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Techno Thrillers Crime Fiction Booklist
Page Modified: June 1, 2007
Men and Machines - weapons systems, lots of action and a fast paced plot. Often packed with technical detail and military terminology, Heroic protagonists (frequently military personnel) fight to save the day.
A list of books, many of which received at least one starred review (indicating a work of unusual merit) from the following review sources: Booklist (BL), Publisher's Weekly (PW), Kirkus, and Library Journal (LJ). Additional titles of interest may be included on this list. Titles are alphabetically by author. Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless noted.
- Goliath
Author: Alten, Steve
Publisher: Forge $ 25.95 ISBN: 0765300648 Date: 2002
From the bestselling author of Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror comes the story of Goliath--a nuclear submarine Commander Rocky Jackson designed a decade earlier, a top secret project he thought was canceled when its biochemical computer brain could not be controlled.
Updated 9.23.05 - The Tin Man
Author: Brown, Dale
Publisher: Bantam List Price: $ 24.95 ISBN: 055311106x Date: 1998
PW
A riveting new techno-thriller by the author of Flight of the Old Dog. When his rookie cop brother is injured in a shootout following a bank robbery, Patrick McLanahan literally becomes a one-man's army against the lethal Aryan Brigade that is masterminding the violence taking over his city's streets.
- Punk's War
Author: Carroll, Ward
Publisher: Naval Institute Press $ 24.95 ISBN: 1557502366 Date: 2001
An F-14 aviator takes his readers into the cockpits, ready-rooms, and bunkrooms of today's Navy to show what it's like to fight in a time of so-called peace. From the opening chapter where a Tomcat fighter squadron's commanding officer botches an intercept of a hostile Iranian F-4 to the final uplifting scene, Carroll's novel reveals the inner workings of the military as only an insider can.
Updated 9.23.05 - The Bear and the Dragon
Author: Clancy, Tom
Publisher: Putnam $ 28.95 ISBN: 039914563x Date: 2000
PW
Newly elected in his own right, Jack Ryan has found that being president has gotten no easier. Domestic pitfalls await him at every turn, there's a revolution in Liberia, the Asian economy is going down the tubes, and now, in Moscow, someone has tried to take out the chairman of the the former KGB with a rocket-propelled grenade. Then, forces in China start moving ahead with a plan of truly audacious proportions. "When the door blows open and the shooting starts, nobody does it better than Tom Clancy". --"The Dallas Morning News".
Updated 8/17/00 - Fortunes of War
Author: Coonts, Stephen
Publisher: St. Martin's List Price: $ 24.95 ISBN: 0312185839 Date: 1998
PW
Kirkus
The bestselling author of Flight of the Intruder now presents a powerful story of an utterly believable Third World War. Filled with up-to-the-minute insider military detail and dramatic, compelling scenes of battles in the air and on the sea, Fortunes of War tells an epic tale of three heroes, three countries, and a world in the balance.
- America
Author: Coonts, Stephen
Publisher: St Martins $ 25.95 ISBN: 0312253419 Date: 2001
PW
The New York Times bestselling author of military suspense takes danger to democracy's doorstep. When an experimental nuclear submarine is hijacked in broad daylight, only Admiral Jake Grafton stands between the deadly cargo and its intended target--Washington, D.C.
Updated 7/18/01 - Secret Justice
Author: Huston, James W.
Publisher: Morrow $ 25.95 SBN: 0060008377 Date: 2003
Kirkus
In a supercharged thriller ripped from the front page, Lieutenant Kent "Rat" Ratham and his secret Navy counterterrorism team must put their mission on hold to defend themselves against political forces determined to shut them down.
Updated 5.9.03 - Acid Test
Author: LeManna, Ross
Publisher: Ballantine $ 19.95 ISBN: 0345439929 Date: 2001
An action-adventure that rockets around the globe, Acid Test introduces diabolical medical research and the peril of nuclear warfare for an exciting amalgam of political intrigue and military action.
Updated 9.23.05 - Nimitz Class
Author: Robinson, Patrick
Publisher: Harpercollins List Price: $25 ISBN: 0060187557 Date: 1997
Kirkus
When the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Thomas Jefferson is vaporized along with its crew of 6,000 sailors and Navy fliers, Lt. Commander Bill Baldridge is soon on the trail of a sinsister, rogue submarine.
- Sharkman Six
Author: West, Owen
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 24 ISBN: 0743205421 Date: 2001
PW
A gripping debut novel of modern war written by a former marine captain who has experienced it all firsthand.
Updated 9.26.05 - The Pepperdogs
Author: West, Bing
Publisher: Simon & Schuster $ 25 ISBN: 0743235894 Date: 2003
Kirkus
On the eve of leaving his Reservist unit in Kosovo, a marine is kidnapped by renegade Serbs. Known as a razor-sharp storyteller and elite Pentagon insider, West unleashes this blistering technothriller about honor, duty, and patriotic sacrifice.
Suggested Reading: Marines
Updated 10.11.05
Key Authors: Larry Bond, Dale Brown, Joe Buff, Tom Clancy, James H. Cobb, Stephen Coonts, Harold Coyle, Jack Du Brul, Paul Garrison, David Hagberg, James W. Huston, Dean Ing, Gordon Kent, Richard Marcinko, R.J. Pineiro, David Poyer, Matthew Reilly, Patrick Robinson, Chris Stewart, Craig Thomas, Joe Weber, Robin A. White.
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