Happy Veterans Day to all the brave men and women who protect our great nation, your service and sacrifice are much appreciated. While we cover hundreds of fictional heroes here at The Real Book Spy, we recognize that it is our servicemen and servicewomen who are the real heroes, and we thank you.
To celebrate today, we’ve compiled a list of ten awesome military thrillers to check out. See the list below, and let us know what your favorite military thriller is in the comment section!
(Click on the book’s title for more info, or to order your copy.)
1.) Days of Rage by Brad Taylor
“Pike Logan and the Taskforce are used to being the hunters, but this time they’re the hunted.
Intent on embroiling the US in a quagmire that will sap its economy and drain its legitimacy, Russia passes a potential weapon of mass destruction to Boko Haram, an extreme Islamic sect in Nigeria.The Russian FSB believes the weapon, a relic of the Cold War, has deteriorated and is no longer effective, but they are wrong. Boko Haram has the means for mass destruction, which will be set loose upon a multitude of unsuspecting innocents on one of the world’s grandest stages.
Trying to uncover who might be stalking them, Pike Logan and the Taskforce have no idea what has been set in motion. But there is another secret from the Cold War buried in the Russian FSB, and exposing it will mean the difference between life and death for millions.”
2.) One Killer Force by Dalton Fury
“Still recovering from his near fatal wounds suffered at the Yellow Creek Nuclear Plant, Delta Force Commander, Major Kolt “Racer” Raynor, is thrust into a new battle with some of the toughest killers he’s ever faced – US Navy SEALs. Government austerity measures have the Joint Chiefs of Staff contemplating the unthinkable – combining Delta Force and the SEALs into a single unit: One Killer Force. In this installment of Dalton Fury’s Delta Force series, Kolt’s career is in jeopardy and worst of all, the final say rests in the hands of men who have reasons to want to see Kolt gone.
Recovered from her own wounds, Cindy “Hawk” Bird is closing in on becoming the first official female operator in the history of the US military…She only has to survive an insertion into the most repressive regime on earth.
Meanwhile, a new terrorist threat looms on the horizon in the form of not one, but possibly two mushroom clouds. Kolt earns his call sign as the action has him racing to the world’s hottest combat zones from Syria to Ukraine on hunter-killer missions to eliminate the terrorists before they can enact their deadly mission.
Half a world away, a spy deep in the secretive North Korean regime sends a desperate call for help. A new danger to world peace and security is growing in the heart of the increasingly unstable Communist country and no amount of sanctions or political negotiations are going to stop it. Violently applied force is needed, and needed now before it’s too late.”
3.) Act of War by Brad Thor
“The #1 New York Times bestseller from author Brad Thor—his most frightening and pulse-pounding thriller ever!
After a CIA agent mysteriously dies overseas, his top asset surfaces with a startling and terrifying claim. There’s just one problem—no one knows if she can be trusted.
But when six exchange students go missing, two airplane passengers trade places, and one political-asylum seeker is arrested, a deadly chain of events is set in motion.
With the United States facing an imminent and devastating attack, America’s new president must turn to covert counterterrorism operative Scot Harvath to help carry out two of the most dangerous operations in the country’s history.
Code-named “Gold Dust” and “Blackbird,” they are shrouded in absolute secrecy as either of them, if discovered, will constitute an act of war.”
4.) Warning Order by Joshua Hood
“In the second book of the explosive Search and Destroy thriller series, Mason Kane—a special ops hero with a questionable past, joins forces with the CIA to neutralize a radical offshoot of ISIS and unravel a conspiracy emanating from the White House’s inner sanctum.
After almost losing his life, foiling a terror plot that threatens to draw the United States into another war—Mason Kane, disgraced American soldier, and special operations legend is still on the government’s blacklist. To finally clear his name, Mason strikes a deal with the CIA—throwing himself back into the deadly world of black ops.
But when an asset tied to ISIS leads an old friend into a trap, Mason goes off the grid, and finds himself trapped in the middle of a plot involving an extremely violent and highly capable terror cell—with ties to the President’s inner circle. With the help of Renee Hart, a DOD operative, and a team of elite special ops soldiers, Mason is determined to stop an attack aimed at crippling the US military before time runs out.
Set in the shadows of the war on terror, and inspired by experiences of 82nd Airborne Paratrooper Joshua Hood, Warning Order is an action packed thriller full of shocking twists and non-stop action that throws the reader into the murky world of clandestine operations.”
5.) Tier One by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson
“In a world violated by terror, the old lines have blurred. 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?”
6.) The Art of War by Stephen Coonts
“The Chinese dragon is flexing its muscles. As its military begins to prey on neighbors in the South China Sea, attacking fishing vessels and scheming to seize natural resources, the US goes on high alert. But a far more ominous danger lurks closer to home: a Chinese sleeper cell has planted a nuclear weapon in the harbor at Norfolk, Virginia, the biggest naval base on the planet.
