Reads Like an Action Movie
If you're in the mood for a high-octane, blood-pumping read, give some of these novels a try!
The Shell Game by Steve Alten
In 2012, with centrist conservative David McKuin in the White House, the federal government plots to detonate a nuclear bomb in a U.S. city and blame Iran as a cover to take out that country's radical leadership. Standing in the plotters' way is Ace Futrell, an energy expert whose murdered wife was possibly targeted by U.S. intelligence. A nerve-wracking thriller about America's addiction to Middle Eastern sweet crude and the network of enablers who keep our dependent nation away from detox.
The Alexandria Link by Steve Berry
Cotton Malone, Berry's protagonist from The Templar Legacy, returns in another globe-hopping adventure. While Cotton is working at his bookstore, his ex-wife appears and tells him that their son has been kidnapped. The ransom demand is the Alexandria Link, a source that leads to the ancient library thought to have been destroyed centuries ago. The knowledge contained in the hidden archive could change the world. Forced back into the world of espionage he wanted to forget, Cotton takes his ex-wife along while trying to rescue his son and keep the truth of the link a secret.
The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry
The Knights Templar, a small monastic military order formed in the early 1100s to protect travelers to the Holy Land, eventually grew and became wealthy beyond imagination. In 1307, the French king, feeling jealous and greedy, killed off the Templars, and by 1311, the last master, Jacques de Molay, was burned at the stake. The whereabouts of the Templars' treasure--and their secrets--have been the subject of legend ever since. Now, a new thriller trieas to follow in the steps of The Da Vinci Code.
The Venetian Betrayal by Steve Berry
The intercontinental adventures of extraordinarily resourceful bookseller Cotton Malone continue as he is sucked into the geopolitical maneuvers of an ambitious Central Asian woman who fancies herself the successor to Alexander the Great.
Deep Storm By Lincoln Child
Peter Crane, a naval physician, flies out to an oil rig to investigate what appears to be the first appearance of an incredibly virulent disease. But when he gets there, he discovers that the problem is even worse than he was led to believe. The disease is attacking the residents of a deep-water research facility, not the oil workers, and it could be linked to the facilitys excavations of an ancient site that might hold the key to the fate of the lost city of Atlantis.
Demolition Angel By Robert Crais
On the heels of the bestselling and critically acclaimed L.A. Requiem, Crais returns to the City of Angels with the most ambitious novel of his career, a stand-alone thriller featuring a complex and engaging female protagonist. When Carol Starkey, a bomb squad technician, survives an explosion designed to kill her, she is pitted against a frighteningly brilliant mastermind for the modern age.
Hostage By Robert Crais
After his bestselling thriller Demolition Angel, Crais takes readers hostage with a clock-ticking thriller. The wrath of crime lord Sonny Benza falls on his brilliant accountant for leaving an incriminating money trail. It is up to Police Chief Jeff Talley to save the innocent hostages that are taken – and to protect his own family, who are now at risk.
Protect and Defend By Vince Flynn
Bestselling author Vince Flynn returns with his most explosive political thriller yet. A tour de force of action-packed suspense, Protect and Defend delivers an all-too-realistic and utterly compelling vision of nations navigating the minefield of international intrigue. A true heavyweight in the political thriller arena. Vince Flynn has created a flesh-and-blood hero that readers can cheer for and a finger-blistering page-turner they won t dare put down. This is the 8th Mitch Rapp novel.
Vertical Run By Joseph Garber
The pulse-pounding national bestseller is now available in paperback. Dave Elliot is about to have a very bad day at the office. It begins when his company's president strolls into Dave's office and points a gun at him. Then he discovers that his colleagues, his friends, and even his family want him dead. But Dave Elliot – a former soldier – won't be a victim. If he goes down, he's not going down alone.
Whirlwind by Joseph Garber
Jailed as the scapegoat for an intelligence blunder, vengeful CIA operative Charlie McKenzie tracks down a young Russian spy who is in possession of a top-secret technology, an endeavor that is compromised by his would-be assassin.
Ripple Effect by Paul Garrison
This fifth sea adventure from Garrison starts out calm enough, but then a stiff wind fills its sails, and it races to a thrilling finish. The plucky heroine, 15-year-old Morgan Page, in search of her missing father, sails single-handedly across the Pacific Ocean in a tiny stolen sailboat. Her father, Aiden, supposedly killed in the destruction of the World Trade Center on 9/11, had actually used his supposed “death” as a ruse to escape from a federal investigation into his actions as the CFO of a private bank, one that is suspected of laundering money for arms dealers.
