Good fictional reads.

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Davyd

New Member
So i picked up Dale Brown's Plan of Attack (among others) my last outing to the local used book trader. And i have to say this is probably the greatest of his books yet. I mean, this one was completely unexpected and it just keeps me turning the pages. Any of you read this one? I highly recommend it. As well as others - he's arguably the greatest technothriller writer out there (at least for aerial forces).

But on that note - was wondering what some other reads of the fictional nature you peeps have enjoyed in the past. I've found that Patrick Robinson, C.A. Mobley & Micheal DiMercurio do awesome jobs for the on and below the water stories while Dale Brown, Richard Herman & Stephen Coonts do a great job for aerial stories. I'd offer up Marine or Army authors but i'm not as interested in infantry or tanks (although i'd guess W.E.B. Griffith, Harold Coyle & Larry Bond do the best for those stories).

Suggestions? Comments?
 
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VICTORA1

New Member
Hi,

I believe I have read almost all of his books except for the last one. I like him. He is very interesting.
Have you read anything from Stephen Hunter. Point of Impact, dirty White Boys and some others. One of my good friends introduced me to this writer and I have enjoyed them. And in return I introduced him to the writings of Wilbur Smith, one of my favourites. The first time I picked up one of his books was at a side walk in karachi at a used book stall-----a man and a woman and an elephant with its tusk raised in the air on the african veld were on the cover of that book. After I read the first few lines, I didnot put the book down.
 
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windscorpion

New Member
Naval then Douglas Reeman especially for WW2 at sea though he also has done some excellent stories on the Royal Marines. All his books tend to be quite similar in plot and characterisation but very well done so you don't really mind.
 
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riksavage

Banned Member
CS Forester's - Hornblower series are great reads particularly for their attention to historical detail.

Bernard Cornwall - Sharpes series, fiction mixed with historical detail

George MacDonald Fraser - Flashman series, for laugh out load addictive non-PC humour dovetailed with very accurate historical detail.

James Delingpole - Coward on the Beach - Set WWII, very well written, non-PC account of Commando raids.

Steven Pressfield - Killing Rommel and Gates of Fire, both outstanding reads, the first self explanatory, the second forming the backdrop for the film 300. Both fictional accounts written about real life characters.

Jeff Shaara - The Last Full Measure and Gods & Generals - very informative reads about the American Civil War. Makes you wonder how the Union won. His dad wrote the original Civil War classic about Gettysburg, can't remember the title though.
 
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Rayna

New Member
My Favorite Author to date has to be Barry Eisler, He spent 3 years working in the CIA, former intellectual property lawyer, has a black belt in judo. BARRY EISLER: The Official Website He does amazing research for his books, everywhere noted in his books hes been and goes to great effort to making everything real.

His first books were about a Japanese American assassin who kills people and makes it look like natural causes. E.g heart attack, accident etc.
There is brilliant character development within his series and especially with the apprentice of two new side characters in book 3.Dox, a marine sniper. One of the best and one that won't shut up about all the ladies he has and Delilah, a woman who works for mossad and its her job to seduce and sleep with targets of mossad. Get the information they need for them and set them up to well... die.

Barry Has recently finished that series and has started a new one. The first one is Fault Line and his second one to come out in May is called "Inside out" and is about those torture tapes that the CIA claimed were destroyed but they are actually missing.

I could tell you about the books but, on his website. So check them out, i highly recommend them. Great books, great writer and a all round great guy i had the pleasure meeting him when I was in San Francisco in march.
 
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Stylesm4

New Member
I've begun reading fictional books revolving around the military and intelligence, I'm currently reading Tom Clancy's Executive Orders (a very large book). Tom Clancy's style of writing expects you to understand military terms and because it was my first Clancy novel I had to flip back to a book on military terms just to understand what he was writing about :D

I have finished Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith which is set in 1950s Soviet Union round about Stalin's final years and just after his death. It's about an MGB agent who is a model citizen and believes in the govt. however after he witnesses the death of a innocent man he begins to question the govt. Denouncing others is common so it's no surprise that he is denounced by a rival and he is exiled to the outskirts of the countryside. In the meantime there is a child killer on the loose and he won't accept the govt. report leading to him committing his own investigation but it ultimately reveals a suppressed memory of his past.
Another reason why I like this book is become Smith captures the social atmosphere of the Soviet Union during that time from the accomodation, censorship to endless praises of Stalin. I strongly recommend thi book, it was shortlisted in the Man Booker Prize and won the Waverton Good Read Prize. Smith's next book is the sequel to Child 44 titled "Secret Speech", which is during Kruschev's 1956 speech admitting Stalin's crime, also about the internal conflict felt by the people under Stalin's rule.

Another book I read is by Alex Berenson titled The SIlent Man: A Thriller, the third book about a CIA agent John Wells. In this book his body and psyche has taken a toll on him as the past two years he has been in Afghanistan, China and America taking on missions and trying to live a quite life in Washington D.C.. Meanwhile in Russia two nuclear weapons have been stolen and been transported through several countries and eventually America in an attempt to bring about a nuclear war between USA and Russia. The other books by Berenson is The Faithful Spy and The Ghost War, the fourth book The Midnight House is released next year.
 
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Rayna

New Member
Barry Eislers - Inside out

I was very lucky to receive an advance copy of Barry Eisler's up coming book. Inside Out

And I must say it is absolutely amazing its the second book in his new series. The main Character is Ben Traven who is a undercover military operative in a Special Operations Unit working in the middle east mainly Iran. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/08/international/americas/08forces.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print a vid giving yo more bout it. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7942G_x-So&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube- Broadcast Yourself.[/ame] also recent events Iranian scientist killed by bomb had opposition links - Telegraph

This book has a lot of current events and reality mixed in it.... It is about those 92 torture tapes that the CIA "destroyed" a few years ago but it turns out they weren''t destroyed but missing (always confess to a lesser crime) and another undercover military operative has possession of them and is blackmailing the US Government and Ben has been tasked with trying to get them back.

Overall I loved this book, so many twists that leave you wondering who the real bad guys are. A great sex scene (then again i have twisted fantasies) also Blackwater is used but i wont talk about that. This book is out June 28th and I highly suggest you do get it and if you haven't read the first book yet it is worth a read until then. Fault Line is the first one.
 
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