John Yard is a professional hunter.
Yard had been an officer in the Green Berets, rising to the rank of Major, much of that time fighting in Southeast Asia until he had had enough. He decided that, though he knew several dozen ways of killing a man, he was tired of it. Luckily, a quite wealthy uncle had chosen that time to pass away and leave Yard a sizable fortune, thus giving him a chance to pick and choose his new profession. His new profession was game hunter in Africa but as described in the first book, this had grown tiresome when faced with dealing with overbearing rich people.
Yard is a decorated marksman and weapons expert. He is a top-notch tracker and stalker, able to find and follow his prey over virtually any terrain. Though he is very successful in his job as hunter and guide, he lives in a simple house along a dirt road on the edges of Nairobi, Kenya, and enjoys his quiet surroundings whenever he is not out in the field.
In his early forties as the series begins, he knows he is ready for another change in his life but he is not sure what it would be. His love of Africa and the people and animals has not diminished in any way but just as fighting as a soldier has gotten old, so had being a big game hunter and guide.
Pulled away from that job by the circumstances of the first recorded adventure, Yard decided he had found another form of hunting far more satisfying, that of the scum that preyed upon innocents without mercy. Just as they had not qualms about hurting others, Yard has no problem bringing the hurt to them.