10 Suspenseful Political Thrillers
Pick up one of these pulse-pounding political thrillers. Where power, betrayal, and high-stakes secrets collide. From shadowy government plots to courtroom showdowns and covert spy missions, these gripping reads deliver nonstop suspense and unexpected twists. Packed with bold protagonists, global intrigue, and conspiracies that seem ripped from the headlines, these books are fast-paced and captivating to keep you turning pages late into the night.
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Add to BookshelfRed Widow
by Alma Katsu
Lyndsey Duncan fears her CIA career is over after crossing a line with another agent. Sent home on leave, she’s eager to redeem herself when recruited for a high-stakes internal investigation. A former top handler in Moscow known as the “human lie detector,” Lyndsey once recruited senior Russian officials. But now, three Russian assets — including one of hers — have been exposed, and the CIA suspects a mole. As she digs into the case, she’s forced to scrutinize those closest to her. Meanwhile, agent Theresa Warner — dubbed the “Red Widow” — is haunted by the legacy of her late husband, a former director killed under mysterious circumstances. A key figure in the Russia Division, Theresa forms an unlikely bond with Lyndsey, offering critical insights. But as Lyndsey uncovers a shocking link to Theresa, she must decide whether to expose a dark web of secrets that could shake the agency to its core.
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While Justice Sleeps
by Stacey Abrams
Written by former Minority Leader in the Georgia House of Representatives, Stacey Abrams. Avery Keene, a brilliant young law clerk for Justice Howard Wynn, is juggling a demanding job and a troubled family when everything changes: Justice Wynn falls into a coma. To her shock, Avery is named his legal guardian and power of attorney. Thrust into an unexpected role, she discovers Wynn had been secretly investigating a controversial biotech merger — and a dangerous conspiracy tied to it. As Avery follows a trail of clues left by Wynn, she uncovers secrets that reach the highest levels of Washington. With the judge’s future — and a major Supreme Court decision — hanging in the balance, Avery must navigate political pressure, legal intrigue, and personal danger.
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Velvet Was the Night
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Mexico in the 1970s is a dangerous country, even for Maite, a secretary who spends her life seeking the romance found in cheap comic books and ignoring the activists protesting around the city. When her next-door neighbor, the beautiful art student Leonora, disappears under suspicious circumstances, Maite finds herself searching for the missing woman — and journeying deeper into Leonora’s secret life of student radicals and dissidents. Mexico in the 1970s is a politically fraught land, even for Elvis, a goon with a passion for rock ’n’ roll who knows more about kidney-smashing than intrigue. When Elvis is assigned to find Leonora, he begins a blood-soaked search for the woman — and his soul. Swirling in parallel trajectories, Maite and Elvis attempt to discover the truth behind Leonora’s disappearance, encountering hitmen, government agents, and Russian spies.
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American Spy
by Lauren Wilkinson
It’s 1986, the heart of the Cold War, and Marie Mitchell is a brilliant young Black woman working as an intelligence officer with the FBI. Her career has stalled, so when she’s given the opportunity to join a shadowy task force aimed at undermining Thomas Sankara, the charismatic revolutionary president of Burkina Faso whose Communist ideology has made him a target for American intervention, she says yes. In the year that follows, Marie will observe Sankara, seduce him, and ultimately have a hand in the coup that will bring him down. But doing so will change everything she believes about what it means to be a spy, a lover, a sister, and a good American.
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Native Speaker
by Chang-rae Lee
Henry Park has spent his entire life trying to become a true American — a native speaker. But even as the essence of his adopted country continues to elude him, his Korean heritage seems to drift further and further away. Park’s harsh Korean upbringing has taught him to hide his emotions, to remember everything he learns, and most of all to feel an overwhelming sense of alienation. In other words, it has shaped him as a natural spy. But the very attributes that help him to excel in his profession put a strain on his marriage to his American wife and stand in the way of his coming to terms with his young son’s death. When he is assigned to spy on a rising Korean-American politician, his very identity is tested.
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Never
by Ken Follett
“Every catastrophe begins with a little problem that doesn’t get fixed.” So says Pauline Green, president of the United States, in Follett’s nerve-racking drama of international tension. A shrinking oasis in the Sahara Desert, a stolen US Army drone, an uninhabited Japanese island, and one country’s secret stash of deadly chemical poisons: All these play roles in a relentlessly escalating crisis. Struggling to prevent the outbreak of world war are a young woman intelligence officer, a spy working undercover with jihadists, a brilliant Chinese spymaster, and Pauline herself, beleaguered by a populist rival for the next presidential election.
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The Pelican Brief
by John Grisham
A bestseller that inspired the blockbuster film starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington. In suburban Georgetown, a killer’s Reeboks whisper on the floor of a posh home. In a seedy D.C. porno house a patron is swiftly garroted to death. The next day America learns that two of its Supreme Court justices have been assassinated. And in New Orleans, a young law student prepares a legal brief. To Darby Shaw, it was no more than a legal shot in the dark, a brilliant guess. To the Washington establishment, it was political dynamite. Suddenly, Darby is witness to a murder — a murder intended for her. Going underground, she finds there is only one person she can trust — an ambitious reporter after a newsbreak hotter than Watergate — to help her piece together the deadly puzzle.
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Remain Silent
by Robyn Gigl
Criminal defense attorney Erin McCabe is used to defending clients, not being treated like a suspect. But when a new client, a wealthy financial adviser, is found murdered shortly after revealing to Erin that he was secretly transgender, she becomes the prime suspect. As the last person to see him alive, Erin is under intense scrutiny, and the case quickly entangles her with powerful enemies and damning evidence. While fighting to clear her name with partner Duane Swisher, Erin is also pulled into a high-profile custody case involving a mother accused of abducting her child. With one prosecutor determined to charge her with murder and another pressuring her to betray a client, Erin faces impossible legal and ethical choices. As a personal tragedy strikes and a vengeful enemy closes in, Erin’s career, relationships, and life hang in the balance.
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A Case of Exploding Mangoes
by Mohammed Hanif
Intrigue and subterfuge combine with bad luck and good in this darkly comic debut about love, betrayal, tyranny, family, and a conspiracy trying its damnedest to happen. Ali Shigri, Pakistani Air Force pilot and Silent Drill Commander of the Fury Squadron, is on a mission to avenge his father’s suspicious death, which the government calls a suicide. Ali’s target is none other than General Zia ul-Haq, dictator of Pakistan. Enlisting a rag-tag group of conspirators, including his cologne-bathed roommate, a hash-smoking American lieutenant, and a mango-besotted crow, Ali sets his elaborate plan in motion. There’s only one problem: The line of would-be Zia assassins is longer than he could have possibly known.
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The Hunt for Red October
by Tom Clancy
Somewhere under the freezing Atlantic, a Soviet sub commander has just made a fateful decision. The Red October is heading west. The Americans want her. The Russians want her back. The chase for the highly advanced nuclear submarine is on — and there’s only one man who can find her … Brilliant CIA analyst Jack Ryan has little interest in fieldwork, but when covert photographs of Red October land on his desk, Ryan soon finds himself in the middle of a high-stakes game of hide-and-seek played by two world powers — a game that could end in all-out war. The book that inspired the original series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, starring John Krasinski on Amazon Prime.
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