As I said in my December column, 2018 was a special year for thrillers. Readers were treated to new books from some of the biggest names in the publishing world—including Brad Thor, Anthony Horowitz, and Daniel Silva—who each outdid themselves with career-best novels.
Likewise, other best-sellers chipped in with epic books, including Jason Matthews, who brought his Red Sparrow trilogy to a close. Joel Rosenberg reminded everyone why he’s one of the premier writers in the genre today by kicking off a timely new series built around the showdown between the United States and Russia. There was the return of Lord Alex Hawke—one of the genre’s best heroes, in Ted Bell’s Overkill, his first book in three years—and an infusion of young talent, led by debut author Jack Carr, who blew readers away with his masterful first thriller, The Terminal List … and those guys are just the tip of the iceberg.
Browse my picks (in no particular order) for the best 15 thrillers of 2018 below, then get ready for an even more action-packed year in 2019—with plenty of new content coming soon. Happy reading!
Red War by Kyle Mills (Atria/Emily Bestler Books)
Kyle Mills opens his fourth Mitch Rapp thriller (since taking over the series following the passing of Vince Flynn in 2013) with a bang.
Maxim Krupin, Russia’s fearless president, has inoperable brain cancer. Though his symptoms are minor at first, the cancer quickly worsens. So too do the neurological issues plaguing him, forcing him to rely on more drastic methods in order to conceal his rapidly declining health from the many threats he faces both at home—where the backlash and constant threat of being overthrown is growing by the day—and abroad.
While still strong enough to take action, Krupin preemptively begins assassinating powerful enemies, sending his henchman Nikita Pushkin to kill those he suspects might stand up and oppose him when he’s too weak to fight back.
Formerly, Grisha Azarov, the world-class athlete turned deadly assassin, served as Krupin’s errand boy, a job that once put him on a collision course with Mitch Rapp. Already one of the only men to ever go toe-to-toe with Rapp and live to talk about it, Grisha later joined another exclusive club when he lent Rapp a hand after Mitch took on an especially dangerous assignment that required him to go outside his normal circle of backup operators for support and forgo all ties to the CIA. That mission earned Azarov an IOU, and Rapp settles the bill by showing up in Costa Rica just as Krupin’s men open fire on Azarov’s home—just in time for them to barely escape the assault.
What started as settling a debt for Rapp suddenly turns into more when CIA Director Irene Kennedy receives preliminary reports that Krupin has pulled an old warmonger named Andrei Sokolov from retirement, making the general his top aide and closest confidant. Soon after, Krupin begins invading NATO countries, daring the United States to get involved, a move that would no doubt lead to a nuclear war.
With diplomacy and military actions off the table due to Krupin’s increased hostility, American President Josh Alexander once again turns to his third option, Mitch Rapp, to do the impossible…sneak into Russia and kill Maxim Krupin before it’s too late.
Rapp, who continues to be a one-man wrecking ball disguised as a CIA operator, is back and better than ever. Kyle Mills continues his impressive run of must-read thrillers with Red War, a timely, explosive novel that shows yet again why Mitch Rapp is the best hero the thriller genre has to offer…and why Mills is the only writer capable of filling the enormous void left by Vince Flynn.
The Other Woman by Daniel Silva (Harper)
If someone were to ever commission the building of a Mount Rushmore for thriller writers, Daniel Silva’s face would surely be featured on it, alongside other all-time greats such as Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, and the late Vince Flynn.
Even after dominating best-sellers lists for twenty years, Silva continues to get better and better with each new book. It’s an amazing feat when you consider that his protagonist, Gabriel Allon, once the most feared assassin in Israel’s vaunted intelligence service, is now in his sixties and no longer working in the field. After finally taking a long-awaited promotion, Allon is currently chief of the Office, which means that for the first time in his career, he’s no longer a weapon dispatched by his superiors—he’s now the guy calling the shots, which is horrible news for bad guys everywhere.
What I admire and appreciate about Silva is that he finds ways to keep things fresh. For years, Allon has been viewed much like the prodigal son returning home—which in this case is the Mossad. However, for the first time in his career, Gabriel suffers a small fall from grace when an operation he personally flies to Vienna—a place where he’s experienced an abundance of personal grief in past books—to oversee, is a resounding failure. Worse, that failure ends up making headlines around the world, causing many, even the people of Israel, to wonder if Allon really is fit to be chief.
