Even though there are still a few months left in 2017, most of the genre’s biggest stars — Brad Thor’s Scot Harvath, Ben Coes’ Dewey Andreas, Mark Greaney’s Court Gentry, Brad Taylor’s Pike Logan, etc. — have already dominated best-sellers lists after hitting bookstores earlier this year.
After getting dozens of emails from readers asking what their favorite character is up to in 2018, we decided to do a write-up looking ahead to next year. Below is everything we know, listed alphabetically according to the author’s last name, about the next round of thrillers from today’s biggest authors.
(Note: we’ll update this article once books for other characters — like Mitch Rapp, Gabriel Allon, Victor The Assasin, Harry Bosch, Jack Reacher, Jason Bourne, etc. — are announced.)
David Baldacci (Amos Decker #4)
David Baldacci’s fourth Amos Decker novel doesn’t have a title yet, but it does have a release date — April 17, 2018. It’ll follow this year’s The Fix, the best-reviewed book in the series so far, as Decker investigates a murder in Pennsylvania.
David Baldacci returns with the next blockbuster thriller in his #1 New York Times bestselling Memory Man series featuring detective Amos Decker–the man who can forget nothing.
Amos Decker and his journalist friend Alex Jamison are visiting the home of Alex’s sister in Barronville, a small town in western Pennsylvania that has been hit hard economically. When Decker is out on the rear deck of the house talking with Alex’s niece, a precocious eight-year-old, he notices flickering lights and then a spark of flame in the window of the house across the way. When he goes to investigate he finds two dead bodies inside and it’s not clear how either man died. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. There’s something going on in Barronville that might be the canary in the coal mine for the rest of the country.
Faced with a stonewalling local police force, and roadblocks put up by unseen forces, Decker and Jamison must pull out all the stops to solve the case. And even Decker’s infallible memory may not be enough to save them.
Baldacci’s fans can pre-order the next Decker book here.
Ted Bell (Alex Hawke #10) *Exclusive First Look
It’s been more than two years since Lord Alex Hawke, one of the genre’s premier heroes, has been seen in bookstores.
In May, Ted Bell is set to release Overkill, the highly-anticipated tenth Hawke novel, and it sounds awesome. In fact, I spoke with Ted not too long ago, who told me his mission with this book was to make the story “leaner and meaner,” with nonstop action throughout. Bell also gave Book Spy followers an exclusive first look at the book’s plot details, which are sure to leave you dying to pre-order the next Hawke novel right away.
“Moscow, Present Day. 2 AM at a remote airfield, Vladimir Putin’s Gulfstream 750 spools up as a black Range Rover with curtained windows barrels down the rainswept runway toward the plane. Giving chase is a Grosser Mercedes sedan, two men with blazing sub machine guns emerging through the sunroof, firing at Putin as he sprints up the steps…the cabin door slams shut, powerful engines roar, and the big jet goes wheels up just a few feet above the rooftop of the approaching Mercedes.
The president’s powerful enemies, the traitorous Oligarch criminals inside the Kremlin, have finally driven him from power! Days later, the burnt wreckage of the G750 is found high in the Alps, her passengers all burned beyond recognition.
Meanwhile, in a Christmas Day accident in St. Moritz, a Swiss cable car suffers a mysterious explosion that leaves a gondola full of ski school children hanging by a thread. Alex Hawke’s son Alexei is among those who’ve gone missing during an attempted snowstorm rescue…
These two seemingly unrelated events put Hawke on a collision course with his old nemesis Putin. Is the man really dead? Or, did he fake his death to escape his enemies?
Alex Hawke, a broken man himself, must battle his demons as well as KGB assassins as he gets nearer and nearer to the truth. And the world is brought to the brink as a mysterious man called the Sorcerer, secure inside his mountain fortress in the Alps, orchestrates an armed invasion of the tiny fairy tale country of Switzerland. His mission? Blast his way inside the heavily guarded underground vaults where three quarters of the world’s gold reserves lie hidden. The world is stunned by the images of tanks racing through picture postcard villages as screaming fighter jets duel in the blue skies above the World’s “Fort Knox”.
As events escalate, Hawke becomes increasingly convinced that the man behind this chaos may not be the Sorcerer at all! If he’s right, the true villain may well turn out to be the World’s Most Famous Missing Man!”
Overkill comes out on May 1st, 2018, but is already available for pre-order here.
Alex Berenson (John Wells #12)
John Wells was last seen in 2017’s The Prisoner, which featured a nail-biting plot that saw Wells go back undercover for the first time since Berenson’s debut novel, The Faithful Spy (2006). In 2018, Berenson’s The Deceivers is all about Russia — a country a lot of thriller writers will be focusing on next year.
Berenson’s books range from unputdownable to above-average, but he’s been on his A-game lately. The Prisoner was fantastic, making The Deceivers one of 2018’s first major thrillers.
The Russians don’t just want to influence American elections–they want it all. Former CIA agent John Wells confronts a plot of astonishing audacity as New York Times-bestselling author Alex Berenson goes beyond today’s headlines to tomorrow’s all-too-real threats.
It was supposed to be a terrorist sting. The guns were supposed to be disabled. Then why was there so much blood?
The target was the American Airlines Center, the home of the Dallas Mavericks. The FBI had told Ahmed Shakir that his drug bust would go away if he helped them, and they’d supply all the weaponry, carefully removing the firing pins before the main event. It never occurred to Ahmed to doubt them, until it was too late.
When John Wells is called to Washington, he’s sure it’s to investigate the carnage in Dallas, but it isn’t. The former CIA director, now president, Vinnie Duto has plenty of people working in Texas. He wants Wells to go to Colombia. An old asset there has information to share–and it will lead Wells to the deadliest mission of his life, an extraordinary confluence of sleeper cells, sniper teams, false flag operations, double agents high in the U.S. government–and a Russian plot to take over the government itself. If it succeeds, what happened in Texas will be only a prelude.
The Deceivers is scheduled for publication on February 6, 2018.
Steve Berry (Cotton Malone #13)
Steve Berry’s 13th Cotton Malone thriller, The Bishop’s Pawn, is actually a prequel. It takes readers back to when Malone is a young hotshot agent with the Justice Department — rather than following on the heels of this year’s The Lost Order, which I personally think is Berry’s best book by a mile.
Honestly, it’s not necessarily the best time to go backward, after The Lost Order was such a huge hit with readers. That said, Berry’s fans have long asked for a true origin story, and now that we’re finally getting one it’s pretty exciting.
The first case of New York Times bestseller Steve Berry’s iconic hero, Cotton Malone.
History notes that the ugly feud between J. Edgar Hoover and Martin Luther King, Jr., marked by years of illegal surveillance and the accumulation of secret files, ended on April 4, 1968 when King was assassinated by James Earl Ray. But that may not have been the case.
Now, fifty years later, former Justice Department agent, Cotton Malone, must reckon with the truth of what really happened that fateful day in Memphis.
It all turns on an incident from eighteen years ago, when Malone, as a young Navy lawyer, is trying hard not to live up to his burgeoning reputation as a maverick. When Stephanie Nelle, a high-level Justice Department lawyer, enlists him to help with an investigation, he jumps at the opportunity. But he soon discovers that two opposing forces―the Justice Department and the FBI―are at war over a rare coin and a cadre of secret files containing explosive revelations about the King assassination, information that could ruin innocent lives and threaten the legacy of the civil rights movement’s greatest martyr.
Malone’s decision to see it through to the end ―― from the raucous bars of Mexico, to the clear waters of the Dry Tortugas, and ultimately into the halls of power within Washington D.C. itself ―― not only changes his own life, but the course of history.
