Retribution: A Former US Marine's Harrowing Journey from Wrongful Imprisonment in Russia to the Front Lines of the Ukrainian War - Hardcover

Reed, Trevor; DeFelice, Jim

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0063428547 ISBN 13: 9780063428546

Publisher: William Morrow, 2026

Synopsis

The gritty memoir of a former US Marine and Presidential Guard, who, after being unjustly held and abused in a Russian gulag for three years and freed in a high-profile prisoner exchange, seeks revenge against his former Russian captors by volunteering to fight in Ukraine.

In August 2019, Trevor Reed, a former US Marine and Presidential Guard, was arrested in Russia on false, trumped-up charges. For three years, he was imprisoned in the infamous Russian gulag, where the inhumane treatment threatened his health so severely his parents and the U.S. government feared for his life. After losing roughly fifty pounds from his already trim body, he was released in a 2022 prisoner swap that dominated headlines.

Most people would go home, try to move on with their lives, and forget the horrors they endured. But not Trevor Reed.

Reed trained relentlessly to regain his health and strength, aiming to volunteer in Ukraine to fight the Russians and seek revenge. Having faced Russian cruelty up close, he knew what the Ukrainians were experiencing, and he knew he could help them. Just six months after being released from prison, Reed smuggled himself into Ukraine. He fought in one of the hottest fronts of the war . . . until one dark night a comrade stepped on a land mine. Reed almost lost his leg and his life, barely making it home to Texas alive.

A harrowing, on-the-ground account of the war in Ukraine, Retribution is the story of one man’s dogged persistence and commitment to justice, regardless of the personal cost.

About this title

About the Authors

Trevor Reed is a former Marine infantryman, Presidential Guard, and Marine Corps martial arts instructor. He also worked as a Diplomatic Security Service contractor in Afghanistan prior to the Taliban takeover. The Texas native is currently completing studies in foreign relations at a major university on the East Coast.

Jim DeFelice is the author of sixteen New York Times bestsellers, including American Sniper, the basis for Bradley Cooper’s blockbuster movie of the same name. Some of his other credits include Every Man a Hero, a bestselling account of Army medic Ray Lambert’s heroics at D-Day in World War Two, and They Called Us Lucky, the story of Lima 3/25, the Marine Corps’ hardest hit unit in the Iraq War and the life of Congressman Ruben Gallego, a Harvard undergrad who joined the Corps to serve as an enlisted grunt.

Edition details

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0063428547
• ISBN 13: 9780063428546
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 368