Surrounded by controversy, Gabriel realizes that while all eyes are on him, Russia continues nurturing their relationship with a high-ranking mole who’s penetrated an allied nation’s foreign intelligence service—pitting Allon against another master spy, perhaps the most dangerous of his storied career.
You never want to overhype a book, but for my money, this might be the best spy thriller since John le Carre’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The Other Woman is an instant classic from Daniel Silva, who continues building his legacy as one of the greatest spy novelists the genre has ever known.
Spymaster by Brad Thor (Atria/Emily Bestler Books)
The Harvath readers see in Spymaster is a little bit older, now in his mid-forties and feeling it. Two decades of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders has left Thor’s hero battered, bruised, and exhausted. Still, after flirting with semi-retirement in the last book, Scot is back to kicking in doors and shooting bad guys in the head. He’s got a little more help around him now as Thor continues to develop a well-rounded supporting cast of Tier One operators, which is good news for Scot because he’ll need all the help he can get when Russia tries to draw the United States into war by attacking its NATO allies.
Aside from being tasked with preventing World War III at all costs, Harvath is also dealing with personal issues—like the fact that his boss and mentor, Reed Carlton, the original spymaster, is dying. Surrounded by conflict, both physically and emotionally, Harvath must battle multiple enemies in hopes of completing his mission, leading to an action-packed climax that’s as good as anything Thor’s ever written.
Spymaster is Brad Thor at his very best, and his latest jaw-dropping ending is an easy pick for the year’s best cliffhanger.
Skyjack by K.J. Howe (Quercus)
K.J. Howe follows up her brilliant debut novel (The Freedom Broker, 2017) with another heart-stopping thriller starring kidnap and ransom specialist Thea Paris.
For twelve-year-old Jabari and his nine-year-old brother, Ayan, their first time flying turns into an absolute nightmare. Having previously witnessed their parents being killed by members of Boko Haram, the brothers were forced into becoming child soldiers against their will. With Thea’s help, the boys ended up being adopted, and it’s now her job to escort them from Africa to London, where they will meet their new parents.
Things don’t go according to plan, though, and Thea once again becomes an unwilling participant in a much larger game.
Trying to remain calm as the 737 experiences major turbulence, Thea is also simultaneously attempting to keep one eye on her blood sugar and one eye on the brothers, when she notices that another passenger is in distress. A large man in front of her suddenly slumps over in his seat and appears in need of medical attention. Thea, a diabetic, knows all too well the annoyance of a sudden medical issue rearing its ugly head during an already high-pressure situation. She goes to help the man, as does the co-pilot, who’d slipped out of the cockpit to relieve himself. The two agree that the plane should make an emergency landing, but the co-pilot reveals to her that he’s been locked out of the cockpit and doesn’t know why.
A short while later, the 737 lands somewhere in the Libyan desert. Thea discovers that the pilot had previously been approached by mysterious men who threatened the safety of his loved ones in order to strong-arm him into landing the plane at specific coordinates provided to him. Thea is tricked off of the plane, which then takes off without her, before coming face-to-face with Prospero Salvatore, the head of the Sicilian Mafia and Thea’s longtime nemesis.
Salvatore proposes a trade, offering Thea the brothers—along with the rest of the hostages on board the 737—in exchange for her help with a job.
The job, as it turns out, is to intercept a truck full of Syrian refugees who are en route to Budapest. Seeing no other viable option, Thea agrees to the terms—then ropes in her team at Quantum International Security to help her not only locate the truck but to also figure out Salvatore’s true intentions. . . which turn out to be more sinister than she previously imagined.
With a limited amount of time to act and multiple moving parts, Thea once again has her work cut out for her as author K.J. Howe dazzles readers with her deftly plotted, expertly-written story that’s packed with action and intrigue.
Agent in Place by Mark Greaney (Berkley)
The job is simple, or so he was told.