Fans can pre-order The Bishop’s Pawn here, but it won’t be in bookstores until March 20, 2018.
Matthew Betley (Logan West #3) *Exclusive First Look
Slated for release on May 22, 2018, Matthew Betley’s third Logan West thriller is one of the hottest titles already announced for next year.
Following his action-packed debut thriller, Overwatch (2016), this year’s Oath of Honor is one of our highest-rated thrillers of 2017. The way Oath ends sets up for book three, Field of Valor, which sounds like it might be Betley’s hardest-hitting novel yet.
Set in the aftermath of Betley’s “machine-gun pace” (Booklist) Oath of Honor and the discovery of a deadly global conspiracy, the president requests Logan West to form a covert task force with the mission to dismantle a nameless enemy.
With the full resources of the Justice Department, Intelligence Community, and the military (not to mention presidential pardons pre-signed), Logan must battle a secret organization with the connections and funding to rival many first-world nations. The goal of this organization is both singular and sinister – to pit the United States against China in a bid to dismantle the world’s security and economy. The stakes have never been higher for Logan or America itself…
Back in August, when we announced Field of Valor, Matthew Betley teased that his third book gets off to a fast start.
“It has one of the most intense and emotional openings in recent memory,” said Betley, speaking to The Real Book Spy.
Having gotten a sneak peek at the first chapter, I have to agree — Field of Valor opens with a dramatic, heart-thumping scene that’s definitely one of the best openings I’ve ever read. This book isn’t available for pre-order yet, but we’ll update this article just as soon as it is!
Larry Bond (Jerry Mitchell #6) *Exclusive First Look
Jerry Mitchell, now the commodore of Submarine Development Squadron Five, was last seen in the 2016 thriller, Fatal Thunder. He’s back in 2018, starring in Larry Bond’s latest novel, Arctic Gambit.
There’s a lot of excitement around this book already, and that was before we had the plot details…If you were excited before, wait until you read what Larry Bond has planned for 2018.
Jerry Mitchell returns in Arctic Gambit, an explosive military thriller by New York Times bestselling author Larry Bond
Jerry Mitchell, now the commodore of submarine Development Squadron Five, is dismayed when USS Toledo is reported missing in Arctic waters, close to Russian territory. The vessel is captained by his former shipmate and close friend, Lenny Berg. Eager to investigate, Jerry convinces the Navy to redirect one of his squadron’s boats to find out what happened.
It turns out Toledo was sunk just outside of Russian territorial waters by a torpedo launched from a naval mine. Even more disturbing is the discovery that Russia is building a deadly weapon. Engineers have modified the STATUS-6, a strategic nuclear-propelled, nuclear armed torpedo that is already operational, into a stealthy first strike weapon: Drakon. This new tool would allow the Russians to launch a completely covert nuclear decapitation strike on the USA.
The new Russian president has plans for Europe, and is more than willing to use nuclear blackmail―or an actual attack―to keep the Americans from interfering. To avoid a Russian war in Europe, and a nuclear catastrophe at home, Mitchell must find a way to destroy the Drakon launcher before it’s too late.
Arctic Gambit blasts into bookstores on May 29, 2018. Readers can pre-order it here!
C.J. Box (Joe Pickett #18)
If you’ve followed this site for long, then you know that Box’s Wyoming game warden, Joe Pickett, is one of my favorite characters ever created. Few authors have ever accomplished what Box has with his long-running series, which is now up to eighteen books and counting.
This year’s Vicious Circle, which debuted at #2 on the New York Times best-sellers list, was quite possibly Box’s best work yet. And, for those who paid close attention, the author left a hint about where things were headed in the next book — The Disappeared — which comes out in March of 2018.
Wyoming’s new governor isn’t sure what to make of Joe Pickett, but he has a job for him that is extremely delicate. A prominent female British executive never came home from the high-end guest ranch she was visiting, and the British Embassy is pressing hard. Pickett knows that happens sometimes–these ranches are stocked with handsome young cowboys, and “ranch romances” aren’t uncommon. But no sign of her months after she vanished? That suggests something else.
At the same time, his friend Nate Romanowski has asked Joe to intervene with the feds on behalf of falconers who can no longer hunt with eagles even though their permits are in order. Who is blocking the falconers and why? The more he investigates both cases, the more someone wants him to go away. Is it because of the missing woman or because he’s become Nate’s advocate? Or are they somehow connected? The answers, when they come, will be even worse than he’d imagined.
Though not in bookstores until March 27, 2018, readers can pre-order the next Joe Pickett novel by clicking here.
James Lee Burke (Dave Robicheaux #21)
It’s been going on four years since James Lee Burke’s last Detective Dave Robicheaux novel, Light of the World, hit bookstores. That’s a long time for fans to stay patient, but the good news is that Burke’s next novel, Robicheaux, is scheduled for release in 2018 — and readers won’t have to wait long once the new year rolls around to get their hands on it.
The new book will feature a still flawed, broken Detective Robicheaux who’s struggling with multiple issues…and his life is about to get much, much worse.
James Lee Burke’s most beloved character, Dave Robicheaux, returns in this gritty, atmospheric mystery set in the towns and backwoods of Louisiana.
DAVE ROBICHEAUX IS A HAUNTED MAN.
Between his recurrent nightmares about Vietnam, his battle with alcoholism, and the sudden loss of his beloved wife, Molly, his thoughts drift from one irreconcilable memory to the next. Images of ghosts at Spanish Lake live on the edge of his vision.
During a murder investigation, Dave Robicheaux discovers he may have committed the homicide he’s investigating, one which involved the death of the man who took the life of Dave’s beloved wife. As he works to clear his name and make sense of the murder, Robicheaux encounters a cast of characters and a resurgence of dark social forces that threaten to destroy all of those whom he loves. What emerges is not only a propulsive and thrilling novel, but a harrowing study of America: this nation’s abiding conflict between a sense of past grandeur and a legacy of shame, its easy seduction by demagogues and wealth, and its predilection for violence and revenge. James Lee Burke has returned with one of America’s favorite characters, in his most searing, most prescient novel to date.
Robicheaux comes out everywhere on January 2, 2018, and is available for pre-order here.
Ben Coes (Dewey Andreas #8) *Exclusive First Look
Nobody is hotter than Ben Coes right now. Not since the late Vince Flynn has a political thriller author published consecutive novels as good as Coes’ First Strike (2016) and Trap the Devil (2017). In fact, Coes’ Dewey Andreas series might be the best thing going right now, and that means the next book cannot get here fast enough.
A few weeks ago, we broke the news on Coes’ next novel, Bloody Sunday, which features a heart-pounding plot that involves North Korea.
The latest in the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Dewey Andreas series.
North Korea, increasingly isolated from most of the rest of the world, is lead by
an absolute dictator and a madman with one major goal—he’s determined to launch a nuclear attack on the United States. While they have built and continue to
successfully test nuclear bombs, North Korea has yet to develop a ballistic
missile with the range necessary to attack America. But their missiles are
improving, reaching a point where the U.S. absolutely must respond.What the U.S. doesn’t know is that North Korea has made a deal with Iran. In
exchange for effective missiles from Iran, they will trade nuclear triggers and
fissionable material. An exchange, if it goes through, that will create two new
nuclear powers, both with dangerous plans.Dewey Andreas, still reeling from recent revelations about his own past, is ready
to retire from the CIA. But he’s the only available agent with the skills to carry
out the CIA’s plan to stop North Korea. The plan is to inject a singular designer
poison into the head of the North Korean military and in exchange for the
nuclear plans, provide him with the one existing dose of the antidote. But it goes
awry when Dewey manages to inject a small amount of the poison into himself.
