Why am I passionate about this?

My passion for historical thrillers comes from the excitement I felt as a lad when I immersed myself in the classics like Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Robinson Crusoe. Then a book on WW2 shocked me with the images of the brutality inflicted on the innocent caught up in the madness. On exercise with the Royal Navy in the Brecon Beacons, the gem of a story planted itself in my imagination. What if the Germans did invade Britain? What if the people chasing me over this bleak countryside were intent on killing me? What if I was desperately trying to get my family to safety? Dark September was born…


I wrote

Dark September

By Brendan Gerad O'Brien,

Book cover of Dark September

What is my book about?

Germany invades mainland Britain. Stormtroopers swarm ashore along the South Wales coast to capture the Steelworks and Coal Mines. Newport…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Lost Wisdom of the Magi: the memoirs of Sophia Zealotes

Brendan Gerad O'Brien Why did I love this book?

This is a really well-told story and deserves praise for the detail and the observations throughout the book. Sophia, an elderly Babylonian Jew, is telling her account of her years in Palestine to the Sisters of Alexandria. As a little girl she studied the ancient languages because her father was a keeper of the royal archives of the Parthians. When she turned fifteen, her mother tried to commit her to an arranged marriage. Sophia runs away and joins a Nabataean caravan. Helme’s forensic research captures the atmosphere of Sophie’s travels brilliantly. The detail is amazing and her description of the everyday struggles brings the story vividly to life.

At 521 pages, it’s a long story, but like any journey, if it’s enjoyable and exciting, it ends all too soon.

By Susie Helme,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Lost Wisdom of the Magi as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This engaging, meticulously researched novel tells the story of Sophia, a first-century Babylonian Jew who learns ancient languages at the royal archives of the Parthians and secretly studies the magic on cuneiform tablets.
Sophia runs away from home, joining a Nabataean incense caravan, studies with the Essenes on the Dead Sea and joins with the militants of Qumran. As the Zealots battle to defend revolutionary Jerusalem against Titus, she falls in love with a Greek freedman, Athanasios, a comrade in arms. Jews and Christians briefly unite with Samaritans and the People of the Land. But messiahs can prove false.


Book cover of The Ashes of London

Brendan Gerad O'Brien Why did I love this book?

Excellent story - set in 1666 during the fire of London it captures the religious tensions and conflicting politics of the era. Charles 11 is on the throne and in pursuit of anyone involved in the execution of his father. No-one feels safe. James Marwood, son of a Puritan, and Cat Lovett, daughter of a renegade Protestant are in a fast-paced murder plot through the narrow streets and ruins of London. Cat is manipulated by her untrustworthy uncle. Marwood is pursuing the murderer while trying to protect his elderly father. Cat tries to escape her uncle’s home and disguises herself as a servant. The intricate plot takes you through the Royal Court, the plans to rebuild St Paul’s and the intricacies of society of that time in history.

By Andrew Taylor,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked The Ashes of London as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first book in the No. 1 Times bestselling series

'This is terrific stuff' Daily Telegraph

'A breathtakingly ambitious picture of an era' Financial Times

'A masterclass in how to weave a well-researched history into a complex plot' The Times

A CITY IN FLAMES
London, 1666. As the Great Fire consumes everything in its path, the body of a man is found in the ruins of St Paul's Cathedral - stabbed in the neck, thumbs tied behind his back.

A WOMAN ON THE RUN
The son of a traitor, James Marwood is forced to hunt the killer through the city's…


Book cover of Bravo Two Zero: The Harrowing True Story of a Special Forces Patrol Behind the Lines in Iraq

Brendan Gerad O'Brien Why did I love this book?

Sergeant Andy McNab recounts the extraordinary story of the top-secret mission in Iraq during the first Gulf War in 1998 - to destroy vital enemy communication links and to find and destroy mobile Scud launchers.

Eight members of the elite SAS regiment are dropped behind the Iraq lines in a highly covert operation. But the mission is compromised and they’re engaged in a fierce battle. Trying to escape on foot to the Syrian border, three men die and one escapes. But four men are captured. Taken to Baghdad, they are brutally tortured. This is a story of courage, strength, and endurance. And dark humour in the face of overwhelming odds. Written in the plain language of a serving soldier, it adds significantly to the authenticity of the story.

By Andy McNab,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Bravo Two Zero as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Sergeant Andy McNab recounts the story of the top secret mission that would reveal the secrets of the SAS to the world for the first time.

Their location: Iraq
Their mission: to sever a vital enemy underground communication link, to find and destroy mobile Scud launchers
Their call sign: Bravo Two Zero

When eight members of the elite SAS regiment embark on a highly covert operation, they are each laden with 15 stones of equipment, needing to tab 20km across the desert to reach their objective. But within days, their location is compromised. They engage in a fierce battle. They…


Book cover of Dissolution

Brendan Gerad O'Brien Why did I love this book?

Henry VIII, as Head of the Church, is determined to dissolve the monasteries. The description of the cold and damp 1537 England adds a depressing layer to the tension amongst the monks as Cromwell sends administrators around the country to evaluate their status.

