James Thayer Books In Order

Novels

  1. Hess Cross (1977)
  2. Stettin Secret (1979)
  3. The Earhart Betrayal (1980)
  4. Pursuit (1986)
  5. Ringer (1988)
  6. S-Day (1990)
  7. White Star (1995)
  8. Five Past Midnight (1997)
  9. Man of the Century (1997)
  10. Terminal Event (1999)
  11. Force 12 (2001)
  12. The Gold Swan (2002)
  13. House of Eight Orchids (2016)
  14. The Boxer and the Poet (2016)

Non fiction

  1. The Essential Guide to Writing a Novel (2010)
  2. Show or Tell? (2013)

Novels Book Covers

Non fiction Book Covers

James Thayer Books Overview

White Star

A former Vietnam sniper who is determined to leave the past behind him, assistant district attorney Owen Gray is targeted by a stalking sniper from his past who kills innocent people in order to force Gray to fight. NYT.

Five Past Midnight

Escaping from Germany’s Colditz Castle where he was being held as a prisoner of war, Captain Jack Cray fights his way to Berlin in April 1945, following a twisted trail of terror across Germany. The American Army commando has just been handed the most dangerous mission of his career the assassination of Adolf Hitler.

Terminal Event

When Joe Durant gets news of an airplane crash outside Seattle, a ‘Terminal Event‘ with no survivors, the distressed former National Transportation Safety Board investigator rushes to the site his wife was one of the passengers. Desperate to find answers for his devastated fifteen year old daughter, his hunt for clues becomes obsessive. But while he meticulously wades through the wreckage and collects evidence pointing to sabotage, higher powers are determined to blame the tragedy on pilot error. Now the bomber has stepped forward and promised to strike again within ten days…
and Durant must race to avert another ghastly catastrophe. Exploring the grimly fascinating world of NTSB crash investigators in riveting, authentic detail, Terminal Event is a page turning suspense thriller whose shocking ending will leave you gasping.

Force 12

MICHAEL CRICHTON’S ‘AIRFRAME’ MEETS SEBASTIAN JUNGER’S ‘THE PERFECT STORM’ IN A BRILLIANT, FAST PACED TECHNO THRILLER ABOUT A YACHT RACE ACROSS THE PACIFIC THAT DRAWS SAILORS READY TO RUN ANY RISK EVEN MURDER TO WIN. From the author of ‘Terminal Event’ comes ‘Force 12,’ the story of a world famous software billionaire, Rex Wyman, who is determined to win the world’s longest and most challenging yacht race, from San Francisco to Japan through some of the roughest seas in the world. Typical of Wyman’s eccentric style, he sets out to do so onboard the ‘Victory,’ a $75 million racing yacht designed and navigated entirely by computer. What the world does not know is that Wyman desperately needs this victory. Behind a faade of extravagant wealth, his empire is crumbling, his assets dwindling, and only a public relations coup like success for ‘Victory’ can save his company. Not even his girlfriend, Gwen, a beautiful, gifted computer programmer, realizes the lengths to which Wyman will go to win. But when a series of baffling accidents during the race reveals that the ‘Victory”s computer is not infallible, Gwen has to find out whether it’s a technical glitch or a determined plot to kill her and her embattled boyfriend. Combining suspense, adventure, high technology gone awry, and a good old fashioned sea story at its most exciting, ‘Force 12‘ is a spine tingling, sensational read by the writer whom Clive Cussler calls ‘a master storyteller.’

The Gold Swan

As James Thayer’s stunning new thriller begins, a self confident China is about to erect the word’s tallest and most dramatic building. It is intended as a celebration of China’s 5,000 years of civilization, and the communist government wants to be sure that the new structure cannot be topped, that it will ‘never’ be topped. The tower resembles no other structure in the world. It is in the form of the moon in its first quarter, a grand swoop, and its midpoint, which is 1,250 feet above grade, is fully 500 feet off the vertical alignment between top and bottom. Like New York’s Seagram Building, it is completely clad in bronze. The tower has razor sharp convex and concave edges in the shape of a sickle. People prefer, however, to see the structure as resembling a long and graceful swan’s neck, with the viewing platforms and restaurants on top as the bronze head. While the official name of the tower is the Fifth Millennium China Tower, Hong Kong citizens have taken to calling it The Gold Swan. As James Thayer’s novel begins, The Gold Swan is nearing completion. The architectural press is almost unanimous: the tower is the eighth wonder of the world. It is bold and magnificent, graceful and lyrical. It is architect John Llewellyn’s masterpiece. And it may be about to collapse. In a thriller that sends Llewellyn’s chief security man, Clay Williams, and Llewellyn’s girlfriend, young architect Anne Iverson, plunging into the world of Chinese politics, Thayer spins a knockout yarn in which murder, power, and incalculable amounts of ‘face’ are at stake as Clay and Anne uncover the dreadful truth about Chinese colossal monument to its own past and future.

The Essential Guide to Writing a Novel

The New York Times Book Review said James Thayer’s ‘writing is smooth and clear. It wastes no words, and it has a rhythm that only confident stylists achieve.’ The Essential Guide to Writing a Novel is a practical, step by step manual on how to craft your novel. The Essential Guide presents a set of tools for large issues such a story development and scene construction Kirkus Reviews said Thayer’s novels are ‘superbly crafted,’ and it also examines techniques that will make your sentence by sentence writing shine ‘Thayer’s prose is clear and clean,’ said the Seattle Times. How do the masters do it? The Essential Guide shows you the techniques of writers such as John Grisham, Maeve Binchy, Jeffery Deaver, and Charles Dickens. What makes their novels hard to put down? How do Mario Puzo, Sinclair Lewis, Patricia Cornwell and Tom Wolfe make their stories so riveting and their prose so good? The Essential Guide sets out their techniques in concise detail. Just beginning your novel? Or in the middle of the novel and needing some guidance? The Essential Guide to Writing a Novel will show you the way. Among the many topics: The six traits necessary for a successful protagonist and three more traits that will make him or her stand out. Twenty two techniques that will make your character’s dialogue compelling. Creating dynamic settings that advance the story. Point of view a critical skill made easy. Five pace killers and how to avoid them. Plotting the novel using the advantage shift. Constructing scenes to propel the reader to the next scene. ‘Thayer writes a vivid tale,’ the Cleveland Plain Dealer said. In The Essential Guide to Writing a Novel, he’ll help you write your own vivid tale.

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