Hired by a couple who represent a group of well-connected Syrians hellbent on toppling the regime of Ahmed al-Azzam, President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Courtland “The Gray Man” Gentry is given the information of a private apartment in Paris where Bianca Medina, the president’s twenty-six-year-old secret mistress, is currently staying.
The plan is to have Gentry kidnap Bianca, a clear power move by a group of Syrian expats who call themselves the Free Syrian Army, designed to destabilize Ahmed al-Azzam’s government. After scouting his target, Court makes his move in the dark of the night, only to encounter a large number of ISIS militants who also converge on Bianca’s apartment, guns a-blazin’.
Narrowly escaping with the package in hand, Court delivers the mistress to Tarek and Rima Halaby. The couple, both of whom are doctors, are Gentry’s contacts for the job. Convinced they chose not to tell him about the potential threat of running into ISIS jihadists, Court instructs the Halabys to wire the rest of his fee within a day or suffer the deadly consequences. Things take a complicated turn, though, when Bianca refuses to help the Free Syrian Army and their cause, revealing that she recently gave birth to a son who, against her wishes, is still inside Syria—which has been reduced to a chaotic war zone. For the mistress to comply, she demands the Halabys find a way to have her son rescued and brought to her. It’s an impossible task, no doubt, and the Halabys know just the person for the job.
After convincing Court to work with them one last time, mostly to help Bianca because he sympathizes with her and the situation she’s in, Gentry heads to Syria for the most dangerous assignment in his storied career.
With so many of the genre’s other top characters already fifteen books or more into their respective runs, Court Gentry represents the future of the thriller genre. Author Mark Greaney once again develops his character brilliantly as he continues to slowly break away from the pack as the apparent heir to the throne currently held by Brad Thor and Daniel Silva.
Operator Down by Brad Taylor (Dutton)
When Aaron Bergman and Alexandra, a young female agent, are kidnapped during a mission gone totally wrong, it’s all hands on deck to rescue the Mossad agents in Brad Taylor’s latest thriller, Operator Down.
Despite many interrogations at the hands of his captors that left him beaten and bruised, Aaron holds out—urging Alexandra to do whatever it takes to stay alive—because he knows with absolute certainty that once Shoshana finds out he was taken she’ll come for him no matter what, and he’s seen more than once that Shoshana is capable of breathtaking violence when the situation calls for it.
As it turns out, Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill happen to be in Israel on a Taskforce-assigned mission to track an arms dealer believed to be selling nuclear weapons components. While shadowing their target, they inadvertently come across intel from a recorded restaurant conversation suggesting an attack on a female Mossad agent is in the works. It doesn’t take long for Pike and Jennifer to connect the dots and realize Shoshana, an old friend and colleague of theirs, is the one being targeted—and Pike shows up at the last minute to thwart the assault.
With Pike and Jennifer eager to lend a hand (or trigger finger), they formulate a plan to rescue Aaron. However, things quickly change when a much larger conspiracy is uncovered, revealing a plot to topple a democratic African country, forcing Pike Logan to choose between following their Taskforce orders or helping Shoshana—an unstoppable one-woman human-killing machine—rescue Aaron.
Brad Taylor’s unmatched ability to mix hard-hitting, authentic action with daring plots that feel like they’re ripped from next week’s headlines is on full display here. While Pike Logan will always be the main character, few authors in this genre have a roster of fan-favorite characters deeper than Taylor, who uses them brilliantly in Operator Down, one of his most action-packed thrillers to date.
The Terminal List by Jack Carr (Atria/Emily Bestler Books)
A potential new star of the genre emerges in Jack Carr’s debut thriller, which introduces a lethal protagonist in the same vein as other iconic literary heroes such as Mitch Rapp and Scot Harvath.
While carrying out a high-stakes mission near the Khost Province in Afghanistan, Navy SEAL Commander James Reece and his men inadvertently walk straight into an ambush, and only Reece survives.
Following the carnage, Reece reflects on the orders that came down the pipe, forcing him and his men into a situation they had little time to prepare for. Noting that he never felt right about the mission from the very beginning, Reece starts asking questions upon returning to Bagram Air Base—only to uncover a shocking truth about his men and a tragic medical diagnosis. By the time Reece finally pulls into his Coronado, California driveway, ready to see his wife Lauren and their daughter Lucy, he’s horrified to find his house crawling with police officers. Inside, his family lays slain in their living room, their bodies riddled with bullet holes.
