Book Recommendations for Political Thrillers
April 6, 2012 3:12 PM Subscribe
Looking for book/author recommendations: Looking for the political angles of Vince Flynn and Tom Clancy with less spy stuff.
I grew up reading Tom Clancy, and have enjoyed Vince Flynn as well recently. However, especially with the most recent Clancy stuff, I find myself way more interested in the political part of the books than the spy and action suspense. I assume there's a political thriller genre out there, I just don't know where to start, and given that all books are likely to have a slant one way or another, I figured I'd ask.
I'm probably a Libertarian, definitely more on the right than the left. I enjoy the "Normal People fighting against corrupt politicians" elements that both Flynn and Clancy overuse. The best example I can give is that my favorite part of the entire Jack Ryan series is Executive Orders, where Congress, the President, the VP, and the Supreme Court all die and Jack Ryan gets to rebuild the government with normal people.
I recognize that this is all thoroughly fanciful and unlikely, and that's what I like about it. I'm looking for fictional escapes that involve something actually getting accomplished in the political spectrum, where the bad guys get voted out or go to jail, unlike what reality seems to offer. For what it's worth, I enjoyed all 7 seasons of the West Wing, where the Democrats are the good guys, and I consider myself mostly a moderate, but I definitely lean right.
Probably enough rambling. Suggestions? Thanks!
I grew up reading Tom Clancy, and have enjoyed Vince Flynn as well recently. However, especially with the most recent Clancy stuff, I find myself way more interested in the political part of the books than the spy and action suspense. I assume there's a political thriller genre out there, I just don't know where to start, and given that all books are likely to have a slant one way or another, I figured I'd ask.
I'm probably a Libertarian, definitely more on the right than the left. I enjoy the "Normal People fighting against corrupt politicians" elements that both Flynn and Clancy overuse. The best example I can give is that my favorite part of the entire Jack Ryan series is Executive Orders, where Congress, the President, the VP, and the Supreme Court all die and Jack Ryan gets to rebuild the government with normal people.
I recognize that this is all thoroughly fanciful and unlikely, and that's what I like about it. I'm looking for fictional escapes that involve something actually getting accomplished in the political spectrum, where the bad guys get voted out or go to jail, unlike what reality seems to offer. For what it's worth, I enjoyed all 7 seasons of the West Wing, where the Democrats are the good guys, and I consider myself mostly a moderate, but I definitely lean right.
Probably enough rambling. Suggestions? Thanks!
Brad Meltzer is in the political thriller genre if you're interested in lighter reading about Capitol Hill type stuff. I don't read a lot of this genre so I don't know where these writers fall relative to others. If you like fanciful stuff, the two-part cyberthriller (bear with me) Daemon and Freedom by Daniel Suarez definitely have a lot of that "let's think about an alternative way to structure political interactions" aspect to it that I think Libertarian-types would appreciate. Some people find it schmaltzy as hell, I enjoyed it.
posted by jessamyn at 4:28 PM on April 6, 2012
posted by jessamyn at 4:28 PM on April 6, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Ideefixe at 3:28 PM on April 6, 2012