The Blooding of the Guns


Alexander Fullerton - 1976
    One hundred and fifty British ships, manned by sixty thousand sailors, stand ready for battle in the icy waters…Nicholas Everard, a sub-lieutenant on a destroyer, is going into combat. Little does he know what is in store for himself and his shipmates. How it feels to be in a small ship, racing to launch torpedoes into a line of dreadnoughts’ blazing guns; how it feels to be inside a battleship’s fifteen-inch turrets; or on the bridge of a cruiser under pulverising bombardment.This is battle at sea. How can Everard survive the onslaught? Dramatic, action-packed and meticulously researched, The Blooding of the Guns launches the epic career of Nicholas Everard in this unforgettable series, sure to enthral readers of Douglas Reeman and Philip McCutchan . The Nicholas Everard Naval Thrillers The Blooding of the Guns Sixty Minutes for St. George Patrol to the Golden Horn Storm Force to Narvik Last Lift from Crete All the Drowning Seas A Share of Honour The Torchbearers The Gatecrashers

DEFCON One


Joe Weber - 1989
    Fearful of US plans for an anti-missile defense system that could defeat a USSR first strike, the Soviet General Secretary, the conservative successor to Gorbachev, conceives a plan to act first.Russian Bear bombers violate US airspace, leading to a response by American F-15s. A US Navy battle group is attacked in the North Atlantic. And in orbit, a Soviet hunter-killer satellite attacks an American space shuttle.“An ominous, nightmarish scenario about how World War III could happen. Chilling and credible, DEFCON One graphically portray’s humanity’s stake in the Gorbachev revolution. It’s a must read, as immediate as this morning’s headlines.” —Stephen Coonts, New York Times best-selling author of Flight of the Intruder“DEFCON One should be thought-provoking to everyone interested in the global balance of power. Lessons to be learned from DEFCON One just may let us avoid nuclear holocaust for another forty years.” —W.E.B. Griffin, best-selling author of The Corps and Brotherhood of War series“DEFCON One is a humdinger! Joe Weber mixes up the fast-paced action for an exciting read!" —Payne Harrison, New York Times best-selling author“His flying scenes especially are superb. It’s a chilling vision. . . The best high-tech military thriller. . ." —Franklin Allen Leib, best-selling author of Fire Arrow“DEFCON One is a skillfully constructed and exciting first novel. Vivid and frighteningly plausible. Crammed with high-tech action and nail-biting suspense. A brilliant novel!" —Herbert Crowder, best-selling author of Ambush At Osirak

Black Cross


Greg Iles - 1995
    To salvage the planned assault, two vastly different but equally determined men are sent to infiltrate the secret concentration camp where the poison gas is being perfected on human subjects. Their only objective: destroy all traces of the gas and the men who created it — no matter how many lives may be lost...including their own.Stunning....From the very first page, Greg Iles takes his readers on an emotional roller-coaster ride, juxtaposing tension-filled action scenes, horrifying depictions of savage cruelty, and heart-stopping descriptions of sacrifice and bravery. A remarkable story from a remarkable writer.” — Booklist

Dominion


C.J. Sansom - 2012
    Twelve years have passed since Churchill lost to the appeasers, and Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany after Dunkirk. As the long German war against Russia rages on in the east, the British people find themselves under dark authoritarian rule: the press, radio and television are controlled; the streets patrolled by violent auxiliary police and British Jews face ever greater constraints. There are terrible rumours too about what is happening in the basement of the German Embassy at Senate House. Defiance, though, is growing.In Britain, Winston Churchill's Resistance organisation is increasingly a thorn in the government's side. And in a Birmingham mental hospital an incarcerated scientist, Frank Muncaster, may hold a secret that could change the balance of the world struggle forever. Civil Servant David Fitzgerald, secretly acting as a spy for the Resistance, is given by them the mission to rescue his old friend Frank and get him out of the country. Before long he, together with a disparate group of Resistance activists, will find themselves fugitives in the midst of London’s Great Smog; as David’s wife Sarah finds herself drawn into a world more terrifying than she ever could have imagined. And hard on their heels is Gestapo Sturmbannfuhrer Gunther Hoth, brilliant, implacable hunter of men . . .