It doesn’t take long for Reece to realize that his getting closer to the truth about what happened to him and his men in Afghanistan caused the deaths of his loved ones. The enemy, by taking away everyone he loved, sent Reece a painful message. At the same time, they just took away the only thing keeping his anger and brutality in check—a move they’ll soon regret. With nothing left to live for, James Reece chases the conspiracy unfolding before him, which reaches all the way to the very top of the United States government. Carefully crafting a list of everyone involved, Reece then sets out to do the one thing he’s exceptionally good at. . . kill everyone who played even a minor role in the deaths of his men and his family.
The government spent a lot of time and money turning Reece into a killing machine for his country. Now he’s coming after them.
The Terminal List might just be the best debut since Vince Flynn’s Term Limits, and if ever there was a new author worthy of being compared to Flynn, it’s Jack Carr—who sure looks to be a formidable new voice in the political thriller genre.
Bloody Sunday by Ben Coes (Dutton)
Ben Coes has dazzled readers throughout his career, but he’s never treated readers to a show quite like this before.
Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s Supreme Leader, is terminally ill. Cancer has spread throughout his entire body, his prognosis confirmed by one of the most elite cancer specialists in all the world. But rather than surrender to his fate and make plans to pass peacefully, Kim does just the opposite. Keeping his diagnosis private, he decides that if he’s going down, he’s taking the United States down with him—and instructs his scientists to ramp up their nuclear weapons program while he secretly looks for a partner to provide him with the long-range ballistic missile needed to carry the nuclear payload.
Meanwhile, in America, CIA Director Hector Calibrisi is becoming more and more concerned with North Korea’s dramatic increase in nuclear activity. Directed by the president to find a way to slow down Kim’s efforts, a daring plan is hatched to flip one of Kim’s top military generals into playing for the U.S. by poisoning him with a customized virus and dangling the antidote in front of him of him to force his cooperation. It’s a can’t-lose situation, at least on paper, and Calibrisi green-lights it, with Dewey their top choice to fly to Macau in order to drug the traveling North Korean general.
Things take a disastrous turn, however, when Dewey, who needed significant urging to even agree to take the mission in the first place, accidentally injects a small amount of the poison into himself during a struggle. Worse, the only vial containing the antidote is already in North Korea, which means that in order to survive, Dewey Andreas must get to North Korea and locate the antidote while also trying to find a way to stop Kim’s sinister plot to nuke the United States before it’s too late.
With the clock ticking down from the moment the poison enters his bloodstream, Dewey quickly finds himself facing the most challenging and dangerous mission of his illustrious career.
Ever since Independence Day (2015), Ben Coes has been operating on another level, unmatched by anyone else in the genre—and Bloody Sunday is his boldest, most daring thriller yet.
Hellbent by Gregg Hurwitz (Minotaur)
Once a rogue, highly-trained former member of the Orphan Program, a top-secret government project designed to turn children into killers, Evan Smoak has left that life behind. Now he’s known only as the Nowhere Man, the last hope for many people in desperate need—all of them strangers to Evan. But this time, Evan recognizes the voice on the other end of the phone as Jack Johns, his mentor and former handler—kicking off the most personal mission of his career.
Charles Van Sciver, the head of the Orphan Program, is shutting things down. That means scrubbing everyone still linked to the program, including Evan, one of the original recruits, who was designated Orphan X. After many failed attempts (shown in past books), Van Sciver finally decides that the best way to get to Orphan X is to go after his handler.
Reeling and fueled by rage, Evan begins by retracing Jack’s footsteps—finding a coded message from his mentor, who’s tasked him with one final mission, one that Evan must complete at all costs.
So far, three books in, Gregg Hurwitz is pitching a perfect game. One of the things that makes this series so good is that Hurwitz keeps finding legitimate reasons to continue telling Evan’s story. Unlike other series where authors keep sending their heroes on new world-saving missions, Hurwitz continues to think up compelling scenarios to drop his protagonist into.
