Inside Writing - Action/Spy/Thriller

Alex Matthews thought he had left it all behind: his CIA career, the viper's den of bureaucracy at headquarters, the deceits of the cat-and-mouse game of double agents, and the sudden trips to Russia, which poisoned his marriage and made him an absentee husband and father, with tragic results.But then the Director came asking for a favor. Something that only Alex could do because it involved the asset Byron—a Russian agent whom Alex had recruited. Byron had something of great interest to the CIA; the Director said it was a matter of grave national security that implicated the White House, and that Byron would hand over the kompromat once he was extricated from Russia.But Alex is a different man than when he had run Moscow station: he has pieced his life back together after a tragic accident killed his wife and daughter—but the scars remain. He left the agency; started a financial firm that made him wealthy; and met a new woman, Anna, who works as an interpreter in the CIA. Anna is beautiful and supportive and helps him find love again after years of drowning in grief alongside his son. Throughout the last years, Alex has remained, in his mind, a patriot, and so he begrudgingly accepts the Director's request.Something, though, doesn’t feel right about the whole operation from the start. The Russians seem one step ahead and the CIA suspects there is a traitor in the agency, passing along secrets to the Russians. Alex realizes that, by getting back into the game, he has risked everything he has worked for: his marriage, his family’s safety, and the trust of his closest colleagues—one of whom is betraying him. As the noose tightens around Alex, and the FSB closes in on Byron, the operation becomes a hall of mirrors with no exits. To find redemption, Alex must uncover Byron’s secrets or risk losing everything.The Poet’s Game is a remarkably sophisticated and emotionally resonant portrait of a spy from a renowned master of the genre.

The Middleman is an epic drama of whistleblowers, murder, thrills, and legal combat—torn out of today’s headlines.Nicholas “Deke” Deketomis and his law firm take on America’s Big Pharma when Deke’s college pal, Matt Redmond, presents him with a case of possible fraud involving EirePharma, the Redmond family business and a powerful Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM). PBMs serve as the “middlemen” between drug manufacturers and insurance companies, working in cryptic ways to determine not only the cost of drugs but also placing them on insurers’ preferred formularies. EirePharma was recently taken over by the charismatic CEO, Connor Devlin, who has a Rasputin-like influence over Matt’s cousin, Amy, the company’s current president. Devlin may be utilizing racketeering practices—and perhaps murder—to raise the prices of insulin and other drugs for his own profit and to the detriment of consumers.Amy, who at first was in love with Devlin, decides—at great peril—to become her company’s whistleblower and provide evidence to Deke and his team. When key witnesses and even Redmond family members meet mysterious and violent deaths, Amy finds herself a pawn caught in the center of a frightening and deadly game of wills between a formidable gangster, who in the eyes of the public is a respected businessman, and a law firm that is determined to investigate and uncover the Middleman’s crimes.In the tradition of Suspicious Activity and Inhuman Trafficking, Mike Papantonio takes Deke and his cohorts on a new and different kind of legal gamble in The Middleman, which is chock full of the action and thrills for which he is known

Pike Logan uncovers a geopolitical scheme that has spiraled out of control in India in this latest pulse-pounding thriller from New York Times bestselling author and former special forces officer Brad Taylor. While on a routine security assessment in India, Taskforce operator Pike Logan foils an attempted attack on a meeting between the CIA and India’s intelligence service. Both government agencies believe it’s nothing more than a minor terrorist attack, but Pike suspects that something much more sinister is at play. After another terrorist operation at the Taj Mahal, he begins to believe that outside powers are attacking India in the gray zone between peace and war, leveraging terrorist groups for nothing more than economic gain. But the separatists conducting the operations have their own agenda.After a massive slaughter and kidnapping of hostages during an elaborate Indian pre-wedding party, two global powers are destabilized, and only Pike Logan and his team can de-escalate the tension by rescuing the captives. What follows is a race against the clock that winds through the bustling markets of Old Delhi, the luxurious resorts of Goa, and the epic halls of the Taj Mahal. It will take everything that Logan and the taskforce have to foil an intricate plot that leaves countless lives in the balance.

In this fourth installment of the Shepherds Series, good and evil collide in a battle that has raged for thousands of years, and Navy SEAL Jedidiah Johnson and his team are at the tip of the spear--fighting for humanity's future and the ones they love.Victor is dead. But out of the chaos, a new dark power rises ...Only weeks ago, former Navy SEAL Jedidiah Johnson, head of Joshua Bravo team at the Shepherds, helped to defeat Victor, the leader of the devil's Dark Ones. Now, his boss, Ben Morvant, has tasked him with an even harder mission: take a vacation.But before Jed has even managed to hit the beach in the Dominican Republic, he comes face to face with a new evil: orphans are being abducted right off the streets of Santo Domingo. Are these disappearances just an unfortunate crime in an unfamiliar country, or do they hint at something bigger--a new threat emerging out of the power vacuum Victor left behind?When Jed needs help after a violent encounter, he finds himself with an unexpected new ally: CIA liaison Gayle James. Together, the two of them must follow the trail of the missing orphans before it runs cold. Soon, they find themselves immersed in a dangerous world of murder, betrayal, and voodoo. Jed will need Gayle, the Watchers Sarah Beth and Corbin, his old friend Ben Morvant, and the entire team of Shepherds at his side to expose the new threat--and to prevent a new Dark power from rising ...

