Book picks similar to
The Lure by Bill Napier


science-fiction
sci-fi
thriller
fiction

Declination


David Derrico - 2002
    Now, the Confederation's crises are spawned from within, and one brave woman struggles against all odds to keep mankind united amidst a hailstorm of rebellion, war, and moral declination.* * * * *The Lucani Ibron have yet to return, but all is not well within the Alpha Sector. Internal strife, terrorism, and ever-escalating conflicts with several neighboring species have spread the Confederation's resources dangerously thin. Captain Anastasia Mason, together with an eclectic group of humanity's most decorated heroes, struggles to hold the Confederation together against powerful forces that threaten to rip it apart at its very core. Then, at what appears to be mankind’s most desperate hour, an old enemy returns from a ten-year hiatus, casting humanity to the brink of civil war... and outright annihilation.

Spooker


Dean Ing - 1995
    It's his escape hatch--a stash that contains false identification, keys to a hidden car or boat or plane, weapons, and money--lots of money.It took U.S. intelligence a longtime to figure out that somone was stalking and killing agents for their spookers. It was the perfect crime, almost. Agents are killed every day by people they are spying on. And these killers were good--invisible, quick, leaving no trace behind.But finally the killers made one mistake.

Blind Lake


Robert Charles Wilson - 2003
    They can't contact the aliens in any way or understand their language. All they can do is watch.Then, without warning, a military cordon is imposed on the Blind Lake site. All communication with the outside world is cut off. Food and other vital supplies are delivered by remote control. No one knows why.The scientists, nevertheless, go on with their research. Among them are Nerissa Iverson and the man she recently divorced, Raymond Scutter. They continue to work together despite the difficult conditions and the bitterness between them. Ray believes their efforts are doomed; that culture is arbitrary, and the aliens will forever be an enigma.Nerissa believes there is a commonality of sentient thought, and that our failure to understand is our own ignorance, not a fact of nature. The behavior of the alien she has been tracking seems to be developing an elusive narrative logic--and she comes to feel that the alien is somehow, impossibly, aware of the project's observers.But her time is running out. Ray is turning hostile, stalking her. The military cordon is tightening. Understanding had better come soon...

The Explorer


James Smythe - 2012
    They mourn, and Cormac sends a beautifully written eulogy back to Earth. The word from ground control is unequivocal: no matter what happens, the mission must continue.But as the body count begins to rise, Cormac finds himself alone and spiralling towards his own inevitable death … unless he can do something to stop it.

Heavy Weather


Bruce Sterling - 1994
    Tornadoes of almost unimaginable force roam the open spaces of Texas. And on their trail are the Storm Troupers: a ragtag band of computer experts and atmospheric scientists who live to hack heavy weather -- to document it and spread the information as far as the digital networks will stretch, using virtual reality to explore the eye of the storm.Although it's incredibly addictive, this is no game. The Troupers' computer models suggest that soon an "F-6" will strike -- a tornado of an intensity that exceeds any existing scale; a storm so devastating that it may never stop. And they're going to be there when all hell breaks loose.

All Flesh is Grass


Clifford D. Simak - 1965
    It's been put there by a galactic intelligence intent on imposing harmony and cooperation on the different peoples of the universe. But to the inhabitants, the barrier evokes stark terror.

Nymphomation


Jeff Noon - 1997
    As a group of mathematics students look at the mind-numbing probabilities involved, they soon find more sinister realities. The Company has developed the nymphomation, and has the power to devour the city's dreams

We All Died at Breakaway Station


Richard C. Meredith - 1969
    Astrogation officer Gene O'Gwynn, a lady with a plastic face. Weapons officer Akin Darby and Communications officer Miss Cyanta, both with assorted prosthetic parts.These were the officers of the Iwo Jima, one of the two heavy battle-cruiser starships protecting the vast cumbersome Rudolph Cragston, a hospital ship returning to Earth with thousands of wounded in cold sleep.These brutally injured officers had been restored to temporary, artificial life to do this job because no intact man or woman could be spared from the main conflict.But then Breakaway Station, a vital link with Earth, was suddenly threatened..

Europe in Autumn


Dave Hutchinson - 2014
    Following multiple economic crises and a devastating flu pandemic, Europe has fractured into countless tiny nations, duchies, polities and republics. Recruited by the shadowy organisation Les Coureurs des Bois, Rudi is schooled in espionage, but when a training mission to The Line, a sovereign nation consisting of a trans-Europe railway line, goes wrong, he is arrested, beaten and Coureur Central must attempt a rescue. With so many nations to work in, and identities to assume, Rudi is kept busy travelling across Europe. But when he is sent to smuggle someone out of Berlin and finds a severed head inside a locker instead, a conspiracy begins to wind itself around him. With kidnapping, double-crosses and a map that constantly re-draws, Rudi begins to realise that underneath his daily round of plot and counter plot, behind the conflicting territories, another entirely different reality might be pulling the strings...

Intrusion


Ken MacLeod - 2012
    Hope Morrison is expecting her second child and refuses to take The Fix, as the pill is known.

The Dark Between the Stars


Kevin J. Anderson - 2014
    The human race must set aside its own inner conflicts to rebuild their alliance with the Ildiran Empire for the survival of the galaxy.Galactic empires clash, elemental beings devastate whole planetary systems, and factions of humanity are pitted against each other. Heroes rise and enemies make their last stands in the climax of an epic tale seven years in the making.

Rage of Angels


Michael Tinker Pearce - 2014
    Who are they, and why have they come? The survivors soon discover the aliens are here for the one resource they cannot find elsewhere in the solar system- surface biomass. Life itself. The survivors are left to fight a guerrilla war against their technologically superior adversaries in the vain hope of driving them off before they can strip the world of life. But they may be doomed to fail unless they can find a way to strike directly against the aliens, unassailable in their fortress-mothership orbiting high above the earth. With memorable characters, packed with action and bleeding-edge technology ‘Rage of Angels’ is a fresh, up to date and frighteningly plausible addition to the alien invasion genre.

Archaea


Dain White - 2011
    Captain Dak Smith saw in her something special, an opportunity to burn for the far horizon as an independent, free from the gloms that hold known space in thrall – but he had to get her running first.Armed with a standard-issue captain's eyebrow and an infectious grin, Captain Smith and his hand-picked crew embark on an adventure through deep space filled with scoundrels, pirates, and some incredibly unfortunate peace-loving rocks that happened to be at the wrong place, at the worst time.

Batman: The Ultimate Evil


Andrew Vachss - 1995
    Desperate for answers, The Batman follows a twisted trail of perversion from Gotham City to Southeast Asia, where he faces The Ultimate Evil.

O is for Outlaw & P is for Peril


Sue Grafton - 2008
    Two absolutely cracking books tokeep you reading until all hours. The onlydownside is you get to the end and wantmore. Fortunately there is more.