Book picks similar to
Vortex by Larry Bond


fiction
thriller
military-fiction
military

Op-Center


Jeff Rovin - 1995
    It is run by a crack team of operatives both within its own walls and out in the field. When a job is too dirty--or too dangerous--it's the only place our government can turn.But nothing can prepare Director Paul Hood and his Op-Center crisis management team for what they're about to uncover--a very real, very frightening power play that could unleash new players in a new world order...

Red Storm Rising


Tom Clancy - 1986
    "Allah!"With that shrill cry, three Muslim terrorists blow up a key Soviet oil complex, creating a critical oil shortage that threatens the stability of the USSR.To offer the effects of this disaster, members of the Politburo and the KGB devise a brilliant plan of diplomatic trickery - a sequence of events designed to pit the NATO allies against each other - a distraction calculated to enable the Soviets to seize all the oil in the Persian Gulf.But as this spellbinding story of international intrigue and global politics nears its climax, the Soviets are faced with another prospect, one they hadn't planned on: a full-scale conflict in which nobody can win.

Team Yankee


Harold Coyle - 1987
    The awesome Russian invasion force smashes across the West German border, driving for a breakthrough. With M-1 tanks and a mechanized infantry division, Captian Sean Bannon's "Team Yankee" must defend their vital strategic post. They will engage the enemy with the ultimate in sophisticated weaponry. They will fight beyond all limits of human endurance - on the brink of World War III... "Team Yankee"

Flight of the Intruder


Stephen Coonts - 1986
    Former Navy flyer Stephen Coonts gives an excellent sense of the complexities of modern air raids and how nerve-wracking it is, even for the best airmen, to technically solve sudden problems over and over, knowing that even a twist of fate like a peasant wildly firing a rifle from a field could wipe out the crew. Grafton alternates between remorse over the fate of his unseen Vietnamese victims on the ground and a gung-ho "let's win this war" sentiment that lashes at both policymakers who select less-than-important targets for the dangerous missions and advocates for peace back in the States.

Politika


Jerome Preisler - 1997
    The sudden death of Russia's president has thrown the Russian Federation into chaos. Devastating crop failures have left millions in the grip of famine, and an uprising seems inevitable.One of Russia's provisional leaders asks the American president for help. But the whole world is watching when a deadly terrorist attack stuns the United States and evidence points to the Russian government.Amidst the turmoil in Russia, American businessman Roger Gordian finds his multinational corporation and its employees in jeopardy. Determined to find those responsible for the attack, he calls upon his crisis control team to interven. But Gordian doesn't realize how far the terrorists will go and how much he has to lose...

Flight of the Old Dog


Dale Brown - 1987
    It is the riveting story of America's race for technology, overtaken by our greatest enemy's mastery of "Star Wars." The U.S. arsenal of nuclear missiles has been neutralized. America's only hope: The Old Dog Zero One, a battle-scarred bomber fully renovated with modern hardware - and equipped with the deadliest state-of-the-art armaments known to man... When the Soviet Union masters "Star Wars" technology, rendering the U.S.'s arsenal of nuclear missiles impotent, America's only hope lies in The Old Dog Zero One--a battle-scarred bomber fully renovated with enough weaponry and stealth hardware to earn it the nickname, "Megafortress."

Partisans


Alistair MacLean - 1982
    In wartime, people are either friends of enemies.In wartime, friends are friends and enemies die.PARTISANSWhen Tito's rebel forces resist occupation, the Germans infiltrate and plan their destruction.PARTISANSThree Yugoslavs set out from Rome to relay the German battle plan - but their loyalties lie elsewhere.PARTISANSA dangerous journey with dangerous companions-where no one is who they seem-where the three men find intrigue and betrayal around every corner...

By Order of the President


W.E.B. Griffin - 2004
    Griffin's stories of the military and police, told with crackling realism and rich characters, have won him millions of fans and acclaim as "the dean of the American war adventure" ("Publishers Weekly"). Now he vaults into the present day with a series as exciting as anything he has ever written. At an airfield in Angola, two men board a leased Boeing 727; then, once it is in the air, slit the pilot's throat and fly to parts unknown. The consternation is immediate, as the CIA, FBI, FAA, and other agencies race to find out what has happened, in the process elbowing each other in the sides a little too vigorously.Fed up, the President of the United States turns to an outside investigator to determine the truth, an Army intelligence officer serving as special assistant to the Director of Homeland Security. Major Carlos Guillermo Castillo, known as Charley, is the son of a German mother and a Tex-Mex father, a Medal of Honor winner who died in Vietnam. A pilot, West Point graduate, and veteran of Desert Storm and the Special Forces, Castillo has a sharp eye for the facts-and the reality behind the facts. Traveling undercover, he flies to Africa, and there, helped and hindered by unexpected allies and determined enemies, begins to untangle a story of frightening dimensions-a story that, unless he can do something about it, will end very, very badly.

