Techno-Thrillers discussion

What are you reading this year?
- In the rough vicinity of techno-thriller
- Expand our horizons a bit
- Skip book-of-the-month here

I suggest using the add book/author button to add a book cover and author photo, or in words [Title] by [Author] (Year first published). Maybe share a line or two about it ... the plot / your thoughts.

Prey by Michael Crichton (2002)

A swarm of nanoparticles capable of reproducing and evolving. What could go wrong?

Ranked #9 on legacy Best Technothrillers Ever list
I rank it …
#16 on The Best of Michael Crichton
#32 on Technothrillers: Best of All Time

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (1990)


Revisiting to rate, review, and rank it. Speilberg’s movie adaptation with paradigm changing CGI-based effects does influence our ratings. The general premise is tremendously innovative, but the writing is not remotely as dazzling as the CGI was at the time.

Ranked #1 on legacy Best Technothrillers Ever list.
I rank it …
#1 on The Best of Michael Crichton
#10 on Technothrillers: Best of All Time

Upgrade by Blake Crouch (2022)

Thriller involving genetic upgrades mainly for humans. Upgrade is rated only 3.81 whereas Recursion gets 4.17, but I liked Upgrade just as much or maybe slightly more.

The Lost World by Michael Crichton (1995)

Adrian Tchaikovsky Children of Time

Timeline by Michael Crichton (1999)


It is ranked …
#7 on Best Technothrillers Ever
#2 on The Best of Michael Crichton

I don’t rate it that high. Crichton was my favorite author in my 20s. On the reread, many of his books are falling quite a bit in my rankings.

nice, Steve, I'm almost done with the first Jurassic Park book by Michael Crichton, he's becoming one of my favorite authors

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (1973)

Westworld by Michael Crichton (1974)

Heir Apparent: A Short Story by Daniel Suarez (2025)

Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton (1976)

I'm a big fan of Crichton ever since I discovered Jurassic Park. Since then, I've read all of his books except for a few early books he wrote under pseudonyms.

Just finished Eaters of the Dead, which has long been one of my favorite Crichton books. Having reread many of them this year, they haven’t all aged well, or my standards have progressed, but this one is relatively timeless. Very creative. I will very generously and questionably say it qualifies as a techno-thriller, despite no technology per se, because there is science. It definitely has thriller moments. The book isn’t about the science per se, but evolution is noted in some detail in the epilogue, so … science thriller … or so I’m saying, but uniquely so.

Kill Chain by Christian Brose (2020)

A former aid to John McCain makes the case that America is losing the edge, in a state of hubris fighting asymmetric wars against substantially less capable foes like the Iraq, while China has raced ahead in their capabilities.

Kill Chain: Drones and The Rise of the High-Tech Assassins by Andrew Cockburn (2015)

Canvases a history of remote war systems and tactics, in an unflattering light.

Micro by Michael Crichton & Richard Preston (2011)

I got turned onto this indie book by Andrew McGlinchey. So far it's one of my favorite books of the year. (Right up with Tranquility Sea). It's vibe is pure sci-fi, but the plot is a detective novel. Really a great find.

Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell Jr. (1938)

The 1938 thing in the ice that inspired the movie The Thing. Didn’t like this book very much.

Rising Sun by Michael Crichton (1992)

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (1998)

That was much better than I remembered from the first read decades ago.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells (2017)

The Gate of the Feral Gods

Totally out of my comfort zone, but it is really funny and some light relief after Pat Cadigan

G.S. wrote: "The Gate of the Feral Gods

Totally out of my comfort zone, but it is really funny and some light relief after Pat Cadigan"

I’ve heard good things about Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Love Dungeon Crawler Carl! I'm eagerly waiting for book #8.

Airframe by Michael Crichton (1996)

Chasing Shadows
I picked Sekret Machines: Chasing Shadows up at a sci fi convention with low expectations, but I'm loving it! Historical thriller plus techno thriller.

Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer

Rereading one of my favorite authors, a great investigative author. His books explore why does man do [some crazy thing we find ourselves doing]. The parts about Tillman are tragic of course. This book give an interesting account of wars in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, 9/11, and Iraq. It also covers friendly fire incidents and how they and other unflattering military events were reported in real-time and then later on. He goes through the saga of Jessica Lynch. He talks about an A-10 friendly fire incident. It is fascinating and frustrating.

I find special ops type non-fiction books far more interesting than fictional techno-thrillers. Because it is real … it is more intense than any thriller. It feels almost like heresy to note them in a “thriller” group, because obviously it is not some joyous entertainment that we get out of them and “thriller” seems an inappropriate label. It is the pulse-pounding intensity and intrigue of real-world events that are truly consequential, and the hard truth of the way people in the real world really behave that I’m drawn to … and I’m obviously not cheering like a juvenile at a Hollywood blockbuster movie during these books. These are just fascinating books.

Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton (2009)

I've been on an indy kick lately. Honestly, I'd stack them up against the recent "big books" any day. and maybe somewhere between indy and big:

Steve wrote: "Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton (2009)
"

Steve, I see you're reading a lot of Crichton. I'm an avid fan and have read almost every book except for a few early one written under pseudonyms which I'm trying to find.

I recently read:
by Michael Crichton writing as Jeffery Hudson (no photo)

Hey David. Props for being such a thorough Crichton fan. We are rare. Haven’t met anyone besides you that knows his work so well. In the 90s, Crichton was my favorite author. I’m rereading many of them this year, to see where they stand in the technothriller pantheon. They were a little foggy in my distant memory. Having fun.

Today, started another.
Congo by Michael Crichton (1980)

Steve wrote: "Hey David. Props for being such a thorough Crichton fan. We are rare. Haven’t met anyone besides you that knows his work so well. In the 90s, Crichton was my favorite author. I’m rereading many of ..."

My favorites are Jurassic Park (obviously), Eaters of the Dead, and Timeline. Those have always stuck with me over the years. I'm down to six of his early works written under pseudonyms to find.

Enjoy!

Timeline is my favorite Crichton book. Heck, it's probably up in my top 10 of technothrillers overall. I re-read it every few years. Have a thing for time travel stories, lol!

I went through all 198 people who voted on the Best of Michael Crichton list. Only 1 person had more than me. One had 26. I have 24. There was a 20, 16, some 12s. Mostly people were voting on say 2-6 books. I have Jurassic Park #1, and Eaters of the Dead #2 as well.

Need to work through some of the pseudonym books. I’ll buddy read if you want. Pick one not on my list. I’m in.

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (1954)


Ha! Techno-thriller! He renders vampires not some mystical thing … something caused by disease, and conquerable by science. Except unlike the movie, he isn’t an actual scientist so he struggles. This book inspired the whole zombie genre.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (1968)


Really liked this one

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (1969)


There is a “time travel” notion in this book that makes some people call this a science fiction. I’d say it wasn’t science fiction, … just a framing device.

The Minority Report and Other Stories by Philip K. Dick


Each chapter is a short story or novelette.
1. The Minority Report
2. We Can Remember It For You (Total Recall)
3. Paycheck
4. Second Variety
5. The Eyes Have It
1-4 were all good

Influx by Daniel Suarez (2014)

Aggressor by F.X. Holden (2023)


First book in the Aggressor series about China going to war over Taiwan. This series is best of the 60 books I’ve read so far in 2025.

Hi I'm new to the group! I just finished up Project Hail Mary which brought me to this page. It was a great read and I really enjoyed the adventure. It made me want to re-read The Apollo Murders by Chris Hadfield. I'm not sure if anyone here has given this series a read, but I think it's great. Currently there are 2 books in The Apollo Murders series, with a third coming out October. I highly recommend!

🚨 New Release Alert! 🚨

My latest book, The Edge of Control, is finally here!

Meet Elara Vaughn, a brilliant but haunted tech prodigy, and Nova, an AI companion who’s more than just lines of code. Together, they’re pulled into a high-stakes fight against a powerful corporation that blurs the line between innovation and control. As Elara battles her past and Nova questions its own existence, the two must uncover dangerous secrets that could change the future of humanity forever.

✨ If you love sci-fi thrillers, cyberpunk, AI ethics, and edge-of-your-seat suspense, this one’s for you.

📚 Category: Science Fiction / Techno-Thriller / Cyberpunk
🔗 Read it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FNLPSLCC

Jeff wrote: "Hi I'm new to the group! I just finished up Project Hail Mary which brought me to this page. It was a great read and I really enjoyed the adventure. It made me want to re-read The Apollo Murders by..."

Welcome Jeff! Project Hail Mary was great—my favorite techno-thriller of all time. With the movie coming out, it seems like a good time to reread it. Can’t imagine a movie doing it justice, but if it did …?

Thanks for the Apollo suggestion.

Cody wrote: "🚨 New Release Alert! 🚨

My latest book, The Edge of Control, is finally here!

Meet Elara Vaughn, a brilliant but haunted tech prodigy, and Nova, an AI companion who’s more than just lines of code...."

Welcome Cody! Thanks for sharing. Please put any posts about your own book(s) as a new thread in the AUTHOR/BOOK PROMOTION folder.

Swarm by FX Holden (2023)


#3 in a great series about China at war over Taiwan set in the 2030s.

Steve wrote: "Jeff wrote: "Hi I'm new to the group! I just finished up Project Hail Mary which brought me to this page. It was a great read and I really enjoyed the adventure. It made me want to re-read The Apol..."
Hello Steve, I'm looking forward to the PHM movie. I waited to check out the trailer until I finished the book. I didn't want any spoilers! From what I saw it looks promising.

The Apollo Murders series is probably my favourite in the genre currently so I'm really looking forward to the next entry. I also saw they are making this into a movie as well. Chris Hadfield was an astronaut and Air Force pilot, so his insight and knowledge make the series quite believable.

Midnight: A gripping Aggressor Inc. action thriller by F.X. Holden


I just can't stop. This series is so good.