Book picks similar to
The Critical Task by Bryan A. Mantz
first-reads
science-fiction
giveaways
mystery-thriller
Wreckers
George Ellis - 2021
And jokes.At 19 years old, Denver is the youngest wrecker in the verse. His only companion, other than his one-eyed cat Pirate, is an AI navigator named Gary based on classic 21st century sitcom personalities.That all changes when Denver meets Batista, a mechanic who claims to know what happened to Denver’s missing father and brother.Following her information, Denver is drawn into trouble with the various forces in the galaxy — bandits, feds and rival wreckers. As complications mount and he’s forced into helping different sides chase the hottest technology in the verse, Denver, once a lone wolf, collects the small crew he never knew he needed. But can he keep them alive?
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?
Horror in Honduras
Benjamin Wallace - 2012
Blessed with the physique of a demigod and one of the world’s foremost minds, he travels the globe on a quest to confront evil and punch it in the face. At his disposal is a vast fortune, an endless array of gadgets and loyal friends. Now, one of those friends has gone missing in a Central American jungle and the only clue is the grotesque image of a demonic tribal mask. Dam and his trusted valet Bertrand rush headlong into danger and go face-to-face with evil incarnate to save their missing friend and attempt to destroy the Horror in Honduras.
Arrival
Nick Pirog - 2011
Or at least that's what they tell him. Imagine that when you die, you have a 1 in 3 chance of having another life; same body, same age, same place as when you died. But for Maddy, everything is not making sense. He was just a week away from his Bar exam and starting his life as a Public Defender, when he made a grand entrance into this second life of his—a place they call Two. Before long Maddy thinks he is adjusting fine to Goggle instead of Google and Deadbook instead of Facebook. But Maddy soon finds out that as much as things can be different in Two, some things, like murder—never change. It's Maddy's job to find out just what this place really is and what this second life is all about... “How did you die?” I turned my head. The girl couldn’t have been more than seven. She had light brown hair held back in a ponytail. Her nose was dusted with light freckles, her cheeks as well, only not as densely as the freckles on her nose. She waited a second for my response, then said, “I went into diabetic shock.” I nodded, like this wasn’t the craziest thing I’d ever heard. She continued, “I have an uncle here. Uncle Trent. He died in a car crash when I was five. I’m supposed to go live with him I guess.” She wrinkled her nose. I had a feeling she didn’t like Uncle Trent. Maybe Uncle Trent was like my Uncle Bill. Maybe Uncle Trent liked to make up stories after ten cans of Miller High Life, then get pissed off when you told him he was full of shit. “So how did you die?” She came again. This was the hundredth time I’d been posed that question in three days. How did you die? It was yet to lose its level of absurdity. In three days, there hadn’t been many answers, only promises that in time everything would make sense. The only answer, the only definitive that anyone would share, the only time anyone would look you directly in the eye was when you asked them if you died. They wouldn’t waver, they wouldn’t blink, they would only nod their head and say, “Yes.”
Terminal Rage
A.M. Khalifa - 2013
In a world where the truth has become B-roll, exposing the true identity of his enigmatic adversary is the only thing Blackwell can do to prevent death and destruction of unprecedented proportions. But how do you unravel the identity of a man who does not exist? A frenetic pace, a hair-raising plot that hops around the globe, hard-hitting character beats, crisp prose, dexterous timing, the mother of all twists, and hands down one of the most interesting villains this side of Keyser Söze from The Usual Suspects make Terminal Rage a modern-day cult classic that defiantly redefines its genre.
Terminal Value
Thomas Waite - 2012
“Be careful what you wish for.” That’s a warning Dylan Johnson should have listened to. When his mobile tech company is bought out by Mantric Technology, a red-hot firm about to go public, it seems like a dream come true for the young entrepreneur and his partners. But the closer they get to payout, the more uncertain Dylan becomes. Something doesn’t feel right. When his colleague is found dead on what should have been their night of triumph, Dylan is determined to find out what happened. But asking questions plunges him into a digital web of deceit and betrayal that will shake everything he thought he knew…
Hunting Nora Stone
Colin Weldon - 2017
Her body, now a mixture of sophisticated bioengineering, has become a lethal weapon. A weapon that has disappeared. Eddie Conrad, an Ex Navy seal turned military analyst, is counting the days to when he can be officially discharged. His nightmares, following a year in captivity in Syria, the only survivor of a mission gone wrong, are growing worse. When the bodies of a tactical team sent in to find Nora Stone show up horribly mutilated, Eddie is coerced into going back into the field to find her. But Nora wants to be found, is waiting to be found. And is ready to take revenge
The Chemist
Stephenie Meyer - 2016
She used to work for the U.S. government, but very few people ever knew that. An expert in her field, she was one of the darkest secrets of an agency so clandestine it doesn't even have a name. And when they decided she was a liability, they came for her without warning. Now she rarely stays in the same place or uses the same name for long. They've killed the only other person she trusted, but something she knows still poses a threat. They want her dead, and soon. When her former handler offers her a way out, she realizes it's her only chance to erase the giant target on her back. But it means taking one last job for her ex-employers. To her horror, the information she acquires only makes her situation more dangerous. Resolving to meet the threat head-on, she prepares for the toughest fight of her life but finds herself falling for a man who can only complicate her likelihood of survival. As she sees her choices being rapidly whittled down, she must apply her unique talents in ways she never dreamed of. In this tautly plotted novel, Meyer creates a fierce and fascinating new heroine with a very specialized skill set. And she shows once again why she's one of the world's bestselling authors.
