Book picks similar to
Defender by Chris Allen


thriller
action-adventure
fiction
australian

Deadly Straits


R.E. McDermott - 2011
    Griffin, R.E. McDermott delivers a thriller to rival the masters.When marine engineer and very part-time spook Tom Dugan becomes collateral damage in the War on Terror, he's not about to take it lying down.Falsely implicated in a hijacking, he's offered a chance to clear himself by helping the CIA snare their real prey, Dugan's best friend, London ship owner Alex Kairouz. Reluctantly, Dugan agrees to go undercover in Alex's company, despite doubts about his friend's guilt. Once undercover, Dugan's steadfast refusal to accept Alex's guilt puts him at odds not only with his CIA superiors, but also with a beautiful British agent with whom he's romantically involved.When a tanker is found adrift near Singapore with a dead crew, and another explodes in Panama as Alex lies near death after a suspicious suicide attempt, Dugan is framed for the attacks. Out of options, and convinced the attacks are prelude to an even more devastating assault, Dugan eludes capture to follow his last lead to Russia, only to be shanghaied as an 'advisor' to a Russian Spetsnaz unit on a suicide mission.Deadly Straits is a non-stop thrill ride, from London streets, to the dry docks of Singapore, to the decks of the tankers that slake the world's thirst for oil, with stops along the way in Panama, Langley, Virginia, and Teheran. Richly spiced with detail from the author's 30 years sailing, building, and repairing ships worldwide, it is, in the words of one reviewer, "fast-paced, multilayered and gripping."

Fox Hunt


James Phelan - 2006
    Orbiting slowly and silently, unknown to almost all ...The White House is only starting to suspect the worst. While most of the world's Intel resources have been tied up in Afghanistan and Iraq, the President of Chechnya has been making plans - and the clock is ticking.A world away, off Christmas Island, ex-navy operative Lachlan Fox is on a diving trip with this best friend, Alister Gammaldi. From the moment they lift a mysterious metallic object off the sea floor, the two men set in motion a chain of events that will drag them into the corrupt world of international politics and arms races.From East Timor to Grozny, Washington to New York and Venice to Iran, Lachlan Fox is forced into an adrenaline-fuelled quest to save his friends, himself ... and the world.

Open Source


M.M. Frick - 2010
    Casey draws his evidence from open sources; by reading beyond the headlines. When his theorizing catches the attention of the wrong people and anonymous threats turn deadly, Casey looks to Susan Williams, an intelligent, but insecure, analyst for the New York-based consulting firm Intelligence Watch Group for help. The two soon find themselves in the crosshairs and fighting to save their own lives, while preventing an even greater injustice that could affect the balance of power in the Middle East and plunge the world headlong into the next Great War.

Rotten Gods


Greg Barron - 2012
    A new wave of terror threatens a world torn by inequality, conflict, economic disaster and environmental chaos. Heads of state gather in Dubai in an attempt to bring society back from the brink of global catastrophe. But when extremists hijack the conference centre, the clock starts ticking: seven days until certain death for presidents and prime ministers alike, unless the terrorists' radical demands are met. A treasonous British diplomat, an Australian intelligence officer, an airline pilot searching for his missing daughters, a mysterious Somali agent, and a disillusioned UN official are all forced to examine their motives, faith and beliefs as they attempt to stave off disaster, hurtling towards the deadline and a shattering climax. Rotten Gods is both an imaginative tour de force and a dire warning, holding the reader spellbound until the last breathtaking page.

The Escape Artist


Brad Meltzer - 2018
    government's most top-secret and high profile cases. America's most important funeral home. To work there, mortician Jim "Zig" Zigarowski has one rule: never let a case get personal. But when a new body arrives--of young female sergeant Nola Brown, who was a childhood friend of Zig's daughter--Zig can't help himself. Looking closely at Nola's body, he realizes immediately: this isn't Nola. Indeed, his daughter's friend is still alive. And on the run. Zig's discovery reveals a sleight of hand being played at the highest levels of power--and traces back through history to a man named Harry Houdini. "Nola, you were right. Keep running."

The Russian Renaissance


Ian Kharitonov - 2010
     Constantine can no longer hide in Europe. As he discovers a century-old secret, he must flee back to Moscow, chased by assassins. Only one man can save him. Eugene Sokolov: an officer in the world's most elite rescue unit, a martial arts legend… and Constantine's brother. They face an enemy unlike any other. In a game run by a KGB spymaster, the fate of Russia will depend on their survival.

Chasing Ivan


Tim Tigner - 2016
    The CIA calls him Ivan the Ghost because he’s operated for years without leaving a trail or revealing his face.Until now.For the first time in history, Ivan appears to have slipped. The CIA’s new director sets Agent Kyle Achilles on an intercept course, surveilling the daughter of a British politician. Then Ivan pulls off a masterful con, and Emily vanishes.With Emily’s life, his career, and America’s reputation at stake, Achilles partners with an unlikely new agent he meets in France. Together they attempt to get one step ahead of the legendary Russian, while rubbing elbows with the ultra-rich in a high-tech international chase.___________________________________________PLEASE NOTE: WITH 28 CHAPTERS, THIS NOVELLA IS ABOUT 1/3 THE SIZE OF THE AUTHOR'S OTHER THRILLERS___________________________________________"I loved this novella. It started out fast and never stopped." – Margaret Lovett"Fast paced and action packed, this was a quick and fun read." – Nick Babbitz“Fans of Ludlum and Lee Child will delight at the magical web Tim Tigner weaves." – Leslie O"Brien"A lot of twists, great characters, and an ending that leaves you begging for more!" – Bodo Pfundl"Easy to read, and hard to put down." – Todd Simpson

Jet


Russell Blake - 2012
    But the past doesn't give up on its secrets easily.When her new life on a tranquil island is shattered by a brutal attack, Jet must return to a clandestine existence of savagery and deception to save herself and those she loves. A gritty, unflinching roller-coaster of high-stakes twists and shocking turns, JET features a new breed of protagonist that breaks the mold.Fans of Lizbeth Salander, SALT, and the Bourne trilogy will find themselves carried along at Lamborghini speed to a conclusion as jarring and surprising as the story's heroine is unconventional.

