Book picks similar to
Revenge by Bill Ward


thriller
revenge
cia-government-political-thriller
military-suspense-thriller

Violation (Adam Black #2)


Karl Hill - 2020
    Why would a man Black has never met or heard of leave him everything he owns? And as Black looks deeper, he discovers that the legacy is shrouded in mystery. To uncover the truth, Black will travel a violent and treacherous path. A path which leads to devastating consequences.This is Adam Black's biggest challenge yet. And, to endure it, he must once again resort to the skill he is an expert in. Killing for survival.

The Hunter


Richard Stark - 1962
    The thriller that introduces Parker. “A brilliant invention”. Played by Lee Marvin in the John Boorman movie. “The funnies call it the syndicate. The goons and hustlers call it the Outfit. You call it the Organization. But I don’t care if you call yourselves the Red Cross, you owe me forty-five thousand dollars and you’ll pay me back whether you like it or not.”This novel was originally titled The Hunter, later retitled Point Blank because of the movie, later retitled Payback because of the other movie.

Erased


Jordan Marshall - 2011
    They programmed her to forget everything. She was supposed to be the perfect patsy, until something went wrong… When Sara wakes up on the roof of a Union Square department store with a sniper rifle in her arms and the body of a political activist in the street below, she can’t even remember how she got there. A mysterious stranger calls and instructs her to turn herself in. He warns that her life has been erased and she’ll never see her family again if she doesn’t cooperate. Sara is terrified, and in a desperate attempt to sort out her past and prove her innocence, she goes on the run. Sara quickly finds herself one of America’s most wanted criminals. The police and the FBI are convinced she’s a known terrorist. The black ops team that framed her is out to kill her before she can expose them. Her only hope lies in rookie FBI agent Brandy Jackson. Unfortunately, Brandy and her partner have every reason to believe Sara is the real killer and they’re being pressured from above to close the case as quickly as possible. As the evidence mounts, Sara even begins to question her own memories. What if she’s not the dedicated mother and hardworking attorney she thinks she is? What if she really is the killer?

Jesse James and the Secret Legend of Captain Coytus


Alex Mueck - 2013
    When a Harvard history professor receives a thesis paper titled Jesse James and the Secret Legend of Captain Coytus, from Ulysses Hercules Baxter-an underwhelming student-he assumes the paper must be a prank. He has never read such maniacal balderdash in his life. But after he calls a meeting with the student, Professor Gladstone is dismayed when Baxter declares the work is his own. As he takes a very unwilling Professor Gladstone back in time via his thesis, Baxter's grade hangs in the balance as he attempts to prove his theory. It is 1864 as philanderer and crusader Captain Coytus embarks on a mission to avenge his father's death and infiltrates the Confederate Bushwacker posse looking for the man responsible, Jesse Woodson James. Accompanied by the woman of his dreams, Coytus soon finds himself temporarily appointed to be the sheriff of Booneville and commissions his less-than-loyal deputy to help him carry out his plan. But when tragedy strikes, the Captain is forced to change his immature ways and redefine his lofty mission-more or less.

A Question of Proof


Joseph Amiel - 1993
    A Question of Proof is a profoundly moving courtroom drama in which a lawyer struggles to defend the woman he loves against the accusation that she murdered her husband. Tough and street-smart, a principled rebel against an establishment he has always scorned, Dan Lazar has risen from the working class to become one of Philadelphia's top criminal defenders. But now divorced and badly missing his young son, disillusioned by years of representing vicious criminals, humiliated by the politically ambitious DA's charge that he bribed a witness in a brutal rape-homicide case, Dan is burned out, depressed, and ready to call it quits. On the surface he would seem to have nothing in common with Susan Boelter, the beautiful and patrician wife of Peter Boelter, who runs the city's dominant newspaper and heads one of its most powerful families. But when Peter deserts her and files for divorce, moving to seize everything that is precious to her, including custody of their thirteen-year-old daughter, Susan turns to a reluctant Dan for help. Suddenly, Peter is found dead. Susan becomes the prime suspect in his murder. Driven by his love for her and by an inner need to defend someone in whose innocence he can truly believe, Dan starts to investigate. He soon discovers a maze of conflicting evidence and of growing doubts and mystery about the woman he thought he knew and loved. And he realizes that the truth he desperately seeks - especially about Peter Boelter's death - depends on finding the answer to a question of proof. From Philadelphia's courtrooms in City Center to the mansions in its moneyed suburbs, A Question of Proof is the gripping story of one man's internal battle between love and justice and the lengths to which a wealthy family will go to hide its secrets.

