Book picks similar to
The Mercenary by Dan Hampton


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A Lifetime Ago (Hudson Bell Book 1)


Jim Ody - 2020
     Hudson Bell is a consultant for the police. A former DI, he spends his days helping to find missing children. May and her son go on a road trip to celebrate his birthday; Robert and Nadia buy their dream house by the sea. But as each look to enjoy a new life, none of them can shake off what happened on that fateful day. One of them blames the others and will stop at nothing to seek revenge. One accident and five lives changed forever.

The One You Love


Paul Pilkington - 2011
    Her fiancé vanishes, leaving the battered and bloodied body of his brother in their London apartment. Someone is stalking her, watching her every move. And her family are hiding a horrifying secret; a secret that threatens all those she loves. In a desperate race against time, Emma must uncover the truth if she ever wants to see her fiancé alive again. The One You Love is a fast-paced suspense mystery, full of twists and turns, following in the tradition of writers such as Nicci French and Sophie Hannah.

Bestiarii


James Tarr - 2018
    The U.S. has resorted to using private contractors—mercenaries—on a huge scale to prop up the failing Mexican army. One of the first things the guerrillas did at the start of the war was attack Pangaea, the famed animal park in remote northeast Mexico, a symbol of rampant capitalism. Officially all the creatures inside were killed. The truth is far different. For his estranged son Michael’s high school graduation present, hotel mogul Roger Rudd splurges on a secret and expensive hunting trip in Mexico, hoping it will bring them closer. They hitch a ride down from Texas on one of the contractors’ helicopters, which along the way picks up Tina Echevarria, a beautiful and feisty Mexican graduate student with a huge secret. When the helicopter crashes in the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains the combat-seasoned contractors, led by Irishman Seamus O’Malley, aren’t too worried…at first. Then it becomes obvious the helicopter didn’t crash, it was purposefully knocked out of the sky by an electromagnetic pulse—and the guerrillas are after one of their party. The disparate group begins a cross-country scramble trying to evade not just gunmen but the prolific and savage offspring of the artificially-created animals once filling Pangaea. Animals thought to be eradicated a generation before when Pangaea's walls were breached. Animals called theropods by park officials…but known to the rest of world as dinosaurs.

The Jake Grafton Collection: The Intruders, The Minotaur, Under Siege, and The Red Horseman


Stephen Coonts - 2018
      Navy pilot Jake Grafton took the fight to the enemy in the Vietnam War, winning the Congressional Medal of Honor and becoming a legend in the military community. But now he must navigate life both in the cockpit and in the halls of power as he finds himself on the front lines of a new kind of war . . .  The Intruders: In this sequel to Flight of the Intruder, Grafton is stationed in the South Pacific on the USS Columbia, where his new mission is to educate an unruly group of Marines in the art of flying from an aircraft carrier. They better be fast learners, because they’ll have to work together to survive against an enemy unlike any they’ve ever faced.   “In the realm of today’s military fiction, Mr. Coonts’s The Intruders is as good as they come.” —The Dallas Morning News  The Minotaur: Grafton is heading up a top-secret stealth bomber program at the Pentagon when a series of mysterious deaths occurs, leading him on a manhunt within the US government for a Soviet mole code-named the “Minotaur.” If he can’t find the traitor, Grafton could lose far more than just his career . . .   “Wildly inventive.” —Ocala Star-Banner  Under Siege: In this New York Times bestseller, when a vicious drug lord is captured and brought to Washington, DC, for trial, his fanatically loyal private army prepares to launch an attack on the United States—and its president. The only man who can stop the bloodshed and take down the assassins is Jake Grafton.   “Will keep you glued to your seat on a roller-coaster ride of adventure.” —USA Today  The Red Horseman: As the USSR falls, newly appointed intelligence chief Jake Grafton knows that even as one threat falls, several more are waiting to get their hands on the former Soviet nuclear arsenal. And as he tries to stop a possible Armageddon, someone who is supposed to be on Grafton’s side is working to make sure he fails.   “Quick-firing excitement, plot, and action . . . Coonts at his best.” —The Dallas Morning News

The Letter Promised


Kevin Wignall - 2013
    Returning to the Paris hotel where he spent his honeymoon six years earlier, he decides to take what seems like the only way out - suicide. But a chance encounter with a Russian in a similar predicament leaves Nick with an unlikely obligation to fulfil, one that will take him to Italy, and offer him a chance at something like redemption. www.kevinwignall.com

Power Play


Rick Campbell - 2019
     The Russians have their newest class of nuclear attack submarine and is taking it, K-561 Kazan, on a shakedown cruise. Unbeknownst to them, however, this new submarine is being followed by an American submarine, the USS Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh is to gather any intelligence they can on this new Russian submarine while avoiding detection by the Russians. But what first appears to be the rollout of a new type of submarine, might well be something completely different. Instead the Pittsburgh witness a torpedo firing exercise—and the radical new technology might well not be the submarine, but the torpedo.

Code Name Camelot


David Archer - 2018
    With the help of childhood friends, he learns to watch others around him and mimic their behaviors, in order to conceal the fact that his mind operates more like a computer that he has spent years programming. That program is what allows Noah to pass himself off as normal, by establishing parameters of right and wrong that are completely inviolable to him.As a young adult, Noah finds structure in the U.S. Army, and becomes an excellent and exemplary soldier, but when his self-imposed programming is put to the test by the murderous acts of the superior officer, Noah finds himself quickly made expendable, charged with crimes he did not commit and facing the possibility of execution. Without any reasonable hope for a reprieve, Noah's logic-based mind accepts his fate.Sometimes, though, things are not all as they seem to be, and Noah is offered one chance to save himself. It was his disability, his lack of emotion, that made him the soldier he had become. Now, an ultrasecret organization known as E & E wants Noah's talents, offering him a chance to survive…As the most deadly assassin the world has ever known.

