Best of
Thriller

1997

Term Limits


Vince Flynn - 1997
    ONE POLITICIAN AT A TIME In one bloody night, three of Washington's most powerful politicians are executed with surgical precision. Their assassins then deliver a shocking ultimatum to the American government: set aside partisan politics and restore power to the people. No one, they warn, is out of their reach—not even the president.A joint FBI-CIA task force reveals the killers are elite military commandos, but no one knows exactly who they are or when they will strike next. Only Michael O'Rourke, a former U.S. Marine and freshman congressman, holds a clue to the violence: a haunting incident in his own past with explosive implications for his country's future ...

The Runaway


Martina Cole - 1997
    Cathy's miserable life as a prostitute's child changes forever when she's forced into care. The ordeal that follows leaves her with no choice but to run away to Soho, and she learns to survive in the violent heart of London's underworld. Meanwhile, Eamonn, who fled to New York, has gained a reputation as a ruthless villain. But when their paths cross again, Cathy's an equal match for Eamonn.

Michael Crichton's Jurassic World: Jurassic Park / The Lost World


Michael Crichton - 1997
    Now at last in one volume, Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and The Lost World--the two incomparably suspenseful, supremely scary, utterly unputdownable, worldwide best-selling return-of-the-dinosaurs novels, which together constitute Jurassic World.--front flap

The Bone Collector


Jeffery Deaver - 1997
    But now a diabolical killer is challenging Rhyme to a terrifying and ingenious duel of wits. With police detective Amelia Sachs by his side, Rhyme must follow a labyrinth of clues that reaches back to a dark chapter in New York City's past -- and reach further into the darkness of the mind of a madman who won't stop until he has stripped life down to the bone.

The Winner


David Baldacci - 1997
    All she has to do is change her identity and leave the U.S. forever.The KillerIt's an offer she dares to refuse...until violence forces her hand and thrusts her into a harrowing game of high-stakes, big-money subterfuge. It's a price she won't fully pay...until she does the unthinkable and breaks the promise that made her rich.The WinnerFor if LuAnn Tyler comes home, she will be pitted against the deadliest contestant of all: the chameleonlike financial mastermind who changed her life. And who can take it away at will...

Long After Midnight


Iris Johansen - 1997
    She wanted to save lives.  The killer wanted to end hers.The first warning was triggered hundreds of miles away.  The second warning exploded only yards from where she and her son stood.  Now Kate Denby realizes the frightening truth:  She is somebody's target.Danger has arrived in Kate's backyard with a vengeance.  And the gifted scientist is awakening to a nightmare world where a ruthless killer is stalking her...where her innocent son is considered expendable...and where the medical research to which she has devoted her life is the same research that could get her killed.  Her only hope of protecting her family and making that medical breakthrough is to elude her enemy until she can face him on her own ground, on her own terms—and destroy him.

Killing Floor


Lee Child - 1997
    He's just passing through Margrave, Georgia, and in less than an hour, he's arrested for murder. Not much of a welcome. All Jack knows is that he didn't kill anybody. At least not here. Not lately. But he doesn't stand a chance of convincing anyone. not in Margrave, Georgia. Not a chance in hell.

The Solitary Man (Stephen Leather Thrillers)


Stephen Leather - 1997
    Imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, Hutch escapes from a British maximum security prison and starts a new life in Hong Kong. Then a ghost from his past catches up with him, forcing him to help a former terrorist break out of a Bangkok prison. Or face life behind bars once more.Meanwhile the DEA wants to nail the vicious drug warlord responsible for flooding the States with cheap heroin. And decides to use Hutch as a pawn in a deadly game.Hutch's bid for freedom takes him into the lawless killing fields of the Golden Triangle, where the scene is set for one final act of betrayal . . .

And Then You Die


Iris Johansen - 1997
    Instead they find every person in the village is dead, killed in a bloodless carnage. The sisters are aided only by a mysterious agent who holds the key to stopping a vicious weapon aimed at America.

