Book picks similar to
Boomer by Charles D. Taylor
military-fiction
fiction
thriller
submarine
Dynamite Fishermen
Preston Fleming - 2011
Even the more languid moments move with a searing undertone. Uncertainty among the characters, coupled with relentless gunfire and explosions, make for an extraordinary novel, each page as eruptive as the city providing the setting.” KIRKUS REVIEWS “Dynamite Fishermen is an absolute stunner of a novel. It’s clear Fleming has done his research and it shows in the seamless dialogue and the ease at which he tackles the task of conveying the wartime ambiance. This is a must-read for history buffs - although I feel strongly everyone will enjoy the rapid pace and captivating suspense. Fleming is a writer deserving of many accolades.” SAN FRANCISCO BOOK REVIEW “In Dynamite Fishermen, Preston Fleming depicts heedless violence as a way of life from the perspective of an American intelligence officer. The story falls during a lull in the long running Lebanese civil war, a period plagued by daily car bombings, civilian shootings, artillery attacks and other mayhem. As many details of this conflict continue to reverberate today, this intelligently written novel provides a compelling page-turner and a memorable story.” PACIFIC BOOK REVIEW “More than memorable…Captures Beirut's harsh terrain in a vibrant, fast-paced story.” BOOKPLEASURES.COM PRODUCT DESCRIPTION Beirut, 1982. Conrad Prosser is a skilled Arabist, expert agent handler, prolific intelligence reporter, and a connoisseur of Beirut's underground nightlife. But, as his two-year tour at the U.S. Embassy nears its end, Prosser's intelligence career is in jeopardy because he has not recruited an agent while in Lebanon, a sine qua non requirement for promotion. Surveying his many contacts, Prosser selects an attractive Lebanese doctoral student and her idealistic brother as candidates for development. At the same time, he holds clandestine meetings by day and night with his string of Lebanese and Palestinian agents, pressing them to discover who is behind the latest wave of car bombings that has terrorized Muslim West Beirut. But when one of his agents supplies information used to capture a Syrian-backed bombing team, Prosser sets off a cycle of retaliation that threatens more than his career and cherished way of life. At first denying, then later concealing, apparent attempts on his life, Prosser sets out to save both his job and his skin, exploiting his agents, his best friend, a former lover, his new girlfriend and her enigmatic brother. In doing so, he puts their lives at risk and discovers too late the effect of his heedless actions. DYNAMITE FISHERMEN offers complex characters, fast-paced action, a vivid portrayal of human intelligence operations and the flavor of Beirut during its dark days of ci
The War Planners, The War Stage, Pawns of the Pacific
Andrew Watts - 2017
First, the U.S. government has been infiltrated with Chinese spies. Second, an inner circle of Chinese leaders have set in motion plans to do the unthinkable - to invade the United States of America. Lena Chou is one of the few U.S. officials who knows the truth. She must put together a top-secret task force to help America’s government prepare for what will come. Now, in order to covertly plan the U.S. defense, Lena has gathered a Red Cell, a group of experts that will plan how China could best attack it. David Manning is one of those experts. After he is abruptly taken to the covert island base where the Red Cell is being held, Lena presents the group with evidence of China’s imminent attack. But while the Red Cell plans for war, David suspects that something about this gathering of minds is terribly wrong…The War StageA US Navy destroyer sinks an Iranian patrol craft during a controversial exchange in the Persian Gulf. With tensions soaring between the two nations, an Iranian politician secretly contacts the CIA with a chilling revelation involving the Chinese. Chase Manning is a rugged ex-SEAL working for the CIA's Special Operations Group in the Middle East. Now, he is tasked with uncovering the truth behind the Iranian claims before it is too late. But in the midst of battling deadly assassins and uncovering the layers of intrigue, Chase discovers that his own brother, David Manning, is right at the heart of the conspiracy.Pawns of the PacificA nation on the brink of war. A conspiracy that threatens the globe. And one military family, caught in the middle, fighting for freedom.While the United States is preparing for war with Iran, Chinese billionaire Cheng Jinshan and his wicked spy, Lena Chou, are moving their pieces on the board. Deception and misinformation are everywhere. Now, in order to save America, the leaders in the CIA and Pentagon have set up a secretive task force at the CIA headquarters. Their mission: to thwart Jinshan's plans, and reveal the truth to the world.Each member of the Manning family has a critical role to play. David Manning is brought in to the CIA task force. Chase Manning is sent to team up with a US Marine Corps special operations unit. Admiral Manning leads the USS Ford Carrier Strike Group, filled with America's latest and greatest naval technology. And Lieutenant Commander Victoria Manning is the officer in charge of a helicopter detachment on the navy destroyer, the USS Farragut - the only ship that stands in the way of a Chinese onslaught.
