Red Cell


Mark E. Henshaw - 2012
    There she’s paired with Jonathan Burke, a straitlaced analyst who has alienated his colleagues with his unorthodox methods and a knack for always being right, political consequences be damned. When a raid on Chinese spies in Taiwan ends in a shoot-out and the release of a deadly chemical, CIA director Kathy Cooke turns to the Red Cell to figure out why China is ready to invade the island nation without any fear of reprisal from the US Navy. Stryker and Burke’s only lead is the top CIA asset in China, code named Pioneer. But when Pioneer reports that Chinese security has him under surveillance, Stryker is offered a chance for redemption with a highly dangerous mission: extract Pioneer from China before he’s arrested and executed. The answers he holds could mean the difference between peace in the Pacific or another world war.From CIA headquarters to the White House to a Navy carrier in the South China Sea and the dark alleyways of Beijing, Red Cell takes readers on a whirlwind race against time as Stryker and Burke work to save Pioneer and discover the hidden threat to America’s power: China’s top-secret weapon.CIA analyst Mark Henshaw infuses expert knowledge of the intelligence world into a pulse-pounding plot to create a fascinating, authentic, and unforgettable read.

The Lions of Lucerne


Brad Thor - 2002
    But Scot Harvath, surviving agent and ex-Navy SEAL, doesn't believe the Fatah is responsible. A shadowy coalition comprises some of the highest-ranking officials in government and business – men who operate above the law, realize the threat Scot poses to their hidden agenda, and will do anything to stop him. Framed for murder and on the run, Scot takes to the towering mountains of Switzerland with beautiful Claudia Mueller of the Swiss Federal Attorney's Office. They brave subzero temperatures and sheer heights of treacherous Mount Pilatus, and the den of notorious professional killers.

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.

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

One Rough Man


Brad Taylor - 2011
    Their existence is as essential as it is illegal. Commissioned at the highest level of the U.S. government. Protected from the prying eyes of Congress and the media. Built around the top operators from across the clandestine, intelligence, and special forces landscape. Designed to operate outside the bounds of U.S. law. Trained to exist on the ragged edge of human capability.Pike Logan was the most successful operator on the Taskforce, his instincts and talents unrivaled-until personal tragedy permanently altered his outlook on the world. Pike knows what the rest of the country might not want to admit: The real threat isn't from any nation, any government, any terrorist group. The real threat is one or two men, controlled by ideology, operating independently, in possession of a powerful weapon. Buried in a stack of intercepted chatter is evidence of two such men. The transcripts are scheduled for analysis in three months. The attack is mere days away. It is their bad luck that they're about to cross paths with Pike Logan. And Pike Logan has nothing left to lose.

Power Down


Ben Coes - 2010
    But there was one factor that the terrorists didn't take into account when they struck the Capitana platform off the coast of Colombia--slaughtering much of the crew and blowing up the platform--and that was the Capitana crew chief Dewey Andreas. Dewey, former Army Ranger and Delta, survives the attack, rescuing as many of his men as possible. But the battle has just begun.While the intelligence and law enforcement agencies scramble to untangle these events and find the people responsible, the mysterious figure of Alexander Fortuna--an agent embedded into the highest levels of American society and business--sets into play the second stage of these long-planned attacks. The only fly in the ointment is Dewey Andreas--who is using all his long-dormant skills to fight his way off the platform, then out of Colombia and back to the U.S., following the trail of terrorists and operatives sent to stop him.Power Down is a gripping, compelling debut thriller from Ben Coes, a powerful new author, an amazing talent certain to join the ranks of the genre's finest writers.

Agent Zero


Jack Mars - 2019
    Kent Steele, 38, a brilliant professor of European History at Columbia University, lives a quiet life in a New York suburb with his two teenage daughters. All that changes when late one night he gets a knock on his door and is abducted by three terrorists—and finds himself flown across the ocean to be interrogated in a basement in Paris. They are convinced that Kent is the most lethal spy the CIA has ever known. He is convinced they have the wrong man. Do they? With a conspiracy around him, adversaries as smart as he is, and an assassin on his tail, the wild game of cat and mouse leads Kent on a perilous road—one that may lead back to Langley—and to a shocking discovery of his own identity.

