Techno-Thrillers discussion

Post your nominees in this thread for the August 2025 Book of the Month<.

We’ll do two polls, and have two selections for BOTM. I have two separate themes:
- Military: new or old but in the Clancy mold
- Ice/Water: from the “they found it in the ice” vein, but deep water works too

All nominees:
- must be a techno-thriller
- must not be your own book
- must have at least 1000 ratings

I don’t think I’ll always impose a “theme” for BOTM. I’m in a bit of a phase here, wanting two selections a month, that are fairly distinct from each other.

I’ll go to a poll in a couple weeks. We’ll just do one poll on one category/theme at a time, not two at the same time. So you have some time to post your book nominees. First come first serve. If more than 5 people nominate, I take the first book (that fits the criteria) from the first five people. If less than 5 people nominate, I take the second nominee from the first person, and so on. Sometimes, no one else nominates a book, so all nominees ended up being mine. I prefer it to be a group effort. Please feel free to suggest books for the group. Please identify which theme or category you are nominating the book for, if it isn’t obvious from the title.

Military nominee:

Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy (1994)

No, it doesn’t have to be from Tom Clancy himself for this category, but … this one is on my TBR list. I think I did read it long ago. The ending is quite remarkable if I recall. But, I want to refamiarize so I can rank it in the techno-thriller pantheon, and in the best of Clancy list.

Ice nominee:

Ice Station Zebra by Alistair MacLean (1963)

It seems Alistair was really the innovator of the proto-techno-thriller. He put down the core premises that keep on giving. Premises sounds like a better word than tropes.

Military nominee:
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut


They say this is science fiction and it is on a techno-thriller list. I'm skeptical ... but ... we'll see. It's supposed to be a damn good book at any rate.

Ice nominee:
The Ice Limit by Lincoln Child

Military nominee:
Beachhead by FX Holden

Jed wrote: "Military nominee:
Beachhead by FX Holden
"

That looks good to me!

Ice/Water nominee:
Sphere by Michael Crichton (1987)

Ice/Water nominee:
Ice Hunt by James Rollins (2003)

Need at least 1 more ice/water nominee to go to the polls …

Ice, ice, baby:
Beneath the Dark Ice by Greig Beck

Thanks. Took the ice/water theme to the polls. Still need a couple nominees for the military theme. Suggestions?

Hmm, The Day Before Midnight by Stephen Hunter is military and awesome, would read again.

Anyone else? Or we can choose from 4

All I can think of is The Last Canadian which is out of print, and predates eBooks.

Out of print and only 414 ratings. $77 used on Amazon.
It is actually available free digitally on the internet archive site. But, less than 1000 ratings is a showstopper. I don’t have many rules, but that’s one of them.

I'm going to poll. I'll throw a 5th in there. I just searched the Best Technothrillers Ever list for the first military themed book I haven't read.

Flight of the Intruder by Stephen Coonts


It's on the list. Of course Patriot Games is on the list too. Not every Clancy-like book is techno-thriller, nor is every actual Clancy book a techno-thriller--looking at you Patriot Games. Red October has a stealth submarine that could alter the balance of power for first attack in WW3. That's technology. Red Storm rising parades out all manner of jets and missiles and shows what how all this technology would be used in a plausible WW3 scenario. This book has a jet in Vietnam. If it doesn't delineate this jet from other jets in some significant way ... then, ... and my inner geek isn't satiated ... then not a techno-thriller. I don't know if there is compelling science, technology, or ... engineering the s#$%t out of anything ... but ... we'll put it to a vote. I'll read whatever we pick. We'll see. I'm game.

The poll is open for the military theme. Please vote.

Our ice/water book was chosen ... and Sphere by Michael Crichton is the winner. That's a throwback but ... I was just about to re-read it anyway so I'm in ... even though I didn't vote for it.