Now, to survive, Dewey must get into North Korea and access the antidote and,
while there, thwart the nuclear ambitions of both North Korea and Iran. And he
has less than 24 hours to do so.
Yeah, this book sounds seriously awesome. It’s not scheduled to come out until June 26, 2018, but fans anxious to get their pre-ordering on can do so here.
Paul Doiron (Mike Bowditch #9) *Exclusive First Look
Fans of C.J. Box and William Kent Krueger will love Paul Doiron’s Mike Bowditch, a Maine game warden with a knack for finding trouble. This year’s Knife Creek was a solid crime novel, but it left Mike’s future up in the air just a tad in regards to his relationship status and his desire to climb the career ladder. Readers will get answers to those questions in 2018’s Stay Hidden, and we have the exclusive first look at the plot details!
A supposed hunting accident becomes a dangerously complicated murder investigation in this intricately-plotted new thriller featuring Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch.
A woman has been shot to death by a deer hunter on an island off the coast of
Maine. To newly promoted Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch, the case seems
open and shut. But as soon as he arrives on remote Maquoit Island he discovers
mysteries piling up one on top of the other.The hunter now claims he didn’t fire the fatal shot and the ballistic evidence
proves he’s telling the truth. Bowditch begins to suspect the secretive
community might be covering up the identity of whoever killed Ariel Evans.
The controversial author was supposedly writing a book about the island’s
notorious hermit. So why are there no notes in her rented cottage?The biggest blow comes the next day when the weekly ferry arrives and off
steps the dead woman herself. Ariel Evans is alive, well, and determined to
solve her own “murder” even if it upsets Mike Bowditch’s investigation and
makes them both targets of an elusive killer who will do anything to conceal his
crimes.
Stay Hidden is available for pre-order here, but won’t be in bookstores until July 3, 2018.
Meg Gardiner (Caitlin Hendrix #2)
When it comes to scary-good crime novels, you won’t find a better new series than Meg Gardiner’s Caitlin Hendrix franchise, which kicked off with 2017’s UNSUB and continues in January of 2018 with Into the Black Nowhere.
UNSUB actually came out on June 27, 2017, so fans (thankfully) won’t have to wait too long between books — which is good because once you read the plot details below, you’ll be anxious to get your hands on book two.
Inspired by real-life serial killer Ted Bundy, an exhilarating thriller in which FBI profiler Caitlin Hendrix faces off against a charming, merciless serial killer
In southern Texas, on Saturday nights, women are disappearing. One vanishes from a movie theater. Another is ripped from her car at a stoplight. Another vanishes from her home while checking on her baby. Rookie FBI agent Caitlin Hendrix, newly assigned to the FBI’s elite Behavioral Analysis Unit, fears that a serial killer is roaming the dark roads outside Austin.
Caitlin and the FBI’s serial crime unit discover the first victim’s body in the woods. She’s laid out in a bloodstained, white baby-doll nightgown. A second victim in a white nightie lies deeper in the forest’s darkness. Both bodies are surrounded by Polaroid photos, stuck in the earth like headstones. Each photo pictures a woman in a white negligee, wrists slashed, suicide-style–posed like Snow White awaiting her prince’s kiss.
To track the UNSUB, Caitlin must get inside his mind. How is he selecting these women? Working with a legendary FBI profiler, Caitlin searches for a homology–that elusive point where character and action come together. She profiles a confident, meticulous killer who convinces his victims to lower their guard until he can overpower and take them in plain sight. He then reduces them to objects in a twisted fantasy–dolls for him to possess, control, and ultimately destroy. Caitlin’s profile leads the FBI to focus on one man: a charismatic, successful professional who easily gains people’s trust. But with only circumstantial evidence linking him to the murders, the police allow him to escape. As Saturday night approaches, Caitlin and the FBI enter a desperate game of cat and mouse, racing to capture the cunning predator before he claims more victims.
This series is legit, and Gardiner is the real deal. UNSUB ends after a wicked twist, so it’ll be interesting to see how that plays out moving forward. Pre-order Into the Black Nowhere here, or get it in stores January 30, 2018.
Lisa Gardner (D.D. Warren #9)
Right Behind You, Gardner’s 2017 thriller, is awesome. Lucky for fans, Detective D.D. Warren returns in early 2018 in Look For Me.
Gardner is one of the best psychological thriller writers in the game today, as all of her stuff is must-read. Right Behind You was phenomenal, and there’s every reason to believe her follow-up will be even better.
In #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner’s latest twisty thrill ride, Detective D. D. Warren and Find Her’s Flora Dane return in a race against the clock to either save a young girl’s life . . . or bring her to justice.
The home of a family of five is now a crime scene: four of them savagely murdered, one—a sixteen-year-old girl—missing. Was she lucky to have escaped? Or is her absence evidence of something sinister? Detective D. D. Warren is on the case—but so is survivor-turned-avenger Flora Dane. Seeking different types of justice, they must make sense of the clues left behind by a young woman who, whether as victim or suspect, is silently pleading, Look for me.
Look For Me comes out on February 6, 2018. You can pre-order here or anywhere else books are sold.
John Gilstrap (Jonathan Grave #10) *Exclusive First Look
Gilstrap’s series is criminally underrated. His last two books, Friendly Fire (2016) and Final Target (2017) have been especially good.
In Final Target, Jonathan Grave and “Big Guy” end up in the Mexican jungle, attempting to lead a group of orphans to safety while an evil cartel boss hunts them down. In next year’s book, which is titled Scorpion Strike, Grave will be back in the jungle setting — this time near the Crystal Sands Resort.
Jonathan Grave and Gail Bonneville are relaxing at the luxurious Crystal Sands Resort when gunmen attack. Guests are rounded up and herded into the clubhouse. But when the attackers burst into Jonathan and Gail’s bungalow, they get a harsh surprise. Jonathan kills them both with a knife. Jonathan and Gail steal the gunmen’s weapons and communications gear and set out into the jungle—first to survive, next to figure out what’s going on—and then to strike back.Two others have escaped the deadly assault. 18-year-old Tyler Stratton is a permanent resident of the resort, the stepson of the island’s owner. He and his girlfriend Annie join forces with Jonathan and Gail to gather intel and delvelop a plan.
Scorpion Strike will hit bookstores sometime in July of 2018, though the exact publication date hasn’t been released yet. As soon as it’s available for pre-order, we’ll update this article to include a link!
Mark Greaney (Gray Man #7)
Ever since 2016’s Back Blast, Mark Greaney’s Court Gentry series has been one of the best series going. This year’s Gunmetal Gray is really good, and while Back Blast is one of my favorite thrillers since Vince Flynn’s Transfer of Power, Agent in Place is without question Greaney’s best work so far.
I actually just read Agent in Place and was totally blown away. Check back for a full, spoiler-free review soon, but know this: It’s Greaney’s best work so far!
The Gray Man is back in another nonstop international thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan novels
Court Gentry is back in action. This time he’s working on behalf of a well-connected group of Syrian expats to secure the Syrian president’s mistress so they can use her to bring down the president’s regime. But the expats’ plan goes awry when it’s discovered the mistress has a baby–the Syrian president’s only male heir–hidden away in a Damascus safe house.
