John Rayburn

Grew Up… in the Florida Keys as the second child of the Rayburn family. His parents owned a hotel and were well-off, prominent members of the community. They lived in a house right on the water, and John spent a lot of time with his brothers fishing on the boat and playing football on the beach. As is common with brothers, there was a lot of wrestling, with John often coming out worse for it than his older brother Danny.

Living… still in the Keys. John is the most responsible of all the Rayburns, and he stuck around to make sure the family ship stayed on course and in one piece. As his dad says, John “likes to take care of people so much he decided to take care of the rest of our family.”

Profession… police officer. John is a detective and local deputy in the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, working alongside his future brother-in-law Marco. “I’m pretty f-ing good at my job,” he says. He has little sense of humor when it comes to his work, which rubs some people the wrong way – one critic sarcastically referred to him as “the pope.”

Interests… making his parents happy. That’s all he wants.

Relationship Status… married to his lovely wife Diana. John’s family is picture-perfect. He and Diana are still very much in love, and they have two good-looking, well-behaved kids (Benjamin and Jane) and a dog named Surf.

Challenge… dealing with the return of his older brother Danny to the Keys. Danny has a deeply problematic history and he wreaks havoc wherever he goes. John wants Danny in his life, wants him to know his children, but he wonders if the Rayburns are better off without him around fulltime. As John puts it, “Sometimes, you know something’s coming. You feel it in the air, in your guts, and you don’t sleep at night, voices in your head telling you that something is going to go terribly wrong and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. That’s how I felt when my brother came home.”

Personality… serious, intense, and paternal. John is a classic worrier. He is the ultimate family man, dedicated not only to his wife and kids but to the whole clan. John is a huge believer in upholding the Rayburn family name. He just wants his parents to be happy and proud, and whenever something goes wrong, he is always the first one at the scene to fix the problem.