Meg by Steve Alten
Jonas Taylor, a paleontologist and ex-undersea submersible pilot, becomes a reluctant participant in a deep-water mission, an expedition that brings him face to face with the Carcharodon Megalodon, a prehistoric, massive predator and ancestor of the great white shark. Also try Meg: Primal Waters and Goliath.
Darwin’s Radio by Greg Bear
Molecular biologist Kaye Lang has a theory on human retroviruses and it has just been verified with the discovery of SHEVA, a virus that has slept in our DNA for millions of years and is now waking up. Kaye and her colleagues must race against a genetic time bomb in this international adventure taking place in a cave high in the Alps and in Southern Russia. Also try Darwin’s Children and Vitals.
The Amber Room by Steve Berry
When Judge Rachel Cutler’s father dies under suspicious circumstances, he leaves his daughter tantalizing clues to a decades-old secret: the Amber Room, an exquisite treasure that, so the legend goes, was appropriated by the Nazis when they invaded the Soviet Union. Now, to find out why her father died, and who’s responsible, Rachel (with her ex-husband, Paul) heads off to Germany, where she hopes to find the truth about the Amber Room. Also try The Romanov Prophecy and The Third Secret.
The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell
Trying to decipher an ancient text that weaves a mathematical labyrinth within a love story, two researchers obtain a diary that may contain the key to the code, but when a fellow researcher is killed, they realize that the book contains a dangerous secret.
Utopia by Lincoln Child
Utopia, a theme park featuring high-tech computers and robotics, becomes the scene of a confrontation when the park’s master computer seems to be willfully causing “accidents” all over the park. Andrew Warne, the engineer who designed the park's wizardry, is called in to troubleshoot, but things get out of control when a gang of criminals hold the park's visitors hostage to their demands. Also try Death Match.
World Without End by Molly Cochran
The heroes and rulers of the ancient continent Atlantis inspired classical Greek mythology. In the present, salvage diver Sam Smith finds unusually ancient relics that lead him to a fellowship of psychics and to mysteries that include his ties to a decades-old psychic experiment and the question of his true parentage. Some of the mysteries are explained when Sam finds himself back in time and in Atlantis, where he meets Zeus, Athena, Hades and others – and where he learns about a bloodline started by an extraterrestrial "Stranger."
Treasure of Khan by Clive Cussler
Dirk Pitt Sr. and his partner, Al, are on Lake Baikal in Siberia when a massive earthquake disrupts their research. The rescue of a scientific survey vessel and its passengers reveals a sinister agenda somehow tied to the history of Genghis Khan. As more earthquakes occur around the globe, major oil-supply pipelines are fractured, and soaring gas prices create a worldwide panic. Can Dirk Sr. and Al repair the pipelines, deduce the culprit and save the world? Also try Cussler’s other Dirk Pitt and NUMA novels.
Neanderthal by John Darnton
Matt Morrison and Susan Arnot, archaeologists and ex-lovers, are summoned to investigate an odd find: an apparently new Neanderthal skull. They rush to Tajikistan and foray into some of the least hospitable terrain in Asia. Not too unexpectedly, they find their quarry only to discover a long-lost mentor who is guarding unsettling moral, political and archaeological secrets that threaten their lives and those of the reclusive Neanderthals. Also try The Experiment.
Whiteout by Ken Follett
A missing canister containing a deadly virus forms the center of a storm that traps Stanley Oxenford, director of a medical research firm, and a violent trio of thugs in a remote house during a Christmas Eve blizzard. Also try Code to Zero.
She by H. Rider Haggard
A runaway bestseller on its publication in 1887, H. Rider Haggard's She is a Victorian thrill ride of a novel, featuring a lost African kingdom ruled by a mysterious, implacable queen; ferocious wildlife and yawning abysses; and an eerie love story that spans 2,000 years. She has bewitched readers from Freud and Jung to C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Also try King Solomon’s Mines.
Second Angel by Philip Kerr
In the year 2069, plagues and climatic changes have wreaked havoc on the world, and a new virus that can only be cured by an infusion of uninfected blood runs rampant, with the moon housing America's federal reserve of the priceless commodity. Also try The Grid.
The Eight by Katherine Neville
The Montglane Service, an ornate, jeweled chess set given to Charlemagne by the Moors, is said to hold a code, which, when deciphered, will bring great power. Nations and individuals have schemed to possess all the pieces. As the set is dispersed during the French Revolution, a young novice risks her life to safeguard it. Alternating with her story are the present-day efforts of a U.S. computer expert and a Russian chess master to assemble the set and solve its mystery.
Riptide by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Every expedition mounted to uncover $2 billion worth of pirate treasure off the coast of Maine has failed violently, and even modern technology will not protect the newest hunters from the evil secrets at the bottom of the ocean. Also try The Codex or any other thriller by this writing duo.
Temple by Matthew Reilly
Deep in the jungles of Peru, the race of the century is underway to locate a legendary Incan idol that was carved out of a strange stone, which in the late 20th century could be used as the basis for a terrifying new weapon. The only clue to the idol's final resting place lies in a 400-year old manuscript, and a brilliant young linguist is unwittingly recruited to translate the manuscript and to lead the U.S. Army to a mysterious temple where the idol is hidden. But it is only when they open the temple doors when they discover they have broken a golden rule – some doors are meant to be unopened...
Amazonia by James Rollins
When the search is called off for a scientific and military expedition that disappeared into the depths of the Amazon rain forest, Nathan Rand must come to terms with his father’s death. Four years later, a member of the lost expedition stumbles into a small village and dies from a mysterious disease, unable to reveal the fate of the other explorers. A new scientific expedition, backed by the military and a pharmaceutical company, hopes to find out what happened, but a trail of contagion and outbreak follows the body back to the U.S. Also try Ice Hunt.
The Fool’s Run by John Sandford
Kidd, a computer-whiz-for-hire, accepts a risky, high-paying assignment to sabotage an aerospace corporation's computer system. A rival firm wants him to stall the company, which had gained unfair advantage by stealing secret plans for a missile-targeting device. Kidd sets to the task by enlisting a beguiling cat burglar, an unscrupulous journalist, and a mystery accomplice who can only be contacted by telephone for great stores of confidential electronic data. Also try The Devil’s Code.