The Experiment of Dreams
Brandon Zenner - 2014
After years of testing experimental medicines and participating in repetitive sleep-related studies, all is finally going well for Ben ... until strange dreams begin to plague him and memories once hidden begin to reveal themselves. The doctors and staff onboard project Lucy are not who Ben thinks they are, and the organization will stop at nothing to keep his emerging memories buried for good. Ben is put on a collision course that will bring him to the brink of total insanity, and perhaps even death. At the heart of it all, Ben's worst enemy is his own mind, and he must confront his past in order to save his future. "The twists and turns of the plot will leave your head reeling and possibly questioning your own mental state for a moment.” (The San Francisco Book Review). With over 100 five star reviews on Amazon.
Paradigm Rift
Randy McWilson - 2014
Denver Wayne Collins, Afghanistan War veteran, is struggling to maintain the deteriorating pieces of his fractured personal life. And then...it happens. During an electrical storm, he is violently thrown back to 1956...to the quiet town of Normal, Illinois. Is this nightmare real, or is this an elaborate governmental fabrication? Denver discovers a fragile alliance of time jumpers from across the last six decades. The group has been desperately seeking the technology to return each of them back to their proper places in the space-time continuum. But will they succeed before the relentless forces of the CIA and a female KGB assassin find them? Who can they trust? Can they trust each other? From Roswell in 1947, to Area 51 and far beyond, the Back to Normal series will challenge the way you understand contemporary world history...and even time itself. If you are fascinated by conspiracy theories, then the Back to Normal series is your newest escape. Back to Normal will tease your mind with shocking conclusions about the famous Roswell event, Area 51, the Philadelphia Experiment, and even...the Kennedy assassination. You will never look at history the same way again...it's time to get challenged, it's time to get the whole story, it's time to get Paradigm Rift: Book One of the Back to Normal series.
SecondWorld
Jeremy Robinson - 2012
A week into his stay, strange red flakes descend from the surface. Scores of fish are dead and dying, poisoned by the debris that turns to powder in Miller’s fingers and tastes like blood.Miller heads for the surface, ready to fight whoever is polluting on his watch. But he finds nothing. No ships. No polluters.No oxygen.Instead, he finds a cloudless sky full of red particles dropping like snow and coating the ocean with a thick film that stretches to the horizon. When a dead blue whale collides with Aquarius, Miller begins a harrowing race to escape the affected area. Cut off from the rest of the world and surrounded by death, Miller makes his way to Miami where he discovers just one survivor, and the awful truth: the strange phenomenon that robbed the air of its life giving oxygen was an attack by an enemy reborn from the ashes of World War II. And they’re just getting started. Miami, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo have all been destroyed. Millions are dead.And if Miller can’t track down and stop those responsible in seven days, the rest of the world is next.
Displaced
Stephen Drake
something that might cost them all their lives.
The Hunt for Atlantis
Andy McDermott - 2007
Someone else though wants her dead! With the help of ex-SAS bodyguard Eddie Chase and beautiful heiress Kari Frost, Nina faces a breakneck race against time around the world, pursued at every step by agents of the mysterious - and murderous - Brotherhood of Selasphoros. From the jungles of Brazil to the mountains of Tibet, from the streets of Manhattan to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, the hunt for Atlantis leads to a secret hidden for 11,000 years - which in the wrong hands could destroy civilization as we know it...
Season Of The Harvest
Michael R. Hicks - 2011
The group’s leader, Naomi Perrault, is a beautiful geneticist who Jack believes conspired to kill his friend, and is claiming that a major international conglomerate developing genetically engineered crops is plotting a sinister transformation of our world that will lead humanity to extinction. As Jack is drawn into a quietly raging war that suddenly explodes onto the front pages of the news, he discovers that her claims may not be so outrageous after all. Together, the two of them must battle a horror Jack could never have imagined, with the fate of all life on Earth hanging in the balance…
Ethan Justice: Origins
Simon Jenner - 2012
By the evening, he’s struggling to survive. John Smith’s risk avoidance policy just expired! Waking up beside the gorgeous Savannah Jones, John is shocked to learn she was for hire, and he can’t pay the price - a thousand pounds or broken legs. In desperation, he turns to best friend, Mark, for the money. Only one problem - Mark has a dagger in his back.John and Savannah are plunged into a dangerous world where wits and adrenaline are their only weapons and trust in each other their only certainty. As the body count mounts, they discover Mark wasn’t the person John thought, and his terrifying invention may well end up killing thousands, John and Savannah included. A race to recover the missing invention pits the unlikely pairing against ex-SAS psychopath, Gregory Fisher, a man who will stop at nothing and kill anyone in his way to wreak revenge against the Government who stole his livelihood.When Smith and Jones team up, the result is explosive.This is a fast-paced, action-packed, character-driven thriller, guaranteed to make you laugh out loud, cringe, cry and cheer. This book contains a few violent scenes, a dash of sex and the odd bit of bad language, so please don't buy it if you are easily offended.