reconcile and learn how to be family again.
It’s not all about the men though. Matthew’s wife, Emily, is a medical professional who also knows how to shoot a gun. We see Matthew and Emily navigating their relationship and learning how to be a team and doing what is best for their family.
It’s nice to read a book where everyone isn’t dysfunctional and a plot can revolve around positive heroism instead of figuring out which dysfunctional person is the worst of the bunch.
In case I’ve gotten too far in my review without giving you more plot details here ya go:
There’s a wildfire raging in the forests of Montana. Smoke jumpers are dispatched to help quell the fire and keep it from reaching the most populated areas. (I enjoyed learning about this job and would totally watch a documentary on it.) But after the smoke jumpers land— radio silence. Matthew Redd is called in to check it out and see the cause for the disconnect. Instead of a faulty radio signal, Redd finds a bunch of dead bodies.
He chases the killer to a secluded cabin where another crime scene awaits and a man is searching for a 6 year old boy, Jack, in the woods. The ‘bad guys’ think Jack has the answers they need— the location of a valuable ‘key.’
The rest of the book is Matthew rescuing Jack and trying to keep him safe.
“Are we jumping out of the frying pan and into the actual fire?”
The sideplot— but also related— is Emily’s encounter with a doctor who prescribed opioids to a woman who ended up overdosing.
From a raging wildfire to a runaway train (see cover image), this book has the action and suspense you’re looking for!
“‘He’s going to John Wick these guys. For sure.’”
I did have to chuckle a little at the scene where the bad guy is like- you’re a preacher’s kid right? (his father in law is a pastor) and is confused why Matthew would be punching him and fighting him. And Redd’s response is:
“‘I would go to hell to save my kids, so don’t think I won’t sin a little to get one back.’”
He does question the entire biblical soundness of this admission, but it just shows the core of his character— sacrificing himself for others, especially his family.
I don’t know the whole right theology when it comes to this kind of violence, but I do know that someone has to fight the bad guys and maintain order and protection in the world, and Matthew Redd is the poster child for that exact thing.
Based on the Epilogue of the book, Steck appears to give us a clue to where the next book is going to take us. I will admit though that I had not remembered what I was supposed to know/think about Aaron Decker so it might not have hit me the same as it might others.
Recommendation
I would definitely recommend this book. You will read it so fast.
It also would be a series I would recommend to any males who want to get into reading but aren’t sure where to start— unless they are males that really hate action movies or guns— then this might not be the right fit.
This is a great series that has suspense and action and characters to love and no swearing or sexual content! I’m already looking forward to the next one and am hoping to get my hands on another advanced reader’s copy so I can tell you guys all about it.
[Content Advisory: no swearing or sexual content; there is a lot of fighting and death; I wouldn’t call it gory for the sake of being gory but there are some descriptions of deaths and injuries that make it somewhat violent]
[Spoiler Alert: for those who want to know, Rubble does not die. I really don’t see a way that Steck can kill this dog off at any point and not lose readers so he better keep Rubble safe.]
**Received a copy via Tyndale Publishing House in exchange for an honest review**
This book just released in June, 2025. You can order a copy of this book using my affiliate link below.
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