Good Military-themed Thrillers (Books)

[Ometiklan]

Anyone have some good military- or paramilitary-themed thrillers (books) to recommend?

I am thinking on the lines of Tom Clancy. I really enjoyed Rainbow Six and Hunt For Red October, and most of his other Jack Ryan books, but I haven't been a fan of his other serieses.

I don't know of other good writers in this area, so I thought I would give you guys a try. I have also read some Vince Flynn, David Baldacci, and Clive Cussler thrillers hoping for something as good and have been less than impressed.

Thanks!

 

[LutherSloan]

Flynn's earlier stuff was better than the current stuff. Now he's gotten WAY too preachy, whining constantly through his characters about how he things the US treats terrorists like royalty or some BS.

Some other authors I recommend: Brad Thor (same problem as Flynn lately), Larry Bond (worked with Tom Clancy on 'Red Storm Rising', and made several similar books like that one before doing some submarine stories and a series about a joint covert military team), Dale Brown (his books mostly revolve around the Air Force, but they work well if you like techno-thrillers), Ted Bell, Stephen Coonts, Matthew Reilly (his books frequently drift towards Sci-Fi), Daniel Silva, and Andrew Britton.

 

[captcalhoun]

Dale Brown's works are good, although they're getting rather more SF-y with the weps and gear he's using...

but they're still huge fun

 

[Locutus of Bored]

If you liked Red October and Red Storm Rising, you'll probably enjoy Thunder of Erebus by Payne Harrison. It was published in 1991, so it's a little dated now with its reliance on the USSR as the enemy, but once the story gets rolling the battle down in Antarctica gets pretty damn brutal. There's some great submarine action too.

 

[Tomato]

I really liked Generation Kill and One Bullet Away. Not really up your alley but good books nethertheless.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Larry Bond, early (pre- Tin Man, I'd say) Dale Brown... Clancy's Without Remorse. early (pre-Saucer) Stephen Coonts

 

[Marc]

Patrick Robson's (an English Author) not a bad read in the Genre but his conservative politics tend to get a good airing in the books (more so that Clancy's for much of his work)

 

[Dayton3]

I agree on Dale Brown. If you like U.S. Air Force and especially bomber action, Dale Brown is for you. It shows that he is a former SAC FB-111 crewman.

One thing I don't like about Dale Brown's work.

All of his books take place in the same timeline and universe.

Basically, if you take all of Browns books together, there have been something like ten small scale nuclear conflicts in the world since around 1990 or so.

It kills believability that there would be so many nukes going off in that period and still leave and America or a world that hasn't changed radically beyond recognition.

 

[payndz201]

Patrick Robson's (an English Author) not a bad read in the Genre but his conservative politics tend to get a good airing in the books (more so that Clancy's for much of his work)

Robinson has such a hard-on for the US military that it's a wonder he doesn't need three shoes.

I can't read him any more, because he's so angrily ultra-conservative that every single scene is infused with a seething, fist-clenched hatred for anyone who doesn't share his worldview (and his 'hero' is so unpleasant and arrogant that he makes Dick Cheney seem chilled out). I wasn't at all surprised when I learned that he used to work for the Daily Mail.

 

[Lookingglassman]

Harold Coyle's earlier stuff was good before he started to suck. Team Yankee, Sword Point, Bright Star, The Ten Thousand, Trail by Fire (kind of scary reading it now because it deals with a US invasion of Mexico because of drug wars) were all great books.

 

[Star Wolf]

I would go back in time maybe the Sharpe's Rifles series or the sea stories of Douglass Reeman. The problem with Clancy and the clones is that world events overtook their fictional universes and you get the sureeal secret wars fought with secret strategic bombers dropping nukes.

 

[Star Wolf]

Harold Coyle's earlier stuff was good before he started to suck. Team Yankee, Sword Point, Bright Star, The Ten Thousand, Trail by Fire (kind of scary reading it now because it deals with a US invasion of Mexico because of drug wars) were all great books.

I think Team Yankee was written as a training aid but then the character took off as he reset the universe with the Iranian invasion.

 

[captcalhoun]

Larry Bond, early (pre- Tin Man, I'd say) Dale Brown... Clancy's Without Remorse. early (pre-Saucer) Stephen Coonts

OMG, another BRITISH Dale Brown fan! *faints*

You didn't like 'Plan of Attack'?

have you been reading the 'Dreamland' series with Jim Defelice?

 

[Lonemagpie]

Larry Bond, early (pre- Tin Man, I'd say) Dale Brown... Clancy's Without Remorse. early (pre-Saucer) Stephen Coonts

OMG, another BRITISH Dale Brown fan! *faints*

Is this unusual?

You didn't like 'Plan of Attack'?

I liked it fine, actually - was just trying to pick the spot where he really went SF

I think Day Of The Cheetah is my favourite, BTW

have you been reading the 'Dreamland' series with Jim Defelice?

Nah, dunno how much of it would be down to the other author (having said that, I actually prefer Paul Kemprecos' NUMA tales to yer genuine Cussler these days!) or whether it'd be too fantastical

 

[Mistral]

W.E.B. Griffin. John Ringo. Griffin writes great tomes, absolutely huge books and Ringo started out writing military scifi but now writes techno-thrillers.

 

[Star Wolf]

W.E.B. Griffin. John Ringo. Griffin writes great tomes,.

But not Clancyish, in describing how roboweapon homes in. He is in that the main character is usually rich with a very important patron.

 

[Marc]

W.E.B. Griffin. John Ringo. Griffin writes great tomes, absolutely huge books and Ringo started out writing military scifi but now writes techno-thrillers.

Was Griffin the one who vote The Brotherhood of War series?

 

[Star Wolf]

W.E.B. Griffin. John Ringo. Griffin writes great tomes, absolutely huge books and Ringo started out writing military scifi but now writes techno-thrillers.

Was Griffin the one who vote The Brotherhood of War series?

That's him after the Army/Special Forces/CIA/Air Cav series he has done a USMC/OSS series. Two other OSS series a modern Delta Force series and a series about the Philadelphia Police Department. How many he actually wrote???

 

[The Badger]

The naval warfare themed novels of James Cobb are well worth a look. Hi tech, near future thrillers, with enough realism to be plausible.
At the other end of the scale, Matthew Reilly's books are fast paced over the top adventure, like some big budget Hollywood movie in print. Complete hokum, but hugely enjoyable if you're in the right mood.

 

[LutherSloan]

I love Reilly's stuff. Of course unlike other authors, he has several different series going on, some active, some not. One thing I like about his novels is that he is not afraid to kill off main characters without warning. Like I said at the top, he drifts in and out of sci-fi at times (see: Temple, Contest, and the current Six Sacred Stones/Seven Deadly Wonders series).