The Perfect Assassin


Ward Larsen - 2004
    Christine Palmer, a young American doctor sailing solo across the Atlantic, makes an incredible discovery - a man narrowly clinging to his life in the frigid waters. But there is much more to this desperate survivor than meets the eye. David Slaton is a Kidon - a highly-trained, highly-precise, and highly-dangerous assassin. The Kidon is both the hunter and the hunted, and he and Christine are in grave danger. Will they win in this race against time?With the precision of a sharpshooter, author Ward Larsen weaves an intricate tale of espionage and intrigue.

Lethal Circuit


Lars Guignard - 2011
    It contains enough plutonium to irradiate a large city.And that's the good news...In the tradition of Tom Clancy, Michael Crichton, and Robert Ludlum, comes a new hero.Michael Chase is a twenty-six year old backpacker, a recent college grad, an amateur. He flew to Hong Kong to find his missing father. Four hours later, he's running for his life. The Chinese Secret Police want him dead. The Conspiracy wants him dead. And the one person who he thinks is on his side, may want him dead too. If Michael is going to live, he'll need to find a hidden piece of Nazi technology lost since World War II. And he'll have to do it before anyone else. Because if he doesn't, a little plutonium is going to be the least of his problems.

Closure


Randall Wood - 2009
    Special Agent Jack Randall of the FBI finds himself appointed to track down and stop the shooter. Not by his superiors, but by the killer himself.As more bodies fall the shooter takes his message to the press, earning the support of the public with his choice of targets and confounding the FBI at every turn. From the desert of Nevada to the urban jungle of New York City, Jack and his team follow the trail of bodies and haunting messages left behind by the killer. With the pressure to find him mounting on Jack, the assassin’s crimes grow bolder, and his message more sinister and closer to home.It becomes clear to Jack that in order to find the shooter, he may have to look inside his own past, and become the man he was years ago.

Arcadian Genesis


Greig Beck - 2012
    Millennia later it was removed from the icy soil, still functioning. They opened it … they shouldn't have.Alex Hunter – in the mission that turned him from a normal man into the weapon known as the Arcadian – and the elite team of soldiers known as the Hotzone All-Forces Warfare Commandos must enter a hostile country to rescue a defected Chechen researcher from the center of a country at war.But the HAWCs are not the only ones looking for the rogue scientist and the mysterious package he carries with him. A brutal and relentless killer and his death squad are on the trail too – and they bring a savagery with them that Hunter and his team have never witnessed before in modern warfare.In this prequel to Beneath the Dark Ice, the HAWC team must race the clock to rescue the scientist, prevent the package from falling into the wrong hands … and save the world from a horror that should never have been woken.

America's Trust


Murray McDonald - 2013
    Not knowing who he can trust, Butler has to resort to extreme measures to reveal the true nature of America’s Trust. As he nears his goal, America is plunged into crisis. A war everyone thought would happen fifty years earlier, suddenly and inexplicably, raises its head. With the world's armies bracing themselves for a battle nobody could see coming and America on the brink of annihilation, Butler realizes the scale of the conspiracy was far beyond even his worst nightmare…

Brainrush


Richard Bard - 2010
     Before he slid into the MRI machine, Jake Bronson was just an ordinary guy with terminal cancer. But when an earthquake hits during the procedure, Jake staggers from the wreckage a profoundly changed man, now endowed with uncanny mental abilities. An ocean away, Luciano Battista wants a piece of Jake's talent. Posing as a pioneering scientist, the terrorist leader has been conducting cerebral-implant experiments in a sinister quest to create a breed of super jihadist agents...and Jake's altered brain may be the key to his success. But Jake refuses to play the pawn in an unholy war--and when an innocent woman and autistic child are taken hostage to force his cooperation, he embarks on a jihad of his own. Jake and his band of loyal friends are thrust into a deadly chase that leads from the canals of Venice through Monte Carlo and finally to an ancient cavern in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan--where Jake discovers that his newfound talents carry a hidden price that threatens the entire human race.

Power Down


Ben Coes - 2010
    But there was one factor that the terrorists didn't take into account when they struck the Capitana platform off the coast of Colombia--slaughtering much of the crew and blowing up the platform--and that was the Capitana crew chief Dewey Andreas. Dewey, former Army Ranger and Delta, survives the attack, rescuing as many of his men as possible. But the battle has just begun.While the intelligence and law enforcement agencies scramble to untangle these events and find the people responsible, the mysterious figure of Alexander Fortuna--an agent embedded into the highest levels of American society and business--sets into play the second stage of these long-planned attacks. The only fly in the ointment is Dewey Andreas--who is using all his long-dormant skills to fight his way off the platform, then out of Colombia and back to the U.S., following the trail of terrorists and operatives sent to stop him.Power Down is a gripping, compelling debut thriller from Ben Coes, a powerful new author, an amazing talent certain to join the ranks of the genre's finest writers.