When John Gilstrap’s first novel, Nathan’s Run, hit the market in 1996, it set the literary world on fire. Publication rights sold in 23 countries, the movie rights were scooped up at auction by Warner Brothers, and John changed professions. A safety engineer by training and education, he specialized in explosives and hazardous materials, and also served 15 years in the fire and rescue service, rising to the rank of lieutenant.
Q: Why did you decide to give Irene her own series?
John: I thought Irene deserved her own series. She has been in seventeen of the Jonathan Graves books. Irene is a cool character, and she was in my second book, At All Costs, that came out in 1998 as an FBI field agent. Ten years later I needed an FBI Director and decided to have Irene take that position. She now has her own book, and I do not think I will do any crossovers because Jonathan will be the hero of his books and Irene is the hero of her books.
Q: Venice appears in this book—why bring her back?
John: I needed her level of expertise for that plot point. Plus, it links this series with the Graves series. I think going forward the character Billy Stubblefield will take over the tech position in future books, but he is not near her level.
Q: In Zero Sum, Irene saved the U.S. from a corrupt president. How did that event shape this story?
John: In the second chapter I described why Irene chose to leave the FBI. Eighteen months ago, she proved the President, Anthony Darmond, to be corrupt. Unfortunately, the polls in the U.S. showed how the nation was split down the middle on whether she was a hero or a spawn of Satan. During the impeachment hearings it showed Darmond to be involved with drug smuggling, human trafficking, and treason. It affects Irene and Jonathan in his books because Irene is not there to help him out. But in future books I will be moving away from this plotline.
Q: Why move Irene from Washington, D.C. to West Virginia?
John: I moved to West Virginia and decided to set a series of stories here with Irene moving here with her younger daughter and nephew. She leaves the FBI and goes to her family’s land in West Virginia.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for the first book, Burned Bridges?
John: I was walking with my dog and saw some caves. My dog was trying to go into one. I thought that Irene’s nephew, Wyatt, who was with his black lab, Ruger, finds a part of a body stuffed in this cave for a long time. She decides to investigate who was this person. My dog gave me the idea.
Q: How would you describe Irene?
John: Strong-willed, has a lot of backbone, a single mom in Washington, D.C. that has now moved to West Virginia. She is tough as nails, zero BS, very, very honest, and frustrated because she does not have the FBI perks she had as a director. Part of the fun of the series is watching Irene discover herself. She still seeks out justice, a knight of the round table.
Q: Where will Irene’s career go next?
John: She will become acting sheriff and has a private investigating firm she started. I do not outline, so I do not know if she will become the permanent sheriff. In general, Irene does not trust politicians, and sheriffs are inherently politicians while deputy sheriffs are career police. The way I see it playing out right now is that she is not a politician. The deputies who worked with the corrupt Sheriff Monroe will not have a future, but the ones there for actual police work will have a future.
Q: Does Irene have a problem with reporters?
John: I have this book quote, “Reporters are jackals…they wait till their prey is weakest and then they pounce.” It is safe to say that she does not trust the media. Does anybody trust the media?
Q: How would you describe Irene’s children?
John: Kelly is the youngest daughter who never lets Irene forget she put career and country over mothering. As a typical teenager she blames her mom for everything wrong in her life and blames her for not being around enough.
Wyatt, her nephew, lost his father, and now his mother, and currently lives with Irene. He is a loner who does not have friends or enemies. He has been through a lot.
Q: How would you describe the villain, Finn?
John: He is a sociopath, psychopath, with a lot of rage. He is part of the Rutledge clan. They own pretty much everything in Jenkins County. They made sure the elected officials were in their back pocket so they could get away with pretty much anything they wanted. Irene as sheriff will be the honest one, so they want to get rid of her. They did bring a lot of prosperity to the area, but they do not like competition.
Q: What can readers expect next from you?
John: The next Graves book, titled Scorched Earth, comes out in late February 2026. Jonathan was an off-the-books contractor for Irene. People are taking revenge on these contractors. Graves is also trying to prevent a terror plot trying to take out a group of young people. There is an influence of October 7th that triggered this idea. These books are of the global scale.
Regarding the next Irene book, I know if Irene’s children are involved in the plot, they must be in some form of jeopardy. Irene books will be more of the local scale. But since I do not have it written yet, who knows.
Burned Bridges by John Gilstrap is a riveting mystery. This series is a spin off from the Jonathan Graves series where the featured character, Irene Rivers, is moving on from her position as FBI Director. No matter what genre Gilstrap writes, whether a thriller or mystery, his stories are always gripping, intense, and action filled.
The plot shows how “you can take the job out of the woman, but you cannot take the no-nonsense attitude from Irene.” This becomes clearer as the story unfolds. She must combat a range of villains including corrupt officials and lawbreakers. They are greedy, powerful, like to intimidate, blackmail, and think nothing of resorting to violence.
The first couple of chapters explain that Irene took down a corrupt President and left the FBI. But now Irene Rivers is looking for a quiet life. She has moved to West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle in Jenkins County with her teenage daughter Kelly and 12-year-old nephew Wyatt. She thought they would be safe on her grandparents’ farm she had inherited. Irene’s trying for a fresh start, raising Kelly and Wyatt after both his parents died. She is hoping to improve her relationship with the children she is raising.
But her desire for a peaceful and quiet existence is shattered when Wyatt finds a dead body in a cave on the property. Grim evidence points to a long-ago murder and cover-up. Soon Irene’s family is the target of threats and intimidation she’s seen before from major crime syndicates.
In addition, she has become a private investigator and her first case lands her on the wrong side of a powerful family that seems to control the town. A teenage boy is in prison for a possible crime he didn’t commit. The evidence looks overwhelming, but Irene finds a lot of things that don’t add up. She must combat a sheriff who looks the other way, and a local kingpin whose legacy drips violence. Unfortunately, she’s burned every political bridge behind her so there will be no help she can seek and must solve both crimes on her own while protecting her family.
This novel is packed with nail-biting suspense, riveting drama, and blazing intrigue. The complex plot has good guys readers root for and bad buys they will hope to get their just do. This is a strong start to this new series.