The first book (Orphan X) saw Evan helping someone who accidentally got caught up in danger caused by his former life, and the second book (The Nowhere Man) followed Evan when he coincidentally found himself in the very type of situation someone would typically call him for help with. While the first two installments are terrific, Hellbent, which features the most personal mission for Evan yet, is special for a number of reasons—all of them too spoilery to share here.
Well-written and engaging, Hurwitz’s pacing is quick and relentless as Orphan X soars to new heights in Hellbent, ending with a killer reveal that sets things up for Evan’s biggest showdown yet in 2019.
The Kremlin’s Candidate by Jason Matthews (Scribner)
Jason Matthews closes out his Red Sparrow trilogy with a bang, taking readers on another nail-biting ride through the shadows occupied by spies from Russia and the US, who put all their cards on the table during an epic, modern-day Cold War-like showdown.
Back in 2005, then-twenty-four-year-old Dominika Egorova, one of the best assets Russia’s Sparrow program has ever produced, was tasked with going to work on an American target located at the bar inside the Metropol Hotel. The target, a US Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade named Audrey Rowland, never stood a chance against Dominika’s charm, skills, and raw sexuality. Soon, their encounter moves to a private suite, and Audrey, like many before her, falls victim to Dominika’s sensual energy.
Later, Audrey learns that their entire encounter was recorded, and she’s blackmailed into spying for the Russians.
In the present day, Dominika continues to catch the eye of Russian President Vladimir Putin for her work during her time as a Sparrow. Sparrows, trained in the art of “sexpionage,” a form of sexual entrapment, use their bodies to seduce their targets, luring them in close before killing them or convincing them to join the SVR and spy for Russia. Dominika, a former world-class dancer, traded in her ballet career for life in the SVR after sustaining an injury years prior. Now, Dominika has risen to the rank of colonel and is highly respected in the counterintelligence section of the SVR. Secretly, she’s a mole for the CIA, and in love with her American handler, Nathaniel Nash, who desperately wants her to defect and come safely to the United States while she still has the chance. Nash’s superiors at the CIA, however, see Dominika as too valuable of an asset to simply remove her from the chess board when she still has moves to make.
While Dominika continues her ascent within the SVR, Audrey Rowland’s star slowly rises within the CIA, who has no clue she was flipped and began spying for Russia more than a decade ago. When Audrey delivers top-secret information about America’s weapons system to the Kremlin, they hatch a bold plan to assassinate the current CIA director, with the goal of having Rowland replace her. If they succeed, the Russians will have unlimited access to America’s treasure trove of classified documents and top-secret information. That poses a dangerous scenario for Dominika, code-named DIVA, because her identity as an American asset would then reach back to the Kremlin. Once her true identity is revealed, it’s game over, in more ways than one, for both her and the CIA.
With the clock ticking down, Nash and Dominika put their relationship on hold while they try desperately to locate DIVA’s American counterpart, leading to a nerve-wracking, heart-pounding final act that will blow readers away and stay with them long after they turn the final page.
Jason Matthews took the thriller world by storm when Red Sparrow first came out back in 2013. Provocative, daring, and unlike anything else the genre has to offer, readers and critics have raved about Matthews’ first two novels while anticipating his third installment, one of the year’s most sought-after books. Newcomers to this series should be aware of the sometimes graphic sexual content, as Dominika’s job is, quite literally, to get targets into bed. While there’s less of that in this book than the previous two, the story does open with a pretty descriptive, hard-R sequence that’ll make more than a few readers blush.
Chilling, timely, and emotionally-charged from beginning to end, The Kremlin’s Candidate is another masterpiece from Jason Matthews and a sure bet to leave readers absolutely stunned.
The Kremlin Conspiracy by Joel C. Rosenberg (Tyndale)
Rosenberg’s latest thriller opens in 1999. A young Russian lawyer named Oleg Kraskin plans to ask the father of his longtime girlfriend, Marina, for his permission to propose to his daughter. There’s just one problem. . .
Marina’s father is Aleksander Luganov, the former head of the Russian Federal Security Service, current prime minister, and the man chosen to be the next president of Russia.