The Fist of God


Frederick Forsyth - 1994
    Peopled with vivid characters, brilliantly displaying Forsyth's incomparable, knowledge of intelligence operations and tradecraft, moving back and forth between Washington and London, Baghdad and Kuwait, desert vastnesses and city bazaars, this breathtaking novel is an utterly convincing story of what may actually have happened behind the headlines.

Kill Zone


Jack Coughlin - 2007
    But moments before he is rendered unconscious, the general notices that his captors speak American English. What’s going on? Gunnery-Sergeant Kyle Swanson is vacationing in the Mediterranean when he receives orders to mount a top-secret mission to rescue the general. But as the Marines prepare to land in the desert, they fall victim to a terrible accident. Swanson, the only survivor, then discovers they were flying into a deliberate ambush. But how could the enemy have details of a mission known only to a few top US government officials? Swanson takes off alone to locate the captured general and realizes he is fighting a particularly ruthless enemy: American mercenaries working for a very high-level group within the White House, whose hidden goal is total control of the US military. The fate of the captured general and that of the nation now rest solely in Swanson’s hands. 'Stunning action, excellent tradecraft, insider politics, and the ring of truth. Just about perfect' Lee Child

One Rough Man


Brad Taylor - 2011
    Their existence is as essential as it is illegal. Commissioned at the highest level of the U.S. government. Protected from the prying eyes of Congress and the media. Built around the top operators from across the clandestine, intelligence, and special forces landscape. Designed to operate outside the bounds of U.S. law. Trained to exist on the ragged edge of human capability.Pike Logan was the most successful operator on the Taskforce, his instincts and talents unrivaled-until personal tragedy permanently altered his outlook on the world. Pike knows what the rest of the country might not want to admit: The real threat isn't from any nation, any government, any terrorist group. The real threat is one or two men, controlled by ideology, operating independently, in possession of a powerful weapon. Buried in a stack of intercepted chatter is evidence of two such men. The transcripts are scheduled for analysis in three months. The attack is mere days away. It is their bad luck that they're about to cross paths with Pike Logan. And Pike Logan has nothing left to lose.

Splinter Cell


David Michaels - 2004
    ONE MAN PAYS THE PRICE.In response to the growing use of sophisticated digital encryption to conceal potential threats to the United States, the National Security Agency has ushered forth the new dawn of intelligence-gathering techniques. The top-secret initiative is dubbed Third Echelon. Its existence denied by the U.S. government, Third Echelon deploys a lone field operative. He is sharp, nearly invisible, and deadly. And he has the right to spy, steal, destroy, and assassinate to protect American freedoms.His name is Sam Fisher. He is a Splinter Cel®.

Nimitz Class


Patrick Robinson - 1997
    Nimitz-Class aircraft carrier is seen as impregnable. But when the USS Thomas Jefferson suddenly disappears at sea, the Pentagon is stunned. There are no survivors, and all signs point to a tragic nuclear accident.While the world stands in shock, reports suggest that it was no accident. A rogue submarine armed with nuclear warheads may be on the loose. Where did it come from? How could it get within striking distance of the Thomas Jefferson? Worse yet, where is it now and could it strike again? The tension mounts, and a deadly chase begins.

Red Metal


Mark Greaney - 2019
    From the New York Times bestselling author of the Gray Man series comes a startlingly realistic novel of World War III.A desperate Kremlin takes advantage of a military crisis in Asia to simultaneously strike into Western Europe and invade east Africa in a bid to occupy three Rare Earth mineral mines that will give Russia unprecedented control for generations over the world's hi-tech sector. Pitted against the Russians are a Marine lieutenant colonel pulled out of a cushy job at the Pentagon and thrown into the fray in Africa, a French Special Forces captain and his intelligence operative father, a young Polish female partisan fighter, an A-10 Warthog pilot, and the captain of an American tank platoon who, along with a German sergeant, fight from behind enemy lines in Germany all the way into Russia.From a daring MiG attack on American satellites, through land and air battles in all theaters, naval battles in the Arabian sea, and small unit fighting down to the hand-to-hand level in the jungle, Russia's forces battle to either take the mines or detonate a nuclear device to prevent the West from exploiting them.

The Tristan Betrayal


Robert Ludlum - 2003
    Into the heart of the firestorm, American ambassador Stephen Metcalfe has been summoned to find the one man who controls the levers of power in absolute secrecy --- an official known only as the Dirizhor. His support of the bloody coup will bring the entire world to the brink of nuclear war. Metcalfe is the only man with the cunning to reach him and to convince him to resist. It's up to Metcalfe to change the course of history. He's done it before.THE POWER OF THE PASTFor Metcalfe, returning to Russia is also a personal mission that will stretch across three continents and fifty years into his past where the loyalties of a former love --- a woman both impossibly beautiful and possibly treacherous --- were tested; where the shadow of a Nazi assassin still haunts; and a debauched German aristocrat manipulated the destiny of everyone he touched. Now, as past and present converge, Metcalfe braces himself for a new trial of trust and betrayal, one with chilling implications that could threaten what remains of the free world.