Spooks, Plots and Conspiracies
Without Mercy by Jack Higgins
Following on from ‘Dark Justice’, Sean Dillon, Ferguson & co seek vengeance when their colleague Hannah Bernstein, recuperating in hospital from that books events is murdered by agents of an old adversary thought dead. Ashimov & Major Greta Novikova survived when the boat they were escaping on was blown up by Dillon and the Russians swear to kill all of Ferguson’s team. With oligarch Belov dead however, they need Max Zubin to impersonate the billionaire, so that they can lay their hands on the immense assets of Belov International. Igor Levin, an ex-KGB, former Russian paratrooper and hero of the Chechyan war is brought into the game by General Volkov, Ferguson’s Russian counterpart. Can Ferguson, Dillon & co foil the Russian’s plans & revenge Hannah or will they die in the attempt?
Dark Justice by Jack Higgins
An assassination plot on the US President fails, revealing the ‘Wrath of Allah’ the shadowy terrorist group behind it, who it appears are based in London. Soon the Prime Minister’s Private Intelligence unit are on the trail & Ferguson, Sean Dillon & co quickly discover that their are links to an ex-KGB, now oil magnate, Josef Belov and his henchman, Yuri Ashimov. Dr Salim, the ‘Wrath of Allah’ recruiter in London flees to Iraq. Sean Dillon & Billy Salter pursue & capture him, following a gun battle where the glamorous Greta Novikova, a Major in the GRU saves Sean’s life. Belov, furious at their interference in his plans orders the elimination of the PM’s Private Intelligence Unit, placing Sean & co’s lives in mortal danger. Soon they come up against Ashimov and the IRA men, former comrades of Sean’s that have been recruited to do the deadly deed. Who will survive and who will fall? Boris knows.
Bad Company: Jack Higgins
In the final days of World War II, Hitler entrusts his diary to a young aide Baron Max von Berger. In the years following the war, von Berger uses his inheritance to become one of the richest men in the world. When it is threatened to reveal contents of the diary, which would expose a secret meeting between emissaries of Hitler & US President, Roosevelt and destroy present day President Jake Cazelet. British Intelligence enforcer Sean Dillon races to find the diary before it is too late.
The President’s Daughter by Jack Higgins
American President Jake Cazelet has a secret from his Vietnam War days and a fanatical Jewish terrorist organisation known as the Maccabees, are prepared to use it to force Cazelet to sign the Nemesis Agreement. Sean Dillon, Ferguson & co are back in action as they race to prevent catastrophic events which would jeopardise world peace.
The Killing Ground by Jack Higgins
Whilst on a routine surveillance at Heathrow, Sean Dillon & Billy Salter come across a member of a notorious family that they’ve had dealings with in the past. This time however they find themselves helping Caspar Rashid, whose 13 year old daughter Sara has been kidnapped by Caspar’s own father and taken to Iraq. There she is to be married to a man known as the ‘Hammer of God’, a feared terrorist with links to Osama bin Laden. In exchange for Sean & Co freeing his daughter, Caspar will give Ferguson’s intelligence unit valuable information which will aid the war on terror. Boris Luzhkov and his GRU operatives The Russian President is smarting from the set back to his plans, Ferguson, Sean & Co continue to pose him (read ‘Dark Justice’ and ‘Without Mercy’) and orders General Volkov to redouble his efforts & have Ferguson, Sean & Co dealt with once & for all.
Fade by Kyle Mills
US Homeland Security has formed a secret wing to recruit agents to work undercover in the Middle East in the war on terror and its Director, Hillel Strand, wants Matt Egan, his second-in-command to recruit an old friend of his. Salam Al Fayed. ‘Fade’ would be the perfect recruit, but Fade is embittered over the treatment he received when a previous special ops mission, left him with a bullet lodged next to his spine. Attempts to recruit Fade fail and when an attempt to coerce him goes badly wrong and when a SWAT team sent to get Fade is almost wiped out Fade goes on the run, taking its leader Karen Manning prisoner. Fade soon realises that the SWAT team was set up by Strand and decides to go after him. A deadly cat & mouse game ensues as after releasing Karen, Fade stalks his prey, determined on revenge.
Dead Of Night by Brendan Dubois
The USA has been crippled by a terrifying terrorist attack. Law & order has broken down. People have fled from the cities into the countryside and civil war has broken out American fighting American, with age old prejudices rising to the surface once more. UN peacekeepers have been sent to restore order to a once great nation and are desperately attempting to establish peace. Samuel Simpson an idealistic Canadian journalist volunteers to become a record-keeper for a UN war-crimes team at work in New York State searching for evidence of the many atrocities which took place before a semblance of order was restored. Samuel soon realises what a dangerous world he has entered where death can quickly strike from any road corner, farm house or rest area. He soon too, chillingly realises that there is a traitor in the group ,who will stop at nothing to prevent the group learning the truth about the greatest war crime of them all.
Sphere of Influence by Kyle Mills
Mills’ Maverick FBI agent Mark Beamon is one of Boris’ favourite heroes and in Boris’ opinion this story is one of the best yet. Exiled to a dead-end job in the Phoenix office, Beamon is recalled to work undercover when terrorists threaten the USA. As Beamon seeks them out he uncovers a darker conspiracy that may have its roots in the American government itself. Beamon’s own values are challenged and he is faced with the question ‘what makes a crime a crime?’
Blindfold Game by Dana Stabenow
A witness to a terrorist bombing in Thailand puts CIA analyst Hugh Rincon on the trail of the terrorists responsible. Hearing rumours about the black market sale of Russian radioactive material and the hiring of mercenaries, Hugh starts to fit the pieces of the puzzle together. Meanwhile, Hugh’s estranged wife, Executive Officer on board the US Coast Guard cutter ‘Sojourner Truth’ is dealing with Russian trawler infringements off the Alaskan coast. When Hugh realises that the terrorists plan an audacious sea launched attack on the USA and can get no help from his organisation, he realises that only the ‘Sojourner Truth’ has the means to foil the plot and save the USA from a disaster worse than 9/11.
