Techno Thrillers Crime Fiction Booklist

Men and Machines - weapons systems, lots of action and a fast paced plot. Often packed with technical detail and military terminology, Heroic protagonists (frequently military personnel) fight to save the day. Annotations are from Advance, the Ingram Book Magazine, unless noted.

    Key Authors: Larry Bond, Dale Brown, Joe Buff, Tom Clancy, James H. Cobb, Stephen Coonts, Harold Coyle, Jack Du Brul, Paul Garrison, David Hagberg, James W. Huston, Dean Ing, Gordon Kent, Richard Marcinko, R.J. Pineiro, David Poyer, Matthew Reilly, Patrick Robinson, Chris Stewart, Craig Thomas, Joe Weber, Robin A. White.

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