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Find out moreLooking for your next literary adrenaline rush? Or to live vicariously through a thrill-seeking hero/heroine? Have a look at the titles in our Action/Adventure/Spy section for the latest danger and intrigue-filled novels.
A stark, fierce, and fascinating start to what promises to be a rewarding trilogy. The Swords of Silence is set in Japan during 1626 as the Shogun slams shut the door to outside influences. If Father Joaquim Martinez and the village he tends, fail to renounce their religion, they face a hideous death. It took a little time for me to settle into the names, the time, the land, however I was soon gripped by the story on offer. The dedication at the beginning states that between 1614 and 1643 the Shogun executed almost 5,000 Christians. Shaun Curry writes with a simplicity that to be quite honest, feels necessary in the bloodshed that follows. He doesn’t revel in the gore, instead quite matter-of-factly describes incidents that somehow feel all the more real. I have to say that I have rather fallen for Master Watanabe and do hope that he makes a reappearance in the trilogy! Exploring a time and place from long ago, The Swords of Silence took me with picture sharp clarity into a compelling story.
Oomph, my stomach went into free-fall as I read this clever, on-point, and absolutely thrilling tale. Manhattan’s elevators have been taken over, as the death toll rises and Manhattan comes to a stop, a journalist and two New York Detectives investigate. The prologue sets a chilling scene, I knew what was coming, it was peek through fingers time! Linwood Barclay adds new characters to the boiling pot without missing a beat. Layers of intrigue coupled with heart pounding action ensured I was on high alert at all times. As the tale slid forward, chimes and occasionally towering bells of realisation rang out. I adore Linwood Barclay’s books, I always throw myself in with abandon and know I can just enjoy a stunningly good read. Elevator Pitch is a flaming humdinger of a novel, it’s one of those, where at the end and I thought back, I slapped my hand to my head and exclaimed “of course!”. Dynamic and because it is just so readable, I’ve added Elevator Pitch as one of my Liz Robinson picks of the month.
The Priest of Santa Maria is a fast-paced thriller. An entertaining read, it had me gripped to the end. In the prologue, we discover the origin of a locked box from Babylon and are introduced to a man and his daughter, the current custodians, living in Switzerland, and a woman named Angelica living in a convent in Italy. What is the connection that brings them together? And what does it have to do with a young priest named Christiano who is employed as a temporary minister at the convent? Although reluctant at first, the feeling he has towards Angelica is unlike anything he has come across. He is taken aback by the urge he has to protect her even though he may lose his vocation by doing so. This is a vivid portrayal of characters we want to engage with and an unputdownable story we don't want to end. I was pleased to discover it is part of a series and I, for one, will be looking forward to the next book from this talented storyteller. Lynn Johnson, A LoveReading Ambassador
Twenty-year-old Jane Beacon is one of life’s mavericks - a young sea-woman who navigates her own life-course against convention, against the odds, against expectation. The setting is 1940 Dunkirk and Jane has risen from joining the Wren Cadets in 1939 to single-handedly skippering a naval cutter to rescue injured soldiers. From the opening pages Jane’s formidable spirit and wit is brought to the fore, as are the prejudices of the time: “Very largely the Navy has accepted us and they know that we Wren have done a huge amount of good work, But there is always a limit to male tolerance and if you cross it, as I have done frequently, the barriers can suddenly be very high.” Readers will no doubt be swept along by Jane’s rip-roaringly reckless exploits, her unwavering commitment to the war effort, and her disregard for doing things by the book (she’s a loveable rogue, of sorts, described by her female superintendent as having “the most lurid disciplinary record in the service…she doesn’t give a damn about authority”). Fascinating research and Jane’s intense personal coming-of-age story are interwoven into the adventure, making this a tightly-packed parcel of passion, action, humour and history.
Zero Hour is the dazzling new novel in the number 1 New York Times-bestselling series from the grand master of adventure, Clive Cussler. A new energy source holds the promise to change the world. If it doesn't kill it first. It's called zero point energy, and it really exists - a state of energy contained in all matter everywhere, and all but unlimited. Nobody has ever found a way to tap into it, however. Until one scientist discovers a way. Or at least he thinks he has. The problem is, his machines also cause great earthquakes, even fissures in tectonic plates. One machine is buried deep underground; the other submerged in a vast ocean trench. If Kurt Austin, Joe Zavala and the rest of the NUMA team aren't able to find and destroy them - and soon - the world will be on the threshold of a new era of catastrophe and unchecked volcanism. Clive Cussler, author of recent New York Times bestsellers The Tombs, Poseidon's Arrow, and The Striker brings us the adrenalin-soaked doomsday masterpiece, Zero Hour. Praise for Clive Cussler: Clive Cussler is hard to beat . (Daily Mail The guy I read . (Tom Clancy). The adventure king . (Daily Express). Clive Cussler is the author or co-author of a great number of international bestsellers, including the famous Dirk Pitt[registered] adventures, such as Crescent Dawn; the NUMA[registered] Files adventures, most recently Medusa; the Oregon Files, such as The Silent Sea; and the Isaac Bell historical thrillers, which began with The Chase, and the recent Fargo adventures. He lives in Arizona.
