Book picks similar to
Final Steps by John Carson


fiction
g_thriller_spy-political-military
pov-lead_male
thrillers-mysteries

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.

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...

Break


Ty Patterson - 2020
    For those whom the system has failed.Cutter served in the world's most dangerous hotspots and sacrificed everything for his country. His military file has more redactions than words.That life is behind him. He's a fixer, now. He uses his specialist skills to help those whom the system let down.When a mother wants him to free her son from the grasp of drug dealers, it sounds like a simple assignment. Knock some heads, give a stern talking to the delinquent. Walk away.But nothing's ever that simple.When the most vicious gang in New York is involved in a conspiracy that can destroy the country's foundations, he has a choice to make.He can back off. Or, he can clean up.The decision, again, is simple.The job will be anything but…

Hunted


Antony Dunford - 2021
    Once a member of the world’s first all-female special forces unit, the Norwegian Hunter Troop, Jane Haven is now helping her brother Kennet protect some of the world's most endangered animals at his Kenyan Wildlife Conservancy.Heavily armed poachers pose a deadly threat to humans and animals alike, and when her brother dies suddenly, Jane vows to protect his legacy against the threats circling the Bandari reservation.With rhino horn worth more than diamonds - those threats keep on coming - until Jane finds she's the one being hunted ...

Bracing For the Storm


Matt Lincoln - 2019
    When Linda Reyes takes her daughter on a trip across America, she tells her a story about her days in the Coast Guard stationed in Puerto Rico, a tale about her fight against a Columbian drug cartel.

Fury in the Gulf


Peter Nealen - 2020
    But the Saudis are leaning on the Americans to prevent an overt response. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking for the hostages.Enter the mercenaries.John Brannigan retired from the Marine Corps, and isn’t all that happy about it. Now, with American lives in the balance, he’ll come back to the action, recruiting a small crew of men ready to stare death in the face.They’re alone, outnumbered, and outgunned.There’s no backup coming.Have they signed up for a mission, or a suicide run?

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.

Arctic Snare


Lucas Pederson - 2019
    But when a strange distress call is received, an elite group is assembled to check on the scientists and facility. What they find will turn everything they know upside down and whatever escaped the facility is loose, leaving a trail of blood in its wake. It's up to the Cryptid Force Six to track down and stop what might very well be the death of them. In the blistering cold of Arctic, no one can hear you scream...

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?

Man Down


Nathan Burrows - 2020
    With red crosses on their arms and medical equipment strapped to their backs, they thunder into battle in a Chinook helicopter – straight into areas everyone else is desperate to get away from.In the middle of the fiercest fighting British troops have seen since the Falklands War, the medics are the last defence from death on the ground in some corner of a foreign field. But in Afghanistan, where a hostile is only obvious when they raise a weapon, there's no such thing as a non-combatant. And not all enemies are on the other side.Despite the heroic efforts of the medics on the ground and in the air, someone in the field hospital is determined to finish what the Taliban has started. Wounded soldiers – who should be living – are dying. Their deadliest enemy is much closer to home than they realise.As the death toll and the temperature rise, can the medics finish their tour of duty, or will it finish them?

DETECTIVE JACK DAWES BOOKS 1–5 five gripping crime mysteries full of twists


Frances Lloyd - 2020
    

The Search


Vishal Anand - 2021
    ACP Rathore is investigating the homicide. As the events begin to unleash Rathore digs upon secrets too dark and dangerous. As he proceeds, the question becomes more and more haunting - Who Killed Roger? Michael Rodriques, the Deputy Chief Minister of Goa? Shirley Fernandes, Roger's wife? One or more of the other artists? Or, an individual for whom Roger refused to perform? The Search is the most astonishingly impudent, ingenious and altogether a fast-paced murder mystery ever written by an Indian author.Note: This is an expanded version of the short story Who Killed Roger.

Ultra Deep


William H. Lovejoy - 1992
     But when the launch of the new A2e rocket goes terribly wrong, panic grips the entire world - because this rocket has a nuclear reactor on board. From the moment the A2e crashes, that nuclear reactor is on a countdown to meltdown. It will reach a supercritical state within a matter of days. And so, even as the A2e plummets to the very depths of the ocean, the desperate race to retrieve it begins. Failure will result in catastrophic damage to Earth and all life upon it. Yet the rocket has plunged so deep into the ocean that it seems almost impossible to find, let alone salvage. Enter Dane Brande, maverick but world-leading oceanographer who, with his highly-skilled, international team of experts and cutting edge equipment, may be the world’s best, possibly only, hope of salvation. But will Brande take on the job and if he does, will he survive it? Against a background of riots and international rage, interested parties converge on the sea above the crash site. A rogue environmentalist, whose ambitions are unclear even to himself, threatens to derail the operation. Newspaper reporters circle and protesters gather as the world looks on. Soon after the end of the Soviet era, the Russians and the Americans are once more racing each other to an achievement - that of raising the rocket - but in this new world order and time of threat, do they actually need to co-operate? To what extent are they willing and able to do that? Meanwhile, Brande must keep his own demons at bay and hold his nerve long enough to find and retrieve the rocket. If he succeeds he will save the world from catastrophe and secure the future of his ground-breaking research and diving salvage company… But will Brande succeed or will he, like others, lose his life in the search for the lost rocket and its terrifying cargo? Praise for William H Lovejoy ʻDelta Green is an exciting aerial thriller. Buckle your seat belts!ʼ - Joe Weber, author of Defcon One ‘Lovejoy writes in afterburner!… action that leaves you dry-lipped, moist-palmed and hungry for more. An excellent read.’ - M.E. Morris William H Lovejoy has publications in English, Spanish, Hebrew and Japanese. He is the author of twenty-five thriller, suspense, and mystery novels, including Delta Blue, Delta Green, Alpha Kat, Phantom Strike and Ultra Deep. A Vietnam veteran, he resides in Colorado and is Vice Chancellor Emeritus from Mohave Community College.

Verdugo Dawn


Blake Banner - 2019
    You stalk your prey, and you discover it is one special prey you are after, one special prey you want to track down and execute. It’s the guy with the black shades and the beemer, the guy at the club with the two gorillas and the six girls, the guy with soulless eyes they all come to see for their fix. It’s the dealer. The dealers have to die.And when the executions start, they finally give you a name, an identity. They call you, The Verdugo.The Executioner.