Book picks similar to
Meltdown by Christopher Nicole


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have-but-not-read
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Theft of Fire


Michael Edelson - 2017
    The mission to destroy a domestic terrorist cell in possession of a nuclear bomb sounds like the opportunity he is looking for, until he realizes that his targets are not terrorists, and that what they have is something infinitely more dangerous than a bomb. On the run with Dr. Grace Llewellyn and the device she calls Prometheus, Markus finds himself pitted against the full might of US intelligence and military forces as they mount the biggest manhunt ever conducted on American soil. He quickly learns that Prometheus represents a technological advancement so profound that it can alter the course of history. But there is another such device already in play, and he, Grace and Prometheus are all that stand between it and the end of human civilization as we know it.

Lost Sister


Ben Cheetham - 2018
    A trip to the cinema turns into a nightmare for Anna and her little sister Jessica, when two men throw thirteen-year-old Jessica into the back of a van and speed away.The years tick by... Tick, tick... The police fail to find Jessica and her name fades from the public consciousness... Tick, tick... But every time Anna closes her eyes she’s back in that terrible moment, lurching towards Jessica, grabbing for her. So close. So agonizingly close.... Tick, tick... Now in her thirties, Anna has no career, no relationship, no children. She’s consumed by one purpose – finding Jessica, dead or alive.Detective Jim Monahan has a little black book with forty-two names in it. Jim’s determined to put every one of those names behind bars, but his investigation is going nowhere fast. Then a twenty-year-old clue brings Jim and Anna together in search of a shadowy figure known as Spider. Who is Spider? Where is Spider? Does Spider have the answers they want? The only thing Jim and Anna know is that the victims Spider entices into his web have a habit of ending up missing or dead.

Budapest/48: A Ryan Lock Story


Sean Black - 2015
    Fly into Budapest. Handle the exchange in a straightforward kidnap for ransom case. Fly back home. Total time involved: 48 hours. But as private security operators Ryan Lock and Ty Johnson are about to find out, there is no such thing as easy money. Budapest/48 is the new novella (short novel) from bestselling thriller writer Sean Black.

The Hand of Strange Children: A nerve-shredding mystery thriller


Robert Richardson - 1993
     Details trickle in: the house belongs to wealthy merchant banker Charles Stansfield; present are well-known news editor Richard Barlow and members of his family. But the victims identities are withheld. Who are they? Why has a family gathering exploded into violence and death? Through their individual voices the lives of Richard, Tim and Naomi Barlow and their mother, Florence, unfold and a shocking crime comes to light - one that has gone undetected and unpunished, culminating in a double-killing a quarter of a century later. The Hand of Strange ChildrenPraise for Robert Richardson ''With this, his first novel, Robert Richardson makes a most impressive debut as a writer of the classical English detective story… He knows how to create suspense and an atmosphere of incipient evil; he provides us with a genuine puzzle, his characters are believable people, and the motive of his murderer is psycho-logically credible.” P D James “Skilful rerouting and the taste of real tears” The Sunday Times “Eccentrics, suspects and witty writing abound” The Times “Here is a book to be missed only at your own peril” Armchair Detective “Elegantly written, beautifully characterised, suspenseful and oddly moving” Mystery Reader’s Journal “Grand entertainment, deft handling and suave wit” Publishers Weekly Robert Richardson is a journalist and editor who lives in England.

REPORTS OF THEIR DEMISE


William Peter Grasso - 2021
    

The Siege of Tel Aviv


Hesh Kestin - 2019
    This book was previously withdrawn from its original publisher and is now being released in an author's edition. Same book, new publisher. Stephen King calls Hesh Kestin’s The Siege of Tel Aviv “scarier than anything Stephen King ever wrote.” Iran leads five armies in a brutal victory over Israel, which ceases to exist. Within hours, its leaders are rounded up and murdered, the IDF is routed, and the country's six million Jews concentrated in Tel Aviv, which becomes a starving ghetto. While the US and the West sit by, Israel's enemies prepare to kill off the entire population. On the eve of genocide, Tel Aviv makes one last attempt to save itself, as an Israeli businessman, a gangster, and a cross-dressing fighter pilot put together a daring plan to counterattack. Will it succeed? The Siege of Tel Aviv is as as bizarrely funny as it is fast-paced. In the words of Stephen King: “An irrepressible sense of humor runs through it. It’s not satire I’m talking about―it’s stuff like the cross-dressing pilot (my favorite character) and any number of deliciously absurd situations (the pink jets). It’s the inevitable result of an eye that sees the funny side, even in horror. So few writers have that. This novel will cause talk and controversy. Most of all, it will be read.”

