“Good thrillers don’t give up all their secrets at once.” -Stephen King
What happens when the mechanization created to support humanity starts working against it? That question has been the basis of many technology thriller books novels, such as ‘The Nighthawk’ and most recently, ‘The One’. So, if you are a fan of techno thriller books and are looking for recommendations, we have got you covered. Our list of best techno thriller books will help you choose the best ones. So, without further delay, let’s get to the list.
Nighthawk Series by C. Edgar North
The Nighthawk quadrilogy by C. Edgar North is a fascinating example of techno thriller books. With extreme adrenaline rush and unforeseeable twists, this ranks number one on our list. The series includes the following four books:
Nighthawk Crossing: Joseph Branson leads a gang of Native American Indians to smuggle drugs and weapons. The story shifts its gears when two FBI agents are shot dead by Branson’s smugglers. What follows next is the FBI uncovering drug and gun distribution rings in America and a frightening plan to supply a secret weapon to Al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Nighthawk: African Ice: Joseph Branson escapes with his wife Hazel to the Maldives and reunites with an infamous arms merchant. With the CIA tracking their every move, they successfully trade weapons for raw diamonds smuggled from the conflict zones of Africa.
Nighthawk: Chief Hazel: Hazel Branson takes over the family smuggling operations. However, when North Koreans kidnap her daughter, she is bound to smuggle terrorists into America. To sabotage the North Korean plot and save his family, Joseph ends up shaking hands with the FBI and CIA.
Nighthawk: The Deacon: Following the death of Brian West, a genius socio-psychopath who served both the CIA and Canadian Intelligence during the Cold War, his former colleagues get together on a yacht in the Florida Keys to celebrate his incredibly adventurous experiences.
The Circle By Dave Eggers
The technology thriller book follows Mae Holland, hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company. While working there, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, operated from an extensive California campus, links users’ emails, social media, banking, and purchases with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of transparency.
As Mae tours the open-plan office places, the high glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity. The Circle throws parties that last through the night, and famous musicians play on the lawn. There are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish saved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. However, what started as a story of one woman’s determination and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing story of uncertainty, raising questions about memory and the limits of human knowledge.
The Power By Naomi Alderman
‘The Power’ is a speculative technology thriller book at its best. It poses a simple question, what if men were no longer the leading force in society and women were? What would happen if women could make men afraid instead of the other way around? In ‘The Power’, the world is a familiar place. There’s a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool, an adoptive kid whose religious parents hide their true nature, a determined American politician, a tough London girl from a tricky family.
Then, a vital new force takes foundation and flourishes, causing their lives to converge with shocking effect. Teenage girls now have enormous physical power. They can cause unbearable pain and even death. With this slight turn of nature, the world drastically resets. From award-winning author Naomi Alderman, ‘The Power’ is abstract fiction at its most determined and challenging, at once taking us on a thrilling journey to an alternate reality and exposing our world in bold and surprising ways.
Dark Matter By Blake Crouch
The beauty of a Blake Crouch novel is how he picks a topic as mind-bending as quantum mechanics and simplifies it for readers like me who can’t even calculate a percentage without googling it first. It took Crouch ten years with this technology thriller book to plot and master ‘Dark Matter,’ and it was all worth the time. The story follows Jason, who finds himself abducted and transported to a world alike but not identical to the one he was just in. He sets off on a mission to return to his wife and son. However, Jason is tricked into multiple nightmarish versions of alternative realities and parallel universes on the journey. Throw in a harsh enemy attempting to stop him at every turn, and the result is a thriller that’s nothing short of mind-blowing.
Ready Player One By Ernest Cline
Just one chapter of this techno thriller book will have you hooked to the narrative. Set in the 2040s, when overdo of technology has seen our world gradually corrode, many of its populations have chosen to ignore the disastrous problems and spend their lives deep in an online virtual reality paradise. Unfortunately, the more time they spent in VR, the worse the planet becomes. Wade Watts, our hero, sets on a mission both in the virtual world and the real one besieged with video games and 1980s pop culture references. Ready Player One blends fast and furious action with a message.
The Memory Chamber By Holly Cave
Cave’s second novel allows people to create their own after-life. It’s our main character Isobel’s job to take your most precious memories and turn them into artificial heaven that you can revisit long after your time on earth has ended. Recalling a never-ending loop of your best memories puts her services in great demand. However, Isobel crosses a moral line when she develops feelings for a married client. When the guy’s wife ends up murdered, she discovers a much darker side to her career. It’s a strikingly original novel and impossible to put down.
The Martian By Andy Weir
The tech thriller book ‘The Martian’ follows Mark, an astronaut stuck on Mars after a dust storm wipes out his space suit’s biomonitor, leading his associates to believe he’s dead. However, he’s very much alive and must alert the authorities that he’s alive and needs rescuing. While it might be less dystopian than my other choices, ‘The Martian’ taps into our fears of loneliness, the degree to which we depend on technology, and how much faith we continue to put into it even when it lets us down.
Techno thriller books are a hybrid genre, drawing subject matter from science fiction thrillers and spy books. The inner workings of technology and the mechanics of various disciplines are carefully explored, and the plot often turns on the particulars of that exploration. The books in the list have it all, from unexpected twists to shocking revelations. Hope you enjoy them.
