SEAL behind ‘The Terminal List’: The critics hate me but I’m proof non-woke books sell best

When Navy SEAL-turned-bestselling-author Jack Carr sits down to write, he’s doing it for the troops who served their country “downrange” with him — not for the publishing world’s elite.

But an audience the publishing world thought was niche has made him a bestseller.

His “The Terminal List” series made its debut in 2018, became an almost instant fixture in the bestseller lists — and now its Amazon Prime adaptation is not only being renewed for a second season starring Chris Pratt, it is being given a prequel too.

Critics called “The Terminal List” an “unhinged rightwing revenge fantasy,” but it was the fourth most streamed show on Amazon last year and has a 95% audience approval score on Rotten Tomatoes.

None of that comes as a surprise to Carr. But he says it does come as a surprise to the traditional publishing industry which he says has overlooked his audience: people who want fast-paced, all-American heroes.

“When we go specifically to the question of why my books are selling when the genre is in decline right now, overall I think it’s new readers,” he told The Post.

“People are asking me how my sales are skyrocketing when the rest of the genre, even established authors, are in decline?

“In direct messages, emails, social media comments, and book signings people say things like, ‘I haven’t read a book since the sixth grade or I’ve never been a reader until I picked up your books.’  

“These people are interested in a lot of the same things I am, whether it’s history or tactics or strategy or gear, but at the base level the story has to be the best it can possibly be and it has to be authentic.”

His “The Terminal List” hero is the blood-soaked Lt. Commander James Reece (Jason Bourne with a twist of John Rambo), played by Pratt in the show. The seventh book in the series, “Red Sky Mourning,” will be published next year.

Carr, 47, channels his own experience, from 20 years in SEAL Teams (Two, Five and Seven) and an assignment with the CIA in Iraq in 2006, to breathe life into the pages of his novels.

An enlisted SEAL sniper, he eventually became an officer commanding a special operations Task Unit in southern Iraq countering Iranian-backed forces during the U.S. drawdown. 

He also fought in Mosul, Najaf, Baghdad and Ramadi, and across Afghanistan, risking his life on sniper and direct-action missions. He retired as a lieutenant commander in 2016. 

“We made the show for those who went to war,” Carr said from his home in Park City, UT, calling serving and former troops “tough critics.”

“We’ll hear from guys in Delta Force or the Seal teams that’ll text us and say, good job, I’ve never seen someone do this kind of work in a film before.

“So when they put their feet up at the end of the day and watch Chris Pratt bring James Reece to life, they recognize that we put in the effort to explore the mindset of a modern day warrior.”

Carr’s special operations background is key to setting him apart from other writers in his thriller genre. Lee Child, the creator of “Jack Reacher,” was a British TV executive and the current writer of the “Jason Bourne” series, Brian Freeman, was a PR executive.   

But, he said, his authenticity is what people want — and shows why Hollywood is not making hits.

“When Amazon and Simon & Schuster see the numbers and the trajectory they’re noticing that it is very different from any other property that they have. And they’re very happy that it’s happening,” he said.

“I think they [studio execs] are trying to figure it out, but they live in New York and Los Angeles and they have a hard time figuring out that terrain in between.

“And you’ll hear people talk about how they make movies for each other and really not for the masses, which is why the masses are always disappointed in what Hollywood produces in many cases. 

“They knew that it hit something that they don’t usually hit in Hollywood. And that is really the people between New York and Los Angeles. 

“We’re making it for that person who went down range over the last 20 years. We’re making it for them. They know that we put in the effort to make a show for them, whether it’s the mindset of a modern day warrior or how he’s handling the weapons systems.”

In “The Terminal List,” James Reece, a revenge-focused SEAL sniper, employs the tactics and weapons Carr knows from his service to ruthlessly hunt down those behind a government conspiracy that has claimed the lives of friends and families.

“I don’t have to imagine what that was like to press the trigger as a sniper or what it was like to be ambushed,” Carr said.

“I just remember what it was like to be ambushed in Baghdad or press the trigger in Najaf. I take those feelings and emotions and apply them directly to a fictional narrative. There are no filters between those feelings and what I write on the page.

“The emotions feel raw and real and primal because they come from a real place. All my heart and soul goes into every word.”