October’s Top Picks in Thrillers

The Survivor, by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills
The Survivor picks up where 2012’s The Last Man left off, diving right in to a taut, suspenseful story of a traitor in the CIA who steals a wealth of sensitive documents. Mitch Rapp quickly tracks down the culprit and dispatches him—but the stolen data is out there, and when it starts turning up all over the world, the U.S. faces the security biggest threat in its history. Fast-paced, intelligent, and doing justice to the late Flynn’s legacy, The Survivor is the perfect book for thriller fans everywhere.

Rogue Lawyer, by John Grisham
Sebastian Rudd is a rogue in every way: sarcastic, brilliant, and single-minded in his pursuit of justice for his clients, who tend to be the sort that everyone else has given up on, who won’t get justice without his help. Rudd’s tendency to stick his nose where’s it’s not wanted requires him to have a full-time bodyguard, and he never sleeps in the same place twice. His current cases, including the defense of a mentally-challenged young man accused of killing two small girls, aren’t going to make him any more popular. This is can’t-miss read from one of the best in the genre.

Depraved Heart, by Patricia Cornwell
In Cornwell’s 23rd Kay Scarpetta novel, the detective is working a crime scene when she receives a link to a two-decade old video of her niece Lucy—whom Scarpetta has raised almost as a daughter. The video, and several that follow, change everything Scarpetta thought she knew about her computer-genius niece, and leave her uncertain about how to proceed, and whom to trust. As the story spins out from that intriguing core, Scarpetta realizes who is behind this all-out assault on everyone she holds dear, but the FBI doesn’t seem to agree, leaving it up to Kay to put the pieces together herself.

Career of Evil, by Robert Galbraith
The third Cormoran Strike novel starts with a gruesome shocker: a woman’s severed leg is delivered to Cormoran Strike’s office. This kicks off  (no pun intended) a classic mystery as Strike quickly identifies four possible figures from his past who could be behind such a heinous act. While the police pursue a lead he increasingly believes to be a dead end, Strike must go after the true suspects himself, even as increasingly violent events increase the pressure. Once again, J.K. Rowling, writing as Robert Galbraith, proves she is a master at mystery plotting.

Duplicity, by Newt Gingrich and Pete Earley
Gingrich brings his years of experience in national politics to bear on a story ripped straight from the Benghazi headlines. When the President reopens the American embassy in Mogadishu, her political opponents are outraged. When the embassy is attacked and hostages are taken, the emergency threatens to spiral out of control—and only the two survivors, Embassy Station Chief Gunter Conner and Captain Brooke Grant of the Marines, are in any position to save the day. The realistic scenario makes every moment drip with tension and verisimilitude.

Foreign Affairs, by Stuart Woods
Stone Barrington is back in the 35th entry in Woods’ popular series, and he’s as dangerous, urbane, and downright interesting as ever. Barrington is a compelling combination of rich playboy and street scrapper, as comfortable traveling in a first-class plane cabin as he is negotiating with a mafia don—two activities he undertakes in this novel as he treks to Rome to assist with a hotel development and runs afoul of a local organized crime lord. Barrington calls on old friends to help him fight the battle of his life—one that becomes dangerously personal when the mafia takes one of Barrington’s friends hostage.

The Mountain Shadow, by Gregory David Roberts
The sequel to 2003’s Shantaram finds Roberts’ protagonist, Lin, returning to the city of Bombay to find it transformed into something strange and unexpected. With his old allies gone and the love of his life married to a wealthy tycoon, Lin must deal with a new cast of underworld characters who play by unfamiliar rules, and who owe him no consideration. Roberts generates tension and suspense by completely doing away with the rules and characters established in the earlier novel, resulting in a sequel that’s as fresh and as thrilling as the first.

A Banquet of Consequences, by Elizabeth George
George returns with the 19th story featuring Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. Determined to stay out of trouble in order to avoid a threatened transfer to the dreaded north, DS Havers is playing it careful, and DI Lynley worries she’s lost her edge. When an author dies under mysterious circumstances, her editor asks Havers to investigate, and she quickly turns up worrying facts about the late author’s assistant. In a story driven by the very real personalities of its characters, the mystery deepens and deepens on the way to a seriously shocking ending.

Corrupted, by Lisa Scottoline
It’s not often the heroes of our thrillers make mistakes, not to mention atone for them. Scottoline explores both scenarios in Corrupted: Bennie Rosato doesn’t have many regrets—but a decade-old case she fumbled, landing a young boy in juvenile detention for pushing a bully, has always haunted her. When the now-grown man calls and begs her to prove he’s innocent of murdering the same bully, she has no choice but to try, even though she doesn’t quite believe his story. Rosato’s quest for personal redemption ratchets up the tension and drama in this third Rosato & DiNunzio novel.