I am so excited to see my Ghost Ops series – HEART OF DANGER, I DREAM OF DANGER, BREAKING DANGER – published. This is truly a series of the heart.

Readers have asked why I set the Ghost Ops series in the future. Well, near future, not the far, far future where life has evolved beyond recognition. A future where machines eat and digest for us and we have transporter beams and live on Mars. No, the series is set about 10-12 years from now, in a recognizable future, only with cool gadgets.

The short answer to why I set a series of books in the near future is that I wanted to make Steven Spielberg Governor of California. How cool is that? And, of course, I wanted to create fabulous new toys for my guys to play with as they save the world while hiding from authorities.

If you’ve read the first two books you know that Mac, Nick, and Jon have been falsely declared traitors and are on the run. They’ve built a high-tech outlaw community, Haven, which pays homage to the legendary hideouts of the Old West (think Hole in the Wall), but is brought into the modern world with elegant design elements, beautiful landscaping and incredible food. Picture this: instead of dark, cramped hideaways, Haven is a self-sufficient sanctuary packed with high-tech marvels—from holographic walls displaying real, shifting images of the California landscape to advanced stealth helicopters, state-of-the-art body armor, graphene solar panels. You get the idea.

Life in Haven is all about community, ingenuity, and resilience. Mac, Nick and Jon aren’t just fighting for survival; they’re fighting to protect a way of life and the people they love. Their women are in Haven, their sense of home—for three men who have never known home outside the military—is powerful, and they’ll go to any lengths to defend it as danger sweeps across the world.

So why set the story in a world that verges on the edge of apocalyptic?

That element feels more relevant than ever today. The world around us is changing at breakneck speed—we’re surrounded by headlines about climate crises, global unrest, pandemics, AI, and the accelerating impact of technology on everyday life. It can sometimes feel like the future is more uncertain, and perhaps even more volatile, than it’s ever been before.

By setting the Ghost Ops series in the near future, I wanted to tap into those very real anxieties—and provide a form of hope, too. The apocalyptic thread lets me explore what happens when the world as we know it is threatened, not by distant aliens or fantastical monsters, but by forces that feel all too plausible. The heroes’ struggle for survival, self-reliance, and connection in a world turned upside down mirrors our own determination to adapt, innovate, and protect those we love, no matter the odds.

Their resilience reminds us that when faced with overwhelming change, humans have the capacity for courage, ingenuity, and both love and fierce loyalty. That’s why the near-apocalyptic setting isn’t just a backdrop for thrills—it’s a lens through which we can examine hope, community, and the fight for a better future. If our own world ever starts to unravel, stories like these are a reminder that, even surrounded by danger and uncertainty, our strength and humanity can shine brightly.

Mac, Nick and Jon are unwavering in their bravery and determination. But their women – Catherine, Elle and Sophie – are the ones who actually do that save-civilization thing. They work around the clock to produce a vaccine against a world-threatening virus. They want to save the world but they also want to save their world, Haven, which is full of talented, kind people.

So yes, I gave our Ghost Ops people cool gadgets, stealth helicopters, and a governor with serious cinematic flair—but beneath it all, I wanted to imagine a world not so different from ours, only pushed to its limits. And in that world, real heroism emerges.

Plus, well, this is a romance and I can assure you that love can flourish even in the darkest of times, even when the world is falling apart.

Want to know more about I Dream of Danger?

They are the Ghost Ops: a covert squad of super-elite soldiers. After their team was betrayed and massacred, the three surviving members went underground and built Haven, a community of misfits and geniuses. Now facing a new threat capable of destroying the world.

He’s her first love. Her only regret. And the only man who can save her.

After a decade apart, brilliant scientist Elle Thomason never expects to see Nick Ross—the brooding, protective soldier who broke her heart—walk back into her life. But when her groundbreaking research puts a target on her back, Elle has no choice but to trust the man she’s never stopped loving.

Nick has spent years haunted by dreams of Elle in danger. Now, as enemies close in, he’ll do anything to keep her safe—even if it means risking his heart all over again. Forced together in the hidden sanctuary of Haven, sparks fly as old wounds and buried secrets threaten to tear them apart.

With powerful forces hunting them and undeniable chemistry pulling them closer, Nick and Elle must fight for a second chance at love—before time runs out.

Meet Lisa Marie Rice:

Lisa Marie Rice is eternally 30 years old and will never age. She is tall, willowy and beautiful. Men fall at her feet like ripe pears. She has won every major book prize in the world. She is a black belt with advanced degrees in archeology, nuclear physics and Tibetan literature. She is a concert pianist. Did I mention her Nobel Prize? Of course, Lisa Marie Rice is a virtual woman and exists only at the keyboard when writing romantic suspense. She disappears when the monitor winks off.

You can find her on her website, as well as Facebook, Instagram, BookBub, and X.