In the Shadow of Lakecrest
Elizabeth Blackwell - 2017
Kate Moore is looking for a way out of the poverty and violence of her childhood. When a chance encounter on a transatlantic ocean liner brings her face-to-face with the handsome heir to a Chicago fortune, she thinks she may have found her escape—as long as she can keep her past concealed.After exchanging wedding vows, Kate quickly discovers that something isn’t quite right with her husband—or her new family. As Mrs. Matthew Lemont, she must contend with her husband’s disturbing past, his domineering mother, and his overly close sister. Isolated at Lakecrest, the sprawling, secluded Lemont estate, she searches desperately for clues to Matthew’s terrors, which she suspects stem from the mysterious disappearance of his aunt years before. As Kate stumbles deeper into a maze of family secrets, she begins to question everyone’s sanity—especially her own. But just how far will she go to break free of this family’s twisted past?
Beautiful Exiles
Meg Waite Clayton - 2018
Headstrong, accomplished journalist Martha Gellhorn is confident with words but less so with men when she meets disheveled literary titan Ernest Hemingway in a dive bar. Their friendship—forged over writing, talk, and family dinners—flourishes into something undeniable in Madrid while they’re covering the Spanish Civil War.Martha reveres him. The very married Hemingway is taken with Martha—her beauty, her ambition, and her fearless spirit. And as Hemingway tells her, the most powerful love stories are always set against the fury of war. The risks are so much greater. They’re made for each other.With their romance unfolding as they travel the globe, Martha establishes herself as one of the world’s foremost war correspondents, and Hemingway begins the novel that will win him the Nobel Prize for Literature. Beautiful Exiles is a stirring story of lovers and rivals, of the breathless attraction to power and fame, and of one woman—ahead of her time—claiming her own identity from the wreckage of love.
Primary Target
Joe Weber - 1999
In league with militant extremists from the Middle East, a group of hard-line Communists hatches a plot to return the once-powerful Soviet Union to its former glory, and to eliminate the one person with the power to stop them--the President of the UnitedStates.
Daughters of the Lake
Wendy Webb - 2018
Tucked in the folds of the woman’s curiously vintage gown is an infant, as cold and at peace as its mother. No one can identify the woman. Except for Kate. She’s seen her before. In her dreams…One hundred years ago, a love story ended in tragedy, its mysteries left unsolved. It’s time for the lake to give up its secrets. As each mystery unravels, it pulls Kate deeper into the eddy of a haunting folktale that has been handed down in whispers over generations. Now, it’s Kate’s turn to listen.As the drowned woman reaches out from the grave, Kate reaches back. They must come together, if only in dreams, to right the sinister wrongs of the past.
Boxes For Beds
Maryann Miller - 2012
They don't need the heat, and they have the leverage with the sheriff to make him do whatever they want. It seems like a good move to arrest Leslie Richards, the new woman in town, even though there is only thin circumstantial evidence against her. Better for it to be a stranger taking those babies and not one of their own.Leslie has left New York with her ten-year-old daughter, Mandy, hoping to escape from her past and the ruins of a relationship, only to discover that there is little peace for her in Pine Hollow, Arkansas.
Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies
Ben Macintyre - 2012
Operation Fortitude, which protected and enabled the invasion, and the Double Cross system, which specialized in turning German spies into double agents, deceived the Nazis into believing that the Allies would attack at Calais and Norway rather than Normandy. It was the most sophisticated and successful deception operation ever carried out, ensuring that Hitler kept an entire army awaiting a fake invasion, saving thousands of lives, and securing an Allied victory at the most critical juncture in the war. The story of D-Day has been told from the point of view of the soldiers who fought in it, the tacticians who planned it, and the generals who led it. But this epic event in world history has never before been told from the perspectives of the key individuals in the Double Cross System. These include its director (a brilliant, urbane intelligence officer), a colorful assortment of MI5 handlers (as well as their counterparts in Nazi intelligence), and the five spies who formed Double Cross’s nucleus: a dashing Serbian playboy, a Polish fighter-pilot, a bisexual Peruvian party girl, a deeply eccentric Spaniard with a diploma in chicken farming and a volatile Frenchwoman, whose obsessive love for her pet dog very nearly wrecked the entire plan. The D-Day spies were, without question, one of the oddest military units ever assembled, and their success depended on the delicate, dubious relationship between spy and spymaster, both German and British. Their enterprise was saved from catastrophe by a shadowy sixth spy whose heroic sacrifice is revealed here for the first time. With the same depth of research, eye for the absurd and masterful storytelling that have made Ben Macintyre an international bestseller, Double Cross is a captivating narrative of the spies who wove a web so intricate it ensnared Hitler’s army and carried thousands of D-Day troops across the Channel in safety.
Not Without You
Harriet Evans - 2013
But she hasn’t been called that for years, not since she became an A-list movie star. Living in Los Angeles, she can forget all about the life she left behind in England. But she's lost something of herself in the process, too.Glamorous 1950s starlet Eve Noel had none of Sophie's modern self-confidence. She didn’t choose her name. A Hollywood producer did. In fact, he made all her decisions - what to wear, when to smile, who to love. Right up until the day she simply vanished from the spotlight. No one knows where she went, or why.As Sophie’s perfect-on-the-outside world begins to crumble, her present collides with Eve's past, She must unravel the mystery around her idol's disappearance before it's too late for them both.
