Book picks similar to
Rough Diamonds by Stephen Leather


stephen-leather
fiction
x_prequel
hero_french-british-european

Scars


Brian Andrews - 2020
    Discover the story of Dempsey's first encounter with Mahmood Bin Jabbar (the villain in WAR SHADOWS) and learn how Dempsey got his iconic serpentine scar.With SCARS, Andrews & Wilson are launching the first installment in a new series of novellas called TIER ONE ORIGINS. Each short features a different Tier One character during a pivotal event in their past before joining Task Force Ember.

Baptism of Fire


Todd McLeod - 2018
    His job, firing the .50 caliber Browning. His mission, to protect his buddies and kill the enemy. He’s also the newest and youngest member of the team. The guy they won’t listen to, even when he’s saying something important. Why listen to the kid who can’t shoot straight? At least that’s what they keep telling him. Until the day he sees something so vital he forces them to listen and they have to take notice. Eddie saves countless Coalition lives, and nothing will ever be the same again. Hawkin’ Heroes: Baptism of Fire is the first short novel in the Hawkins’ Heroes series. Baptism of Fire is a collaboration between Todd McCleod and Eric Meyer, the bestselling author of more than fifty war novels.

Last Man Standing


Eric Meyer - 2018
    He thought he’d been to hell and back in Iraq, but when he arrives back in his home town of Copperville, his war is not over. Everything has changed, and nothing is as he remembered. What happened? Is this the end? When society breaks down, who will keep order? People are running scared, abandoning their homes, fleeing for their lives. Where is his wife, and is she alive or dead? There are no answers, only questions. The local cops have fled, and lawlessness is the new power in the land. Yet some men and women will fight to survive. It is time for Americans to defend what is theirs. To fight and keep fighting. To remain forever free. Last Man Standing is the first in an ongoing Forever Free series of short novels that chronicle the vicious aftermath of the breakdown of society.

The Fallen


Mike Ryan - 2018
    He’s honest, hardworking, and intent on bringing down a major criminal organization. But he's soon going to have his limits tested. After he finishes an undercover assignment, resulting in the arrest of a major crime boss, he’ll find out just how dirty the bad guys play. His world comes crashing down after an unspeakable tragedy, leaving Jacobs virtually despondent and wondering about his role in the unthinkable act. Jacobs soon realizes that in order to beat a low-life criminal organization like this, he has to fight fire with fire. Will he really throw his badge away and become a one man wrecking crew? Or will he try to get retribution within the confines of the law? One thing’s for certain, the men he’s going up against have severely underestimated the lengths that he’ll go to. And he’ll stop at nothing in order to extract his revenge.

Manhunter


Chris Ryan - 2021
    In a world where the Russian government is the real mob, it is the job of the Cell to take the fight to the enemy. But when a notorious British fixer to the Kremlin goes on the run, Bowman soon finds himself drawn into a deadly conspiracy, and a race against time to find his target - before the Russians get to him first.

Night of the Hunter


Rick Jones - 2016
    When he returns stateside to begin life anew, he quickly finds himself caught up in a scandal involving the appropriation of documents for an undetectable state-of-the-art ICBM by the Islamic State. But what if Jon Jericho discovers something different? What if he learns that the plans were appropriated by American and Israeli intelligence, and then proffered to the Islamic State? As Jericho digs deeper he quickly draws the attention of certain CIA principals. So when a CIA paramilitary group gives chase to terminate Jericho with extreme prejudice to keep the conspiracy safe, the Hunter must utilize his special skill set not only to survive, but to bring forward the hidden truth before the world erupts into global war.

Savage Lies


Peter Boland - 2018
     John Savage keeps hearing a voice in his head telling him to end it all. It’s surprising he doesn’t hear more voices, considering the hundreds of people he’s killed in the name of democracy. That changes when a girl disappears. The police think she’s the victim of a serial killer, but John has another theory. One that turns out to be far more terrifying... Savage Lies is a fast-paced action thriller for fans of Lee Child and David Baldacci.

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.

Donovan's War


W.J. Lundy - 2017
    one that could cost him the last of his humanity.Once a member of an elite underground unit, the only wars Thomas knows now are the ones that rage inside him. All he wants is to stay under the radar of existence, trying to forget the past and isolating himself from the present. But when extremists kidnap a group of women from a Christian church in Syria, the past and present collide, forcing Donovan to act. This time, the battle is personal. This time, evil has chosen the wrong victim, and Thomas Donovan will not stop until he has made those responsible pay.Facing insurmountable odds in hostile territories and always one step behind, will he be too late to save the life of the one he holds dear?Riveting unexpected twists, gritty realism, and first-hand adventure are inside this book. Get it now. -JL Bourne, author of Tomorrow War and Day by Day Armageddon

Inception


Steven Konkoly - 2018
    Petrovich is none of those things, which makes him all the more dangerous. Unlike most "heroes," there's no obvious black and white in Petrovich's world. He sees everything in gray — an uncompromising trait that will keep him alive long enough to pull off one of the biggest coups in covert military history.INCEPTION is Daniel Petrovich's origin story. The perfect place for a new reader to start the BLACK FLAGGED series.

Cartel


Matt Rogers - 2017
    ENTER THE FILES. June, 2007. Black Force — a new division of the U.S. military that officially does not exist — has its first operative. Jason King, a young prodigy who accelerated up through the ranks at an unprecedented rate, is tasked with proving his worth as a solo warrior. In Mexico, Joaquín Ramos has made a name for himself out of the blood of his enemies. The twenty-eight-year-old cartel leader hacked a path through anyone who dared to interfere with his newfound monopoly on the billion-dollar online drug trade, capitalising on the archaic nature of the existing empire in Tijuana. He’s new school. So is King. With doubts swirling amongst those who know of Black Force’s existence, King heads into the city’s decrepit underworld alone, intent on tearing the cartel apart from the inside. Still largely inexperienced, it doesn’t take long for his plans to fall to pieces… 
Outnumbered. Outgunned. Just the way he likes it. CARTEL is the explosive first entry in the prequel series, "The Jason King Files." Read "The Jason King Series" for more relentless thrills, exclusively on Amazon.

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.

Out of the Fire


Ernest Dempsey - 2019
    Betrayal always comes from a circle of trust.When a Delta Force team takes out a terrorist cell in the northeastern mountains of Iraq, they stumble onto something that changes their lives forever.Betrayed, lost, and alone, Dak Harper must find a way to survive, and formulate a plan to set things right...

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?

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.