The Rhythm Section


Mark Burnell - 1999
    Falling into a downward spiral of prostitution, drugs and drink, she is picked up by a journalist who has discovered that it was a bomb that caused the crash. And it is his murder that pulls her out of herself.The Rhythm Section is not a thriller about the hunt for a terrorist, although that is the path Stephanie takes, and it’s not a story about revenge, although justice for her family is her initial motivation. Rather, The Rhythm Section is the story of Stephanie’s attempt to reclaim herself. She has to rediscover who she is through a series of roles that she is forced to play; she is never herself. As a prostitute, she is Lisa, the chemical blonde. Later, she is Petra Reuter, German anarchist turned mercenary terrorist. Sometimes, she is Marina Gaudenzi, a Swiss businesswoman, or she’s Susan Branch, an American student, or Elizabeth Shepherd, an English management consultant.But whoever she is, she’s never herself because her life depends on her being someone else. This is the way she is trained by the intelligence service that recruits her, but it’s also the way she’s taught herself to be; being someone else has always worked for her and so it does now, until she begins to fall in love for the first time with Frank White. This undermines her completely and poses new questions: which of the many people she has become is the one to have fallen in love? Stephanie? Petra? Or one of the others? With whom has Frank fallen in love? Marina? Or the real Stephanie? More than anything, The Rhythm Section is about a catastrophic crisis of identity.

Danger Close


William G. Boykin - 2010
    But life tosses Blake a curve when his country approaches him about using his special skills to avert a terrorist plot to detonate a nuclear device in a major eastern U.S. city. To do that, he would need to become an operative deep within Al-Qaeda’s innermost circles—changing his entire identity, even his face. A true patriot, Blake makes the journey into a shadow world that leaves friends, family and, seemingly, even God far behind. But when things go terribly wrong, and his country looks set to destroy him, it is God and God’s people who intervene.

The Widow


K.L. Slater - 2021
    No matter what they say…The day my husband, Michael, stepped in front of a lorry after being questioned by the police, my world fell apart. He was devoted to me and our six-year-old daughter. But they’d connected him to the disappearance of a young mother from our tiny village.Now I stand at Michael’s funeral, clutching my little girl’s hand, with tears in my eyes as I insist to all our friends that he died an innocent man. Yet the questions have started, and nothing I say will stop them digging for the truth.But none of them can read the secrets in my heart, or know about the phone I found hidden in his toolbox…I’m determined that my daughter will not remember her father as a monster. I will erase any hint of wrongdoing in this house whatever the cost.Because to keep my daughter safe, the last thing I need is for people to start looking at me…A completely gripping psychological thriller from the author of the number one bestseller The Marriage. If you like Gone Girl, The Girl on The Train and The Wife Between Us then you will love The Widow.

Overwatch


Matthew Betley - 2016
    The battles are nonstop, from the plains of the Midwest, to mansions in northern Mexico, to the war-torn Al-Anbar province, pitting an international team against trained mercenaries employed by the world’s largest private security contractor...whose owner has a personal vendetta against the US government. Meanwhile, Logan is battling his own demons, especially the trauma of the ambush that his Force Recon unit suffered at an insurgent torture compound in Fallujah in 2004, which threatens to destroy everything he holds dear.With high-stakes and fully-realized characters, Overwatch is a thriller unlike any you’ve read before: deftly plotted, up-to-the-minute, and impossible to put down.“A former Marine himself, Betley proves himself an able heir to the throne currently held by the likes of Brad Thor and the late, great Vince Flynn. But Betley also incorporates a quest for a historical artifact reminiscent of James Rollins and Steve Berry, resulting in a structurally flawless read, unafraid to tackle difficult issues like PTSD as well. Not to be missed.” —The Providence Journal “Matthew Betley has proven he’s an accomplished writer. Overwatch is a brilliantly conceived thriller that surges from the first chapter through mounting deception to a powerful conclusion.” —Clive Cussler, #1 New York Times bestselling author“Overwatch is an exceptional read—a thoroughly engrossing thriller that reminds us of battles fought and threats we still face. We might have expected from Matthew Betley the gripping battlefield accounts that could only come from a seasoned warrior. But the humanity of its characters and the relentless drive of its narrative will make readers impatient for Betley’s next book.” —Stephen Hayes, The Weekly Standard“As a former Marine, Betley really knows his stuff. Fans of nonstop, nail-biting action will love this one!” —Kyle Mills, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Tier One