The Lines We Leave Behind
Eliza Graham - 2018
As she tries to make sense of her recent past, she recalls very little.But she still remembers wartime in Yugoslavia. There she and her lover risked everything to carry out dangerous work resisting the Germans—a heroic campaign in which many brave comrades were lost. After that, the trail disappears into confusion. How did she come to be trapped in a living nightmare?As she struggles to piece together the missing years of her life, she will have to confront the harrowing experiences of her special-operations work and peacetime marriage. Only then can she hope to regain the vital memories that will uncover the truth: is she really a violent criminal…or was she betrayed?
The Third World War: August 1985
John W. Hackett - 1978
A sensational international bestseller, it is a vivid, detailed, and often blood-curdling on-the-spot report from the battle fronts of a "real war", from tank assaults to air clashes to ICBM launchings, based on an insider's knowledge of weaponry and actual NATO and Soviet battle strategies. In the light of changes in Eastern Europe the question now is: Could it ever have happened? Could it ever happen again?
Crash Dive
Craig DiLouie - 2015
October, 1942. The United States and the Empire of Japan are at war. Charlie Harrison, a young and ambitious lieutenant, reports for duty aboard the S-55, a worn-out WWI-era submarine. While the Battle of Guadalcanal rages on land, air, and sea, the captain plans a daring attack against Rabaul, the heart of Japanese power in the South Pacific. There, the hunter will become the hunted, and Charlie will discover how good he is at war.
Regarding Anna
Florence Osmund - 2015
When certain clues draw her to a boardinghouse once owned by Anna Vargas, she becomes convinced that Anna was her real mother. She believes the boardinghouse walls have been harboring vital secrets for years, but when she meets up with the cantankerous old woman who had bought the place after Anna’s death, she questions whether she’ll ever be able to peel back all the layers surrounding her parentage.The lies and deceit that Grace unearths in her pursuit to validate her identity are shocking, complicated, and not all buried in the past. Does this force Grace to back down, or just heighten her determination uncover the whole truth?
Missionaries
Phil Klay - 2020
Army Special Forces medic, nor Lisette, a foreign correspondent, has emerged from America's long post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan unscathed. Yet war also exerts a terrible draw that neither can shake--the noble calling, the camaraderie, the life-and-death stakes. Where else in the world can such a person go? All roads lead to Colombia, where the US, with its patented fusion of intelligence dominance and quick-striking special operators, has partnered with local government to stamp out a vicious civil war and keep the predatory narco gangs at bay. Mason, now a liaison to the Colombian military, is ready for the good war, and Lisette is more than ready to cover it.For Juan Pablo, Mason's counterpart in the Colombian officer corps, translating reality into a language the Americans can understand requires a cartoonist's gift for caricature, but it's child's play next to the challenge of navigating the viper's nest of factions bidding for power, in the capital and far out in the field. And if Juan Pablo's view is dark, the outlook of Abel, a lieutenant in the militia Los Mil Jesuses, which controls territory in rural Norte de Santander, a region on the Venezuelan border where the writ of law scarcely runs, is positively Stygian. Abel has lost everything he loves in the carnage that for his entire life has flowed unceasingly in this region, where the lines between drug cartels, militias, and the state are semi-permeable. It is Abel's cruel fate to find safety only by serving a man he has come to fear and loathe.Missionaries is an astonishment, a novel of extraordinary suspense whose central, unsparing drama is infused by a geopolitical sophistication and a wisdom about the human heart that would be rare even in isolation. As Los Mil Jesuses make their move to fill a power vacuum in Norte de Santander, aided and abetted by the Colombian military for its own reasons, the Americans are made pawns of a game they don't even begin to understand. The result is an unfolding calamity that will leave no character unscathed, and will echo across the planet. A work whose accomplishment calls forth comparisons to Joseph Conrad, Graham Greene, and Robert Stone, Missionaries ultimately stands apart as its own electrifying new form of artistic reckoning with the forces we have unleashed in our world.
Attack on Nantucket
Thad Dupper - 2017
A modern-day, Clancy-like thriller -- the US president, Nantucket, a terrorist plot and the US Navy. An adrenaline ride with great authenticity. Andrew Russell, the 46th president of the United States, along with his wife and two young children have brought back a Kennedy-era feeling of Camelot to the White House. President Russell and his family are spending another vacation on the beautiful island of Nantucket. After three years of planning, the Islamic Front has embedded terrorist cells on the island in preparation for the arrival of President Russell and his family. With the resources of the US Navy at the ready -- the President, an ex-naval aviator, responds to the attack on his family with the focus, determination and aggressiveness that made him one of the best fighter pilots in the Fleet. The people of Nantucket, descendants of hardy New England stock, along with the combined military and intelligence assets of the US Government are about to be challenged by the events unleashed on the tiny picturesque island. Nantucket serves as the backdrop for this larger-than-life techno-thriller.