From the New York Times bestselling author of House on Fire, a breakneck thriller that marries the dynastic opulence of Succession with the tense and disorienting spycraft of The Americans.Paul Brightman is a man on the run, living under an assumed name in a small New England town with a million-dollar bounty on his head. When his security is breached, Paul is forced to flee into the New Hampshire wilderness to evade Russian operatives who can seemingly predict his every move.Six years ago, Paul was a rising star on Wall Street who fell in love with a beautiful photographer named Tatyana—unaware that her father was a Russian oligarch and the object of considerable interest from several U.S. intelligence agencies. Now, to save his own life, Paul must unravel a decades-old conspiracy that extends to the highest reaches of the government.Rivaling the classic spy novels of the Cold War, The Oligarch’s Daughter is built for the frightening world we live in now.

On the run from Mexican law enforcement and the military, the infamous drug lord El Chapo has set his sights on expanding his empire to Cuba. With the demand for heroin rising, he aims to turn the tropical island into a hub for opium production. As rumors swirl of his presence in southern Cuba, Wolf and Parker fear the worst.The U.S. president sees capturing El Chapo as critical to boosting his party's chances in the upcoming mid-term elections.With the pressure on, Wolf and Parker must race against time to stop El Chapo before Cuba becomes the next Afghanistan. Utilizing their unique mix of military and law enforcement skills, they aim to bring the notorious criminal to justice—this time in a Cuban prison.In this high-stakes thriller, the game of cat and mouse unfolds in an international arena, blending politics, crime, and intelligence operatives in a battle for justice.

What's the difference between robbing a bank and robbing a mafia bank? Sarah and Joshua are about to find out.Joshua is a world class hacker and his partner, the alluring Sarah, is a master safe cracker, who make their living pillaging other criminal's bank accounts.An attempted assassination puts them on the run. In return for help from a Middle Eastern spy chief, they're tasked with disrupting an arms deal being negotiated by a crooked banker in the Cayman Islands.This same banker launders money for his main client, a New Jersey mafia boss.A huge pot of money proves too big a temptation and, in this international absorbing crime thriller, Sarah and Joshue must outsmart a growing list of bad guys.

Elvis Cole and his enigmatic partner, Joe Pike, race to find a terrifying, unidentified killer in this twisting, unpredictable thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Robert Crais.Traci Beller was thirteen when her father disappeared in the sleepy town of Rancha, not far from Los Angeles. The evidence says Tommy Beller abandoned his family, but Traci never believed it. Now, ten years later, Traci is a high-profile influencer with millions of followers and the money to hire the best detective she can find: Elvis Cole.Elvis heads to Rancha where an ex-con named Sadie Givens and her daughter, Anya, might have a line on the missing man. But when Elvis finds himself shadowed by a gang of vicious criminals, the missing persons cold case becomes far more sinister.Elvis calls his ex-Marine friend, Joe Pike, for help, and they follow Tommy Beller's trail into the depths of a monstrous, hidden evil. The case flips on its head, victims become predators, predators become prey, and the question becomes: Can Elvis Cole save them all from this nightmare?

New York City: Legendary interrogator Malcolm Chaucer is known as The Oracle. There is no subject he cannot break, no secret he cannot unlock. The key to his uncanny ability: eight years as the victim of experimental torture at the hands of a North Korean madman. Chaucer is a broken man, with a unique psychology that makes him both incapable of lying, and a near perfect lie detector.A routine interrogation of a witness to the murder of a Korean national leads to an explosive revelation: the assassin was none other than Tempest MacLaren, Chaucer’s ex-wife. A frantic, last minute warning is all he can give her before a North Korean assassin shows up on her doorstep.And later that night, two more assassins target Chaucer for death. Chaucer discovers his drops compromised, his handler dead, and a million-dollar bounty on his head. Can he survive long enough to find his ex-wife and use his unique abilities to tell friend from foe, and truth from lies. And will he uncover the secret that is the Year of the Rabbit?Year of the Rabbit combines the man-on-the-run paranoia of Six Days of the Condor, the colorful characters of Mick Herron’s Slough House series, and the raw fun of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series. Pick up your copy of Year of the Rabbit today!