Regis Books, 2026
An Imprint of Ruby Rock Films LLC
Cover by Frauke Spanuth of Croco Designs
ISBN: 978-1734476941 (eBook)
ISBN: 978-1734476958 (paperback)

View the trailer HERE (coming soon).

Order the book now on AMAZON (coming soon).

Book #5 in the Aleksandr Talanov thriller series

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IMAGES

Cell phone image of Talanov.

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Larisa Petrenko at the West Texas ranch of Congresswoman Diane Gustaves.

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Dr. Shawni Juma on her dirt bike in central Africa.

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Talanov’s adopted daughter, Jingfei Cho, with Larisa, onboard the C-5 Galaxy bound for Africa.
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Talanov’s longtime friend and Director of KTAC, Bill Wilcox, onboard the C-5 Galaxy military aircraft bound for Africa.
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COMING MAY 17, 2026

FROM THE COVER:

The assignment to extract Dr. Shawni Juma from the war-torn “Eye of Africa” should have been a simple in-and-out for Talanov and his tactical team. Dr. Juma had spent months in the region gathering evidence about Talanov’s former KGB colleague, Istvan Szabo, who had been employing a rebel army to kidnap women and children from refugee camps. Question is, were the victims being sold as slaves into the cobalt mines of the Congo, or was something more horrific going on?

But as the rescue helicopter is touching down in the early-morning darkness, a traitor opens fire and Talanov is thrown from the helicopter, where he is stranded and left for dead. So a maverick plan is hatched to go and get him. Joining the team is Talanov’s former lover, Larisa, who talks her way onto the aircraft against everyone’s wishes. They say she will endanger the mission. But they also know they need her, because at this very moment, she is the only person Talanov will trust . . . if he is alive.

As expected, the plan incurs the fury of politicians who have been profiting off Szabo’s trafficking activities. Their response is an infiltration of the team to make sure the rescue mission fails. At stake is Dr. Juma’s electronic tablet, her SATCOM, which contains video evidence that links Washington’s elite with Szabo’s atrocities. If that evidence is brought before Congress and the courts, charges of treason will be just the beginning.

So begins a deadly cat-and-mouse game, with Talanov and Dr. Juma managing to stay one step ahead of the rebels. Their goal: to liberate the latest truckload of refugees headed for the Congo. But just when success seems imminent, Dr. Juma is shot, and Talanov is suddenly faced with an impossible choice: saving Shawni or the truckload of prisoners. Talanov refuses to abandon Shawni, and with the rebels closing in, Shawni Juma forces a decision that will haunt Talanov forever.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Into the Eye opens with the newly-formed “Kilo Tactical” rapid-response team — KTAC — heading to Africa to rescue Talanov, who was betrayed and left for dead.

We travel with the team on board a C-5 Galaxy to Africa, then visit the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, then helicopter into the remote reaches of central Africa to the camp of rebel leader, Ojo Mutebi, who has been trafficking refugees into the Congo on behalf of Talanov’s former KGB colleague, Istvan Szabo.

On this exciting journey, you will see some familiar faces — Larisa, Congresswoman Diane Gustaves, Jingfei, Charlie, and Talanov’s longtime friend and former CIA department chief, Bill Wilcox — plus some new ones: Dr. Shawni Juma, Urumba, “Skee,” “Catfish,” “Gator,” and the villainous Istvan Szabo. With America’s enemies in Washington more corrupt and vicious than her enemies abroad, the fight has now gone covert with KTAC, which operates within the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.

The backdrop of this book (which is 130,000 words) is human trafficking and I chose not to sanitize the issue. It is a horrific practice, and one of immense profit for its perpetrators, who ruin countless lives for the sake of greed and power. But neither did I want to visually dwell on the violence they commit. So I chose to paint the “broad strokes” of what happens and let you, the reader, fill in however much detail you wish. There is some “language” involved in this book, too, but not in a gratuitous sense. Nor are there any sex scenes or smut. I personally think that is unnecessary, so I don’t employ them. As a Christian, I can allude to certain realities without visualizing them for the sake of “authenticity,” and the nuggets of faith that I do employ are nuggets that I have personally gathered in my own life as a journalist, writer, and survivor.

REVIEW COMMENTS

“Excites at every turn.”
— Mari Carlson, The US Review of Books