Book picks similar to
Skills To Kill: The Steve Dane Thrillers by Brian Drake


fiction
thriller
u_assassin-hitman-mercenary
g_thriller_spy-political-military

The Sanction: An explosive, twisting espionage thriller


Mark Sennen - 2020
    How do you stop a terrorist you can’t find? Their discoveries, and fight for survival, will go to the very heart of power… To the White House.

Dead of Night


Blake Banner - 2020
    He’s been sent home, to New York, where he was raised an orphan ‘til he was old enough to split and join the special forces.Now he’s back, and unemployed; until Russian Mafia boss Peter Rusanov offers him a job wiping out the Albanian Mafia. It’s a job he figures could make him rich, until Colonel Jane Harris shows up, takes him for a ride to Pleasantville, and tells him about Cobra…Then all hell breaks loose.

Fire Hawk


Geoffrey Archer - 1998
    But none more dangerous than this one. A whispered secret in a Baghdad hotel lobby leads to his kidnapping, torture and expected execution. His paymasters have given him up for dead. Only the intervention of his ex-lover, Chrissie, and a hostage swap get him released. But days later Chrissie is murdered. Perhaps she knew too much, knew of the secret that Sam had uncovered - that a biological terror weapon codenamed Fire Hawk had been smuggled from Iraq for use against an unknown target in the West. Personal motives of revenge clash with priorities of State Security as Sam follows the weapon's and his dead lover's murky past through the Middle East, Cyprus and the Ukraine. At each step the mystery of the ultimate target deepens and the fanatics who control it become ever more elusive.

Dark Operator


Doc Spears - 2020
    Tasked with performing covert missions, its kill teams are filled with the best warriors from within the ranks of the Legion.Kel Turner is one of the youngest legionnaires ever to be selected to its ranks. After many battles and trials, he is faced with the greatest challenge of his life - operating by himself on a remote planet at the galaxy’s edge, a foot soldier for the policies of the duplicitous House of Reason, tasked with solving a crisis that would take ten kill teams to resolve.Diplomats, spies, shadowy terrorist groups, and an enigmatic general work with and against Kel as he fights to save a society from itself. What can one operator do alone, separated from his kill team, fighting a war that has no name?This lone operator doesn’t know what it will take to win. He only knows he’s not going to lose.

Out of the Shadows


Tim Jopling - 2015
    Akira is a dangerous man, a man who has lost everything and has nothing to lose. Fuelled by the death of his beloved wife Madeline and desperate to seek revenge on those who took her from him, Akira is on a mission, a mission to rid the world of the corrupt West and everything it stands for and he has one man set in his sights. Thomas Deane, a fiercely loyal MI6 agent and one half of an elite partnership he is everything Akira despises - a patriotic man devoted to the service of his country, no matter what the cost. Assisted by the brave S.U.C.O. agents (Special Undercover Covert Operations) the elite MI6 team, are completely unaware of what lies ahead. Will they succeed in bringing Akira out of the shadows?

SEAL Team Six: No More #1


Doug Murray - 2014
    His missions are classified. He is her best and last hope. When Randall ‘Flame’ O'Donnell is forced to leave the SEALs due to a traumatic head injury he received on a mission, he firmly believes his life to be over. Leaving the SEALs is painful and impossible; Flame is certain life cannot only never be the same, but he doesn't know how to live without them. Facing a lifetime as a nothing but a civilian, Flame finds himself considering things he never thought he would: like joining the private sector and getting a job. But this is no ordinary job. Partnering up with ex-CIA analyst and NSA agent Dana Morton, Flame finds himself reliving his SEAL days by becoming the muscle in an agency that investigates and protects. Although he worries that things will get boring, he quickly realizes that this job is anything but static. From the rescue mission of a German television crew, to the thwarting of multiple terrorist attacks in major American cities, Flame finds himself once again stoking the fires he thought were long dead. And having a gorgeous blonde partner doesn't exactly hurt! From Vietnam veteran and seasoned writer, Doug Murray, comes an epic tale of redemption and ass-kicking that digs deep into the psyche of a former SEAL whose glory days are far from over. Prologue from Dynamite's New eBook: SEAL TEAM SIX NO MORE: REKINDLED FLAME: Darkness surrounded Flame as he crouched with the front of his left shoulder just touching a wall of some kind, the familiar shape of an M4 cradled in his arms. Where the hell am I? he asked himself. What am I supposed to do? He shook his head—felt a familiar weight on it. Night vision! He fumbled for the boxy system, and pulled it down in front of his eyes. Now where’s that switch…? Something clicked under his questing fingers and everything changed. I’m in a big room of some kind. Flame studied the green-tinged one-dimensional reality that spread around him. Boxes and crates everywhere. He tapped the huge crate he’d thought was a wall. Big suckers… He shook his head. Supply dump, maybe... He glanced to his front. Looks like an access door up ahead there… He sensed movement somewhere behind him. Shit! Flame turned toward the movement, clicking off the safety of his M4 with automatic precision. Where did that come from? He strained eyes and ears for more information—anything that might tell him what he’d gotten himself into—but all he could hear was the hammering sound of rain hitting what must have been a metal roof. Any other subtler sound was all but inaudible against that cacophony. Flame stood completely still, eyes flicking from side to side, waiting for… What? Suddenly, he heard the familiar clatter of an AK-47 coming from somewhere behind him. Flame whirled toward the new sound, rifle barrel swiveling to bear. There was a flicker of movement. It came from that doorway! Flame raised the M4, aiming it at the doorjamb. As soon as the bastard sticks his head out to try again, I’ll take it off and… There was movement to his right as a tall, rather angular figure slid to a halt behind a large box of some kind. The figure waved to him… Re-Pete? The new arrival signaled to Flame that he was going to leapfrog forward and motioned for him to give covering fire. Flame reacted automatically, stroking the trigger of his M4 to produce carefully aimed three-round bursts.

