I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Second Son
by Simon Gervais, Ryan Steck
Series: Chase Burke #1
Series Rating:
on December 1, 2025
Setting: New York
Genres: Thriller and Suspense
Format: Audible Audiobook, Hardcover, Kindle
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads
Get Your Copy at: Amazon
A pulse-pounding yet soulful espionage thriller for fans of Brad Thor, Jack Carr, and Mark Greaney, delivering plot twists so explosive, it took two top suspense writers to pull it off.
Soldier-turned-sommelier Chase Burke may have traded his rifle for bottles of wine, but violence and conspiracy aren’t through with him yet. First, his intelligence analyst brother is killed in a covert op gone wrong and branded a traitor. Then a brutal ambush at the restaurant where Chase works leaves the woman he is romantically involved with—a congresswoman—clinging to life.
Scrambling to clear the family name and protect his secret love, Chase teams up with NYPD Detective Alice Doyle, a single mother fighting battles of her own. Together they uncover a powerful criminal syndicate whose unscrupulous influence sweeps the globe—and strikes painfully close to home.
As elite mercenaries close in, Chase is dragged back into the dangerous world he thought he’d escaped. Facing a mother losing her memory and a past that never forgets, he fights to win a zero-sum game where trust can be lethal. But when all seems lost, an unlikely ally could help turn the tide…
The Second Son by Simon Gervais and Ryan Steck is fast-paced and filled with so many twists and turns.
Will Chase figure out what is going on around him before he loses his entire family?
Chase Burke
Our main character and primary point of view is Chase Burke. He was a disgraced soldier but now works at a popular up-and-coming restaurant. Chase comes from old money and made some good investment decisions. Basically, Chase doesn’t have to work but loves his job. He hasn’t had a great life despite his wealthy upbringing. However, I really liked Chase; he was quick on his feet and thought things through. Some circumstances just kept him from reaching the ultimate conclusion that he needed to figure out what was happening.
The Story
This story moves really fast, and it kept my attention. Once I could devote the time to read it, I didn’t want to put it down. All the characters and their personalities are as amazing as the settings the authors chose. I really liked the whole secret society aspect. But some of the realizations completely surprised me. My favorite character is NYPD Detective Alice Doyle.
Four Stars
My rating for The Second Son by Simon Gervais and Ryan Steck is four stars. I truly enjoyed the mystery, espionage, and the complexity of the characters. I recommend this book to all thriller fans, and I look forward to the next installment, as the authors left at least one storyline open.
Thank you for dropping by! I hope you enjoyed this review of The Second Son by Simon Gervais and Ryan Steck.
Until the next time,
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About Ryan Steck
Ryan Steck is a freelance editor, an author, and the founder and editor in chief of The Real Book Spy. Ryan has been named an “Online Influencer” by Amazon and is a regular columnist at CrimeReads. Praised as “One of the hardest working, most thoughtful, and fairest reviewers out there” by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, Steck has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata) on his way to being endorsed by #1 New York Times bestsellers Mark Greaney, Brad Thor, Kyle Mills, Jack Carr, C.J. Box, and many others. His debut novel, FIELDS OF FIRE, is now available in bookstores. His second novel, LETHAL RANGE, comes out on August 8, 2023.
About Simon Gervais
SIMON GERVAIS was born in Montréal, Québec. He joined the Canadian military as an infantry officer and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1997. Assigned to the Infantry School in Gagetown, New Brunswick, he received extensive training in advanced reconnaissance and small-unit tactics.
In 2001, he became a federal agent. His first posting was in Toronto, where he served as a drug investigator. During this time, he worked on many international drug-related cases in close collaboration with his American colleagues from the DEA. However, in 2004, his career switched gears and he was placed with a federal anti-terrorism unit based in the Ottawa Region. During the following years, he was deployed in numerous European and Middle Eastern countries. In 2009, he became a close-protection specialist tasked with guarding foreign heads of state visiting Canada. Among many others, he served on the protection details of Queen Elizabeth II, US President Barack Obama and Chinese President, Hu Jianto.
In 2012, Simon was transferred to his organization’s counter-surveillance unit. During the next two years, he participated in a number of intelligence gathering operations. In May 2014, he returned to his former unit to serve as a bodyguard for the American and Israeli ambassadors to Canada until his retirement in September 2014.
Simon is now a full-time writer and a member of the International Thriller Writers Organization. His thriller The Last Protector—the first book in the Clayton White series—was published in November 2021 and over 300,000 copies found their way into readers’ hands within the first few months following its release. In 2023, the TV rights for the Clayton White series were optioned by CBS Studios for development as a TV series with Jerry Bruckheimer attached to produce. The Last Protector has also gathered more than 24,000 reviews on Amazon U.S alone. Its sequel The Last Sentinel was published on August 9th, 2022 to great acclaim. The Last Guardian was published in October 2023. Within thirty days, more than 10,000 copies had been sold. The Elias Network, Simon’s latest thriller and the first in his new Caspian Anderson series, was published by Thomas and Mercer on October 1st, 2024. It was an instant #1 Amazon bestseller. 30 days after its publication, The Elias Network had already received more than 10,000 reviews. Its sequel, The Elias Enigma, hit the shelves in July 2025 and sold more than 15,000 copies within one month of its release. The third book in the series, The Elias Conspiracy, comes out in July 2026.
In 2021, Simon had the immense honor to be chosen by G.P. Putnam’s Sons (an imprint of Penguin Random House) and the estate of Robert Ludlum to write a book within the illustrious Jason Bourne universe. Robert Ludlum’s The Blackbriar Genesis was published on October 18th, 2022. Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews raved about it, both mentioning The Blackbriar Genesis worthy of the Robert Ludlum legacy.
Simon is the author behind the popular Pierce Hunt trilogy (which sold over 375,000 copies and gathered more than 34,000 reviews on Amazon US): Hunt Them Down (January 2019), Trained To Hunt (September 2019), and Time To Hunt (November 2020). The Pierce Hunt series was optioned by Sobini Films in 2024 for development as a TV series. Simon also wrote the Mike Walton series: The Thin Black Line (2015), A Red Dotted Line (2016) and A Thick Crimson Line (2018).
Simon is represented by literary agent Eric Myers at Myers Literary Management. His Film/TV agents are Debbie Deuble-Hill and Alec Frankel at IAG.
Simon, his wife, and their two children divide their time between Ottawa, Miami, and The Bahamas. He’s a SCUBA diver, an avid skier, and a boating enthusiast.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 2026 Cloak and Dagger JEN
- 2026 Goodreads RC JEN
- 2026 Medical Examiner Mystery RC JEN
- 2026 Thriller RC
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