Summer 2019 Fun Thriller Reads

Capt MJ

Capt MJ

Serviam.
15-Year Member
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Sep 27, 2008
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Ok, at some point I know I confessed my fondness for spy/military action fiction for recreational reading, and characters such as Mitch Rapp, Will Robie, Jack Reacher, Gabriel Allon, John Puller, Jason Bourne, et al., as well as Bernard Cornwall’s novels and British historical and contemporary murder mysteries.

I just finished a near non-stop read of Brad Thor’s “Backlash,” with one of my favorites, Scot “Norseman” Harvath. Whee! Action start to finish, a trail of baddies throughout, Scot prevails in spectacular fashion - bodies, ordnance, MacGyvering.

Recommendations welcome from your summer list, with the caveat I don’t want to think too much when it’s hot, just go along for a good story ride!
 
OH MY GOD!

Lee Child! Jack Reacher is the Man!

Not a god, but a regular guy (who happens to be 6 foot tall, 250 pounds & can kill a man with a single punch (which happens with some frequency in those novels!) Military brat who spends his childhood on military bases worldwide. First enters the USA when he attends West Point. Career US Army military policeman who gets unjustly mustered out after 15 years. Then wanders the US from coast-to-coast, on foot, with just a comb & a debit card, finding adventres everywhere he goes.

Bernard Cromwall! Richard Sharpe is the 19th century's Jack Reacher.

For historical military fiction, nothing beats Bernard Cromwell's "Sharpe's Rifles" series. Make sure to NOT read them in order of publication, but in historical, chronological order. Takes place from like 1797-1821, as Sharpe rises from an illiterate English teen (fleeing a murder charge, natch) from a private to a colonel in His Majesty's British Army, fighting in India, Spain, France & Chile throughout his career. Manages to serve at BOTH Trafalgar and Waterloo! Misses the War of 1812, though, so we don't have to root against him while fighting the US of A.

Both series just ooze macho violence, with plenty of guns & guts, with a passing romance-per-novel to keep the ladies interested.

GREAT LITERATURE!
 
Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe in that green Rifleman jacket. One of my favorite roles for him.
 
Capt MJ said:
Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe in that green Rifleman jacket. One of my favorite roles for him.
Click to expand...

All British infantrymen wore the red jackets ("Red Coats" of lore) except for the elite green jacketed riflemen. Rifles took longer to load than muskets, which was seen as a detriment to many at the time, such as Napoleon who forbid the use of rifles completely. The Brits found that a handful of riflemen were a force multiplier.

Another interesting tidbit I learned from Share's novels: Artillery shrapnel was invented by an Englishman named, well, Shrapnel.
 
Yep, I always learn a lot of history along the way with Cornwell. I read all the Sharpe novels in chrono order, including the hard-to-find short stories, including a Christmas one. I started reading more and more slowly, knowing I was coming to the last one. Excellent villains, interesting warfare tactics and technology (the Rocket Company!), good and bad leadership, esprit de corps, strong female (including flawed ones) characters, humor, memorable enlisted characters, battlefield bonding, eternally stupid military things that happened then and happen today.

And - Daniel Craig as Berry in Sharpe’s Eagle.
 
Capt MJ said:
Yep, I always learn a lot of history along the way with Cornwell. I read all the Sharpe novels in chrono order, including the hard-to-find short stories, including a Christmas one. I started reading more and more slowly, knowing I was coming to the last one. Excellent villains, interesting warfare tactics and technology (the Rocket Company!), good and bad leadership, esprit de corps, strong female (including flawed ones) characters, humor, memorable enlisted characters, battlefield bonding, eternally stupid military things that happened then and happen today.

And - Daniel Craig as Berry in Sharpe’s Eagle.
Click to expand...

I was going to mention the rockets! Useless, per Sharpe. And history seems to bear him out. Russian Katyushas & Frogs are deemed a waste. US stopped using rockets after Okinawa, as I recall. Utterly unable to aim accurately, much like a kid's bottle rocket!

Cornwell (spelling corrected) always included the believable SNAFU of even the best-planned military operations.

Weren't you despondent when the novels ended? Though I hardly imagine Sharpe's career going much further, given his fictional age & such. But maybe just a few more tales in India or Afghanistan or Africa?
 
Yes, I was. I felt I’d traveled an entire road with him.

And I loved the one where he found himself on a Royal Navy warship, made a friend of the RN officer and found out how terrifyingly awful close-quarters combat on a moving deck at sea could be, where you also had to worry about maneuvering your mobile battle platform and not be sunk.
 
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Marcus Wynne is a former BTDT guy who has several good books. I didn't care for the later stuff like the Wylde trilogy or The Sword of Michael, but the others were a good read.
 
Vince Flynn's death broke me. I loved Mitch Rapp and his adventures. I also read (years ago) W.E.B. Griffin and loved his series about WW2. I may revisit those now that I think about it. I always loved Stephen Hunter's books. It isn't a fast read but I just this morning finished The Accidental President, bio on Truman. Excellent book. Crazy what that man stepped into. I like Ken Follett, really like Dale Brown. And although not fiction, I tend to read a lot of 'action' books from different wars. I loved the Long Grey Line, Give me Tomorrow, The Guns at Last Light. I also liked They Marched Into Sunlight. And our DS loved The Things They Carried. I liked but was saddened by Dak To, America's Sky Soldiers. More recent work, Into the Fire, The Outpost and Where Men Win Glory. Last on my mind, Robert's Ridge. Good thread idea @Capt MJ
 
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