A political thriller is a novel that revolves around political intrigue and power struggles. Many political thrillers are set in Washington D.C., as the world of politics is ripe with potential for conflict and betrayal. The genre often features characters who are ambitious and unscrupulous, willing to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals. Political thrillers are often fast-paced and suspenseful, with plot twists and cliffhangers that keep readers guessing. While each political thriller is unique, they all share a common focus on the dark side of power and the lengths that people will go to acquire it.
The Switch
Joseph Finder
The MacBook that Michael Tanner picked up accidentally at the TSA security line at LAX belongs to Sen. Susan Robbins, and it contains top secret files that have been uploaded illegally. Does he agree to return it? No, he does not, and that's where things get sticky.
Read More View in CatalogJack Swyteck Series, Book 8
Born to Run
James Grippando
Miami criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck guards his own family secrets closely, after his father's two terms as Florida's governor made some personal rifts public. Things between the two men are finally better, and whenever Harry Swyteck asks for Jack's help he gets it. Suddenly, Harry needs it more than ever before. When Harry's friend, the vice president of the United States, goes hunting for alligators in the Everglades and winds up dead, the president positions Harry to be his new VP. Harry immediately asks Jack to be his lawyer. The prestige that comes from the job turns lethal, however, when Jack finds himself at the heart of a complicated cover-up that spans nearly fifty years and the globe. Before hostages can be released, an old secret must be revealed, one that could threaten the life of the president of the United States himself.
Read More View in CatalogGabriel Allon Series, Book 13
The English Girl
Daniel Silva
When a beautiful young British woman vanishes on the island of Corsica, a prime minister’s career is threatened with destruction. Allon, the wayward son of Israeli intelligence, is thrust into a game of shadows where nothing is what it seems...and where the only thing more dangerous than his enemies might be the truth.
Read More View in CatalogCotton Malone Series, Book 12
The Lost Order
Steve Berry
The Knights of the Golden Circle was the largest and most dangerous clandestine organization in American history. It amassed billions in stolen gold and silver, all buried in hidden caches across the United States. Since 1865 treasure hunters have searched, but little of that immense wealth has ever been found. Now, one hundred and sixty years later, two factions of what remains of the Knights of the Golden Circle want that lost treasure--one to spend it for their own ends, the other to preserve it. Thrust into this battle is former Justice Department agent Cotton Malone, whose connection to the knights is far deeper than he ever imagined. At the center is the Smithsonian Institution--linked to the knights, its treasure, and Malone himself through an ancestor, a Confederate spy named Angus "Cotton" Adams, whose story holds the key to everything. Complicating matters are the political ambitions of a reckless Speaker of the House and the bitter widow of a United States Senator, who together are planning radical changes to the country. And while Malone and Cassiopeia Vitt face the past, ex-president Danny Daniels and Stephanie Nelle confront a new and unexpected challenge, a threat that may cost one of them their life.
Read More View in CatalogMike Ford Series, Book 1
The 500
Matthew Quirk
Former con artist and Harvard Law student Mike Ford accepts a position with the DC-based Davies Group, a consulting firm whose specialty is pulling strings for the five hundred most powerful people inside the Beltway.
View in CatalogAlex Cross Series, Book 26
Target: Alex Cross
James Patterson
A killer elite--six assassins--are on the loose. So is Alex Cross. A leader has fallen, and Alex Cross joins the procession of mourners from Capitol Hill to the White House. Then a sniper's bullet strikes a target in the heart of DC. Alex Cross's wife, Bree Stone, newly elevated chief of DC detectives must solve the case or lose her position. The Secret Service and the FBI deploy as well in the race to find the shooter. Alex is tasked by the new President to lead an investigation unprecedented in scale and scope. But is the sniper's strike only the beginning of a larger attack on the nation?
Read More View in CatalogLucas Davenport Series, Book 30
Masked Prey
John Sandford
The daughter of a U.S. Senator is monitoring her social media presence when she finds a picture of herself on a strange blog. And there are other pictures . . . of the children of other influential Washington politicians, walking or standing outside their schools, each identified by name. Surrounding the photos are texts of vicious political rants from a motley variety of radical groups. It's obviously alarming--is there an unstable extremist tracking the loved ones of powerful politicians with deadly intent? But when the FBI is called in, there isn't much the feds can do. The anonymous photographer can't be pinned down to one location or IP address, and more importantly, at least to the paper-processing bureaucrats, no crime has actually been committed. With nowhere else to turn, influential Senators decide to call in someone who can operate outside the FBI's constraints: Lucas Davenport.
Read More View in CatalogSean King and Michelle Maxwell Series, Book 6
King and Maxwell
David Baldacci
It seems at first like a simple, tragic story. Tyler Wingo, a teenage boy, learns the awful news that his father, a soldier, was killed in action in Afghanistan. Then the extraordinary happens: Tyler receives a communication from his father...after his supposed death. Tyler hires Sean and Michelle to solve the mystery surrounding his father. But their investigation quickly leads to deeper, more troubling questions. Could Tyler's father really still be alive? What was his true mission? Could Tyler be the next target? Sean and Michelle soon realize that they've stumbled on to something bigger and more treacherous than anyone could have imagined. And as their hunt for the truth leads them relentlessly to the highest levels of power and to uncovering the most clandestine of secrets, Sean and Michelle are determined to help and protect Tyler--though they may pay for it with their lives.