Jumping forward a few years, twenty-one-year-old Marcus Ryker, a student at the University of Northern Colorado, finds himself in jail after defending his mother against an abusive man who’d beaten her on more than one occasion. Having acted in self-defense, Marcus eventually walks free, but the sobering moment alters the trajectory of his life forever. After graduation, he abandons his original plans and joins the Marines, something he hadn’t previously considered.
Though a world apart, Rosenberg masterfully develops both Marcus and Oleg, skillfully detailing their backgrounds and careers.
Russian President Luganov granted Oleg’s request, hosted a great wedding for his daughter and new son-in-law, and then welcomed Oleg into the family business by making him an aid in the Kremlin. Marcus, meanwhile, who experienced war first-hand on the battlefields in Afghanistan, got out of the military, married a beautiful woman, started a family, and then joined the United States Secret Service. Oleg, too, had a child and similarly climbed the career ladder. Eventually, both men find themselves at the peak of their professions. Marcus is on the president’s security detail, while Oleg (after proving his loyalty) is promoted to senior aide, working directly under his powerful father-in-law.
As readers follow both characters, Rosenberg slowly reveals an evil force lurking behind the scenes. Realizing the time to strike is now, while the American president is distracted by the events unfolding in Iran and North Korea, a czar rising within the Kremlin develops a plan to invade several NATO countries just ahead of October 25th, the anniversary of the Russian Revolution—a move that could trigger a major war with the United States.
Suddenly, the lives of Marcus and Oleg, two men on opposites sides of a dangerous conflict, collide in full force as Rosenberg cranks up the suspense, delivering his most stunning, high-stakes thriller yet.
With his knack for writing prophetic fiction, those who want an early glimpse at what the world might look like in the very near future should pick up Joel Rosenberg’s latest thriller … then strap in and hold on tight. The Kremlin Conspiracy is a high-octane thriller that will stun readers and stay with them long after they turn the final page.
Overkill by Ted Bell (William Morrow)
Following Bell’s last bestseller, Patriot (2015), Alex Hawke is still at odds with his frenemy Vladimir Putin, the ruthless Russian president who saw his last attempt to strike fear into the West thwarted by the former MI6 agent. This time around, Putin has a new plan in the works to blast back onto the world stage, and he’s come up with a daring way to take Hawke off the board while he implements his new sinister plot, a little operation he calls ‘Overkill.’
Both loved and hated in his own country, the Russian president finds himself in the middle of an assassination attempt aboard his Gulfstream 750. He’s made powerful enemies in the traitorous Oligarch criminals inside the Kremlin, who have hatched an elaborate plan to have him killed. A former KGB agent himself, Putin has long sensed what is coming and has taken provisions to protect himself. So when his private aircraft crashes into a fiery ball high in the Alps, the world thinks Putin is dead—which is just what he wanted.
Hawke, meanwhile, spends a vibrant Christmas morning with his son, Alexei, as the two embark on a ski trip in Switzerland, soaking up some much-needed father-son time. Terror suddenly strikes, though, when a mysterious explosion rocks their cable car, snapping wires and cables halfway up the mountain. Their dangling gondola, suddenly reduced to a death box of panic and fear, is left hanging thousands of feet above the ground. A brilliant rescue operation saves most on board, but back at the hospital, Hawke’s world is rocked for the second time that same day when he discovers that Alexei was never admitted to receive medical attention along with the other children.
After searching the hospital and the surrounding area, Hawke realizes his son has been kidnapped, and vows to do whatever is necessary in order to get his boy back.
As the search gets underway, Hawke makes a disturbing connection between his son’s disappearance and Putin’s questionable whereabouts, leading to a stunning ending that will leave readers gasping for air and begging more.
Bell’s tenth Alex Hawke thriller has it all—action, conspiracies, nonstop twists and turns, badass heroes, and villains galore. One of the antagonists, a man who goes by the name Shit Smith, may very well go down as one of the best baddies in the series to date, and Putin’s hideout, a fortress he calls the Falcon’s Lair (those who’ve read Bell’s novella White Death will recognize it), is as cool as it gets.
Alex Hawke is this generation’s James Bond, and Overkill screams with gripping, high-octane action from start to finish.
Reaper: Ghost Target by Nicholas Irving and A.J. Tata (St. Martin’s)
Elite sniper Vick “The Reaper” Harwood is an American hero … but is he also a blood-thirsty vigilante?