Zero Hour is the latest in a string of nerve-shredding NUMA Files novels from Clive Cussler. A burning helicopter crashes into Sydney Opera House and Kurt Austin is flung headlong into a race to avert global catastrophe...Attempting to save a man in a speedboat from a sniper swooping in by helicopter, Kurt Austin lands himself in trouble with the Australian secret service. Though he gives them their only clue - 'Tartarus', the last word of a dying man - Kurt is brusquely warned off. Intrigued and never one to ignore a mystery he is soon on the trail of a crazed scientist hellbent on unleashing a deadly destructive force: machines capable of triggering earthquakes. Now Austin must assemble the NUMA team. Their mission? To find and stop this madman before he tears the world apart. Clive Cussler, author of recent New York Times bestsellers The Tombs, Poseidon's Arrow and The Striker, brings us Zero Hour, the new adrenalin-soaked doomsday masterpiece in the Numa Files series. Praise for Clive Cussler: Clive Cussler is hard to beat . (Daily Mail). The guy I read . (Tom Clancy). The adventure king . (Daily Express). Clive Cussler is the author or co-author of a great number of international bestsellers, including the famous Dirk Pitt[registered] adventures, such as Crescent Dawn; the NUMA[registered] Files adventures, most recently The Storm; the Oregon Files, such as The Silent Sea; and the Isaac Bell historical thrillers, which began with The Chase, and the recent Fargo adventures. He lives in Arizona.
War hero John Puller is known to be the top investigator in the US Army's CID. So when a family with military connections is brutally murdered in a remote area of West Virginia, Puller is called to investigate, and soon suspects the case has wider implications. As the body count rises he teams up with local homicide detective Samantha Cole. As the web of deceit is revealed, it quickly becomes apparent that there's much more to this case than they had first thought. It is an investigation where nothing is as it seems, and nothing can be taken at face value. When Puller and Cole discover a dangerous situation in the making, Puller finds he must turn to the one person who can help avert certain catastrophe. A person he has known all his life. In a breathtaking rollercoaster race against time, Cole fears for the community in which she was raised, and Puller knows he has to overcome the enemies of his country to avoid far reaching disaster. But in the end, you can't kill what you can't see is coming ...
'You only live twice: Once when you are born And once when you look death in the face'
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011. Jack Reader - you have got to meet him, women fall for him, men want to emulate him, I just love him, and you will too. At the end of the last book, 61 Hours, we were left not knowing if he lived or died, a bad situation to be in awaiting the next book! Shortlisted for the ITV3 People's Bestseller Dagger 2011. The Lovereading view... Has Jack Reacher finally met his match? 61 Hours ended with Reacher trapped in a desperate situation from which escape seemed impossible. Even for him. Was that really the end of the road for the maverick loner? Featured on The Book Show on Sky Arts on 28 October 2010. January 2011 Guest Editor Lisa Gardner on Lee Child... His series character, Jack Reacher, remains the ultimate modern-day lone gunman, a former military cop who can find any problem in any small town and solve it (with maximum fire power) in twenty four hours or less. Lee has breathed authenticity into his character, enabling you to admire Reacher’s military prowess even as you worry about his self-imposed isolation. The result is an action hero with a heart.
Inside, men and women live an enclosed life full of rules and regulations, of secrets and lies. To live, you must follow the rules. But some don't. These are the dangerous ones; these are the people who dare to hope and dream, and who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple and deadly. They are allowed outside. Jules is one of these people. She may well be the last.