Read More View in CatalogJack Ryan Universe Series, Book 33
Tom Clancy Chain of Command
Marc Cameron
A shadowy billionaire uses his fortune to further his corrupt ambitions. Along the way, he's toppled democratically elected governments and exacerbated divisions within stable nations. The competitors he's destroyed, the people he's hurt, they're all just marks on a ledger. Now, he's ready to implement his most ambitious plan of all. There's only one force standing in his way--President Jack Ryan. How do you compel a man like Jack Ryan to bend? He's personally faced down everything from the Russian navy to cartel killers. It will take more than political headwinds or media disfavor to cause him to turn from his duty to the American people, but every man has an Achilles heel. Jack Ryan's is his family. The answer is as simple as it is shocking. The billionaire has assembled an international team of the most ruthless mercenaries alive. Their mission--kidnap the First Lady.
Read More View in CatalogSean King and Michelle Maxwell Series, Book 1
Split Second
David Baldacci
Two Secret Service agents sworn to guard their protectees lost them in a single moment . . . and in this #1 New York Times bestseller, they're about to learn that the violence has just begun. Michelle Maxwell has just wrecked her promising career at the Secret Service. Against her instincts, she let a presidential candidate out of her sight for the briefest moment and the man whose safety was her responsibility vanished into thin air. Sean King knows how the younger agent feels. Eight years earlier, the hard-charging Secret Service agent allowed his attention to be diverted for a split second. And the candidate he was protecting was gunned down before his eyes. Now Michelle and Sean are about to see their destinies converge. Drawn into a maze of lies, secrets, and deadly coincidences, the two discredited agents uncover a shocking truth: that the separate acts of violence that shattered their lives were really a long time in the making—and are a long way from over.
Read More View in CatalogState of Terror
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Louise Penny
After a tumultuous period in American politics, a new administration has just been sworn in, and to everyone's surprise the president chooses a political enemy for the vital position of Secretary of State. There is no love lost between the President of the United States and Ellen Adams, his new Secretary of State. But it's a canny move on the part of the president. With this appointment, he silences one of his harshest critics, since taking the job means Adams must step down as head of her multinational media conglomerate.
Read More View in CatalogPike Logan Series, Book 17
The Devil’s Ransom
Brad Taylor
Conducting a routine cover development trip to Tajikistan, Pike and Jennifer learn that Afghanistan has fallen, and there's a man on the run. One that has done more for the United States in Afghanistan than anyone else. Pulled in to extract him, Pike collides headlong into a broader mystery: His covert company, along with every other entity in the Taskforce, has been hit with a ransomware attack, and there's some connection between the Taliban and the hack. Given the order to track down the perpetrators, he has no idea that the problem set is much, much larger and more dangerous than a simple attack on his organization. That hack was just a test-run, and the real one is coming soon, engendered by a former NSA specialist in the U.S. government. A man who wants to return to the bipolar world of the Cold War, the turncoat has cloaked his attack behind hackers from Serbia and Russia, and if successful, his target will alter the balance of power on the global stage. So far, the specialist has remained one step ahead of the Taskforce, but he has just made one massive mistake: hitting Pike Logan.
Read More View in CatalogMarcus Ryker Series, Book 5
The Libyan Diversion
Joel C. Rosenberg
Abu Nakba--the man responsible for lethal attacks in Washington, D.C., London, and Jerusalem--is finally dead. Marcus Ryker has been tasked with hunting down and destroying what's left of the terror group Kairos. But before Ryker can mobilize his team of CIA operatives with their new assignment, a disturbing report from Libya suggests all may not be as it seems. The U.S. bombing that should have taken out Nakba's headquarters now appears to have been a disastrous mistake--and Ryker himself may be responsible. With Kairos gearing up for a major retaliatory strike against the U.S., time is short, and terror cells may already be inside American borders. But Ryker won't be able to stop this threat until he clears his own name, and his closest ally inside the White House can no longer help him. The Libyan diversion threatens to leave Ryker on the sidelines just when his country needs him most.
Read More View in CatalogTerminal List Series, Book 6
Only the Dead
Jack Carr
In 1980, a freshman congressman was gunned down in Rhode Island, sending shockwaves through Washington that are still reverberating over four decades later. Now, with the world on the brink of war and a weakened United States facing rampant inflation, political division, and shocking assassinations, a secret cabal of global elites is ready to assume control. And with the world's most dangerous man locked in solitary confinement, the conspirators believe the final obstacle to complete domination has been eliminated. They're wrong. From the firms of Wall Street to the corridors of power in Washington, DC, and Moscow, secrets from the past have the uncanny ability to rise to the surface in the present. With the odds stacked against him, James Reece is on a mission generations in the making. Unfortunately for his enemies, the former SEAL is not concerned with odds. He is on the warpath. And when James Reece picks up his tomahawk and sniper rifle, no one is out of range.
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