Political Thriller Books

The best political thriller book reviews. Political thriller is a broad term that may include espionage, political conspiracies, the assassination of political leaders and other sinister tactics that have high-stakes consequences for governments and civilizations.

The Killer Collective, a New Spy Thriller by Barry Eisler

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The Bottom Line: The best Eisler thriller in years. Over the past two decades, former intelligence operative-turned-novelist Barry Eisler has created some of the genre’s most compelling characters, most notably John Rain and Livia Lone. Eisler brings them together with great effect in The Killer Collective. When a joint FBI–Seattle Police investigation of an international child pornography ring gets too close to certain powerful people, […]

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The Puppet Master, One of the Year’s Best Thrillers

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The Bottom Line: An outstanding, relentlessly paced whodunnit with sky-high stakes and a jaw-dropping twist. One of the year’s best thrillers. When a trio of high-level political assassinations leave investigators puzzled, Superior Court Judge Cyrus Brooks and Homicide Detective Frank Lotello team up to uncover a diabolical scheme. After the murders and post-mortem sexual assaults of a senator and treasury official, the D.C. police chief

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SILKWORM, a Highly Recommended Spy Thriller by Kevin Land Patrick

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The Bottom Line: A first-class conspiracy thriller with the highest possible stakes. Fans of Brad Meltzer and Mark Greaney will fall hard for Kevin Land Patrick. SILKWORM finds America still recovering from debilitating attacks on its water and electricity infrastructure, which resulted in thousands of deaths and a lingering radioactive zone in the southwest. Nearly two years later, CIA operative Elle Hardwick continues to pursue

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Deep Background, a Home Run Political Thriller by Rick Treon

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The Bottom Line: An intelligent, textured and taut thriller about political corruption through the lens of a disgraced journalist. Levi Cole had enjoyed a remarkable career as a journalist, rising from a small-town sportswriter to regular cable news contributor and charming political pundit. But he owed much of his success to an anonymous source that led to his veritable takedown of the governor of Texas.

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The Ragged Edge of Night, a Historical Thriller by Olivia Hawker

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The Bottom Line: A tautly-written historical thriller tailor-made for fans of All The Light We Cannot See. Set in Nazi Germany, The Ragged Edge of Night centers around friar Anton Starzmann, who is stripped of his position during the fascist government’s purge of religious clerics. He seeks solace in a woman who wants help raising her three children, but their ensuing marriage is more partnership

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The Devil’s Son, an Action-Packed Political Thriller by Charles Kowalski

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The Bottom Line: A timely page-turner featuring a Mossad agent worthy of her own series. The Devil’s Son opens in 1960s Buenos Aires, as a pair of Mossad agents are set to ambush infamous Nazis Karl Weiss and Josef Mengele. After a chilling brush with their targets, luck is not with them, and the two men go free. As the world knows, Mengele died a

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The Moving Blade, One of the Year’s Best Thrillers, by Michael Pronko

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The Bottom Line: One of the year’s best thrillers. A string of grisly murders, high stakes geopolitics and the prose of a master craftsman elevate this crime thriller to rarefied air. What do a murdered American diplomat, a set of rare erotic Japanese wood block prints, and an agreement to keep American bases in Japan have in common? That’s the question facing investigators in The

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The President is Missing, a Political Thriller by James Patterson and Bill Clinton

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The Bottom Line: Easily the best James Patterson novel in years. Highly recommended. On a recent Stephen Colbert show appearance, Stephen King mused that James Patterson spends approximately 12 hours working on each book. True, Patterson has become notoriously prolific in recent years as more than 100 books a year are churned out in his name (Patterson still does the outlines). Nobody’s saying how much

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Remote Access, a Must-Read Political Thriller by Barry Finlay

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Bottom Line: While grounded in reality, Remote Access is a must-read with a singular sense of escapism rare in a political thriller. Annie Logan spends another lonely night with too much wine and social media, someone takes control of her computer. If this sounds like just another ransomware attack, think again. Logan, who is married to the president’s chief of staff, is faced with this

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The Repatriation of Henry Chin, a Spellbinding Political Thriller by Isaac Ho

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The Bottom Line: Isaac Ho’s spellbinding political thriller is a wake-up call about the consequences of economic war between the U.S. and China What if China decided to impose economic sanctions on the United States? That’s a question that worried economists have been asking for years, and it’s the triggering event behind Isaac Ho’s foreboding novel. Set in the near future, where America is in

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