When the administrator is beheaded in a Sussex monastery, a black cockerel is sacrificed on the altar, and the Relic disappears, Cromwell sends lawyer Dr. Matthew Shardlake to investigate. Shardlake, a hunchback who is often cruelly mocked, is a man of integrity and his sharp brain and grasp of detail confounds his distracters and takes the reader on a clever and intriguing journey. I immediately bought the next Shardlake book.

By C.J. Sansom,

Why should I read it?

14 authors picked Dissolution as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Awarded the CWA Diamond Dagger - the highest honor in British crime writing

From the bestselling author of Winter in Madrid and Dominion comes the exciting and elegantly written first novel in the Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery series

Dissolution is an utterly riveting portrayal of Tudor England. The year is 1537, and the country is divided between those faithful to the Catholic Church and those loyal to the king and the newly established Church of England. When a royal commissioner is brutally murdered in a monastery on the south coast of England, Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's feared vicar general, summons…


Book cover of The Dark of the Sun

Brendan Gerad O'Brien Why did I love this book?

I saw the film before I discovered the book, and as usual, the book was far superior, allowing your imagination to crank up the tension. Set in Africa 1960, Bruce Curry’s band of mercenaries go to relieve a diamond-mining town cut off by rebels in the Belgian Congo. Of course, the real mission is to retrieve a consignment of diamonds. Along the way, Curry falls in love with a Belgian woman, Shermaine.

When they reach the town, Curry’s ill-disciplined unit is pitted against bandits, guerrillas, and unfriendly tribes. The action is brutal and unforgiving and the mercenaries are struggling to stay alive. Then Curry discovers something the reader has already suspected - his deadliest enemy is not the one he's facing. It’s the one who’s right there beside him!

By Wilbur Smith,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Dark of the Sun as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An action-packed thriller by global bestselling author, Wilbur Smith.

'A master storyteller' - Sunday Times

'Wilbur Smith is one of those benchmarks against whom others are compared' - The Times

'No one does adventure quite like Smith' - Daily Mirror

The highest prize comes at the highest price . . .

Captain Bruce Curry has a simple enough mission: to lead his mercenary soldiers to rescue a town cut off by rebel fighting in the Belgian Congo. But events quickly take a turn for the worse as it becomes clear that the town's diamond supplies are the real focus of…


Explore my book 😀

Dark September

By Brendan Gerad O'Brien,

Book cover of Dark September

What is my book about?

Germany invades mainland Britain. Stormtroopers swarm ashore along the South Wales coast to capture the Steelworks and Coal Mines. Newport is blitzed. Danny O’Shea’s house is bombed and his wife is killed. O’Shea grabs his son and heads to Ireland. But on an isolated road they witness Welsh insurgents robbing some boxes from a German truck. German Captain Eric Weiss, responsible for the boxes, knows his life depends on him getting them back. But the boxes disappear. O’Shea goes to the aid of a dying woman - and both the Germans and the insurgents believe she’s told him where the boxes are hidden. Pursued by both the Germans and the insurgents, his only concern is to find his son and get him to safety.

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Stormwalker Series Connections In Time Bain's Story Book 1

By S.G. Boudreaux,

Book cover of Stormwalker Series Connections In Time Bain's Story Book 1

S.G. Boudreaux Author Of Earth

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

I've always loved fiction, fantasy, and adventure stories. Growing up in the Star Wars generation, I was seven when A New Hope was released at the theaters. Living in the hollows of West Virginia there weren’t libraries close by, and movies were a great, though seldom, treat. Suggestive material and cursing was not something that we saw in books or movies growing up in a more simple period of time. I still thoroughly enjoy many well-written, clean, books or shows. As an active member of the body of Christ, I now serve with my writing, and hope that kids of all ages can enjoy epic fantasy and adventure books from a clean and wholesome perspective.

S.G.'s book list on clean-reading fantasy with religious undertones

What is my book about?

Finding Family, Discovery, Destiny. This is what nineteen-year-old Bain Brinley is searching for.

In his homeland, far in the mountains, he stepped into what he could only describe as a time-portal and landed in a strange land known as Egypt. Then he falls through another portal during a storm, only to end up in another world known as Harilhia. Here, he soon discovers a creature he knew from home. He was back, but it wasn't Zanchier.

Can he find his family, and figure out what the Creator wanted him to do with time-travel?

Stormwalker Series Connections In Time Bain's Story Book 1

By S.G. Boudreaux,

What is this book about?

Where was he and how did he get here?

Nineteen-year-old Bain Brinley has just inadvertently stepped into a time portal and was deposited into a world like none he had ever seen before. He turned to go back through the portal and back to Zanchier to find his family, only to find the portal gone. Now, Bain must face this strange, new, world without anyone else on whom he can depend.

As he gazes out over the hot, dry, desert climate at the large pyramid shaped structures, he is unsure where to go. He is soon thrust into a strange,…


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