Angel Seven


Mike Lunnon-Wood - 1997
    ONE REMARKABLE AIRCRAFT. ONE CHANCE TO SAVE THE WORLD… In the Pentagon, reports surface of a revolutionary new combat aircraft that could dramatically alter the delicate Cold War balance of power. But who has built it and what is its purpose? Deep within a top-secret engineering facility close to the Arctic Circle, a brilliant former Air Force test pilot is recruited into a clandestine organization. Their plan is both bold and perilous. And with the Kremlin on high alert one mistake could trigger global war ... Angel Seven takes an audacious premise and spins it into an action-packed, cutting-edge aerial technothriller. If you like Tom Clancy, Dale Brown or Stephen Coonts you’ll love Angel Seven. Perfect for fans of books and movies like Firefox, The Hunt for Red October, The Flight of the Old Dog, Top Gun, Stealth and The Flight of the Intruder.

Plum Island


Nelson DeMille - 1997
    the wry wit of The Gold Coast...this is vintage Nelson DeMille at the peak of his originality and the height of his powers.Wounded in the line of duty, NYPD homicide cop John Corey is convalescing in rural eastern Long Island when an attractive young couple he knows is found shot to death on the family patio. The victims were biologists at Plum Island, a research site rumored to be an incubator for germ warfare.Suddenly, a local double murder takes on shattering global implications -- and thrusts Corey and two extraordinary women into a dangerous search for the secret of PLUM ISLAND....

Fortune


Erica Spindler - 1997
    A brother's dark obsession... And one woman's desperate fight for survival... Something dark and dangerous had long shadowed Skye Dearborn's life. She had seen the fear of it in her mother's eyes. It was there, locked in her memories of blood spilling across a gleaming floor. In the sound of her own screams. And in the terror she'd felt the night her mother disappeared. Then fortune smiled on Skye. With help she was able to put the horror behind her and look to the future.But now that same fortune is leading her into the arms of danger--and back into the nightmare of her past. For the evil that has haunted her dreams has a human form--a man obsessed with Skye since her birth. A man who alone knows who Skye Dearborn really is.

The Cobra Event


Richard Preston - 1997
    By her midmorning art class, Kate's runny nose gives way to violent seizures and a hideous scene of self-cannibalization. She dies soon after. When a homeless man meets a similarly gruesome — and mystifying — fate, the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta sends pathologist Alice Austen to investigate. What she uncovers is the work of a killer, a man who calls himself Archimedes and is intent on spreading his deadly Cobra virus throughout New York City. A silent crisis erupts, with Austen and a secret FBI forensic team rushing to expose the terrorist.Even more frightening than Preston's story about the fictitious Cobra virus, however, is the truth that lies beneath it. As the author writes in his introduction, "The nonfiction roots of this book run deep.... My sources include eyewitnesses who have seen a variety of biological-weapons installations in different countries, and people who have developed and tested strategic bioweapons." In fact, the only reason The Cobra Event was not written as nonfiction is that none of Preston's sources would go on record.Woven throughout the novel are sections of straight nonfiction reporting that reveal the terrifying truth about the development of biological weapons and the clandestine operations of Russia and Iraq. Three years of research and more than 100 interviewswithhigh-level sources in the FBI, the U.S. military, and the scientific community went into The Cobra Event. The result is sure to shock you.

Mortal Fear


Greg Iles - 1997
    But at night, Harper serves as system operator for E.R.O.S., a highly exclusive, sexually explicit on-line service whose clients range from the glitterati of Hollywood to the literati of New York. Shielded by a guarantee of absolute anonymity, these clients pour their secrets into the digital confession box of E.R.O.S. Only "sysops" like Harper - the high priests of the system - know and see all. When six female clients inexplicably drop off the network, Harper suspects that something is amiss. But when a world-famous New Orleans author - and E.R.O.S. client - is decapitated in her mansion, Harper breaks the code of silence and contacts the police. They are as shocked as Harper to learn that all six women have been brutally murdered, each with a different weapon, and in a different city. And each time the killer has claimed the same bizarre trophy. Horrified to find himself the prime suspect in the murders he reported, Harper is swept into a secret manhunt led by the FBI's Investigative Support Unit. While the FBI uses the technology of the future and the psychology of the past to trap the brilliant killer, Harper realizes that he alone stands a chance of luring the elusive madman into the open.