Seventy Times Seven


John Gordon Sinclair - 2012
    Since his brother's murder eight years earlier he has become a professional killer: a hit man for hire, bent on retribution.The Job: Danny's been contracted to eliminate the 'Thevshi' - the Ghost - the most elusive informant that has ever penetrated the Republican movement in Northern Ireland. But there's a problem: the Thevshi claims to know who's responsible for his brother's death. Danny's never killed someone he needed to talk to first.The Target: When Finn O'Hanlon (A.K.A. the Thevshi) is attacked in a bar in Alabama he realises that his past has finally caught up with him. Forced to flee, he embarks on a desperate journey to find Danny McGuire before it's too late.The Complication: But Danny and Finn are up against someone who's spent years hiding a secret, and it's a secret they'll go to any lengths to protect.

Secret Wars: An Espionage Story


Joe Goldberg - 2014
    It's a clandestine world where intricate networks of people fight a complex battle to keep the world safe from terrorism.When terrorists funded by the Libyan government strike airports in Rome and Vienna in 1985, the CIA enlists top propaganda expert Mike Garnett to help recruit a high-ranking Libyan official, Foreign Minister Abdallah Mukhtar, to work for the CIA. As violence escalates between the US military and terrorists based in Libya, Garnett utilizes CIA assets in Hollywood to produce a propaganda video designed to convince Mukhtar he was betrayed by his own regime. Garnett's plan works—but goes sideways when it motivates the Libyan official to do something Garnett didn’t even consider.Sharp and insightful, Secret Wars: An Espionage Story is a thrilling tale of deception, betrayal, and patriotism—and Garnett soon learns they’re not as black and white as they seem when he’s forced to reevaluate the true nature of the business of deception.For fans of Tom Clancy, David Ignatius, and Frederick Forsyth, Secret Wars is a fictional thriller set against the backdrop of historical events. Meticulously researched, it pulls from the author's personal experiences as a member of the CIA.

The Carlson Assignment (A Janet Markham Bennett Cozy Thriller Book 3)


Diana Xarissa - 2021
    

The Penny Black (Ben Bracken Book 3)


Rob Parker - 2019
    Nobody knows I’m alive… Ben Bracken is on the run for his life. Keeping a low profile from the agencies seeking to silence him, he finds refuge in the quiet town of Horning. Working in a boat yard and lodging with an older couple, Eric and Dot, Ben uses this time to plan. He needs to escape, and realising his only chance will reveal his whereabouts to some unsavoury characters, he plans every detail. Little does he know, even that won’t be enough… Just before he walks away, murder strikes the quiet town. Ben cannot leave until he is sure that he has not brought any further trouble to the townsfolk. Will he be able to exact revenge? One thing is certain, there is a lot more going on in the town of Horning than meets the eye… The Penny Black is action packed from beginning to end, keeping you guessing right the way through. Praise for The Penny Black: ‘Brave…a home run…like James Bond meets The Godfather…I bloody loved it’ - Dan Stubbings, author of The Dimension Between Worlds blog. ‘Another gripping instalment in the Bracken series…a wonderful thriller’ - James Stuart, screenwriter 'The writing flows beautifully and the story really draws the reader in' - Ann Bloxwich, crime fiction author Rob Parker currently writes full time, while also making time to encourage new young readers and authors through readings and workshops at local schools and bookstores. He holds a law degree and a degree in film and media production.

The Assassin's Prayer (The Assassins, #1)


Mark Allen - 2021
    Asher just wants to be left alone but when fate thrusts an ex-lover back into his life and she is caught up in the crossfire, Asher unleashes a take-no-prisoners war against his enemies. As the guns thunder and the bodies bite the dust, he finds the scars on his soul being ripped wide open.With its full-throttle pace, hard-hitting action, and heart-wrenching emotion, The Assassin's Prayer is a relentless tale of redemption for those who know that sometimes bullets speak louder than words.

Assignment: Norway


Peter J. Azzole - 2019
    Tony leads a team of radio intelligence operators deep into the Norwegian forest on a harrowing mission for the British Special Operations Executive. The return trip from Norway to London is also fraught with danger. Tony then finds that being back in London is no guarantee of safety. He becomes deeply involved in the search for dangerous spies operating in the heart of the Allies' intelligence community. Action, political-military drama and his continuing romance make this a very compelling story.