Capitol Break


John Hopton - 2019
    He's lost his wife, his career, and maybe his friends...but there are new "friends" around every corner.And along with the new friends some powerful new enemies. Non-stop action across exotic locations.Chris Collins just can't catch a break. Read all about it in the first full length novel in the hit Chris Collins CIA Thriller series. You'll laugh some, you'll cry some, you'll hold your breath, and then you'll hope to hell he survives for another adventure. Readers of James Rollins, Matthew Reilly, and Mark Dawson will LOVE this series. Pick up a copy, put the phone on silent, and lock the door - this is going to be an all-nighter!

The Devil's Brigade


Samuel Marquis - 2015
    Everyman Nick Lassiter becomes an unwitting intelligence operative and encounters for the first time the beautiful female assassin Skyler, who plays a prominent role in Books 2 and 3 of the series. As he celebrates his thirtieth birthday with friends, Lassiter is also a man in crisis: he has lost his girlfriend and his job, is wanted by the police, and has discovered that his unpublished thriller, Blind Thrust, has been stolen and turned into a blockbuster movie called Subterranean Storm. Even worse, the movie is based on a soon-to-be bestselling novel by Australian thriller writer Cameron Beckett, one of the world's biggest brand-name authors. Rather than seek revenge through a financial settlement or public humiliation, Lassiter sets out for New York to obtain mea culpas from Beckett and his renowned literary agent, whom he is certain colluded with the Aussie in stealing his debut novel. Once in New York, Lassiter, and his three fish-out-of-water friends who insist on accompanying him, instantly run afoul of the law and other powerful forces intent on thwarting them and their mission. As they encounter one thorny obstacle after another, the scope of their inquiries expands and they are soon in way over their heads, battling toe-to-toe not only against the mega-bestselling author and his agent, but a formidable army of antagonists, including the NYPD, Beckett's Big Five publishing house security squad, and the Russian mob. Collectively, these adversaries present Lassiter with the greatest--and deadliest--challenge of his life. Unexpectedly aided by his CIA father, Director of the Russian Counterintelligence Desk, and his former girlfriend turned CIA-informant, Lassiter and his comrades take to calling themselves the Devil's Brigade in tribute to the legendary U.S.-Canadian First Special Service Force, an elite commando outfit that fought in Italy in World War Two. Outmatched and outgunned, they are foiled at every turn but still they are determined to win. But will justice be attained? Can they prove that Beckett and his crooked literary agent have stolen Lassiter's blockbuster novel and are undeservedly reaping the success? More importantly, can they solve one of the most important counterintelligence cases in CIA history and in the process honor the original Devil's Brigade?

A Damned Serious Business


Gerald Seymour - 2018
    Massive thefts of personal information, electoral interference, catastrophic disruptio n of commercial and social services, banks, airlines, even whole countries disabled - this is happening now. Nicknamed 'Boot' because of his obsession with the Duke of Wellington and the battle of Waterloo, Edwin Coker is a case officer at the Vauxhall headquarters of MI6. When a young hacker falls into his hands and reveals details of a secret meeting, Boot conceives a daring plan to strike back - not with a computer virus of his own, but with a bomb that will seriously damage the Russian operation, spreading fear and distrust.Now Boot and his little team need a 'deniable' handler to deliver the explosives across the border from Estonia into Russia and bring the hacker back out. They turn to Merc, an ex-soldier fighting in Iraq, a gun-for-hire who knows how to get out of a tight spot. They hope.From the moment Merc sets out to cross the River Narva things do not go to plan and when the hacker's sister becomes involved, his mission turns from tough to near impossible. The scene is set for a classic story of pursuit and evasion and an epic battle for survival.

