Techno-Thrillers discussion

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

We’ll do two polls, and have two selections for BOTM. I have two separate themes:
- 2020s Book: A book published in this decade, 2020 or later
- Favorite Author: A book you’d like to read/reread from your favorite author

All nominees:
- must be a techno-thriller
- must not be your own book
- must have at least 1,000 ratings, or be by a well-known author defined as having prior techno-thriller books with 100,000+ ratings.

I don’t 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, so there are alternatives to participate with the group. I almost always read both. I do always start both.

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 at least on one of the themes. 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.

We’re not voting on our favorites and not what we’ve already read. Sometimes I’ll nominate books I’ve already read, but the vote is different. We always vote only for the book we actually want to read, or re-read, for the month. We want actually participation. If you just want to vote for favorites, vote on the Listopia book lists instead for that urge.

For the Favorite Author theme:

The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown (2025)


Dan Brown’s latest book comes out Sep 8, 2025. It is allegedly a techno-thriller. It will definitely be a thriller. This one is not out yet, so doesn’t have 1000 ratings (though many have “rated” it anyway, which annoys me). Anyway, Dan Brown is a well-known author with his Da Vince Code series. We read Deception Point as BOTM earlier this year, which has over 600K ratings.

For the 2020s theme:

Aggressor by F.X. Holden (2023)


This recent 2023 book is #1 of 5 books in the Aggressor series about China going to war over Taiwan. We read #2 last month. This series is best of the 60 books I’ve read so far in 2025, and some of the best techno-thriller reading, in my opinion, in years. I honestly think it just as good as Tom Clancy.

For the both the Favorite Author and 2020s theme:

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (2021)


My favorite techno-thriller book of all time. The movie comes out in March of 2026, so I wanted to revisit, and verify that it still is my #1. The audiobook was great.

We’ll do the polls one at a time. If this nomination even makes it to the poll (i.e., if no one else nominates anything), and he wins the 1st poll, then I’ll exclude him from the 2nd poll.

For favorite author theme:

Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy (1994)


This one is on my TBR list. I did read it long ago. The ending is quite remarkable if I recall, and be written in 1994, may surprise some readers. I want to reread it so I can rank it in the techno-thriller pantheon, and in the best of Clancy list.

For favorite author theme:

Reamde by Neal Stephenson (2011)


Not my favorite author, but he is popular among some group members. I try to keep sampling/exploring broader horizons.

For the 2020s theme:

Upgrade by Blake Crouch (2022)

Ubik by Phillip K. Dick (1969)

I went to a poll/vote for the Favorite Author theme, taking advantage of people on holiday in the US today, ... and shamelessly aiming to read the latest Dan Brown book coming out next week, whether we vote for it as BOTM or not.

I keep stacking them up, ... 2 a month. Not everyone participates, but ... now at least you have an alternate choice if you don't like the 1st book of the month. I do read them all ... or at least start them.

The poll for the favorite author theme tied. Rather than force one of them, I’ll take them both, and forego the 2nd planned poll on a 2020s book. Both of them are favorite authors and 2020s books.