Brian Andrews - 2016
    Meet the next generation of covert ops.John Dempsey’s life—as an elite Tier One Navy SEAL named Jack Kemper—is over. A devastating terrorist action catapults him from a world of moral certainty and decisive orders into the shadowy realm of espionage, where ambiguity is the only rule. His new mission: hunt down those responsible for the greatest tragedy in the history of the US Special Ops and bring them to justice.But how does a man torn between duty and revenge walk the line and preserve his soul?As Dempsey struggles with the games of spies, the case propels him across the globe in a desperate effort to prevent a new, horrifying attack on American soil.Once, John Dempsey followed orders blindly. Now he sees behind the curtain, and the security of the civilized world rests on one question: Can a Tier One Navy SEAL adapt and become the world’s most lethal spy?

The Escape Artist


Brad Meltzer - 2018
    government's most top-secret and high profile cases. America's most important funeral home. To work there, mortician Jim "Zig" Zigarowski has one rule: never let a case get personal. But when a new body arrives--of young female sergeant Nola Brown, who was a childhood friend of Zig's daughter--Zig can't help himself. Looking closely at Nola's body, he realizes immediately: this isn't Nola. Indeed, his daughter's friend is still alive. And on the run. Zig's discovery reveals a sleight of hand being played at the highest levels of power--and traces back through history to a man named Harry Houdini. "Nola, you were right. Keep running."

The Hunter


Tom Wood - 2010
    It is titled 'The Killer' in the US.Forget James Bond. Forget Jason Bourne. Forget Jack Bauer. Meet Victor: He's an assassin--a man with the no past and no surname. But when a job in Paris goes spectacularly wrong, Victor finds himself running for his life across four continents accompanied by a woman too beautiful to trust . . . pursued by enemies too powerful to escape.The hunter has become the hunted Victor is a freelancer, a professional, a killer---the best there is. He’s ice cold, methodical, and deadly. He lives alone. He operates alone. No one knows his background, or even his name. For him, business is a straight transaction. He’s given a job; he takes out the target; he gets paid.He’s in Paris to perform a standard kill and collect for an anonymous client. The contract is simple, routine, and Victor completes it with trademark efficiency, only to find himself in the middle of an ambush and fighting for his life. Faced with powerful and determined enemies, and caught in the crossfire of an international conspiracy unfolding across four continents, Victor is forced to go on the run across a winter-ravaged Europe. Pursued by the authorities, hired assassins, and intelligence agencies from both sides of the Atlantic, he discovers that no place is safe for him anymore and there is no one he can trust.But Victor is no easy target, and he’s every bit as ruthless as those hunting him. He will find out who wants him dead and why, one corpse at a time.

The Silencer


Mike Ryan - 2016
    Little does he know--it'll also be his last. Barely surviving an attack on his life, Smith lays low for six months until he returns to the United States. His flight is strangely diverted to Philadelphia where he meets a mysterious man who already knows about his past and recruits him for a job.Needing a new identity, Smith becomes Michael Recker. He tries to prevent bad things happening to innocent people while also interacting with several crime factions who are battling for control over the city. All the while, Recker begins to plan his revenge on Agent 17, who is responsible for a heinous act that Recker will never forget.