Pandora's Succession


Russell Brooks - 2010
    CIA operative, Ridley Fox, never stopped hunting his fiancée's killers—a weapons consortium called The Arms Of Ares. When Fox follows a lead to one of their top-secret bioweapons facilities in Chechnya, he barely escapes alive. However, he's learned that Ares has weaponized a hyper-deadly microbe called Pandora. The trail leads Fox to Tokyo, where he teams up with an old flame and fellow operative, Nita Parris. Aside from Ares, they must contend with rogue agents who'll stop at nothing to get Pandora. This throws Fox and Parris into a deadly game of spy vs spy, as they must rely on each other to locate the microbe. For if it's unleashed, it could mean the end of humanity.

Man Down


Nathan Burrows - 2020
    With red crosses on their arms and medical equipment strapped to their backs, they thunder into battle in a Chinook helicopter – straight into areas everyone else is desperate to get away from.In the middle of the fiercest fighting British troops have seen since the Falklands War, the medics are the last defence from death on the ground in some corner of a foreign field. But in Afghanistan, where a hostile is only obvious when they raise a weapon, there's no such thing as a non-combatant. And not all enemies are on the other side.Despite the heroic efforts of the medics on the ground and in the air, someone in the field hospital is determined to finish what the Taliban has started. Wounded soldiers – who should be living – are dying. Their deadliest enemy is much closer to home than they realise.As the death toll and the temperature rise, can the medics finish their tour of duty, or will it finish them?

The Search: A Walker Series Thriller


Alex Howell - 2019
    Though burdened by his past, Mason has found contentment in the anonymity of his family life in Baltimore, Maryland. And then his daughter gets kidnapped. Upon returning home for lunch one day, Mason comes home to find his house destroyed, his daughter gone, and security footage of her in an anonymous bunker. A voice advises that she will only be safe if Mason does exactly as he’s told. Will Mason be able to reclaim his old skills to save his daughter? Can he use his ingenuity to save her before he’s too late? What will it cost him?

Celt


Wayne Marinovich - 2014
    Driven on by the discovery of a methane release that could alter the world's sea-level, with catastrophic consequences, they will stop at nothing to secure their wealth and fortunes. Will their actions help the world to preserve the remaining resources, or are their motives more sinister?Sergeant Kyle Gibbs is a disgruntled Scotsman, who after serving as an SAS team leader for a now disintegrating British Government, jumps at the opportunity to become a mercenary for this secret Billionaires Club. After a failed incursion into an oil-rich country, Gibbs, and his team are left at the mercy of the African Continent as they scramble to get back to England and find out which one of their paymasters set them up to fail.With the initial signs of climate change affecting London, they race through the poverty-stricken city streets, trying to expose the traitor.Book 1 in the Kyle Gibbs Series.

The Devil Dragon Pilot


Lawrence A. Colby - 2016
    Somewhere between Dale Brown and early Ward Larsen books, Colby’s series is fresh, original, and plotted in such a way that each book is impossible to set down." -The Real Book Spy"Move over Jack Ryan, there's a new coolest dude in town named Ford Stevens." -Frank "Gus" Biggio, Author of The Wolves of HelmandFrom military veteran and pilot Lawrence A. Colby comes a #1 AMAZON BESTSELLING series made for fans of Vince Flynn, Jack Carr and Mark Greaney. Read the electric story that started it all!"...impressive command of subject, Colby keeps the reader turning pages...old-fashioned cliffhanging drama." -- Reserve Officers Association How do you capture the fastest airplane in the world without anyone finding out?Concealed deep within China's inland borders is one of the most secretive airplanes ever flown, known as Devil Dragon. She's sleek, unbelievably fast, and mysterious--her test pilots have one mission in mind: make her test flights successful for operational use as soon as possible. Or sooner.But when strange transmissions of pilots are recorded without an aircraft appearing on radar, and bizarre cell phone signals are detected at towers hundreds of miles apart, the Defense Intelligence Agency team is set in motion, and U.S. Air Force Reserve pilot Ford Stevens is asked to take on the most dangerous assignment of his life.What begins as a friend helping a friend explodes into a globe-trotting action packed military-aviation adventure. Against an atmosphere of Washington, DC government red tape, an intimidating Chinese General, DIA leadership, and carrier aviation, all airways lead to a stunning international plot. Crammed with deceitful government employees, smoke and mirrors tradecraft, and the blackest, most secretive aviation flight ever undertaken, you will be unable to put it down. Zip up your flight suit and hold on for the ride.

Targets of Deception


Jeffrey S. Stephens - 2007
    He is reluctantly drawn back into action when a series of violent events leads him to suss out a new al-Qaeda conspiracy to initiate cataclysmic assaults with poison gas.Sandor follows the deadly trail from New York to Florida to Paris and, ultimately, to the small town of Portofino on the Italian Riviera. Never sure who he can trust and who may be an enemy, Jordan relies on his experience, instincts, and skills as he risks his life to uncover plans for attacks against the United States and its allies. When Sandor discovers a rogue agent behind the plot, he realizes he is the one man who can prevent the catastrophe that could put the lives of millions of people at stake.