Meet Alex Dekker, author of Desert Heist on Saturday, August 1st at 6:30pm!

Alex Dekker

Alex Dekker: Green Beret, amateur archeologist, debut author of DESERT HEIST

Alex Dekker spent 20 years in special operations in the U.S. Army Special Forces as a Green Beret.

 *First half of career in 5th Group - Horse Soldiers Team, made famous by 12 Strong (not that iteration of the team though he does know a lot of those guys)

 *Second half of his career in a different special operations unit that he can’t really talk about but he says it’s one of those units where “if you know, you know or at least you think you know”

Deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, other locations worldwide.

 He was on the business end of a Taliban hand grenade in an ambush in Afghanistan. Took a lot of shrapnel, brought to Bagram (where he experienced a wild Ketamine trip) MEDEVAC to Germany where he spent a month in the hospital, then another two months  in the US before going back in.

 He spent time as a Special Forces Intelligence Sergeant and Senior Operator where he used to love collecting the pieces of the puzzle to complete the full picture, providing his team with their next targets to dismantle terrorist networks. This job was a major influence on DESERT HEIST as his love of research, analysis, and critical thinking has not gone away now that he’s retired. The difference now is that instead of penetrating networks, kitting up, and hitting targets, he now gets to use those skills to craft an adventure.

Love of history began when his career Army officer dad returned home from a one-year tour as an observer with the UN—6 months in Israel and 6 months in Egypt—and showed Alex the end of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade to show him Petra, Jordan, one of the places he visited. Alex was enthralled, rewound the movie and was in love with history, archeology (though later surprised to learn it wasn’t all about fighting Nazis!)

 He travelled with his father on subsequent trips while living in the Middle East (graduated high school in the ME), participated in archeological digs, volunteered to be a “shovel bum” on other digs and even majored in archeology for a year (but ultimately went back for something else and enlisted - didn't want to miss the war). All of that was also partial inspiration for DESERT HEIST. Very bottom is a list of sites he visited.

 The history in DESERT HEIST is real. The people, locations, and facts that form the basis for the story are true, and they are woven in such a way that illuminates what truly could be an alternate history. Every thread the reader pulls will lead them to real evidence and hopefully leave them questioning what we truly know about the origins of human history.

Alex wrote DESERT HEIST after returning from a deployment. He had been running and gunning for so long that he was essentially told to do nothing. Not one to sit around, he poured his creative efforts into writing a book.

 He met his CIA operations officer wife while working overseas. They have a German Shepherd named Donovan after Wild Bill Donovan, the founder of the OSS, the predecessor of both the Special Forces and CIA.

Desert Heist

A former Green Beret and aspiring archaeologist’s expedition to uncover a long-lost ancient civilization turns deadly in this explosive thriller teeming with adventure and discovery.

Nate Wilde is a former Green Beret and aspiring Harvard archaeologist. Leaving the military after a catastrophic deployment that ended with most of his team dead or injured, he chooses to pursue his passion for history. When his dissertation proposal to search for the legendary lost city of Ubar in Saudi Arabia is rejected by the Harvard examining committee and his expedition permit is denied by the Saudi government, Nate resolves to continue his research by any means necessary. And the only path left to him is to enter Saudi Arabia’s Empty Quarter through war-torn Yemen, the same sands where his brothers lost their lives years ago.

Knowing he’s going back into harm’s way, Nate turns to the only men left alive that he truly trusts—Sergeant Benjamin “Wally” Walton, a medic formerly with the British Special Air Service; Shane Price, UFC fighter turned Green Beret and an affluent playboy; and Sergeant Tim McBride, Nate’s former best friend and a true warrior. Along the way the group meets Ana Metry, a geologist of Egyptian heritage searching for her missing father, whose research is key to Nate’s quest.

Hunted by a former Spetsnaz soldier who works for a shadowy organization with unknown goals, and chased through the desert by al Qaeda terrorists, the former commandos must utilize the skills of their past profession in a race to discover whether the city truly exists, as well as uncover a deeper geopolitical mystery with resounding global ramifications.