Eagle at Taranto


Alan Evans - 1987
    The Italian fleet, harboured at Taranto, were proving to be a thorn in the side of the Allied war effort, preventing the spread of operations from Malta to Egypt.But the sheltering battleships and cruisers were more heavily defended than anything previously attacked by the slow, lumbering, carrier-based torpedo planes.Enter Mark Ward, an ace pilot in the RAF. Armed only with his wits and his trusty Swordfish biplane, he and his comrades must strike a devastating blow to the Italian fleet, or risk losing the war… A pulse-pounding thriller based on real events, perfect for fans of Alexander Kent, Douglas Reeman and Alistair MacLean.

Many Dead Bankers


Casey Christie - 2012
    Midweek lunch time. The sound of gunfire reverberates under the hulking structures of the Canary Wharf skyscrapers. The Wharf and its bankers are under terrorist attack by extremists in black Kevlar combat gear with fully automatic assault rifles and explosives. Bankers and their families are cut down in broad daylight and the authorities and their unarmed police force are powerless to stop the slaughter.Mark Andrews, an out of shape, retail bank manager, sits at a bar in the middle of the mayhem and waits for his one true love, Amelia Brown.Then he receives a surreal phone call from his mysterious friend, Captain John Taylor - is he British Army SAS? And can he help Mark save himself, Amelia and the city's bankers?

The Charlie Parker Collection 2


John Connolly - 2013
    His hunt turns into an epic quest and marks a dawning realisation in Parker that there is another dimension to his crusade, a dangerous dimension that affects his personal life.In THE UNQUIET, Daniel Clay, a once-respected psychiatrist, has been missing for years following revelations about harm done to the children in his care. As Parker's investigation progresses, he finds himself trapped between those who want the truth about Daniel Clay to be revealed, and those who want it to remain hidden at all costs.Angel and Louis take centre stage in THE REAPERS, where the elite killers themselves become targets. A wealthy recluse sends them north to a town that no longer exists on a map. There they find themselves trapped, isolated and at the mercy of a killer feared above all others: the assassin of assassins, Bliss. Thanks to Parker, help is on its way. THE LOVERS shows Parker engaged on his most personal case yet: an investigation into his own origins and the circumstances surrounding the death of his father. Parker's quest for that explanation reveals lies, secrets and betrayal.

What You Did


Claire McGowan - 2019
    A devastating accusation. Who should she trust, her husband or her best friend?It was supposed to be the perfect reunion: six university friends together again after twenty years. Host Ali finally has the life she always wanted, a career she can be proud of and a wonderful family with her college boyfriend, now husband. But that night her best friend makes an accusation so shocking that nothing will ever be the same again.When Karen staggers in from the garden, bleeding and traumatised, she claims that she has been assaulted—by Ali’s husband, Mike. Ali must make a split-second decision: who should she believe? Her horrified husband, or her best friend? With Mike offering a very different version of events, Ali knows one of them is lying—but which? And why?When the ensuing chaos forces her to re-examine the golden era the group shared at university, Ali realises there are darker memories too. Memories that have lain dormant for decades. Memories someone would kill to protect.

Operation Ivy Bells: A Mac McDowell Mission (Mac McDowell Mission Series Book 1)


Robert G. Williscroft - 2014
    With a security clearance above Top Secret, Mac and his off-the-books deep-water espionage group must gather Russian intel to avert world war. Join nuclear-submariner Mac as he extreme-dives to a thousand feet, battles giant squids, and proves what brave men can achieve under real pressure, the kind that will steal your air and crush the life out of you. Operation Ivy Bells: A Mac McDowell Mission updates the popular bestseller by Robert G. Williscroft, a lifelong adventurer who blends his own experiences with real events to craft a military thriller that will take your breath away.

Entangled


Barbara Ellen Brink - 2010
    One summer of her childhood is a mystery she intends to solve. But digging up her past also lays bare the skeletons of others, including her mother’s. Entangled between what she once believed and a new reality, will she be able to live with the consequences of full disclosure?

Noble Beginnings


L.T. Ryan - 2013
    A Marine in name only, Jack is on-loan to the CIA. Normally an integral part of the team, he finds that he is nothing more than a security detail in Iraq.Jack and his partner Bear have a run-in with four CIA special agents over the treatment of an Iraqi family. Within hours Jack and Bear are detained.All Jack wanted was to finish his enlistment and move on with his life. All he did was intervene and save a family from unwarranted violence at the hands of four CIA agents. But he soon discovers that he did far more than intervene. He has placed himself dead square in the middle of a conspiracy that reaches the highest levels of the U.S. government.

Shadows in the Water


Kory M. Shrum - 2017
    They didn't kill her — and they'll soon regret it.When DEA agent Jack Thorne's house is stormed by vengeful drug lords, both he and his wife are shot dead. Only his daughter Louie survives — by using a terrifying power that defies reason.Piecing together a life in his absence, Louie embraces her gift and her rage under the force of a single need: revenge.She will destroy the men that took her family. No matter the cost, no matter how many bullets, she won't stop until justice has been well and truly served.