Court goes after the baby, a decision that comes at the price of the mistress’s life. The expat organization deems the boy now useless to their cause and refuses to protect him against the Syrian first lady and the notorious Swiss assassin in her employ. With no support on the way, Court realizes he’ll have to take down the Syrian president himself if he and the boy are going to make it out alive…
Agent in Place is one of 2018’s must-read thrillers. While it’s not out until February 20, 2018, it’s already available for pre-order here or anywhere else books are sold.
David Hagberg (Kirk McGarvey #22) *Exclusive First Look
Just when this series appeared to have lost steam after a few clunkers, Hagberg resurrected his franchise with 2017’s Tower Down, which was much better than his last few novels. Hopefully, he keeps that going with next year’s Flash Points, due out on March 27, 2018.
Kirk McGarvey has been around forever, and the plot for Flash Points is intriguing. Hopefully, this book delivers what Hagberg managed with Tower Down, which is super underrated, and isn’t a repeat of The Fourth Horseman.
David Hagberg’s New York Times bestselling Kirk McGarvey series continues in Flash Points, the action-packed thriller about a plot to lead a president towards impeachment
The novel begins just after the US presidential election, when a man of Trump’s stripe wins. Determined to push him out of office, members of the president’s staff hire an assassin to set up three terrorist attacks in the US. Meanwhile, a Pentagon general contacts mid-level intelligence operatives in fifteen different countries, concocting a plot in which the president will be faced with supposed attacks along flash points, places where trouble could easily erupt into an all out nuclear war: Pakistan/India; China/Taiwan; North vs South Korea; Russia/Ukraine.
The idea is to overwhelm the new president so that he could not possibly make the right decisions. Dangerous, but the effect would cause the public to demand that Congress impeach him.
In order for their plots to succeed, both groups must first eliminate the one man who could possibly stop them: retired CIA assassin Kirk McGarvey.
It’s still a long ways until March, but diehard fans can pre-order the next McGarvey thriller here.
Steve Hamilton (Nick Mason #3)
Steve Hamilton turned heads when he launched a new series in 2016 with the release of The Second Life of Nick Mason, the first novel about a man who makes a deal with a criminal kingpin to trade in twenty years of his prison sentence in exchange for being a glorified errand boy.
While the deal sounds like a no-brainer, as Nick Mason was able to walk out of prison two decades early, he quickly realizes he’s anything but free, and failure to make his new boss happy could bring dangerous consequences to his loved ones.
Exit Strategy (2017) is a touch better than the first book (though both are phenomenal), as Hamilton amps up the action while taking on a darker, grittier tone in the sequel. Now, following the twist ending in book two, Hamilton is gearing up to release the third Nick Mason novel, An Honorable Assassin, in stores next May.
In this pulse-pounding entry in the New York Times-bestselling series, Nick Mason has become a deadly asset for a new master, the head of an organization far larger than he ever could have imagined.
Nick Mason was released from federal prison to begin a second life as an unwilling assassin, serving a major Chicago crime lord until the day he finally won his freedom. But that freedom was a lie.
Now Mason finds himself on a plane to Jakarta, his life controlled by a vast shadow organization that can cross any international border. He leaves behind everyone he’s ever loved, everything he’s ever known… Except for one thing: The job. When his phone rings, day or night, he has to answer it, and do whatever he’s told. Mason is an exile, forced to live out a nightmare on the other side of the world – and the only way home is to keep killing.
This time his target is Hashim Baya, known to his followers as the Crocodile. A phantom money man who finances countless bloody terrorist attacks across the globe, Baya is the most dangerous criminal Mason has ever faced. But Mason’s not the only one hunting him. For Martin Sauvage, a tough-as-nails Interpol agent, apprehending Baya has become a personal vendetta. Sauvage wants Baya in prison. Mason’s only chance at survival is to put him in a body bag. Assassin and cop are on a collision course leading to a brutal showdown. . . . and to the most shocking revelation of all.
An Honorable Assassin comes out on May 15, 2018, and is available for pre-order here.
Rob Hart (Ash McKenna #5)
Private investigator Ash McKenna is back for his fifth and final novel, Potter’s Field.
Honestly, we’re sad to see Ash go, but we’re excited to see how Rob Hart brings his fan-favorite series to a close. This series, like several listed here, is really underrated. The Woman From Prague, which came out earlier this summer, was a very solid thriller that held its own against some really tough competition. We’d recommend reading at least that book if you’re new to Hart’s series before Potter’s Field comes out, and since that won’t hit bookstores until July 10, 2018, you have plenty of time to get caught up.
Amateur private investigator Ash McKenna is home. After more than a year on the road he’s ready to face the demons he ran away from in New York City. And he’s decided what he wants to do with his life: Become a private investigator, for real. Licensed and everything. No more working as a thug for hire. But within moments of stepping off the plane, Ginny Tonic, the drag queen crime lord who once employed him―and then tried to have him killed―asks to see him.
One of her newest drag queen soldiers has gone missing, and Ginny suspects she’s been ensnared by the burgeoning heroin scene on Staten Island. Ginny wants Ash to find her. Because he’s the best, and because he knows Staten Island, his home borough. Ash is hesitant―but Ginny’s offer of $10,000 is enough to get him on his feet. And the thought of a lost kid and a bereft family is too much for him to bear.
He accepts, and quickly learns there’s something much bigger at play. Some very dangerous people are vying for control of the heroin trade on Staten Island, which is recording the highest rate of overdose deaths in the city. As Ash navigates deadly terrain, he find his most dangerous adversary might be his own past. Because those demons he ran away from have been waiting for him to come back.
Pre-order Potter’s Field now, and get it next July!
K.J. Howe (Thea Paris #2)
K.J. Howe’s The Freedom Broker is one of 2017’s best debut thrillers, and the first book in a promising new series starring K&R expert Thea Paris. Next year, Thea’s story continues with Skyjack, Howe’s highly-anticipated sequel, in stores on April 3, 2018.
If you’re not reading this series yet, you should definitely start. Howe is the real deal, and her stuff reads like a combination of Gayle Lynds and Lee Child. Thea Paris is a great character who is flawed but courageous, and a ton of fun to follow around as she puts bad guys in their place.
International kidnap expert Thea Paris is escorting two former child soldiers on a plane flying between Africa and London when the Boeing Business Jet is highjacked. The pilot has locked himself into the cockpit and diverts the plane to a deserted airstrip in Libya.
Forced to leave the jet to investigate, Thea comes face-to-face with a former nemesis, an Italian who is part of Gladios, a secret stay-behind army created after the Second World War to fight communism. Her old foe imprisons her in the hangar, and the plane takes off with the boys, the passengers, and the kidnapper aboard.
The kidnapper makes a strange demand for the return of the hostages: Thea must deliver a truckload of weapons and other material to a destination in Europe. Despite Thea’s efforts to read the tea leaves, the motives of the kidnapper remain a mystery.
While negotiating for the release of the passengers, Thea, Rif, and the Quantum team travel to Budapest to secure the supply truck. But the situation soon escalates, and the true stakes are revealed: her old nemesis is battling another private army for control of a genetically targeted bioweapon. When the bioweapon is stolen from under the noses of the competing shadow armies, Thea and Rif race to find the thieves first.
Revealing a conspiracy that connects the CIA, the Vatican, and the dark legacy of World War II, this case will bring all parties to an explosive conclusion at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
Thea fans can pre-order Howe’s Skyjack now, but, unfortunately, we cannot speed up time to make the almost seven-month wait go by any quicker.
