Book picks similar to
Absent Friends by Max Gladstone


serial
urban-fantasy
espionage
fantasy

The Dark Thorn


Shawn Speakman - 2011
    In the wilds of a discarded world, Philip Plantagenet, son of Henry II, moves to claim a birthright nine centuries in the making, one that drives him to eliminate the Tuatha de Dannan--at any cost to both worlds.Haunted by a past he can't forget and a knightly responsibility he can't shun, Richard is drawn into levels of machinations--and a world--far darker than any he has ever encountered.

The Old Guard: Force Multiplied #3


Greg Rucka - 2020
    After disrupting a human trafficking operation, Nile and the rest of the team meet the mastermind—a figure from Andy’s past she never thought she’d see again.Soon to be a major motion picture starring Charlize Theron and KiKi Layne, THE OLD GUARD roars back! From the acclaimed New York Times-bestselling team of GREG RUCKA and LEANDRO FERNÁNDEZ and the stellar artistic talents of DANIELA MIWA, JODI WYNNE, and ERIC TRAUTMANN.

Demon Leap


Tricia Owens - 2017
     What if everything you've been told is a lie? Fifteen years ago the war demolished Arrow's family. Lied to and betrayed, she's driven to shatter the conspiracy concealing how her parents and thousands of others died. But to go up against the powerful government she'll need to align herself with the strangest and most dangerous criminals in Victory City: the Specials. They are not what they seem... They are magic misfits and criminals, recruited and blackmailed to fill ordinary positions within the Sinistera Hotel. But for those who are greedy enough--or desperate like Arrow--there are opportunities to earn big money doing illegal magic jobs. The danger and the risks are high. Magic assassination, kidnapping, assault--there's a good chance Arrow and the others could be killed or wish they had been. But though the Specials each have agendas of their own, they are determined to rewrite history...if they can survive that long. Demon Leap is the first book in The Specials series. Check out this imaginative paranormal thriller that will grab you from page one and keep you at the edge of your seat!

Lethal Engagement


Teyla Branton - 2015
     Two months after the announcement that rocked the entire world, Mari Jorgenson is going undercover to protect the man who has become the face of the Unbounded. What’s not to like? Expensive clothes, a great disguise, a chance to play with knives—and all with a Renegade partner she might just be falling for. Mari can’t think of a better assignment for practicing her shifting ability. But when everything goes horribly wrong on the first day, it will take everything she has—and more—if she and her friends are to keep humanity’s best hope for peace alive long enough to unite the world. Along the way, Mari glimpses within herself a darkness that threatens to turn her into the very evil she is fighting. Join Mari, Keene, Jace, Cort, and other Renegades from the main Unbounded series as Mari shifts through an adventure that will ultimately set the stage for the greatest and final battle with the Emporium. Please note that Lethal Engagement is not as long as the books from Erin's point-of-view, but is still the same size as many short novels. The events take place in the Unbounded timeline after The Reckoning (Unbounded Book 4). As some of the events in book 4 are referenced, readers will better appreciate Lethal Engagement after reading The Reckoning.

Witch Dust (Witch Series #1)


Marilyn Messik - 2017
    Coerced into restoring her depressed Mother to the bosom of a family Sandra never knew existed, she’s sucked into a situation that even for her is unnerving.  From being without a single relative, she suddenly acquires several she’d rather do without. Ophelia, it appears, has not been entirely honest about any number of things. There’s no doubt in Sandra’s mind, the sooner she puts as much distance as possible between herself, the newly discovered nearest and dearest with their peculiar tendencies and failing hotel business, the happier she’s going to b.There are just a few things to sort first including a possessed chef; a hanged housemaid; a fly-on-the-wall documentary and a doppelgänger. Things slide swiftly from bad to farce and then get a hell of a lot darker. One minute she’s saving the family business the next, battling to save their lives. Turns out, some darknesses, once buried, are best left undisturbed.

Red Swan


P.T. Deutermann - 2017
    Henry Wallace is dead. A behind-the-scenes operator at the CIA, Wallace was integral to the Agency’s secret war against China’s national intelligence service, which infiltrates government and military offices, major businesses, and systems crucial to our security. Wallace had severely damaged China’s Washington spy ring with a devastating ruse, a so-called “black swan,” in which a deep-undercover female agent targeted and destroyed a key Chinese official. Now, Wallace’s mysterious death suggests that the CIA itself has been compromised and that China has someone inside the Agency.But as Allender quietly investigates, he makes a shocking discovery that will upend the entire American intelligence apparatus. For Wallace’s black swan operation may have been turned against the CIA; a Red Swan is flying and the question is: who is she, what is her target, and where will she land?Written with the authority of twenty-six years of military and government service at sea and in Washington, Red Swan is a brilliant, provocative thriller about the contemporary war that no one sees, but which will shape the future of America and China.