Contact Zero by David Wolstencroft
The ‘Lilywhites’, MI6’s newest spies, are being hunted down and killed across the globe. Ben Sinclair should have been one of those killed, but was lucky and escaped. Lucy too should have died, locked in the boot of a car, but managed to get out before she drowned and Nat, well he was run off a road in Cuba, but managed to get away. The other ‘Lilywhites’, like Claire are dead.The three of them join forces and try to make sense of what has happened. They know they have only one chance for survival, find the mythical place called ‘Contact Zero’, but with all the odds against them this won’t be easy. Brilliant thriller from the creator of BBC’s ‘Spooks’.
Old Boys by Charles McCarry
When ex-intelligence agent Paul Christopher is declared dead by the Chinese his cousin Horace, also an ex-agent does not believe the news and decides to seek the truth. Enlisting the support of four of his former, now also retired colleagues he gets the ‘Old Boys’ back into the game. They soon pick up clues that Christopher could also be alive along with an old adversary of theirs, Ibn Awad a terrorist, who is plotting revenge by planning nuclear attacks on US cities. Christopher’s long lost mother Lori may also be alive and in possession of the ‘Amphora Scroll’ a first century AD manuscript coveted by Ibn Awad as it may be the means to discredit the Christian faith. With three trails to follow, Horace & the ‘Old Boys’ are harassed by US intelligence and hunted by terrorists as they scour the globe for Christopher, Lori and the ‘Amphora Scroll’.
The Third Woman by Mark Burnell
Stephanie Patrick used to work for Magenta House, a shadowy government organisation and is known by many names, Krista, Marianne and Michelle among many. One of her persona’s is that of the assassin Petra Reuter, now free lance, but as deadly as ever. After narrowly surviving a terrorist attack in Paris, blamed on Petra, Stephanie finds herself fleeing from a ruthless, faceless enemy. She seizes a hostage, Robert Newman, an international trouble shooter with secrets of his own. Hunted across Europe from Paris to Vienna, Stephanie and Robert are thrown together in order to survive. The more that she learns, the more Stephanie believes that the person she knows as The Third Woman is the key to everything and Newman seems to be at the heart of the conspiracy she has found herself unravelling.
Midnight comes at Noon by Daniel Easterman
When Joel Waterstone the new Jewish President of the USA is kidnapped from a quiet Northumberland village Jim Crawford sets out to find the kidnappers. Not only was the President and the First Lady taken and spirited away, but also Jim’s young daughter, Tina and Jim’s wife Laura died trying to protect them all. The international hunt takes Jim and his friends to a Russia in the crisis of a civil war. It also brings them up against dark forces in the heart of the US government who would prefer it if Joel Waterstone died at his kidnappers hands. If Joel dies then so does Tina and Jim Crawford is determined that this won’t happen. This is the first book by Daniel Easterman, but it certainly won’t be the last.
Wild Fire by Nelson De Mille
Harry Muller, a member of the Federal Anti-Terrorrist Task Force is killed and Detective John Corey and his wife, Kate Mayfield, an FBI agent soon find themselves investigating the Custer Hill Club, a secret society whose members include some of America’s most powerful men. What secrets had Harry Muller uncovered that led to his death? And what is ‘Wild Fire’. Soon John and Kate’s lives are in danger as digging deep into the veil of mystery surrounding the club, they discover what ‘Wild Fire’ really is and realise that if Armageddon is to be avoided , they must act swiftly. Nelson De Mille never disappoints and this novel is another thrilling read.
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Final Winter by Brendan DuBois
Brian Doyle is a NYPD detective who has been chosen to join Tiger Team Seven, one of the elite teams within Homeland Security with members drawn from all the agencies involved in the war on terror. The team learn that there is a serious threat to launch a biological attack against the USA and a plan code named ‘Final Winter’ is put into place to counter it. There is a traitor in the team however who is using ‘Final Winter’ to un lease their own deadly attack, which if successful will kill millions and bring America to its knees. Soon Doyle finds himself in a race to uncover the traitor and stop the attack.
State of Fear by Michael Crichton
An epic novel which moves in thrilling action from continent to continent as a young lawyer uncovers a sinister plot to engineer a series of environmental disasters. Peter Evans, a young lawyer acting on behalf of millionaire George Morton, discovers that all is not as it seems at the National Environmental Resource Fund (NERF), a major American environmental activist group which Morton extensively funds. Joining forces with Sarah Jones, Morton’s beautiful assistant; the mysterious intelligence agent and environmental specialist John Kenner and his buddy Sanjong Thapa, Evans soon finds himself in deadly danger, as the group race to stop eco-terrorists from unleashing the terrible forces of nature to substantiate their claims of pending global crisis.
A Wild Justice by Craig Thomas
First published in 1995 this thriller by Craig Thomas still has a topical theme, with the story mainly set in the post Soviet era Russia. John Lock’s beloved sister is married to the chief executive of an American gas company with interests in the Siberia. When Lock’s sister and her husband are murdered in their opulent mansion, Lock a State Department expert on Russia and a former CIA agent swears revenge on their murderers and starts to dig for the truth. Meanwhile in Novvy Urengoy, Siberia, Alexei Vorontsyev, is investing the murder of another executive of the gas company and soon finds his investigation blocked from every side. Alexei is an honest cop however and doesn’t let this impede him. Both Lock and Vorontsyev start to uncover a conspiracy of ruthless corruption and come up against people ho will readily kill to conceal the truth.