Cold Blooded Killers


R.J. Parker - 2013
    Under the umbrella of "Rampage Killer", a spree killer, mass murderer, and serial killer has usually become alienated from society and no longer feels any connection with the rest of humanity. They may feel that the world has come crashing down on them and that the only solution is death. They have been ridiculed by society, their peers, classmates, family, and their retaliation is killing...Cold Blooded Killing. Read how Edmund Kemper decapitated his mother's head, used it as a dartboard and then cut out her voice box and placed it in the garbage disposal. They will feel that their own lives are over, and aim to take as many people with them as they can. Once their killing spree is over, they most often either commit suicide, or force the police to use deadly force against them, in other words, suicide by cop. COLD BLOODED KILLERS is a set of 22 stories, ranging from kids who killed their parent(s), to rampage spree killers, school shootings and serial killers.

It's In Her Blood


S.S. Roswell - 2015
    She must face unsurmountable danger, taking lives and putting hers on the line to save him while dealing with emotional turmoil when she found out her loving husband was not as devoted as she thought and her enemies are more powerful and devious than she imagined.

The Girl on the Train


Rachel Wagstaff - 2018
    Her only escape is the perfect couple she watches through the train window every day, happy and in love. Or so it appears. When Rachel learns that the woman she's been secretly watching has suddenly disappeared, she finds herself as a witness and even a suspect in a thrilling mystery in which she will face bigger revelations than she could ever have anticipated.Adapted from Paula Hawkins' novel - an international phenomenon selling over twenty million copies worldwide - this gripping new play will keep you guessing until the final moment.

Lynchpin: The Best Laid Schemes of Mice and Men


Siddharth Maheshwari - 2021
    A sinister plan, of a shrewd calculating mastermind, has set the wheels of doom in motion. He is now pulling the lynchpins across the country and making it fall into disarray. He is using everyone in his path to achieve his goals. Within thirty days he intends to control the nation’s soul. As chaos grips the country, it’s a race against time for DSP Ranbir Roy of the Intelligence Bureau and Inspector Vikram Aditya Singh to stop him before anarchy dooms the country. The pieces are set, the board is laid out but what happens when your own pawns move against you? What will be the end game?

The Suppressor


Erik Carter - 2021
    government. The organization makes Silence an irresistible offer: if he joins their ranks as an assassin, they’ll lend their full support to his blood-soaked rampage.But when Silence discovers that the people who killed his fiancée have much bigger plans in mind—plans with deadly implications for national security—his mission suddenly shifts focus from vengeance to duty. A catastrophe is ready to explode, and the only person who can stop it is an untested assassin.

Night Blind


Michael W. Sherer - 1988
    In the space of a few months, he lost his only child, his public affairs job, and his marriage. Now, a year later, he delivers newspapers and washes dishes in a restaurant, able to face the world only at night. Blake figures he’s fallen about as low as he can go.But an elderly customer on Blake’s paper route is brutally slashed to death in her home, and Blake is charged with murder. In a desperate attempt to prove his innocence, Blake gets caught up in a maelstrom of murder and deceit involving a pre-Civil War secret naval intelligence mission, hundreds of millions of dollars in buried gold and a potential bio-weapon that could cause a worldwide pandemic.When the only man who can help him is assassinated, Blake finds himself on the run from the cops, a murderer and a shadowy rogue French military intelligence agent. His only hope of staying out of jail is his ex-wife’s law firm. His only hopes of staying alive are his wits and the sudden appearance of a beautiful and mysterious naval intelligence officer. But Blake’s not sure he can trust even them.Night Blind is a breathless thrill ride on and under the streets of Seattle as one man’s quest for the truth turns to a fight for survival—his own and possibly the world’s.

