Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson Books in Order
Part ofSean Black Books in OrderThis page maps the Ryan Lock and Ty Johnson books by Sean Black in order, with quick summaries, series background, and where to start.
Last updated: July 13, 2026
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Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson books in publication order
16 books
Lockdown
by Sean Black
2009
At Christmas in New York, Ryan Lock's bodyguard job explodes into open war after gunmen target his billionaire client. The chase leads toward something far bigger than one man, and Lock may be the only thing standing in the way.
Deadlock
by Sean Black
2010
Ryan Lock and Ty Johnson go inside Pelican Bay Supermax to keep a marked inmate alive until he can testify. Surrounded by prisoners who want their man dead, they are trapped in one of Black's toughest pressure-cooker setups.
Grid Lock
by Sean Black
2011
An adult-film star finds a headless corpse in the trunk of her car and hires Ryan Lock when the police are no help. The deeper he digs into Hollywood's shadows, the less innocent his client looks.
Lock & Load
by Sean Black
2012
Ryan Lock takes a Malibu protection job that should be straightforward, but celebrity lives rarely stay simple for long. This short adventure fills in more of Lock's personal world while still delivering danger at close range.
The Devil's Bounty
by Sean Black
2012
A serial predator has bought protection behind a Mexican drug cartel, and Ryan Lock decides to bring him back anyway. It is a brutal cross-border hunt with justice, revenge, and survival colliding at every turn.
Fire Point
by Sean Black
2014
In Los Angeles, Lock and Ty go after a cult whose reach is broader and deadlier than it first appears. The threat builds toward catastrophe, and stopping it means getting close to people built around absolute belief.
The Innocent
by Sean Black
2014
When Ty Johnson's oldest friend disappears in a small Minnesota town, the official story feels wrong from the start. Lock and Ty pull at the loose threads and uncover a conspiracy the locals will do almost anything to keep hidden.
Budapest/48
by Sean Black
2015
A kidnap-for-ransom exchange in Budapest looks like easy money for Ryan Lock and Ty Johnson. It is supposed to take forty-eight hours, but nothing about the job stays simple once they touch down.
The Edge of Alone
by Sean Black
2016
A father asks Ryan Lock to rescue his daughter from a remote academy for troubled teens. Behind its walls, students are dying and the official suicides do not add up.
Second Chance
by Sean Black
2017
Ryan Lock's life turns personal when his girlfriend is abducted in a precise, violent strike. The kidnappers do not want money. They want a prison break, and the clock is already moving.
Red Tiger
by Sean Black
2018
A Chinese billionaire's daughter vanishes from her California home, and Ryan Lock finds himself between gang violence and a killer from overseas. Everyone is hunting the same girl, but not everyone wants her alive.
The Deep Abiding
by Sean Black
2019
Ty Johnson is hired to protect a journalist investigating a decades-old murder in a quiet Everglades town. The locals smile, the landscape closes in, and the past proves more dangerous than anyone admits.
Avenue of Thieves
by Sean Black
2020
A Russian oligarch's family and bodyguards start dying, and Ryan Lock is called in before the fortune behind it all disappears too. The trail runs from present-day Manhattan back to the collapse of the Soviet world.
The Last Bodyguard
by Sean Black
2021
A missing fourteen-year-old girl sends Ryan Lock into the predatory machinery of trafficking. The hunt is urgent, ugly, and painfully human, with every hour making rescue less certain.
The Yacht Girl
by Sean Black
2025
Ryan Lock and Ty Johnson arrive at a billionaire's private island to audit security and find a place built on secrecy. Then they hear about a vanished girl, and paradise starts to look like a trap.
The Removal
by Sean Black
2026
A wealthy man's kidnapped son is returned after ransom is paid, but Ryan Lock cannot shake the feeling that the job is far from over. The more he questions the abduction, the more dangerous it becomes for him.
Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson books in chronological order

Lockdown
by Sean Black
2009Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 1
Deadlock
by Sean Black
2010Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 2
Grid Lock
by Sean Black
2011Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 3
The Devil's Bounty
by Sean Black
2012Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 4
Lock & Load
by Sean Black
2012Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 5
The Innocent
by Sean Black
2014Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 6
Fire Point
by Sean Black
2014Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 7
Budapest/48
by Sean Black
2015Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 8
The Edge of Alone
by Sean Black
2016Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 9
Second Chance
by Sean Black
2017Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 10
Red Tiger
by Sean Black
2018Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 11
The Deep Abiding
by Sean Black
2019Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 12
Avenue of Thieves
by Sean Black
2020Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 13
The Last Bodyguard
by Sean Black
2021Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 14
The Yacht Girl
by Sean Black
2025Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 15
The Removal
by Sean Black
2026Ryan Lock & Ty Johnson, Book 16
Series background & context
If the Ryan Lock books give you the mission, the Ryan Lock and Ty Johnson stories give you the partnership. Ryan is the controlled one, the former military close-protection specialist who thinks in routes, angles, and worst-case outcomes. Ty Johnson, a former Marine, is bigger, louder, funnier, and often more openly human about what the job costs. Put them together and Sean Black gets something better than a standard action duo. He gets two professionals who trust each other enough to argue, improvise, and step into danger without wasting time on speeches.
That chemistry is the hook.
Across these books and shorter pieces, the pair are hired to protect clients, manage kidnaps, chase leads the police cannot reach, and walk into places where the official plan is already broken. A prison infiltration, a ransom exchange, a vanishing child, a cult threat, a deadly quiet small town, the setup changes, but the pattern holds. One of them sees the tactical picture. The other sees the human fallout just as clearly. They keep each other honest.
Ty is especially important because he stops the series from becoming too polished. Ryan is good at compartmentalizing, sometimes too good. Ty talks more, jokes more, and lets emotion onto the page in a way Ryan usually will not. That matters when the books turn toward missing kids, damaged veterans, or people who have been swallowed by systems larger than they are. The action is sharp, but the friendship is what gives it weight.
The books also use their differences well. Ryan is British, careful, and methodical. Ty is American, direct, and more likely to meet nonsense with impatience. Neither man is careless, but they do not process risk in exactly the same way. Black gets a lot of mileage from that contrast, especially in scenes where plans go wrong and the two have to split tasks, cover different angles, or trust the other to handle the ugly part alone.
They are a very good team, but not because they are the same.
If you are browsing this corner of Sean Black's work, expect fast thrillers with a strong buddy dynamic and a real sense of earned loyalty. Some entries lean more toward Ryan, some give Ty more room, and a few shorter stories are basically pressure-cooker tests of how the pair operate when the clock is brutal. Reading in order helps, because the relationship builds quietly over time, but the bigger draw is simple. You come for the job. You stay for the way these two men carry it together.
Edited by
Software engineer whose passion for tracking book recommendations from podcasts inspired the creation of MRB.
Lead investor at 3one4 Capital whose startup expertise and love for books helped shaped MRB and its growth.











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