Life Support


Tess Gerritsen - 1997
    She strove to keep her life in order, her ER in order. But no one could have been prepared for the man she admits one quiet night to the Springer Hospital. Delirious and in critical condition, he barely responds to treatment. And then he disappears without trace. The subsequent search leads Toby to a second patient with the same infection. And it reveals an unsettling twist - the infection can only be spread through direct tissue exchange. Soon Toby's on a trail that winds from a pregnant sixteen-year-old prostitute to an unexpected tragedy in her own home. Only then does she discover the unthinkable: a terrifying and deadly epidemic is about to be unleashed ...

A Thin Dark Line


Tami Hoag - 1997
    A suspected murderer is free on a technicality, and the cop accused of planting evidence against him is ordered off the case. But Detective Nick Fourcade refuses to walk away. He’s stepped over the line before. This case threatens to push him over the edge.He’s not the only one. Deputy Annie Broussard found the woman’s mutilated body. She still hears the phantom echoes of dying screams. She wants justice. But pursuing the investigation will mean forming an alliance with a man she doesn’t trust and making enemies of the men she works with. It will mean being drawn into the confidence of a killer. For Annie Broussard, finding justice will mean risking everything—including her life.The search for the truth has begun—one that will lead down a twisted trail through the steamy bayous of Louisiana, and deep into the darkest reaches of the human heart.

The Perfect Husband


Lisa Gardner - 1997
    Even locked up in a maximum security prison, he vowed he would come after her and make her pay. Now the cunning killer has escaped--and the most dangerous game of all begins.... After a lifetime of fear, Tess will do something she's never done before. She's going to learn to protect her daughter and fight back, with the help of a burned-out ex-marine. As the largest manhunt four states have ever seen mobilizes to catch Beckett, the clock winds down to the terrifying reunion between husband and wife. And Tess knows that this time, her only choices are to kill--or be killed.

Point of Honor


Maurice Medland - 1997
    A master storyteller." - Clive Cussler Two men separated by a strict code of honor locked in a lethal game of international terror . . . Jorge Cordoba has schemed and murdered his way to the top of a Colombian drug cartel intent on bankrupting the industrialized nations of the world. But when the freighter delivering the goods that will secure the cartel's - and Cordoba's - future goes missing, he's thrown into a life or death struggle to recover it. Enter Navy Lieutenant Daniel Blake, a former merchant marine officer who's just been ordered to lead a boarding party of seven men and one woman onto an abandoned freighter. In the hull of the freighter are thirty tons of cocaine, $350 million in cash - and half a dozen corpses with their tongues cut out. Separated from his own ship with a typhoon rapidly approaching, Blake and his team are plunged into a battle of terror against not one, but two treacherous enemies - Cordoba's strike force racing to the scene and a savage murderer who is still aboard. At the heart of this electrifying novel are two very different men, separated by their morality and strict code of honor, bound together in a deadly game of power and survival that each must fight to the very end.

Medusa's Child


John J. Nance - 1997
    Nance launches Medusa's Child, an explosive new thriller that takes to the skies-and takes you to the height of terror.Now he brings you to the brink of nuclear catastropheAt 10,000 feet, Captain Scott McKay gets the nerve-shattering news: aboard his Boeing 727 is a ticking time bomb-and not just any bomb. It's the Medusa Project, a thermonuclear monster that could wipe out every computer chip on the continent, obliterating any and all traces of modern technology. Now Scott is flying blind, with nowhere to land and nothing to rely on but his own instincts. And one wrong move could ignite a worldwide apocalypse by unleashing...

Cain


James Byron Huggins - 1997
    Piece by piece, they rebuilt his soulless flesh and transformed it. A team of scientists outfitted him with the most powerful muscles and the deadliest weapons that the generals could ever have wished for. Alive, Cain had been their deadliest killer; dead, he became their greatest nightmare. When Cain awakes, he is transformed: he has become the ultimate predator. His body is now inhabited by a spirit that's been wandering the earth for millennia - one of the crown princes of hell. The only force that can stop him is made up of three tragically flawed mortals - a soldier who's lost his family to a terrorist's bullets, a priest who's lost his faith, and the beautiful young scientist who created this modern Frankenstein. Together, though, they form an unstoppable team who will fight the forces of hell itself to save themselves and humankind.

