Thriller. Two years ago, corporate consultant Ben Forsberg's wife was killed on their honeymoon, and he's never truly recovered. But when an assassination goes badly awry, this ordinary man is framed, picked up by Homeland Security on suspicion of murder, rescued by a covert-ops agent from another agency, and thrown into non-stop action as the two men are forced to uncover the truth in order to clear their names. If you're looking for a read that won't let up, try this latest from Jeff Abbott, who keeps the pace racing, the bullets flying--and your pulse pounding.

Forensic Thriller. After a string of high-profile murder-suicides occurs in San Francisco, the increasingly desperate SFPD hires forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett to perform investigative "autopsies" (she dissects lives, not bodies). As Jo attempts to determine whether the deaths were murders or suicides, she learns that the victims were all members of a club whose only requirement for admission was the confession of a dirty secret from their pasts. Bodies continue to pile up as Jo and the police officer she's been teamed with try to figure out who's next--and why. Although this is American author Meg Gardiner's U.S. debut, she has published several other well-received thrillers in the U.K.

Suspense Fiction. In this "superb" (Booklist) thriller, Dr. Collin Reeves lives, works, and paints in Mexico City, performing medical procedures for American tourists, the American embassy, and the CIA. But soon his comfortable, easy existence is threatened when he realizes that moral dilemmas abound both in his work for the CIA and in the favors he does for others, especially when he starts to fall for one of his patients, who turns out to be Iraqi...and possibly involved with a terrorist group. Though not a conventional thriller, The Good Physician is a gripping, thought-provoking read.

Spy Fiction. Soon after his wife's tragic death high in the Alps, Dr. Jonathan Ransom finds two claim tickets issued in her name. The tickets turn out to be for a pair of suitcases, which are grabbed by Swiss police when Jonathan tries to claim them. In resisting the police, he kills one, and quickly becomes the subject of an international manhunt. His quest to make sense both of the contents of the suitcases and of his wife's secrets is a "first-class adrenaline fest [that] will leave readers guessing until the last page" (Publishers Weekly).

Spy Fiction. In her 3rd appearance, MI5 agent Liz Carlyle has been reluctantly transferred to counter-espionage operations (counter-terrorism is a far more interesting assignment), where she learns of a possible Russian government plot to kill Nikita Brunovsky, a Russian billionaire living in Britain and a vocal opponent of Vladimir Putin. Given the task of stopping the assassination, Liz moves in with Brunovsky and his entourage, and quickly becomes a target. Unsurprisingly, Illegal Action is chock-full of true-to-life detail: author Stella Rimington retired as Director-General of MI5 in 1996.

Thriller. Poor Tim Wallace. After the death of his wife, police were convinced that the New Jersey contractor was involved--in fact, one particularly stubborn one, Detective Jonathan Novack, is still chasing him. But when a drunk confesses to Tim that he killed a woman three months previously, Tim does the right thing and goes to the police--who are soon convinced once more that Tim is a murderer. Clearly, someone's set him up--but who, and why? Tim's in a dangerous predicament, and it's only going to get worse when terrorists come to town... Don't Tell a Soul is a "fast, inventive stand-alone thriller you'll never put down unfinished" (Kirkus Reviews).

Techno-thriller. Nuclear submarine fan alert! Lt. Jerry Mitchell, the nephew of a U.S. senator, is an injured former pilot and an underwater exploration expert onboard for the final mission of a dilapidated submarine. Captained by a tyrannical commander and carrying two female scientists, the aging sub and its crew must travel through Russian coastal waters looking for evidence of illegal dumping. But what they find--hidden nuclear fuel containers housing enough material to destroy most of America's major cities--takes their mission to a whole different level. Library Journal calls Dangerous Ground a "hugely entertaining adventure."

Thriller. Out on a remote oil rig in the North Atlantic, workers are suffering from a strange medical ailment that ex-Navy physician Peter Crane is called on to diagnose. Once there, he learns that the condition is afflicting not the rig workers but the researchers associated with the underwater excavation being done at the research station miles beneath the surface. The military-run station is searching for something with the potential to change the world, but deception, sabotage, and psychotic episodes among the staff are just some of the issues Peter has to deal with as he gets to the bottom of the underwater project and the mysterious, threatening illness linked with it.

Suspense Fiction. When their boat sank at sea, Matt Coulter lost his wife and their two kids, but he insists that his kids were kidnapped by a mysterious boat that answered his mayday call. His memory, clouded by partial amnesia (and possibly a drinking problem), allows him to remember very little, and the police are naturally suspicious. But ex-DEA agent Jack Merchant and repo contractor Sarah Ballard, initially skeptical, come to believe Matt, and their subsequent investigation--which turns up evidence that there might be something to Matt's story--puts their own lives in danger. This chilling tale is the 2nd in the Merchant-Ballard series.

Suspense Fiction. In his 10th (and most recent) outing, solitary Thorn, a Key Largo recluse, has agreed to help a friend lead a fishing trip through the Florida Everglades. But it soon becomes clear that fish aren't the only prey when the son and granddaughter of a recently drowned (and extraordinarily wealthy) Florida matriarch claim Thorn as a long-lost relative and ask for his help in solving the murder. It's not long before the murderer has her sights on Thorn, and it's going to take all his ingenuity and skill to outwit her. The result is "another compulsive page-turner," says Publishers Weekly.

Thriller. A word of warning: do NOT take this book to the beach. Or the lake. Or anywhere else you might be tempted to enter the water. Especially if that beach or lake or river is in Washington State, for in Sea Change there's a fast-growing, noxious colony of micro-organisms threatening the marine population of Puget Sound. Releasing fumes that liquefy living tissue, the colony has killed at least one man, and that could be only the beginning. Author James Powlik, a biologist and oceanographer, knows what he's talking about, so if you have a taste for environmental disaster stories, pick this one up--and put down the bathing suit.

Thriller. A hijacked Russian freighter loaded with black-market plutonium is sailing--undetected--toward the western coast of North America. Meanwhile, CIA analyst Hugh Rincon has uncovered a terrorist plot aimed at a target on...the western coast of North America. This places his wife, second in command of the Coast Guard cutter Sojourner Truth, right in the middle of a developing international crisis. When the CIA director refuses to listen to Hugh's discoveries, he must save his wife--and Alaska--himself. Blindfold Game was popular mystery author Dana Stabenow's first thriller; check out her second, Prepared for Rage, for another take on terrorist tactics.