The name Tom Clancy is almost symbolic of an entire genre in itself. For decades. Clancy supplied us with some of the most memorable and iconic thrillers ever to hit the market, including The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, and other hallmarks. Although his death in 2013 didn’t mark the end of releases under his name, it certainly slowed them down. Thankfully, there are plenty of other great authors who have taken up the mantle and write great military and espionage thrillers. Check out six of my favorites below!
The Escape Artist by Brad Meltzer
In Brad Meltzer’s military thriller The Escape Artist, we meet mortician Jim “Zig” Zigarowski, who works in the mortuary for the U.S. government’s most top-secret and high-profile cases. Zig has always prided himself in keeping his work life and personal life separate. But when a new body arrives and he’s told it’s the body of sergeant Nola Brown, Zig knows right away it’s not really Nola. He knows because he and Nola were childhood friends. Which means Nola is still alive. And on the run.
The President’s Assassin by Brian Haig
The President’s Assassin is a military novel from author Brian Haig’s popular series about Army lawyer Sean Drummond. This time around, Drummond only has three days to prevent the president’s assassination. This book is a fast-paced page-turning race against time as Drummond’s journey to save the president kicks into high gear.
Civil Terror: Gridlock by J. Luke Bennecke
Civil Terror: Gridlock examines ambitious, near-future technology that is exploited to disastrous consequences. Fed up with slogging through the treacherous LA traffic to get to work, Jake Bendel and a cunning team of experts create a roadway system for self-driving cars, but when terrorists weaponize the system and frame Jake, himself and the single rogue FBI agent who believes him are pulled into a vicious struggle that will define the fate of the world for generations to come.
Hunt the Wolf by Ralph Pezzullo
Author Don Mann is a Navy SEAL Team Six commando, and in his novel Hunt the Wolf: A SEAL Team Six Novel, Mann brings his insider knowledge about Special Ops into a thrilling debut novel, with the help of co-author Ralph Pezzullo. United States Navy officer Thomas Crocker is in the middle of a training exercise climbing up the K2 when he comes across terrorist activity that leads from the K2 to cities across Europe and the Middle East. Now with the help of special forces trained for intense combat and extreme environments, Crocker will hunt down a dangerous terrorist.
Genocide of One by Kazuaki Takano
Kazuaki Takano’s Genocide of One is an internationally best-selling Japanese military novel. During a briefing, the President of the United States is warned about a potentially deadly threat to the country: Akili, a three-year-old boy who is already the smartest being on Earth. Akili has the mental capacity of a super-computer and the ability to manipulate major events as if they were nothing but a game. And yet he is only three and still has the emotional maturity of a child, which is perhaps the most dangerous thing about the boy. Now Jonathan Yeager, an American soldier, leads a team of elite operatives from across the globe into the Congolese jungle to destroy Akili before the young boy’s full potential can be realized.
Word of Honor by Nelson DeMille
Word of Honor by Nelson DeMille is the story of Vietnam veteran Ben Tyson. Tyson is now a corporate executive and a family man. Sixteen years ago however, he was a lieutenant in Vietnam, and the decisions of his past are now coming back to haunt him. In 1968, Tyson and the men under his command committed a horrible atrocity that they vowed to never tell anyone about. But now that the truth of his past has caught up with him, everything Tyson holds dear — his career, his wife, his kids, his sense of honor — hangs in the balance, only one person can set him free.
There’s one more that will help your itch! It’s called Tango Down: China Sea by a first-time author>me!