Gregg Hurwitz (Evan Smoak #3)
I know I’m not supposed to play favorites, but I’m really big on Orphan X. I’ve always enjoyed Gregg Hurwitz’s work, but I didn’t become a mega-fan until 2016 when he introduced the world to Evan Smoak, a former government assassin who’s gone rogue and now spends his time helping those in need as a crime-fighting vigilante. Don’t get it twisted, though, Evan ain’t Batman, he’s a different kind of hero — and the last person bad guys want coming after them. The series starts with Orphan X, then continues with The Nowhere Man (2017), which is even better than the first book.
Hellbent, the third book, is Hurwitz’s best work yet, and packed with action from beginning to end.
Evan Smoak―government assassin gone rogue―returns in Hellbent, an engrossing, unputdownable thriller from Gregg Hurwitz, the latest in his #1 international bestselling Orphan X series.
Taken from a group home at age twelve, Evan Smoak was raised and trained as an off-the-books government assassin: Orphan X. After he broke with the Orphan Program, Evan disappeared and reinvented himself as the Nowhere Man, a man spoken about only in whispers and dedicated to helping the truly desperate.
But this time, the voice on the other end is Jack Johns, the man who raised and trained him, the only father Evan has ever known. Secret government forces are busy trying to scrub the remaining assets and traces of the Orphan Program and they have finally tracked down Jack. With little time remaining, Jack gives Evan his last assignment: find and protect his last protégé and recruit for the program.
But Evan isn’t the only one after this last Orphan―the new head of the Orphan Program, Van Sciver, is mustering all the assets at his disposal to take out both Evan (Orphan X) and the target he is trying to protect.
I’ve already read and filed a review for Hellbent, which comes out January 30, 2018. Trust me, pre-order this one right away…it’s not to be missed!
Peter Kirsanow (Michael Garin #2)
Following Kirsanow’s blistering debut, Target Omega, his next book, Second Strike, a brand new Michael Garin thriller, comes out May 15, 2018.
Very similar to Brad Taylor and Mark Greaney, Kirsanow’s debut thriller was a hit with our followers who crave action and are looking for solid new characters to try out between some of the bigger names like Pike Logan and Court Gentry. If you like those guys, there’s a good chance you’ll like Peter Kirsanow’s Garin.
The next gripping, high-stakes thriller following Target Omega, in which special operator Mike Garin faces off against a lethal Russian assassin–and a devious plot to wreak chaos in America.
Within mere weeks of thwarting a cataclysmic electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack against the United States, Michael Garin, former leader of the elite Omega special operations unit, discovers that Russia has triggered an ingenious and catastrophic backup plan. Garin’s efforts to warn the administration of the new attack, however, fall on deaf ears. No one can believe that the Russians would initiate another strike of such magnitude so soon.
Alone again, Garin turns to three people for help: Congo Knox, a former Delta Force sniper; Dan Dwyer, the head of a sprawling military contracting firm; and Olivia Perry, an aide to the national security advisor. Yet Garin and his ad hoc team are checked at every turn by the formidable Russian assassin, Taras Bor, who is directed by an individual seemingly able to manipulate the highest reaches of the US government.
As evidence mounts that the Russian plot has been set in motion and that Bor is pivotal to its success, it’s up to Garin and his team to thwart an attack that will cause the death of millions and establish a new world order.
Garin is a solid new character. The first book did, at times, make him almost too invincible, but that’s more of a minor complaint. Fans should be excited about Second Strike, and those who are can pre-order it here.
Ward Larsen (David Slaton #5) *Exclusive First Look
Following this year’s Assassin’s Code, Larsen will release his fifth David Slaton novel, Assassin’s Run, in stores August 21, 2018.
Slaton is, without a doubt, one of the genre’s most underrated series protagonists. A former Israeli assassin, he’s best characterized as a Gray Man-like character working for the Mossad instead of the CIA. Larsen has quietly turned this franchise into a strong series that’s picking up more and more loyal readers with each book.
Assassin David Slaton clashes with the Russians in this action-packed espionage thriller from USA Today bestselling author Ward Larsen
Ward Larsen’s Assassin’s Run revives globe-trotting, hard-hitting assassin David Slaton for another breathless adventure. When a Russian oligarch is killed by a single bullet on his yacht off the Isle of Capri, Russian intelligence sources speculate that a legendary Israeli assassin, long thought dead, might be responsible. However, David Slaton―the assassin in question―is innocent. Realizing the only way to clear his name is to find out who’s truly responsible, he travels to Capri.
While he searches, a web of disparate events unfolds across the Middle East. Three ships, owned by the group of Russians, deliver a mysterious cargo to the shores of the Arabian Peninsula. In Morocco, a Russian aerospace company begins flight testing an innovative new drone.
From Switzerland to the Red Sea to Morocco, Slaton gradually uncovers a conspiracy of monumental scope. It is a plot that will change the world strategic order―and one that goes straight to the top of the Russian government.
Larsen also has another book coming out called Cutting Edge, starring a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, that is set to come out on January 23, 2018, so his fans have plenty to look forward to next year.
John Lescroart (Dismas Hardy #17)
Following Fatal, Lescroart’s 2017 standalone thriller, Dismas Hardy is back for the first time since 2015’s The Fall.
Fatal was a solid thriller, and so was The Fall, though Hardy had more of a supportive role in that book. In Poison, Dismas — who returns for his seventeenth case — is front and center throughout.
From the “master of the legal thriller” (Chicago Sun-Times) John Lescroart comes a dramatic family drama in which attorney Dismas Hardy is called on to defend a former client against the accusation of murder.
Dismas Hardy is looking forward to cutting back his work hours and easing into retirement after recovering from two gunshot wounds. He is determined to spend more time with his family and even reconnect with his distant son, Vincent. But Dismas just can’t stay away from the courtroom for long and soon he is pulled into an intense family drama with fatal consequences.
Grant Carver, the vigorous patriarch of the Carver family and its four-generations owned family business, has been murdered. His bookkeeper Abby Jarvis, whom Hardy had defended on a DUI charge eleven years prior, is the prime suspect after police discover she’s been embezzling funds from the company—but she insists she did not kill her boss.
As he prepares to defend her, Dismas investigates the Carver clan and discovers the dark, twisted secrets within the family. It seems that Abby was not the only one who stood to profit from the company’s $25 million dollar market value. From jealous children to gold-digging girlfriends, Dismas has his work cut out for him in sifting through mud flinging, backstabbing, and accusations of blackmail.
But Dismas not only has to save his client’s life but his own, as it soon becomes clear that someone has a painted a target on his back, too. With Lescroart’s signature “smart, riveting, and utterly compelling” (Brad Thor, #1 New York Times bestselling author) prose, this whip smart and nail-bitingly suspenseful thriller will keep you guessing until the very last page.
Poison comes out February 13, 2018, and is available for pre-order wherever books are sold!
Mike Maden (Jack Ryan Universe #25)
Maden’s first Clancy book, Tom Clancy Point of Contact, was one of this summer’s best thrillers. Maden was, by all accounts, a brilliant pick to step in for Grant Blackwood, who exited the series prior to Mike taking over this year.
Only one book in, Maden’s already shown Jack Ryan Junior to be in capable hands, as Point of Contact is, in my opinion, the strongest Junior novel so far. Maden’s follow-up, Tom Clancy Line of Sight, comes out on June 5, 2018, and is shaping up to be pretty awesome. Read the plot details below and you’ll see why!
Jack Ryan Jr. finds that the scars of war can last a lifetime in this latest entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.