Sergeant Pilot


Ken Fowler - 2013
    He joins the RAF Volunteer Reserve as a sergeant pilot, and sees action for the first time in his Hawker Hurricane fighter over the beaches of Dunkirk. The Luftwaffe proves to be a well-equipped and professional force, and the RAF pilots must learn quickly or die.Harry Steed's part in the air fighting continues throughout the Battle of Britain and beyond. Technical detail and the descriptions of aerial combat are interwoven with a strong storyline.A well-researched novel that captures the spirit of the period and the courage of the men that fought in the skies above Britain and France.Example Extract :The aging paddle steamer pulled into Ramsgate harbour at dusk. The small pleasure boat had spent her mediocre working life ferrying day-trippers from London to Southend on Sea, plying her trade across the Thames estuary to Margate, or working her way around the Essex coast to Clacton with her compliment of holidaymakers. Now, in the twilight of her years, she had found true glory. Machine-gun bullets scarred her decks, her hull was peppered with bomb splinters and blood everywhere testified to her suffering and that of her cargo of exhausted soldiers. Here in Ramsgate was sanctuary at last from German bombs and mines. But Steed knew that after disembarking her soldiers she would be going back to the beaches of Dunkirk. He wished her Godspeed.

The Rumor


Lori Lacefield - 2018
    A long-held secret. A couple coming undone.Beth McCallum and Nick Storvik are attending their twentieth high school reunion when they learn of a disturbing revelation. The bones of Missy Ferguson, a high school classmate who disappeared their Junior year, have been discovered in a Michigan wildlife reserve and an autopsy reveals she was murdered. Suspects are scarce, but when an old rumor resurfaces that Missy was pregnant before she disappeared and Nick was the father, Nick quickly becomes the prime suspect. Beth swears the allegations about her then-boyfriend and Missy were never true, promising she and Nick were together the entire autumn of that year, but the truth is, Beth can’t remember what occurred those last two weeks of October during their Junior year at all. As secrets and lies are exposed, Beth and Nick find their marriage tested as each begins to suspect the other has much to hide - including the possibility that one of them is capable of murder.

The Day the Tide Kept Rising


Greg Jefferys - 2015
    A thrilling tale filled with action, adventure, intrigue and a pleasant pinch of romance the story is set primarily in Antarctica, Tasmania and on the east coast of Australia. The book follows the lives of four different people in their struggles to survive after a huge tsunami, caused by the massive Ross Shelf icesheet sliding off Antarctica and into the Southern Ocean, sweeps across the Pacific. The tsunami leaves a trail of death and destruction after which the water levels of Earth's oceans begin to rise rapidly causing cataclysmic disaster as well as massive political and social upheaval. As cities and nations are flooded the fabric of civilisation is torn as groups and individuals struggle for survival in a terrifying new world. The three parallel story lines are exciting, predictive and thought provoking. The author has degrees archaeology and history with a particular interest in the effects of the end of the last Ice Age on the humans of 8,000 B.C. He has transposed known archaeological information on rapid sea level rises onto the modern world to create an exciting, informative and relevant novel that attempts to answer the question of what would really happen to you and I if the Earth's sea levels rose more than six meters. The stories. Katherine Brown is a climatologist based on Antarctica, when the Ross Iceshelf shatters and slides into the ocean she and her team must traverse the rapidly changing Antarctic terrain to reach the relative safety of a base camp at Cape Colbeck; only a few will survive the trek through ice and mud and snow. Peter Taylor and his family survived the first wave but not the second. Alone and homeless he is forced to scavenge in flooded supermarkets for food and avoid roving gangs of bandits that quickly establish themselves as social norms disintegrate to be replaced by anarchy. He meets a mysterious and alluring woman, who, like himself, finds herself thriving in the post apocalypse world. Jeremy Jones is an archaeologist with a particular interest in Paleo- climatology. He is fired from his prestigious position at the Queensland University for predicting massive sea level rises even as his predictions, and much worse, come true. Karen Whitaker had been partying with girlfriends when the first tsunami tore through Hobart. Trapped overnight in the remains of a collapsed building, she emerged to discover a ruined city strewn with the bodies of the dead, the dying and the injured. Living in a refugee camp she does what she must to make the best of the new world.