Nick Foley (Alex Ryan) Books in Order

The Nick Foley series is a two-book run of international thrillers written by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson under the name Alex Ryan. Its main character is Nick Foley, a former Navy SEAL trying to build a life in China while carrying the weight of a mission that went badly wrong. He has training, nerve, and a strong instinct to protect people, but he is far from the familiar support systems of his former career.

The story begins with Beijing Red. Nick travels to China looking for purpose and distance from his past, then finds himself near a rural outbreak that kills a team of charity workers. The illness is strange, the official answers are incomplete, and the danger may not be limited to one village. Nick joins forces with Dazhong “Dash” Chen, a scientist with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, to understand what they are facing before it becomes a global disaster.

The clock is always running.

Nick and Dash make an unusual but useful team. He brings fieldcraft, survival instincts, and a willingness to push into dangerous places. She brings scientific knowledge, local experience, and a sharper understanding of the institutions surrounding the crisis. Their partnership gives the series both an action-thriller engine and a medical mystery to solve.

In Hong Kong Black, Nick is reluctantly drawn back when CIA operative Peter Yu disappears in China. When Yu's body is found near Hong Kong with dozens of other victims, the investigation opens into a brutal illegal organ-harvesting operation. Nick and Dash work alongside and around Chinese counterterrorism and public-health forces, while someone makes it clear that Nick has become a target.

China matters to these books as more than a convenient setting. Rural villages, Beijing, and Hong Kong each bring their own pressures, from local access and language barriers to state power and international attention. Nick is capable, but he cannot simply take charge. He has to listen, adapt, and decide whom to trust while the political stakes keep rising.

Expect fast action, biosecurity fears, intelligence work, and a slow-building relationship between Nick and Dash. Start with Beijing Red, then continue straight to Hong Kong Black for the full progression of their partnership and the larger threats around them.