Recommendations based on "Maximum Force (A Grant Valor Action Thriller—Book 2)"

IN AFRICA ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE. Teenage martial arts expert Connor Reeves is tasked with protecting a foreign ambassador's family on safari. Considered the perfect assignment, the holiday turns to hell when their convoy is ambushed by gunmen. Fleeing through the bush, Connor and his assigned family become the prey in a shoot-to-kill hunt across the African plains. As they fight for their survival, Connor realizes the gunmen are the least of their problems. For no amount of bodyguard training can prepare him for the wilds of Africa and one prowling hungry leopard...

Once again, Tom Clancy manages to add new twists to the alternate U. S. history he initiated in The Hunt for Red October. In The Sum of All Fears, the center of conflict is the perpetual hot spot the Mideast, where a nuclear weapon falls into the hands of terrorists just as peace seems possible. Clancy realistically paints an almost unthinkable scenario-the bomb is planted on American soil in the midst of an escalation in tension with the Soviet Union; the terrorists hope to rekindle cold war animosity and prevent reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians.Despite such a dramatic story line, Clancy doesn't neglect the individuals who drive his tale. Jack Ryan's problems are as much domestic as they are part of the international crisis that is the ostensible narrative: National Security Director Elizabeth Elliot has the president's ear, and she has convinced him that Ryan's ethics are questionable. She hints at marital infidelity and an insider-trading scandal. Of course, both accusations are false, but her arguments have enough evidence behind them (e. g. some photographs of an innocent embrace with a friend) to cause a strain in the Ryans' marriage and a flurry of media attention. While "Mr. Clark" tracks the terrorists, he also provides some needed intelligence to heal the Ryan family.The Sum of All Fears is the stuff of nightmares but contains enough verisimilitude to terrify sober minds. Ryan has matured into a complex protagonist as Clancy's writing, too, has matured. Ryan is plagued by stress and self-doubts that test even his dauntless moral compass and make him a more interesting subject for readers' attention. Those fascinated by military hardware, from nuclear submarines to atomic weapons, will find almost enough here to start their own army. And Clancy's understanding of international politics seems chillingly correct. -Patrick O'Kelley

As the most powerful men on earth gather in New York for a meeting of the UN, Detective Michael Bennett receives intelligence warning that there will be an assassination attempt on the US president. Even more shocking, the intelligence suggests that the Russian government could be behind the plot.Tensions between America and Russia are the highest they've been since the Cold War, but this would be an escalation no one could have expected.The details are shadowy, and Bennett finds false leads and unreliable sources at every turn. But he can’t afford to get this wrong. If the plotters succeed, the shockwaves will be felt across the globe.

*winner Of The Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award For Best Thriller* *a Financial Times Best Thriller Book Of 2022* You'll Never Know My Name. But You Won't Forget My Number. Behind The Events You Know Are The Killers You Don’t. When Diplomacy Fails, We're The Ones Who Gear Up. Officially We Don’t Exist, But Every Government In The World Uses Our Services. We’ve Been Saving The World, And Your Ass, For One Hundred Years. Sixteen People Have Done This Job Before Me. I Am Seventeen. The Most Feared Assassin In The World. But To Be The Best, You Must Beat The Best. My Next Target Is Sixteen, Just As One Day Eighteen Will Hunt Me Down. It’s A Dog-eat-dog World And It Gets Lonely At The Top. Nobody Gets To Stay For Long. But While We're Here, All That Matters Is That We Win. Visceral, Cinematic And Wildly Addictive, Seventeen Will Keep You On The Edge Of Your Seat And Live Long In The Memory. Until Eighteen Comes Along…

#1 New York Times bestselling author John Sandford's “haunting, unforgettable, ice-blooded thriller”* that introduced Lucas Davenport...   The killer was mad but brilliant.   He left notes with every woman he killed. Rules of murder: Never have a motive. Never follow a discernible pattern. Never carry a weapon after it has been used...So many rules to his sick, violent games of death.   But Lucas Davenport, the cop who’s out to get him, isn’t playing by the rules.“Terrifying...Sandford has crafted the kind of trimmed-to-the-bone thriller that is hard to put down…scary...intriguing...unpredictable.”—Chicago Tribune  “Rules of Prey is so chilling that you’re almost afraid to turn the pages. So mesmerizing you cannot stop...A crackle of surprises.”—*Carl Hiaasen“Sleek and nasty...A big scary, suspenseful read, and I loved every minute of it.”—Stephen King“A cop and a killer you will remember for a long, long time.”—Robert B. Parker