Twenty years ago, Dr. Kathy Ryan restored the eyesight of a young Bosnian girl who had been injured during an attack in the Balkan War. Today, her son, Jack Ryan Jr. has decided to surprise his mother by tracking down the young lady. What he finds shocks them both.
The helpless child has grown into a remarkable woman. Aida Curić is a self-possessed beauty who runs a refugee agency that helps the children of her native Bosnia. Jack finds himself drawn to her, but before he can act on his feelings she’s snatched off the streets of Sarajevo by kidnappers.
In Jack’s desperate search for Aida, he finds himself opposed by everyone from Serbian mobsters to Croatian paramilitary units. The Balkan War may have ended two decades ago, but the region still seethes with ethnic animosities. The deeper Jack plunges into this world the more he faces a disturbing truth, the scars of war fester long after the surface has healed.
Tom Clancy Line of Sight is already available for pre-order here.
Steve Martini (Paul Madriani #15)
Fans haven’t seen Paul Madriani since 2016’s Blood Flag, but the wait is almost over. The Secret Partner, the fifteenth book in Steve Martini’s bestselling series, comes out December 4, 2018.
(While The Secret Partner was originally slated to come out in 2017, it was moved to early 2018, before being further pushed back all the way until December of next year. There’s a chance the publication date will change again, but it’s very likely this book will come out at some point in 2018.)
Defending a medical researcher accused of murdering a colleague raises one of the most difficult ethical questions attorney Paul Madriani has ever faced: how far should science go to find a cure for our most life-threatening diseases?
When medical researcher Michael Givens is charged with the murder of a colleague he turns to Paul Madriani and Harry Hinds to defend him. The murder victim, a noted chemist and genetic specialist, was on the cusp of one of the great medical discoveries of history, a cure for cancer—a genetic silver bullet. Prosecutors are convinced that Givens coldly planned and carried out the murder, and that the motive was professional jealousy. Madriani doesn’t buy it.
A longtime criminal defense attorney with a keen eye for assessing clients, he is convinced that Givens would not commit murder, and certainly not with the crude explosive device that was used. But someone else did. Digging into the victim’s work and his personal life, Madriani discovers a web of deceit and lies. Rumors surface of serious ethical violations in the testing program required to pave the way to vast riches for those who hold the patents on the new drug. Whispers abound that the dead doctor crossed moral boundaries not only in his professional life, but in his personal affairs as well, conduct for which others might well have killed him.
Concerns are voiced that the new wonder drug may prove so successful in eradicating cancer that global mortality rates could plummet. If so, could a population explosion of huge proportions result, leading to economic and political upheaval, violence, and war? Every silver lining has its dark cloud.
Behind all of this is a sinister web of intrigue into which the lawyers tumble as they fight to defend their client and discover the truth. It is a trial unlike any they have seen before, a cauldron of conspiracy that threatens to destroy Paul and Harry along with their client.
The Secret Partner is available for pre-order here.
Jason Matthews (Red Sparrow #3)
Following Red Sparrow and Palace of Treason, Matthews’ final book in his Red Sparrow trilogy, The Kremlin’s Candidate, comes out on February 13, 2018.
The release was actually pushed back from this summer to next year to coincide with the release of Red Sparrow, the forthcoming movie adaptation of Matthew’s book starring Jennifer Lawrence (The Hunger Games, Passengers) and Joel Edgerton (Warrior, Exodus: Gods and Kings) as Dominika Egorova and Nathaniel Nash, respectively. For more on the movie, click here.
Russian counterintelligence chief Colonel Dominika Egorova has been a recruited asset of the CIA, stealing Kremlin secrets for her CIA handler Nate Nash for over seven years. In the dazzling finale to the Red Sparrow Trilogy—which will be published right before the release of Red Sparrow, a major motion picture starring Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgarton—their forbidden and tumultuous love affair continues, mortally dangerous for them both, but irresistible.
In Washington, a newly installed US administration is selecting its Cabinet members. Dominika hears a whisper of a closely held Kremlin operation to place a mole inside a high intelligence position. But it’s worse than that: One of the three candidates under consideration has been a paid Russian spy for a decade, selling precious US secrets. If the Kremlin’s candidate for the position is confirmed, the Russians will have access to all the names of assets spying for CIA in Moscow, including Dominika’s. But which of the three individuals is the mole?
Dominika’s report triggers a desperate mole hunt before she’s exposed and arrested. Resisting all suggestions to defect and save herself, Dominika recklessly immerses herself in the palace intrigues of the Kremlin, searching for the mole’s name, and stealing as many of President Putin’s secrets for her CIA handlers before her time runs out—even as Putin’s dangerous interest in her grows. The treasure trove of her intelligence reporting sends Nate Nash and colleagues on desperate missions to Sevastopol, Istanbul, Khartoum, and Hong Kong.
With a plot ripped from tomorrow’s headlines, The Kremlin’s Candidate is a riveting read if you’ve never read Jason Matthews, and a thrilling conclusion to the trilogy begun with Red Sparrow and Palace of Treason, which The New York Times Book Review called, “a primer in twenty-first-century spying…terrifically good.”
This one’s a little bittersweet. Because Matthews’ series is so popular with readers, it’ll be hard to see it go. Expect all the remaining questions to finally be answered, and don’t rule out a major twist or two along the way. The Kremlin’s Candidate is available for pre-order wherever books are sold!
Brad Meltzer
Meltzer is actually introducing a new character in 2018’s The Escape Artist, in stores March 6, 2018.
Beecher White, arguably Meltzer’s most beloved character, was last seen in 2015’s The President’s Shadow. A lot of fans have eagerly been awaiting the fourth book in that series, but Meltzer instead wrote House of Secrets in 2016, and then didn’t release a new novel this year. The wait for Beecher continues, possibly until 2019 or longer, but the good news is that The Escape Artist sounds really good.
Who is Nola Brown?
Nola is a mystery
Nola is trouble.
And Nola is supposed to be dead.
Her body was found on a plane that mysteriously fell from the sky as it left a secret military base in the Alaskan wilderness. Her commanding officer verifies she’s dead. The US government confirms it. But Jim “Zig” Zigarowski has just found out the truth: Nola is still alive. And on the run.
Zig works at Dover Air Force Base, helping put to rest the bodies of those who die on top-secret missions. Nola was a childhood friend of Zig’s daughter and someone who once saved his daughter’s life. So when Zig realizes Nola is still alive, he’s determined to find her. Yet as Zig digs into Nola’s past, he learns that trouble follows Nola everywhere she goes.
Nola is the US Army’s artist-in-residence-a painter and trained soldier who rushes into battle, making art from war’s aftermath and sharing observations about today’s wars that would otherwise go overlooked. On her last mission, Nola saw something nobody was supposed to see, earning her an enemy unlike any other, one who will do whatever it takes to keep Nola quiet.
Together, Nola and Zig will either reveal a sleight of hand being played at the highest levels of power or die trying to uncover the US Army’s most mysterious secret-a centuries-old conspiracy that traces back through history to the greatest escape artist of all: Harry Houdini.
Fans anxious to pre-order ahead of the book’s March 6, 2018, pub date can do so here.
Robert B. Parker’s Old Black Magic (Spenser #47)
Ace Atkins’ seventh Spenser novel — since taking over for Robert B. Parker in 2012 — is scheduled to arrive in bookstores on May 1, 2018.
Spenser, the former Boston-based ex-boxer, and ex-state cop turned private eye, is still going strong more than forty years since readers first met him in The Godwulf Manuscript. Atkins has done a fine job, and this year’s Little White Lies was well received by Parker’s loyal fans.