Digger


Joseph Flynn - 1997
    What separated him from everyone else was knowing right where the enemy was hiding. Even in the dark. That made him a natural tunnel rat. Then one day he went down a hole with his best friend Jamie Doolan. John was almost killed by a grenade and Doolan … disappeared. Leaving a man behind is a mortal sin and John did penance every day. When he got home, he and two vet friends secretly recreated a portion of the VC’s tunnels under the town of Elk River. Years later, a fight comes to Elk River, a strike against the town’s biggest employer. The labor dispute turns deadly when Tommy Boyle, the union leader and John’s closest living relative, is killed — and the county sheriff might be an accomplice. That leaves John with no choice but to investigate, using his tunnels to help find the truth. When Tommy’s nemesis, company owner Tony Hunt, learns of the tunnels’ existence, he decides there’s only one thing to do. Bring in his own Viet Cong.

The Tenth Justice


Brad Meltzer - 1997
    And now the anonymous blackmailer who made a killing with Ben's information is demanding more. Guilty of a criminal act, his golden future suddenly in jeopardy, Ben turns for help to his roommates—three close friends from childhood, each strategically placed near the seats of Washington power—and to his beautiful, whip-smart fellow clerk, Lisa Schulman.But trust is a dangerous commodity in the nation's capital. And when lives, careers, and power are at stake, loyalties can shatter like glass . . . and betrayals can be lethal.

The Sett


Ranulph Fiennes - 1997
    How would you react to the murder of your family? Alex Goodman took it personally. And now he has a fight on his hands. A fight that starts when Alex wakes up in a Lancashire hospital severely battered and with no memory of the brutal attack that put him there. A year's struggle reveals his identity. But Alex is driven to spend a further nine years delving into a global criminal underworld, seeking revenge on his family's killers and becoming dangerously entangled with both the Mafia and the CIA, and with some of the most savage and powerful men in the world.

Detective


Arthur Hailey - 1997
    Malcolm Ainslie takes a phone call he would have been better off ignoring. The caller is the chaplain at Florida State Prison, delivering a message from Elroy Doil, the serial murderer Ainslie helped put on the prison's death row. On the eve of his execution, Doil has asked to make a confession. But there is a condition: he will deliver it only in person to Ainslie.Ainslie has no choice. Doil was convicted of a double murder, but he was suspected in ten more. No homicide detective could turn down the opportunity to close ten murder cases in a single night. What Ainslie learns from the condemned man, however, propels the ex-priest-turned-cop into an investigation that reaches into the most elite levels of his own department and the Miami city government. And it tests as never before his skills as a cop and his character as a man.Master storyteller Arthur Hailey is legendary for the scrupulously researched authenticity and electrifying realism of his novels, for taking readers inside the places where men and women endure and sometimes crack under the pressures of jobs that shape our lives and world. Bristling with the sights, sounds, and true-to-life details of a contemporary urban homicide division, and with all the narrative suspense that has made him one of the best-selling fiction writers of our time, Detective is the novel Arthur Hailey was destined to write.

Ashes to Ashes (New English Library


Gwen Hunter - 1997
    series, this book could be considered a prequel. It has the same fictional setting and features Ashlee Davenport, Rhea's favorite emergency room nurse.Ashlee Chadwick Davenport has been a widow for only a month when she finds disturbing evidence suggesting that her husband Jack--pillar of the community, church deacon, principled businessman--might have been much less honorable than he seemed. There are recordings of anonymous phone calls alleging Jack was involved in unsavory business transactions. Records of shady land deals. And she finds letters that hint at even darker dealings. Worse, from an emotional standpoint, Ashe discovers racy photos of her deceased husband with her best friend. She feels as if her marriage and her life have been ripped away from her. Her whole existence has been built on lies.All she has left is her daughter and the farm that has been in her family for generations. Then, suddenly, even those things are threatened. Jack's death has left her holding something that someone wants very badly. And they'll do anything to get it.Ashe must draw on her ever-growing anger to find the strength to fight Jack's final legacy: an unknown, unseen enemy.