Balance of Power By James Huston
When a peace-loving U.S. President refuses to act against international terrorists, ambitious young congressional assistant Jim Dillon discovers a long-forgotten Constitutional clause that could be used to wrest power from the Chief Executive. Soon Dillon finds himself at the center of a firestorm that threatens to set a great nation at war – against itself.
Secret Justice by James Huston
In the dead of night, a daring desert raid into Sudan by a Special Forces team led by Lt. Kent "Rat" Rathman ends with the apprehension of the world's most wanted criminal. But the methods necessary to achieve the goal are brutally unorthodox -- and a Middle Eastern prisoner suffers and dies as a result.
24 hours By Greg Iles
Twenty-four hours is how long it takes a madman to pull off the perfect crime. He's done it before. But this time, he's picked the wrong family to terrorize. Will and Karen Jennings won't watch helplessly as he victimizes them. And they aren't going to let him get away with it.
Turning Angel by Greg Iles
When the body of Kate Townsend turns up near the Mississippi River, attorney Penn Cage tangles with the dark side of his hometown of Natchez, Mississippi, to investigate the secret world of an elite nearby high school.
The Grid By Philip Kerr
In the heart of Los Angeles, the "smart" building nicknamed The Grid can talk to its occupants, forecast the weather, and tell if any inhabitant has been taking drugs. On the eve of its opening, the key players gather to put the finishing touches on their masterpiece of architecture and computer science. Then something goes terribly wrong, and people begin to die. Now the creators must stop their creation – before it kills them all, one by one.
The 6 Sacred Stones by Matthew Reilly
The follow-up to Reilly's The 7 Deadly Wonders manages to be even more over-the-top than its predecessor, no small feat in a series that whips up the sensationalism of H. Rider Haggard and Clive Cussler into an apotheosis of adventure that makes the Da Vinci Code seem Proustian by comparison. In Reilly's fanciful vision, Earth is in peril once more as a voracious Dark Star approaches. The only defense against Armageddon is an elaborate series of secret rituals involving six diamond pillars spaced around the globe.
7 Deadly Wonders by Matthew Reilly
A prediction that promises ultimate power to whomever restores the Golden Capstone, an ancient Egyptian structure that protected people from global flooding before it was broken and scattered by Alexander the Great, prompts a brutal competition.
Amazonia By James Rollins
When the director of the CIA is handed a report confirming the death of an agent who disappeared into the Amazon jungle years before, it doesn't take him long to realize he's got a big problem. What happened down there? It's up to a specially selected scientific and military team to find out – no matter what, or who, it takes. Illustrations
Ice Hunt By James Rollins
At an abandoned World War II-era Russian base beneath the Arctic ice, U.S. scientists find a treasure trove of biological and geological discoveries and a horrific scene of tragic experiments. As they struggle to determine the nature of the atrocities that occurred at the facility, the U.S. military finds itself pulled into a quickly escalating but entirely covert war for control of the top-secret station.
Critical Space By Greg Rucka
High-voltage, high-tech covert action is offered in an intense psychosexual drama as Atticus Kodiak is hired to be the bodyguard for the most dangerous woman in the world.
Shooting at Midnight By Greg Rucka
In his previous thrillers, Rucka created the explosive world of professional bodyguard Atticus Kodiak. Now he puts readers in the shoes of Kodiak's friend and lover, Bridgett Logan – an unforgettable portrait of a woman living life on her own terms.
Smoker By Greg Rucka
It's the kiss of death for a professional bodyguard to be known as a man who attracts danger. But that's what has happened to Atticus Kodiak. Now there's only one person who'll touch Kodiak with a 10-foot pole, and the job he wants him to do, Kodiak normally wouldn't touch with a pole twice that long!
Labyrinth By Mark Sullivan
The "New York Times" Notable novelist and Pulitzer-nominated journalist spins a crackling tale of thrills and sophisticated intrigue that takes readers from the peaks of the moon down into the very bowels of the earth. Soon to be a major motion picture from Paramount, produced by Scott Rudin ("The Addams Family", "Sleepy Hollow").