Next year, Atkins’ latest thriller, Robert B. Parker’s Old Black Magic, follows Spenser as he takes on a decades-long unsolved crime related to the black market art scene.
The heist was legendary, still talked about twenty years after the priceless paintings disappeared from one of Boston’s premier art museums. Most thought the art was lost forever, buried deep, sold off overseas, or, worse, destroyed as incriminating evidence. But when paint chips from the most valuable piece stolen, Gentlemen in Black by a Spanish master, arrives at the desk of a Boston journalist, the museum finds hope and enlists Spenser’s help.
Soon the cold art case thrusts Spenser into the shady world of black market art dealers, aged Mafia bosses, and old vendettas. A five-million-dollar-reward by the museum’s top benefactor, an aged, unlikable Boston socialite, sets Spenser and pals Vinnie Morris and Hawk onto a trail of hidden secrets, jailhouse confessions, and decades-old murders.
Set against the high-society art scene and the low-life back alleys of Boston, this is classic Spenser doing what he does best.
Robert B. Parker’s Old Black Magic is available for pre-order here!
Nick Petrie (Peter Ash #3)
Light It Up, in stores January 16, is the third Peter Ash novel, following The Drifter (2016) and Burning Bright (2017).
Petrie, who’s already racked up awards for The Drifter, continues to get better with each book. He’s quickly built this series into a powerhouse, perfect for fans of Lee Child and Brad Taylor.
In the newest action-packed thriller starring war veteran Peter Ash, a well-planned and flawlessly executed hijacking reveals the hidden dangers of Colorado’s mellowest business, but Ash may find there’s more to this crime than meets the eye.
Combat veteran Peter Ash leaves a simple life rebuilding hiking trails in Oregon to help his good friend Henry Nygaard, whose daughter runs a Denver security company that protects cash-rich cannabis entrepreneurs from modern-day highwaymen. Henry’s son-in-law and the company’s operations manager were carrying a large sum of client money when their vehicle vanished without a trace, leaving Henry’s daughter and her company vulnerable.
Then, when Peter is riding shotgun on another cash run, the cargo he’s guarding comes under attack from hijackers and he narrowly escapes with his life. As the incidents mount, he has to wonder: for criminals as sophisticated as these, is this money really worth the risk? And if not, what about his cargo is worth more?
Only a few books in, Petrie’s series already has a loyal following. If you haven’t started this series yet, there’s still plenty of time to knock out the first two books before Light It Up comes out in January!
Preston & Child (Agent Pendergast #17)
The Pendergast books, according to Book Spy followers, have been pretty hit or miss over the past few years.
We’ve gotten a lot of emails from readers who have mixed feelings on this year’s The Obsidian Chamber, so hopefully the next book, City of Endless Night, will be better…
“For God’s sake, tell us what’s happened!”
“Vengeance. Vengeance is what’s happened.”
It begins as a manhunt for Grace Ozmian, the missing daughter of a wealthy tech billionaire. At first, the NYPD assumes Grace, beautiful, reckless, and a regular feature of the local tabloids, has simply sped off on another wild adventure. But the case becomes something altogether different when the young woman’s body is discovered in an abandoned warehouse in Queens, the head nowhere to be found.
Lieutenant CDS Vincent D’Agosta quickly takes the lead. He knows his investigation will attract fierce scrutiny, so D’Agosta is delighted when FBI Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast shows up at the crime scene also assigned to the case. “I feel rather like Brer Rabbit being thrown into the briar patch,” Pendergast tells D’Agota, “because I have found you here, in charge. Just like when we first met, back at the Museum of Natural History.”
D’Agosta hopes the case will give Pendergast an opportunity to demonstrate his considerable abilities back in the city he has made home. But neither Pendergast nor D’Agosta are prepared for what lies ahead. It quickly becomes clear that a diabolical presence is haunting the greater metropolitan area, and Grace Ozmian was only the first of many victims to be murdered…and decapitated. Worse still, there’s something unique to the city itself that has attracted its evil eye of the killer–or killers.
As mass hysteria sets in, Pendergast and D’Agosta find themselves in the crosshairs of an opponent who has threatened the very lifeblood of the city. It’ll take all of Pendergast’s skill to unmask this most dangerous foe–let alone survive to tell the tale.
City of Endless Night comes out on January 16, 2018.
J.D. Robb (Eve Dallas #46)
Following Echoes in Death (2017) and Secrets in Death (2017) Robb — a.k.a. #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts — will release the next Eve Dallas thriller, Dark in Death, on January 30th, 2018. Incredibly, this is the 46th book in her series, as she continues to put out three or four books a year.
Nobody else can match that pace and continue to deliver fan-pleasing books, but Robb (Roberts) somehow pulls it off.
Lieutenant Eve Dallas returns in the new novel by the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense, and takes on a case of death imitating art…
It was a stab in the dark.
On a chilly February night, during a screening of Psycho in midtown, someone sunk an ice pick into the back of Chanel Rylan’s neck, then disappeared quietly into the crowds of drunks and tourists in Times Square. To Chanel’s best friend, who had just slipped out of the theater for a moment to take a call, it felt as unreal as the ancient black-and-white movie up on the screen. But Chanel’s blood ran red, and her death was anything but fictional.
Then, as Eve Dallas puzzles over a homicide that seems carefully planned and yet oddly personal, she receives a tip from an unexpected source: an author of police thrillers who recognizes the crime―from the pages of her own book. Dallas doesn’t think it’s coincidence, since a recent strangulation of a sex worker resembles a scene from her writing as well. Cops look for patterns of behavior: similar weapons, similar MOs. But this killer seems to find inspiration in someone else’s imagination, and if the theory holds, this may be only the second of a long-running series.
The good news is that Eve and her billionaire husband Roarke have an excuse to curl up in front of the fireplace with their cat, Galahad, reading mystery stories for research. The bad news is that time is running out before the next victim plays an unwitting role in a murderer’s deranged private drama―and only Eve can put a stop to a creative impulse gone horribly, destructively wrong.
Eve Dallas fans can pre-order Dark in Death here.
Joel C. Rosenberg (Marcus Ryker #1)
Following the jaw-dropping ending to his J.B. Collins trilogy, which came to a close with 2017’s Without Warning, Rosenberg will kick off a new series beginning with The Kremlin Conspiracy on March 6, 2018.
This is actually Rosenberg’s fourth different series, following other characters such as Michael Bennet, David Shirazi, and, obviously, Collins. All of them have been bestsellers and fan-favorites, but they’ve all had one thing in common: they were more average joe-type characters than tough-guys. Even Shirazi, who was a young CIA agent when Rosenberg first introduced him, was unproven and had to earn his stripes in front of the reader. Marcus Ryker, Rosenberg’s new hero, sounds like a bona fide operative who’s already cut his teeth and knows how to handle himself.
New York Times bestselling author Joel C. Rosenberg returns with a high-stakes political thriller set in Russia.
Everything he learned to protect the president, he must use to take out theirs.
With an American president distracted by growing tensions in North Korea and Iran, an ominous new threat is emerging in Moscow. A czar is rising in the Kremlin, a Russian president feverishly consolidating power, silencing his opposition, and plotting a brazen and lightning-fast military strike that could rupture the NATO alliance and bring Washington and Moscow to the brink of nuclear war. But in his blind spot is the former U.S. Secret Service agent, Marcus Ryker, trained to protect but ready to kill to save his country.
Without Warning was a huge hit with our followers, as everyone raved about the shocking ending. It’s no secret, then, why The Kremlin Conspiracy is already the most pre-ordered book among Book Spy readers. Rosenberg is always a sure bet to deliver in a big way, and I fully expect that to remain true when his next book comes out in March. Pre-order your copy today!
