The best thrillers with an international villain

This book grabbed me right from the first page. Lydia and her young son, Luca, are on the run from a cartel leader who has killed her family. They are trying to make it to American soil to avoid the cartel’s reach. As they trek across the Mexican desert, they find that the cartel leader, Javier, has spies everywhere looking for them. They can trust no one and you can be assured that every page will be full of tension. Beautifully written.  

John Corey is a wise-cracking NY cop who joins an FBI task force where he works with FBI Agent Kate Mayfield to take custody of a Libyan terrorist known as the Lion. The Task Force is at JFK waiting for the terrorist who is flying in from Libya on a 747. When they lose communication with the pilot, they realize something is wrong. The rest is a rollercoaster ride all the way to the end. You will not be disappointed.

Chovka Umarov is a Chechen mobster who runs a gambling racket through local bars in Boston. He’s not the main character of the book, but he’s the underlying tension that makes the novel flourish. Cousin Marv owns a local dive bar and Bob is a bartender who may or may not be on the spectrum. Bob makes some strange decisions, while Marv tries to understand what he is up to. You get so wrapped up in these characters that you are knocked off your chair at the ending. They also made a movie about this starring James Gandolfini as Cousin Marv. But read the book first, it’s a great treat for any thriller lover.

Dr. No is so much more sinister than you remember him in the movie that began the James Bond series in 1962. He is a reclusive Chinese-German millionaire who lives on a Jamaican island where an MI-6 agent has gone missing. M calls on James Bond to find the missing agent and upon arrival is treated to a basket of poisoned fruit and a deadly centipede is left in his bed while he’s asleep. Dr. No has pincers for hands which just adds to the tension as Bond closes in. The menacing villain forces Bond to navigate his way through an obstacle course constructed within the facility's ventilation system while Bond suffers electric shocks, burns, and an ordeal with poisonous spiders. This is such an enjoyable read for anyone who likes thrillers.  

I’ll admit, the Russian villain in this thriller is a very bit part, but I can’t have a top 5 list of any thriller without including Elmore Leonard. I read one of Leonard’s first urban thrillers, Glitz, back in ‘80’s and was blown away with how gritty it was. I’d never heard dialogue coming out of character’s mouths like that before. He wrote dialogue like people actually spoke—not with perfect dialect, but street language. It’s the reason he was dubbed the Dickens of Detroit. If you’ve read Elmore Leonard and liked him, then pick this up and read it. It’s a quasi-sequel to Get Shorty with shylock Chili Palmer moving from the movie industry to the music business. 

If you’ve never read Leonard, then start with this one. My writing career would never have flourished like is has without reading Leonard, so this on is near to my heart. Enjoy.