Sweepers


P.T. Deutermann - 1997
    Navy made him the ultimate killer. Now they can't stop him...It begins with a routine police investigation. A beautiful woman is dead. A detective needs answers. And a newly appointed Pentagon admiral is scrambling for his career and for his life. Suddenly, the inner ring of the Pentagon is being rocked by a living nightmare: a Sweeper-a trained covert assassin, an ex-SEAL scarred by one horrific episode in Vietnam-has gone rogue. And his killing has just begun...With a searing insider's view of Pentagon politics, retired Navy captain P.T. Deutermann writes military suspense worthy of Tom Clancy and Nelson DeMile. Now, in his electrifying new novel, a powerful ex-Marine and a courageous woman face a kill zone: of deception, ambition, and sweeping revenge...

The List


Steve Martini - 1997
    Gable Cooper has penned a novel to kill for. Six million dollars in book and film rights are looming just off the table for this unknown author. But there is a problem: Gable Cooper doesn't exist. Abby Chandlis is an attorney turned novelist and the creator of Gable Cooper. In an age when glamour, not grammar, is often the secret to selling books, Abby has an intriguing plan to keep her writing career alive: find a charismatic male face to pose as the phantom author for the knock-dead thriller she has written. Jack Jermaine is a man with dangerous good looks and a shadowy past. Trained by the military to kill, his obsession is to pen a blockbuster book. He has a trunk filled with rejected manuscripts and a gnawing problem that has turned him bitter: Jack can't write. Desperate to find a man to play the role of Gable Cooper, Abby is about to give up when Jack forces his way into her life. Reluctantly she is convinced that Jack's humor and looks will clinch success for her novel. She uses her legal wits and makes a deal with the devil. Jack becomes Gable Cooper. When Jack is propelled into the orbit of celebrity, Abby finds herself at once seduced and trapped by her own creation. Success turns to terror.The story careens from the Pacific Northwest to New York City and finally through the islands of the Caribbean as Abby races for her life to the one person she can trust--the one person who can prove to the world that she wrote the novel, and put an end to the nightmare that was once her dream, the dream of making The List.

The Virgin and the Fool


Douglas Boyd - 1997
    Now it's highly dangerous too. When ex-university lecturer Tom Fielding goes on the run with Clive Ponsonby of MI6 - the man who put him in Longfield Open Prison for eight years - he has only hours in which to save several lives. Ponsonby's former agent, Nosarenko, is now President of the the Ukraine. He is determined to silence Tom. Why? Because he was the sole witness of a gruesome murder in the 1980s which could destroy his political career. Clive Ponsonby wants the half-million dollars that went missing during Tom's mission in Russia. And Tom wants to stay alive long enough to protect the three women in his life - his Russian ex-wife, their daughter Svetlana, and Karen McKenzie, the one person to stand by him when he went to jail. There is only one thing that will stop the killing. It's a film Tom shot of the murder, hidden somewhere in the centre of Asia with the Virgin of Kazan, the most valuable icon in the world. If he can get the both the icon and the film safely back to the west in time, Tom will be rich and safe. If not, he'll be dead... 'The Virgin and the Fool' is a pacy, atmospheric spy story full of passion and intrigue. It will appeal to fans of Alan Furst, John Le Carre, Robert Harris and Frederick Forsyth. 'A block-buster thriller.' - Tom Kasey, best-selling author of 'Trade-Off'. 'Packs a tremendous punch.' - Robert Foster, best-selling author of 'The Lunar Code'. Douglas Boyd is a television producer and writer. His best-selling books include 'The Eagle and the Snake' and 'The Truth and the Lies'.

Protect and Defend


Eric L. Harry - 1997
    Slowly, it has grown in power, extending its sphere of influence beyond the Asian continent. Now, it has launched a final assault against the only possible obstacle to world domination...The United States of America.

Lethal Practice


Peter Clement - 1997
    Paul's Hospital. Buffalo, New York.Scandal rocks the medical community when someone murders the chief administrator, plunging a long thin cardiac needle into his heart with deadly precision. Top ER physician Earl Garnet is one of the few doctors who knows how to insert a cardiac needle. Now a suspect, Garnet races to uncover the truth, even as he becomes embroiled in a conspiracy far bigger and more sinister than he could ever imagine--a secret that could blow apart the very medical establishment Garnet has sworn to serve.