That’s the premise for Reaper: Ghost Target, the must-read new thriller from real-life sniper Nicholas Irving (the real Reaper and inspiration for Harwood) and retired brigadier general turned bestselling author, A.J. Tata.
On the heels of a failed operation in Afghanistan, Harwood returns to the United States without his spotter or his beloved rifle, which he affectionately refers to as “Lindsay,” and with very little memory of what actually happened.
He was sent to kill his nemesis, Khasan Basayev. Nicknamed “the Chechen,” Basayev and Harwood have faced off more than once on the same battlefield, representing different sides of the war. Three weeks earlier, the Chechen had shot Harwood’s friend and spotter, Jor LaBoeuf, between the eyes. Now, ready to claim retribution with the squeeze of a trigger, Harwood finally had the drop on Basayev.
Laying prone behind his rifle from eight hundred yards out, Harwood peered through the scope and laid the crosshairs on the Chechen’s head. But before he could pull the trigger, mortar rounds started exploding all around him. In the midst of all the explosions and subsequent flying debris, Harwood was knocked unconscious.
He wakes up a week later in a military hospital, surrounded by doctors and nurses. He sustained a serious head injury, which has affected his memory, among other things, and he can only remember bits and pieces of the mission. He’s eventually deemed unfit for active duty and sent back to the States.
Just like that, one of the most feared snipers in America’s military, the man with a record thirty-three kills in just ninety days, is forced to sit on the sidelines.
Months later, Harwood is doing better physically, but mentally he still struggles with weird “episodes” where he blacks out for minutes at a time. He begins teaching special forces snipers around the country, trying to complete his rehab so he can get back into the game and on the battlefield with his fellow soldiers. He also starts dating Olympic gold medalist Jackie Colt, a sharpshooter with world-class precision, whom he met back in Afghanistan when she traveled with other athletes and celebrities in an effort to meet and give back to the troops. He’s happy, but something is missing.
The story takes its first high-powered turn when a general is assassinated near Fort Bragg—shot through the head from a long distance away. Harwood had been experiencing a blackout at the time of the shooting and cannot confirm his whereabouts. A similar incident happens again a few days later. And again, Harwood had been incapacitated by a blackout, leaving him with no alibi or recollection of what happened. The story twists a second time when a special FBI task force headed up by Deke Bronson, a former marine who saw combat in Fallujah, traces the bullets to Harwood’s rifle, making him the prime suspect in the high-profile killings.
As a trail of bodies piles up, leading right back to Harwood, the Reaper is forced to go on the run in an attempt to evade authorities while he searches for the truth. While the whole country thinks he’s become an unhinged killer, Harwood refuses to believe he’s capable of such traitorous actions. Clearing his name, though, won’t be easy, especially when he realizes it’s those closest to him who hold the key to making sense of what’s happening.
Written by two guys with plenty of first-hand experience, Reaper: Ghost Target bleeds with gripping authenticity from beginning to end. Irving and Tata are a lethal combination, and Vick Harwood is a hero unlike anyone else the genre has to offer.
Forever and a Day by Anthony Horowitz (Harper)
007 is dead. His body was found in the waters of Marseille, three 9mm bullets fired into his chest and stomach at close range. It’s a devastating blow to Her Majesty’s secret service, but it also paves the way for a younger agent to replace him. Thus, it’s time for James Bond to officially earn his license to kill.
Before M is willing to officially elevate Commander Bond to Double-O status and give him a spot on the fifth floor overlooking Regent’s Park, the young recruit is sent to kill Rolf Larsen, a traitor hiding out in Stockholm. While this scene is briefly referenced in Fleming’s Casino Royale, Horowitz takes readers inside the old-fashioned apartment furnished with heavy dark German furniture, rugs, and chandeliers, as Bond does his job. Though it’s his second assassination, this is much different than the first, when he shot someone by the name of Kishida. Larsen is much more up-close-and-personal, a true test of Bond’s nerve and resolve.