John Sandford (Lucas Davenport #28)
Twisted Prey, in stores on April 24, 2018, follows 2017’s Golden Prey, which was one of Sandford’s better books in recent memory.
Even though Virgil Flowers is a solid protagonist and that series has become increasingly popular over the last few years especially, Lucas Davenport is still Sandford’s best character. It’s crazy to think he’s been around for going on three decades.
Lucas Davenport confronts an old nemesis, now more powerful than ever as a U.S. senator, in the thrilling new novel in the #1 New York Times-bestselling Prey series
Lucas Davenport had crossed paths with her before.
A rich psychopath, Taryn Grant had run successfully for the U.S. Senate, where Lucas had predicted she’d fit right in. He was also convinced that she’d been responsible for three murders, though he’d never been able to prove it. Once a psychopath had gotten that kind of rush, though, he or she often needed another fix, so he figured he might be seeing her again.
He was right. A federal marshal now, with a very wide scope of investigation, he’s heard rumors that Grant has found her seat on the Senate intelligence committee, and the contacts she’s made from it, to be very…useful. Pinning those rumors down was likely to be just as difficult as before, and considerably more dangerous.
But they had unfinished business, he and Grant. One way or the other, he was going to see it through to the end.
Twisted Prey is available for pre-order here, or anywhere else books are sold.
Brad Taylor (Pike Logan #12)
Operator Down, the next Pike Logan thriller, comes out on January 9, 2018. It follows 2017’s Ring of Fire, and fan favorites Aaron and Shoshana are both back for more action.
You won’t find many writers doing what Brad Taylor has done since he first created Pike Logan and introduced him in 2011’s One Rough Man. The fact that this series is already twelve books long is incredible, and even more so when you factor in how well-written each one is. Pike Logan is right up there with Mitch Rapp and Scot Harvath, and definitely one of the genre’s must-read characters. I’ve already finished Operator Down and will have a review posted soon…but take it from me, this book is awesome!
Former Delta Force Officer and New York Times bestselling author Brad Taylor delivers a heart-pounding thriller where Pike Logan’s search for a Mossad agent and ally puts him on a collision course with a ruthless military coup in Africa—and tests his loyalties to the Taskforce.
It was to be a simple mission. Nothing more than assessing whether a merchant in the fabled Israeli Diamond Exchange was involved in a scheme that could potentially embarrass the state of Israel. But nothing is ever simple in the world of intelligence, as Aaron Bergman—a former leader of an elite direct action team under the Mossad—should have known. Executing the operation as a contractor, a cutout that gave the State of Israel plausible deniability, he disappears without a trace.
Pike Logan and his team know none of this, but he’s tracking an American arms dealer in Tel Aviv who may—or may not—be attempting to sell sensitive nuclear weapons components to the highest bidder. When Pike’s team breaks up an attempt at killing Shoshana, Aaron’s partner, they stumble upon much more than they expected—a concerted conspiracy to topple a democratic African country.
Beginning to untangle a web that extends through both the American and Israeli intelligence community, Pike is forced to choose between his Israeli friends and his Taskforce mission, even as the execution of the coup begins to form. At the heart of it is Aaron, and his disappearance is the one mistake the plotters made. Because Shoshana is the greatest killing machine the Mossad has ever produced, and she will stop at nothing to help Aaron, even if it means killing Pike Logan.and adventure.
Fans chomping at the bit to pre-order Operator Down can do so here.
Brad Thor (Scot Harvath #17)
Here’s the thing, we know almost nothing about this book, and it’s still probably the most anticipated thriller on this entire list. That’s what happens when one of the all-time greatest thriller authors of our time teases his next book ten months in advance — which is exactly what Brad Thor did back in August when he announced that his next thriller would be called Spy Master.
Here’s a quick write-up that takes a swing at breaking down what the book might be about, but the truth is that we have no idea what Thor has in store for readers next year. Not only are there no plot details yet, there’s also no pre-order link available, though you can bet we’ll update this article the second that changes.
Still, Thor’s proven that even at sixteen books in, he’s at the top of his game heading into 2018, as Use of Force is one of our highest rated thrillers of 2017.
Charles Todd (Inspector Rutledge #20)
Todd, who is actually a mother and son writing team, will release their twentieth Inspector Rutledge novel in 2018. The Gate Keeper follows 2017’s Racing the Devil, which was good but not great, as Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge takes on a haunting new case.
This series is probably my favorite of Todd’s several different franchises, but I was slightly disappointed with Racing the Devil. It’s not a bad book, but it did leave a little to be desired. Hopefully that’s not the case with The Gate Keeper, because Rutledge is a really solid character.
On a deserted road, late at night, Scotland Yard’s Ian Rutledge encounters a frightened woman standing over a body, launching an inquiry that leads him into the lair of a stealthy killer and the dangerous recesses of his own memories in this twentieth installment of the acclaimed New York Timesbestselling series.
Hours after his sister’s wedding, a restless Ian Rutledge drives aimlessly, haunted by the past, and narrowly misses a motorcar stopped in the middle of a desolate road. Standing beside the vehicle is a woman with blood on her hands and a dead man at her feet.
She swears she didn’t kill Stephen Wentworth. A stranger stepped out in front of their motorcar, and without warning, fired a single shot before vanishing into the night. But there is no trace of him. And the shaken woman insists it all happened so quickly, she never saw the man’s face.
Although he is a witness after the fact, Rutledge persuades the Yard to give him the inquiry, since he’s on the scene. But is he seeking justice—or fleeing painful memories in London?
Wentworth was well-liked, yet his bitter family paint a malevolent portrait, calling him a murderer. But who did Wentworth kill? Is his death retribution? Or has his companion lied? Wolf Pit, his village, has a notorious history: in Medieval times, the last wolf in England was killed there. When a second suspicious death occurs, the evidence suggests that a dangerous predator is on the loose, and that death is closer than Rutledge knows.
In stores February 6th, 2018, The Gate Keeper is already available for pre-order.
Randy Wayne Wright (Doc Ford #25)
On the heels of Deep Blue (2016) and the much better twenty-fourth Doc Ford novel, Mangrove Lightning, Randy Wayne White’s series protagonist will return in next year’s Caribbean Rim.
While this series is all over the map as far as quality, with certain books being far better than others, most readers agreed that Mangrove Lightning was a big step up from the last few Ford novels. Hopefully that upswing will continue with Caribbean Rim, which sounds pretty good.
Murder, sunken treasure, and pirates both ancient and modern send Doc Ford on a nightmare quest in the thrilling new novel in the New York Times-bestselling series.
Marine biologist Doc Ford has been known to help his friends out of jams occasionally, but he’s never faced a situation like this.
His old pal Carl Fitzpatrick has been chasing sunken wrecks most of his life, but now he’s run afoul of the Florida Division of Historical Resources. Its director, Clive Nickelby, despises amateur archaeologists, which is bad enough, but now he and his young “assistant” have disappeared–along with Fitzpatrick’s impounded cache of rare Spanish coins and the list of uncharted wreck sites Fitz spent decades putting together. Some of Fitz’s own explorations have been a little…dicey, so he can’t go to the authorities. Doc is his only hope.
But greed makes people do terrible things: rob, cheat, even kill. With stakes this high, there’s no way the thieves will go quietly–and Doc’s just put himself in their crosshairs.
Caribbean Rim comes out on March 13, 2018, and is already available for pre-order here.