The Partner


John Grisham - 1997
    So will its rightful owners. They found him in a small town in Brazil. He had a new name, Danilo Silva, and his appearance had been changed by plastic surgery. The search had taken four years. They'd chased him around the world, always just missing him. It had cost their clients $3.5 million. But so far none of them had complained.The man they were about to kidnap had not always been called Danilo Silva. Before he had had another life, a life which ended in a car crash in February 1992. His gravestone lay in a cemetery in Biloxi, Mississippi. His name before his death was Patrick S. Lanigan. He had been a partner at an up-and-coming law firm. He had a pretty wife, a young daughter, and a bright future. Six weeks after his death, $90 million disappeared from the law firm. It was then that his partners knew he was still alive. And the chase was on

Out


Natsuo Kirino - 1997
    Masako's own search for a way out of the straitjacket of a dead-end life leads her, too, to take drastic action.The complex yet riveting narrative seamlessly combines a convincing glimpse into the grimy world of Japan's yakuza with a brilliant portrayal of the psychology of a violent crime and the ensuing game of cat-and-mouse between seasoned detectives and a group of determined but inexperienced criminals. Kirino has mastered a Thelma and Louise kind of graveyard humor that illuminates her stunning evocation of the pressures and prejudices that drive women to extreme deeds and the friendship that bolsters them in the aftermath.

The Fifth Hostage


Terence Strong - 1997
    Britain is determined they should not...Their fate lies in the hands of an SAS team that must disappear into the hostile turmoil of Iran in a desperate rescue bid against the clock.A gruelling ordeal that calls for ingenuity, sacrifice and courage in a dangerous and desolate terrain - cut off from the outside world.This is a story of passions and loyalties tested to destruction as the sweeping shadow of fanaticism and terror darkens the land.

Rogue Element


Terence Strong - 1997
    Then MI5 asks one favour too many, an act of personal betrayal. When he refuses, he sees his world collapse and finds himself accused of a high-profile murder he did not commit. Yet the evidence against him is overwhelming.

Out of the Mouths of Babes


Dennis Hamley - 1997
    One is arrogant, one is destructive and one is the beautiful catalyst that will begin the end. As they move ever closer, the destiny that began with their births accelerates. It will blow their lives apart.

Harlem


Len Riley - 1997
    "In Harlem, " she writes, "colored folks and white people are all treated the same. We all drive around in fancy cars and wear the latest clothes...Everyone is rich..." Unbeknownst to the Lamberts, Geneva has transformed herself from rural preacher's daughter to wealthy offspring of New Orleans black elite. Light-skinned and beautiful, she has the looks, the poise and bravado to carry the deception off-and now her ambition is about to be rewarded. Lester Noble has proposed, and Geneva is about to marry into the Harlem aristocracy. Nothing can stop her now. Or so she thinks....But when the Lamberts arrive on Geneva's doorstep, it seems that her carefully orchestrated plan may go awry. Faced with a choice between her hardscrabble past and her happy future, Geneva coldly leaves her kinfolk to make their own way in a city that is as overwhelming as it is vibrant. This unforgettable novel paints a vivid portrait of Harlem in its heyday-jazz bands, bootleggers, the beautiful showgirls of the Cotton Club and the broken men and women who struggle to survive in New York's most desperate neighborhoods. A blend of fictional characters and real-life figures in the Harlem Renaissance, it's an irresistible tale of passion and envy, loyalty and betrayal, ruthless violence and redeeming love-a book that captures all of the glory, triumph and tragedy of a unique time and place in America's history.

Saint


Mark Bailey - 1997
    Biogeneticist Andrew Shepard resurrects the memory of an ancient in a living human subject. Simon Peter is reborn.For the faithful, it is a miracle. For the world’s political and spiritual leaders, it is a crisis. For humankind, it changes everything.Peter escapes from the BioGenera lab in a desperate attempt to return to Rome and to confront the Pontiff, while being stalked by an assassin intent on silencing him once and for all.First e-book edition

Malice Intended


Ron Handberg - 1997
    Then a package shows up on her newsroom desk with horrifying proof of Maggie's darkest secret.