The target: a secret rendezvous of the Atlantic Fleet aircraft carriers and their battle groups. When the CIA director is assassinated and Jake Grafton is appointed to take his place, he gets wind of the conspiracy, but has no idea when or where the attack will occur. In the meantime, a series of assassinations, including an attempt on the life of the President, shake the country and deliberately mask a far more sinister objective. Can Jake Grafton and his right hand man, Tommy Carmellini, stop the plot to destroy the US Navy?”
7.) Covert Warriors by W.E.B. Griffin
“Charley Castillo and the former members of Presidential Agent’s Office of Organizational Analysis are officially “retired.” But that doesn’t mean they’re out of action…
At a Mexican roadblock, a US Embassy SUV is stopped at gunpoint, three of its passengers murdered, and a fourth kidnapped. Everything points to the drug cartels, especially when the kidnappers say they will return the hostage if a cartel kingpin is released from US federal prison. But when word gets to Castillo and his group of retired spies and special operators, they have their doubts.
They believe that it’s a diversion—that the murders and kidnapping were ordered by someone to lure Castillo & Company to their deaths. But even knowing that may not save them. Powerful forces in the US government are arrayed against them as well, and if one side doesn’t get them…the other side will.”
8.) Shadow War by Sean McFate
“An army veteran with deep expertise in military and international affairs makes his fiction debut with this electrifying international thriller—the first volume in a blistering hot series in the tradition of Brad Thor, Tom Clancy, and Daniel Silva. In Shadow War, an elite American mercenary on a secret mission to save a businessman’s family in Eastern Europe must navigate perilous setbacks and deadly enemies that threaten to tip the balance of power between Russia and the United States.
Tom Locke is an elite warrior working for Apollo Outcomes, one of the world’s most successful private contracting firms. Pulled out of a mission in Libya, he is tapped for an unusual and risky assignment: a top-secret black op in Ukraine. He is given one week to rescue an oligarch’s family and pull off a spectacular assault that could have long-lasting repercussions for this imperiled Eastern European nation and the world.
What Locke doesn’t know is that the operation comes with a dangerous complication: Brad Winters. Locke’s ambitious and enigmatic boss is engaged in a secretive, high-stakes geopolitical chess game with several influential powerbrokers in capitals around the world. One misstep could cost him—and Locke—everything.
While Locke has methodically planned the mission and hand-picked a team of trusted operatives to pull it off—and save his ass if things go south—he doesn’t count on running into a former love, war correspondent Alie MacFarlane, who impulsively makes a move that risks both their lives. Locke is an intelligent, iconoclastic soldier who specializes in pulling off the impossible. But all his brilliant preparation can’t prevent the kind of backstabbing and deception that could lead to catastrophe . . . and tip the balance of power toward Putin’s Russia.”
9.) The Cruiser by David Poyer
“Newly-promoted to Captain, Dan Lenson’s first glimpse of his command is of a ship literally high and dry. The USS Savo Island, which carries a classified, never-before-deployed missile defense system, has run aground on an exposed sandbar off Naples. Captain Lenson has to relieve the ship’s disgraced skipper and deploy on a secret mission―Operation Stellar Shield―which will take his ship and crew into the dangerous waters bordering the Middle East.
As a climate of war builds between Israel and Iraq, with threats of nuclear and chemical weapons, Dan has to rally Savo Island’s demoralized crew, confront a mysterious death on board ship, while learning to operate a complex missile system that has not been battle tested. But when the conflict reaches a climax, Dan is forced to make a decision that may cost hundreds of thousands of innocent lives―or may save them, but at the cost of his ship and his career.
Filled with dramatic sea adventure, authentic weapons and technology, and distinguished by Poyer’s deep understanding of duty and the moral choices made in combat, The Cruiser is the fourteenth novel to feature Dan Lenson in military service that carries him throughout the world.”
10.) Long Shot by Jack Coughlin
“A top Russian intelligence agent has defected to the West and the only man with whom he will speak is Kyle Swanson, who busted him out of the U.S. Marine Corps Scout/Sniper School years ago. The defector proves to be an Edward Snowden-type gold mine of amazing secrets about the When, Where and How of President Vladimir Pushkin’s next grab for lost Soviet territory.
But Swanson, now a special contractor with the CIA, soon begins to believe that it is all fool’s gold being sprinkled by Moscow to ignite an open military fight with NATO and the United States.
Using his own deadly methods, the sniper sets out to find the truth, but to slow him down, the Russians kidnap Swanson’s beautiful friend Calico, the CIA station chief in Estonia.
From Italy to the Arctic Circle, Kyle Swanson is on the hunt, convinced that the defector actually is running a complex plot to hand Russia a kingdom in the north. But Swanson seems always to be a step behind because there is a traitor within his own chain of command. To stop the madness, Swanson must deliver a kill shot a hundred miles away from a border bridge in Estonia, where a Russian Army waits on the far shore as a government official crosses over with an invitation to invade.”