Moscow, Midnight


John Cody Fidler-Simpson - 2018
    The coroner rules it an accident, a sex game gone wrong. Jon Swift is from the old stock of journos - cynical, cantankerous and overweight - and something about his friend's death doesn't seem right. Then days after Macready's flat is apparently burgled, Swift discovers that his friend had been researching a string of Russian government figures who had met similarly 'accidental' fates. When the police refuse to investigate further, Swift gets in touch with his contacts in Moscow, determined to find out if his hunch is correct. Following the lead, he is soon drawn into a violent underworld, where whispers of conspiracies, assassinations and double-agents start blurring the line between friend and foe.But the truth will come at a price, and it may cost him everything.

Rules of Deception


Christopher Reich - 2008
    Jonathan Ransom, a surgeon for Doctors Without Borders, is climbing in the Swiss Alps with his wife, Emma, when she falls into a hidden crevasse and dies. Twenty-four hours later, Jonathan receives an envelope addressed to his wife containing two baggage-claim tickets. Puzzled, he journeys to a railway station only to find himself inexplicably attacked by the Swiss police. Suddenly forced on the run, Jonathan's only chance at survival lies in uncovering the devastating truth behind his wife's secret life.

Fail-Safe


Eugene Burdick - 1962
    A group of American bombers armed with nuclear weapons is streaking past the fail-safe point, beyond recall, and no one knows why. Their destination—Moscow.In a bomb shelter beneath the White House, the calm young president turns to his Russian translator and says, "I think we are ready to talk to Premier Kruschchev." Not far away, in the War Room at the Pentagon, the secretary of defense and his aides watch with growing anxiety as the luminous blips crawl across a huge screen map. High over the Bering Strait in a large Vindicator bomber, a colonel stares in disbelief at the attack code number on his fail-safe box and wonders if it could possibly be a mistake.First published in 1962, when America was still reeling from the Cuban missile crisis, Fail-Safe reflects the apocalyptic attitude that pervaded society during the height of the Cold War, when disaster could have struck at any moment. As more countries develop nuclear capabilities and the potential for new enemies lurks on the horizon, Fail-Safe and its powerful issues continue to respond.

Star of the North


D.B. John - 2018
    Twelve years later, her brilliant twin sister, Jenna, is still searching for her, and ends up on the radar of the CIA. When evidence that her sister may still be alive in North Korea comes to light, Jenna will do anything possible to rescue her--including undertaking a daring mission into the heart of the regime. Her story is masterfully braided together with two other narrative threads. In one, a North Korean peasant woman finds a forbidden international aid balloon and uses the valuables inside to launch a dangerously lucrative black-market business. In the other, a high-ranking North Korean official discovers, to his horror, that he may be descended from a traitor, a fact that could mean his death if it is revealed. As the novel progresses, these narrative strands converge and connect in surprising ways, ultimately building to an explosive and unforgettable climax.

Eyes Wide Open


Ted Dekker - 2013
    I’m seventeen and I’m about to die. I’m buried in a coffin under tons of concrete. No one knows where I am. My heart sounds like a monster with clobber feet, running straight toward me. I’m lying on my back, soaked with sweat from the hair on my head to the soles of my feet. My hands and feet won’t stop shaking.Some will say that I’m not really here. Some will say I’m delusional. Some will say that I don’t even exist. But who are they? I’m the one buried in a grave.My name is Christy Snow. I’m seventeen. I’m about to die.So who are you?In a return to the kind of storytelling that made Showdown and Three unforgettable, Ted Dekker drags that question into the light with this modern day parable about how we see ourselves.Humming with intensity and blindsided twists, Eyes Wide Open is raw adrenaline from the first page to the last pure escapism packed with inescapable truth. Not all is as it seems. Or is it? Strap yourself in for the ride of your life. Literally.