The Apex Predator


Michael Koryta - 2013
    He was smart, he was ruthless, he was cautious, and he was protected by a man named Thor. In their 22 years together, rivals had risen and fallen on a regular basis, and most often at Thor’s hand. There was a time, maybe, when this role as primary enforcer would have bothered Thor. That time was hard for him to recall, though, and after enough years he was no longer certain it had ever existed. The craft of killing came to him in stages. First had been the obvious — kill or be killed. It was important to be skilled in a violent world. In a place alive with predators, the apex predator lived the longest...

Eye Spy


Tahir Shah - 2013
    Amadeus Kaine is fêted by royalty, dictators, Hollywood, and the international jetset. An epicurean of sophistication and dark obsessions, he’s devoted his life to locating the perfect food.While treating one of Central Asia’s most depraved despots, Kaine is given a little pie to eat – a delicacy reserved for guests of the president. It’s the most delicious thing that’s ever passed the surgeon’s lips, and one that has seemingly miraculous effects. All of a sudden, Kaine finds that his bald patch is growing over with thick black hair, and that his body is healing itself from the inside out. But, best of all, he realizes that his mental faculties are stimulated in ways he never believed possible. He can write books in a few hours, learn languages in a matter of days, and effortlessly solve problems from world hunger to global warming.The drawback is that the dictator’s little pies are prepared with human eyes, taken from convicts working in the opal mines. Horrified that he’s unwittingly become a cannibal, Amadeus Kaine can’t think of anything but getting his hands on some more of the illicit specialty.Obsessed in particular by green eyes, he begins hunting for victims to satisfy his wayward craving. While perfecting his method, he learns to appreciate the subtleties in taste. As he does so, a terrible affliction strikes – Occulosis.An eye disease that has jumped the species gap from industrialized poultry farming, the virus rips through society, robbing the masses of their sight. The only man who can save the world is the inimitable Dr. Kaine, who is himself on the run.One of the strangest tales of obsession, mania and intrigue ever told, EYE SPY will quite literally change the way you see the world.

Clusters : Case of the Missing


T.M. Williams - 2015
    After a week of searching, Olivia's body was suddenly found in the closet, even after the police had thoroughly investigated the home. Ethan Franco is a troubled journalist working for the Washington Gazette. His inability to move on from the past has deflated the passion he had for his career, causing him to lose his edge. Frustrated with Ethan Franco, but not wanting to lose his once star journalist, Editor-in-Chief, Jameson Stone assigns him a story to cover as a last chance to prove he could be the reporter he once was.Ethan Franco begins his investigation into the mysterious death of Olivia Baxter and other unexplained disappearances, believing there may be a connection in the cases. No sooner did Franco begin his investigation then he realizes he is being tailed by government agencies. Large footprints in the woods, strange sounds, foul stenches, and a looming government presence become pieces of the puzzle in cases of the missing. Inspired by real events, the author of the Bohemian Grove trilogy and the Apocalypse brings forth a story that has been kept a secret for over a century -- a story that a large group of people are still trying to keep under wraps.

Concrete Pearl


Vincent Zandri - 2011
    She's also had to rebuild her family business from the bottom up thanks to bad luck and bad fines. So it's easy to see why OSHA, breathing down her neck on her latest job at Albany's PS 20, has the contractor on edge. She's used to putting out fires, but this is about to be a full-on explosion--three hundred students at risk for exposure to deadly asbestos--and the asbestos removal contractor, Jimmy Farrell, is nowhere to be found. The clues--Jimmy's cleared-out office, his impounded car, his "gone fishing" story to his wife--point to something more troubling, possibly foul play. Armed with a framing hammer in lieu of a gun, Spike must sleuth her way through a world of deception, greed, and murder if she's going to nail a killer.