Here are the books that I would choose if I was to be abandoned on a desert island, the Siberian wasteland or just my bedroom for a few days. Only limitations were I could pick only seven books and they had to be all written by different authors.
Ice Station – Matthew Reilly
From the Publisher
Anarctica is the last unconquered continent, a murderous expanse of howling winds, blinding whiteouts and deadly crevasses. On one edge of Antarctica is Wilkes Station. Beneath Wilkes Station is the gate to hell itself…
A team of U.S. divers, exploring three thousand feet beneath the ice shelf has vanished. Sending out an SOS, Wilkes draws a rapid deployment team of Marines-and someone else…
First comes a horrific firefight. Then comes a plunge into a drowning pool filled with killer whales. Next comes the hard part, as a handful of survivors begin an electrifying, red-hot, non-stop battle of survival across the continent and against wave after wave of elite military assassins-who've all come for one thing: a secret buried deep beneath the ice…
Why I love this book:
It reads like a good action movie, the pace is kept up throughout the book, the characters are wonderful (Check out Matthew Reilly's Homepage for a great fictional casting call). It is set in the Antarctica which is one of my favourite places for novels. It promises a lot, and it delivers. Oh, and it introduces a young man named Scarecrow!
Choosers of the Slain – James H. Cobb
The woman commander of the U.S.S. Cunningham leads her destroyer and crew into an all-out war in this thrilling debut novel of military suspense. 2006: When Argentines invade a forgotten British scientific outpost in Antactica and being a stripping operation of the continent's precious minerals, a lone U.S. ship must blockade the iceberg-infested waters and stop Argentine reinforcements from arriving
Why I love this book:
This is a naval warfare novel for the 21st century. A female captain with the most advanced, hi tech and deadly ship ever against a whole country. Also set near the Antarctic.
Where Eagles Dare – Alistair MacLean
From the Publisher
Eight Allied agents — seven men and a woman — parachute onto a mountainside behind enemy lines in wartime Germany. Their mission: to rescue an American general before the Nazis can force him to reveal secret D-Day plans.
Why I love this book:
It is one of the greatest World War II novels ever. With a movie that was taken almost line for line from the book (or was it the other way around), with deceptions and twists, its a fantastic book that is so well written by an author who wrote many classic books.
The Black Echo – Michael Connelly
From the Publisher
For LAPD homicide cop Harry Bosch — hero, maverick, nighthawk — the body in the drainpipe at Mulholland Dam is more than another anonymous statistic. This one is personal.
The dead man, Billy Meadows, was a fellow Vietnam "tunnel rat" who fought side by side with him in a nightmare underground war that brought them to the depths of hell. Now, Bosch is about to relive the horror of Nam. From a dangerous maze of blind alleys to a daring criminal heist beneath the city to the torturous link that must be uncovered, his survival instincts will once again be tested to their limit.
Joining with an enigmatic and seductive female FBI agent, pitted against enemies inside his own department, Bosch must make the agonizing choice between justice and vengeance, as he tracks down a killer whose true face will shock him.
Why I love this book:
Its a heist story. It introduces Harry Bosch, a great character and sets him against the backdrop of L.A. Think of the movie Collateral, and that is the L.A. that Bosch walks through. Like another cop named Harry, Bosch works his own way and gets results, although not always to the praise of his superiors.
War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
From the Publisher
First published in 1898, The War of the Worlds was, and remains, one of H.G. Wells's finest works. Forty years later, a radio broadcast from Wells's tale fooled thousands into thinking the East Coast had fallen victim to Martian attack.
When a small cylinder crashes just outside London, onlookers are not prepared for what is about to be unleashed. Shortly after the onslaught begins, Earth fights back but is quickly brushed aside as the Martians destroy everything in their path. Soon London is evacuated and the hope mankind survives disappears.
Why I love this book:
I love Sci Fi and especially old 1950's Sci Fi movies. War of the Worlds is a book, so good, that it has inspired two seperate and different movie adaptations, plus a television show, and of course, the infamous radio broadcast and the Jeff Wayne's album. The original story focuses on an ordinary young man, swept up in the chaos when a large object lands close to where he lives. Told from his perspective, and set at the turn of the last century, it describes how everything he knows is destroyed by a seemingly unstoppable foe, of sacrifce, and of the strain of living while everyone around you is being killed. While the various offspurts of movies, and broadcasts have garnered more attention, the book is still a solid tale that stands up to anything written today.
Word of Honor – Nelson DeMille
Ben Tyson is the kind of man other men envy and all women adore. A family man and a corporate executive, Ben works long and hard to put into the past an atrocity he and his men committed in Vietnam, but it eventually catches up with him. As the press and the military seek the truth behind the pledge his men swore never to reveal, one woman is the key to setting the record straight – and saving Ben’s life.
Why I love this book:
The novel deals with a man and family that has to come to terms with things they have done in the past. The man, a soldier, is accused of an horrific crime and is drawn back into the army to face the charges. Its a tale of courage, truth, and eventually honor. A brilliant court room drama that takes place in a military court room rather than the usual civilian one.
Red Storm Rising – Tom Clancy
From the author of The Hunt For Red October, a New York Times bestseller for over 40 weeks, comes his greatest performance yet. Red Storm Rising is an alarmingly authentic portrait of escalating aggression between superpowers on all fronts–land, sea, air and space.
Why I love this book:
Written before Tom Clancy started producing the large bricks that I had no interest in, Red Storm Rising deals with World War III. A war without nuclear weapons being used and were many different battlegrounds are fought upon. Iceland, Germany and the Atlantic all come under attack as the red forces try to make a desperate powerplay. With action jumping back and forth between three friends who are spread across the conflict, the action doesn't stop and the pace doesn't drop until the final white flag. Like reading an actual account of the war.