Newly indebted to the Russian mafia, Henry “Hank” Thompson travels back to New York, where long-buried secrets threaten to come to light—the fast-paced sequel to Six Bad Things and Caught Stealing“Huston writes dialogue so combustible it could fuel a bus and characters crazy enough to take it on the road.”—The New York Times Book ReviewReluctant hitman Henry Thompson has fallen on hard times. His grip on life is disintegrating, his pistol hand shaking, his body pinned to his living room couch by painkillers—and his boss, Russian mobster David Dolokhov, isn’t happy about any of it. So Henry is surprised when he’s handed a new assignment: keep tabs on a minor league baseball star named Miguel Arenas.Henry has no pity for the slugger and the wicked gambling problem that got him in trouble, but he can’t help liking the guy. After all, Henry used to be just like him: a natural-born ball player with a bright future. But hell, that was long ago. Before Henry did some guy a favor and ended up running for his life. Before his girlfriend and buddies got gunned down by someone on his tail. Before he agreed to buy his parents’ safety with a life of violence.And when Miguel gets drafted by the Mets and is sent to the Brooklyn Cyclones, Henry must head back to New York, back to the place where all his problems began—and where Henry might find a real reason to keep living, a reason that may just cost him his life.Henry “Hank” Thompson’s thrilling adventures continue:CAUGHT STEALING • SIX BAD THINGS • A DANGEROUS MAN

24 hours to stop the crime of the centuryThe race against time is about to begin...THE TOWER OF LONDON...Impenetrable. Well protected. Secure. Home to the most valuable jewels on earth. But once a year, when the Queen attends the State Opening of Parliament, the Metropolitan Police must execute the most secret operation in their armory as they transport the Crown Jewels across London.SCOTLAND YARD...For decades, the elite squad at Scotland Yard have been in charge of the operation. And for decades, it's run like clockwork.THE HEIST...But this year, everything is about to change. Because a master criminal has set his sights on pulling off the most outrageous theft in history--and with a man on the inside, the odds are in his favor.Unless the team can stop him before it's too late...An unputdownable new thriller from the master storyteller"Only someone like Jeffrey Archer . . . could have written a compelling story like this."--David Baldacci"Archer is a master entertainer."--Time"One of the top ten storytellers in the world."--Los Angeles Times"A storyteller in the class of Alexandre Dumas."--The Washington Post

Things are finally looking up for defense attorney Mickey Haller. After two years of wrong turns, Haller is back in the courtroom. When Hollywood lawyer Jerry Vincent is murdered, Haller inherits his biggest case yet: the defense of Walter Elliott, a prominent studio executive accused of murdering his wife and her lover. But as Haller prepares for the case that could launch him into the big time, he learns that Vincent's killer may be coming for him next.Enter Harry Bosch. Determined to find Vincent's killer, he is not opposed to using Haller as bait. But as danger mounts and the stakes rise, these two loners realize their only choice is to work together.Bringing together Michael Connelly's two most popular characters, The Brass Verdict is sure to be his biggest book yet.

On the run from the CIA, intelligence operative Will Cochrane heads to the U.S. to uncover a diabolical spymaster at the center of an international conspiracy in this thrilling follow up to Slingshot.When Will Cochrane encounters a Russian spymaster—codenamed Antaeus—who everyone believes is dead, he is thrust into a deadly game set in motion by powerful players deep inside the U.S. intelligence community. Will has worked with the CIA for years and knows them all. But now he knows there’s no one he can trust.His orders from Langley are clear: ANTAEUS MUST NOT BE TOUCHED. FURTHER INQUIRIES REQUIRE PROJECT FERRYMAN CLEARANCE. But as Antaeus and his men then attempt to execute the CIA’s best agents, Will decides to take his own shot at the spymaster, knowing it will make him a marked man.Now, the only way to save his career—and his life—is to get into the U.S. and expose the truth about Project Ferryman. But to accomplish that he’s got to outmaneuver four deadly Russian assassins and an elite FBI team controlled by shadowy officials who will stop at nothing to keep their sins and secrets safe. 

You can't runDetective Alex Cross is pulled out of a family celebration and given the awful news that a beloved relative has been found brutally murdered. Alex vows to hunt down the killer, and soon learns that she was mixed up in one of Washington's wildest scenes. And she was not this killer's only victim.You can't hideThe hunt for her murderer leads Alex and his girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, to a place where every fantasy is possible, if you have the credentials to get in. Alex and Bree are soon facing down some very important, very protected, very dangerous people in levels of society where only one thing is certain--they will do anything to keep their secrets safe. Alex Cross is your only hope to stay aliveAs Alex closes in on the killer, he discovers evidence that points to the unimaginable--a revelation that could rock the entire world. With the unstoppable action, unforeseeable twists, and edge-of-your-seat suspense that only a James Patterson thriller delivers, I, Alex Cross is the master of suspense at his sharpest and best.