July 2017 Debut of the Month and eBook of the Month. A fascinating, intelligent and penetrating political thriller set in Belfast, Dublin and London. In 1991 Maire steps into the centre of a storm that will change her entire life when she is recruited as a honey trap for the IRA. In the present day DCI Carne, after an anonymous tip-off, discovers a body that will have huge repercussions for Anne-Marie who has just accepted the position as Minster of State for Security and Immigration. Layers upon intruiging layers are built throughout this story, it feels so incredibly realistic, as though you could be witnessing history. I didn't want to stop reading, this is an impressively stimulating read and I simply gobbled up the words while my mind whirred and deliberated. In ‘Woman of State’ Simon Berthon has created a contemporary thrilling tale with history ferociously snapping at its heels, ensuring one powerhouse of a read, I highly recommend it. ~ Liz Robinson
Remember Cruz Smith’s remarkable Gorky Park, one of the bestselling cold war thrillers of all time? If not, but you are a fan of Robert Harris or even Ian Rankin, then you’ll thoroughly enjoy Wolves Eat Dogs. The hero of Gorky Park, Senior Investigator Arkady Renko returns in a case that involves the apparent suicide of one of Russia's richest oligarch's, dead on the pavement outside his luxury high-rise apartment. Comparisons: Dan Fesperman, Robert Wilson, Alan Furst
Author of the magnificent ‘Emperor’ series on Julius Caesar now turns his considerable talent to the life of Genghis Khan and his descendants. Another tale of high adventure, brutal times and ambitious people. Wonderful stuff with a lot of human interest, a fascinating subject and loads of action.Comparison: Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, Valerio Massimo Manfredi. The Conqueror series1. Wolf of the Plains2. Lords of the Bow3. Bones of the Hills4. Empire of Silver5. Conqueror
This is high action, ideas driven, noir science fiction but I believe lovers of action adventures could enjoy it too.Comparison: Michael Marshall Smith, Neal Asher, Nick Sagan.Similar this month: None.
An absorbing re-creation of the 12th Century ...this is a fast-moving story of humbler folk caught up in cruel battles . (The Independent). Original, atmospheric and genuinely moving ...captures the imagination and does not let go . (Giles Kristian). It's 1141 and freezing cold. Gwil, a battle-hardened mercenary, is horrified to stumble across a little girl close to death. She has been attacked, just one more victim in a winter of atrocities. Clutching a sliver of parchment, she is terrified - but Gwil knows what he must do. He will bring her back to life. He will train her to fight. And together, they will hunt down the man who did this to her. But danger looms wherever they turn. As castle after castle falls victim to siege, the icy Fens ring with rumours of a madman, of murder - and of a small piece of parchment with a terrible secret to tell, the cost of which none of them could have imagined ...
Berlin in 1933 is in upheaval. Eleven-year-old Carla von Ulrich struggles to understand the tensions disrupting her family as Hitler strengthens his grip on Germany. Into this turmoil steps her mother's formidable friend and former British MP, Ethel Leckwith, and her student son, Lloyd, who soon learns for himself the brutal reality of Nazism. He also encounters a group of Germans resolved to oppose Hitler - but are they willing to go so far as to betray their country? Such people are closely watched by Volodya, a Russian with a bright future in Red Army Intelligence. The international clash of military power and personal beliefs that ensues will sweep over them all as it rages from Cable Street in London's East End to Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, from Spain to Stalingrad, from Dresden to Hiroshima. At Cambridge Lloyd is irresistibly drawn to dazzling American socialite Daisy Peshkov, who represents everything his left-wing family despise. But Daisy is more interested in aristocratic Boy Fitzherbert - amateur pilot, party lover and leading light of the British Union of Fascists. Back in Berlin, Carla worships golden boy Werner from afar. But nothing will work out the way they expect as their lives and the hopes of the world are smashed by the greatest and cruellest war in the history of the human race. Winter of the World is the second novel in Ken Follett's uniquely ambitious and deeply satisfying trilogy 'The Century'. On its own or read in sequence with Fall of Giants, this is a magnificent, spellbinding epic of global conflict and personal drama.
Let Bernard Cornwell sweep you back to Arthurian times, or into the heat of battle with Richard Sharpe. Sail the high seas with Patrick O'Brian. Raise your pulse-rate with Michael Crichton. Experience the adrenaline of combat with Andy McNab. Feel the clear and present danger of Tom Clancy's thrilling Jack Ryan stories... Live on the edge with Lee Child's itinerant hero Jack Reacher? Navigating your way through all the twists and turns of this roller-coaster genre can be an adventure in itself.
So, let us help you find your next fuel-injected foray into the fields of battle, espionage, danger,heroism and even history rewritten. From Dan Brown, Tom Clancy and Ken Follett to Wilbur Smith, David Gibbins and Stieg Larsson, you’ll be over the waves, under the radar, up mountains, outside the law, beyond help, dicing with danger, battling monsters, rescuing the stricken, flying through flack, laying mines, playing political parlour-games, conning Congress, kidnapping commandos clashing with conquistadors and crossing swords with Crusaders … and all from the safety of your favourite chair.