With the bloody trial run complete, M promotes Bond, who chooses his 007 designation to send a message to the bad guys (a message that’s too good to spoil here). And with that, James Bond, the newly minted 007, is dispatched to France and tasked with finding out who, exactly, killed the former Double-O agent, and what he might have learned while investigating a new development in the Marseille-based criminal underworld that got him killed in the first place.
A beautiful woman named Sixtine, who spends much of her time in casinos counting cards and taking it to the house, steals the show early on. Readers are also treated to decades-long questions finally being answered, as Horowitz explains things (in addition to where the 007 designation came from) such as why Bond always gives his real name rather than an alias, why he prefers a certain firearm over others, and, perhaps the most debated question of all, why he likes his martinis shaken and not stirred. It’s all expertly woven in by Horowitz, who appears to emulate Fleming’s prose to an extent, but also offers a slightly more modern and sharper writing style that gets right to the point and splits the difference between contemporary fiction and staying true to the 1950s setting.
Taking on one of fiction’s all-time greatest heroes is no easy task, but Anthony Horowitz has proven to be the man for the job. Seeing this inexperienced side to Bond is refreshing and finally provides the true origin story that was always missing from the polished, hardened agent Fleming introduced in Casino Royale. In the acknowledgment section, placed just after the story’s conclusion, Horowitz explains that some of the material was based on an outline Fleming wrote for an American television series that was never made. Using that, Horowitz has crafted an authentic, action-packed Bond novel that even the Fleming faithful will devour.
The book’s best sequence involves Bond having a vision of himself in the future where he skis, swims, and drives fast cars, doing pretty much all the things fans have witnessed him doing both on the page and on the big screen for decades. It’s a brilliant nod to Bond’s legacy from Horowitz, who notes that the beloved MI6 agent feels as though he’ll never die. And in some ways, he never will. Between the novels and movies, both those already made and new projects to come in the future, 007’s place in pop culture history is set in stone, ensuring that James Bond really will live forever … and a day.
Field of Valor by Matthew Betley (Atria/Emily Bestler Books)
Former Marine Force Recon platoon commander Logan West, who is still reeling from the loss of a close personal friend, is now part of the FBI’s elite unit known as Task Force Ares. Hellbent on bringing down a secret shadow government calling themselves the Organization, West calls on buddy John Quick and Oath of Honor carryover Cole Matthews to help him run down their first real lead in months.
West, Quick, and Cole all head to the National Air and Space Museum in search of a man known as the Recruiter. Instead, they inadvertently walk into an ambush—setting up an entertaining action scene inside the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar. In the midst of the chaos, Logan gets a call from an unknown number. Never one to shy away from a ringing phone, West once again impulsively answers the call, sparking deja vu all over again (a nod to the series opening in Overwatch) when his doing so kicks off a chain of events that no one could have predicted.
It turns out that a man from Logan’s past is part of the Organization, and he arranges a meeting with the group’s leader, Constantine Krawcyk-Kallas, who lives in an eye-popping mansion located on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Constantine walks Logan through the Organization’s history, explaining that they’ve long served a valuable purpose—using their cover in the shadows to circumvent laws when necessary, but only for the greater good. They’re plugged in, well-connected, and have a nearly unlimited amount of funds at their disposal. They also have a serious problem . . .
One of their members has staged a coup within their ranks and is now acting as a rogue republic with the intention of pitting America against China in an effort to destabilize the world’s economy.
With a string of attacks being carried out on U.S. soil, Logan West once again finds himself up against a running clock, this time to stop the Organization before it’s too late. But with no idea of how high or wide the corruption goes within his own government, West cannot trust anyone but John and Cole—and this time, that might not be enough.
While the authentic, sarcastic dialogue he’s known for is still his go-to play, Betley proves to have more than just a fastball in his arsenal. When the moment calls for it, he’s able to strategically slow things down in order to really deliver powerful, emotional scenes that add to the story—and few series feel as tailor-made for the big screen as Betley’s. Whether it’s Logan West cranking up the stereo in his car to provide a little background music to the action scene or John Quick snapping off witty comebacks even in the most high-pressure situations imaginable, everything about Betley’s fictional world screams Hollywood.
Fast, hard-hitting, and impossible to put down, Field of Valor is hands-down one of the best action thrillers of 2018.