Blades of Winter


G.T. Almasi - 2012
    T. Almasi has fused the intricate cat-and-mouse games of a John le Carré novel with the brash style of comic book superheroes to create a kick-ass alternate history that reimagines the Cold War as a clash of spies with biological, chemical, and technological enhancements.Nineteen-year-old Alix Nico, a self-described “million-dollar murder machine,” is a rising star in ExOps, a covert-action agency that aggressively shields the United States from its three great enemies: the Soviet Union, Greater Germany, and the Nationalist Republic of China. Rather than risk another all-out war, the four superpowers have poured their resources into creating superspies known as Levels.Alix is one of the hottest young American Levels. That’s no surprise: Her dad was America’s top Level before he was captured and killed eight years ago. But when an impulsive decision explodes—literally—in her face, Alix uncovers a conspiracy that pushes her to her limits and could upset the global balance of power forever.

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

The Old Man


Thomas Perry - 2017
    The Old Man is his latest whip-smart standalone novel.To all appearances, Dan Chase is a harmless retiree in Vermont with two big mutts and a grown daughter he keeps in touch with by phone. But most sixty-year-old widowers don’t have multiple driver’s licenses, savings stockpiled in banks across the country, and a bugout kit with two Beretta Nanos stashed in the spare bedroom closet. Most have not spent decades on the run. Thirty-five years ago, as a young hotshot in army intelligence, Chase was sent to Libya to covertly assist a rebel army. When the plan turned sour, Chase reacted according to his own ideas of right and wrong, triggering consequences he could never have anticipated. And someone still wants him dead because of them. Just as he had begun to think himself finally safe, Chase must reawaken his survival instincts to contend with the history he has spent his adult life trying to escape. Armed mercenaries, spectacularly crashed cars, a precarious love interest, and an unforgettable chase scene through the snow—this is lethal plotting from one of the best in crime fiction.

Crown Jewel (The Battle for the Falklands)


Peter von Bleichert - 2013
    During the 1980s, Argentina invaded and fought an unsuccessful war with the British. However, despite this failed campaign, Argentina has never abandoned its claim to the islands, what they call 'Las Islas Malvinas.' Prince Albert—an Apache helicopter pilot fresh off a haunting tour of Afghanistan—is sent to the remote islands for a royal visit, an affirmation of London’s commitment to their windswept, oil-rich overseas territory. Argentina, manipulated by a former Nazi and seeking to cure economic malaise, invades once again, catching Prince Albert in the unfolding operation, forcing him to face personal demons, as well as an Argentine commando sent to hunt him down. This novella is an exciting action-filled military thriller that incorporates real places, tactics, and weapons. Please visit "Crown Jewel: The Battle for the Falklands" on Facebook for items of relevance to the book.

Winston's War


Michael Dobbs - 2002
    Two men meet. One is elderly, the other in his twenties. One will become the most revered man of his time, and the other known as the greatest of traitors.Winston Churchill met Guy Burgess at a moment when the world was about to explode. Now in his astonishing new novel, Michael Dobbs throws brilliant fresh light upon Churchill's relationship with the Soviet spy and the twenty months of conspiracy, chance and outright treachery that were to propel Churchill from outcast to messiah and change the course of history.

The Travelers


Chris Pavone - 2016
    Do you know where your husband is? Meet Will Rhodes: travel writer, recently married, barely solvent, his idealism rapidly giving way to disillusionment and the worry that he's living the wrong life. Then one night, on assignment for the award-winning Travelers magazine in the wine region of Argentina, a beautiful woman makes him an offer he can't refuse. Soon Will's bad choices and dark secrets take him across Europe, from a chateau in Bordeaux to a midnight raid on a Paris mansion, from a dive bar in Dublin to a mega-yacht in the Mediterranean and an isolated cabin perched on the rugged cliffs of Iceland. As he's drawn further into a tangled web of international intrigue, it becomes clear that nothing about Will Rhodes was ever ordinary, that the network of deception ensnaring him is part of an immense and deadly conspiracy with terrifying global implications and that the people closest to him may pose the greatest threat of all. It's 3:00 am. Your husband has just become a spy.