I have to confess that I enjoy hi-tech or techno thrillers. This probably is because I enjoy technology, especially digital technologies, and enjoy seeing them deployed and at work.
So what are hi tech or techno thrillers and what are some of their characteristics?
The Hi-tech or techno thriller is a subgenre of thriller fiction that emphasizes advanced technology as a central element of the plot. These stories often involve cutting-edge innovations, complex technical systems, and futuristic devices, with technology playing a crucial role in driving the tension, conflict, and resolution.
Key characteristics of a hi-tech thriller include:
· Advanced Technology: The story often revolves around sophisticated gadgets, computer systems, or scientific advancements. This can include anything from artificial intelligence and cyber warfare to biotechnology and space exploration.
· High Stakes: The stakes are usually very high, often involving global consequences like national security, corporate espionage, or catastrophic events.
· Realism: Despite the advanced technology, these stories are often grounded in reality, with plausible scenarios that could happen in the near future.
· Fast-Paced Plot: Like most thrillers, hi-tech thrillers have a fast-paced narrative with plenty of action, suspense, and plot twists.
· Tech-Savvy Characters: The protagonists (and sometimes antagonists) are usually experts in their fields, such as hackers, engineers, scientists, or government agents.
There are even sub-genres of techno thrillers and the pun is intended because one of these involve stories surrounding submarines. A couple of contemporary authors in this field are Larry Bond and George Wallace and Don Keith. The latter two authors have written a series of books under the title of the Hunter Killer Series which feature recurring characters and involve detailed descriptions of submarine activities. No surprises here. Wallace is a former submariner who weaves a good story.
One of the books in the Hunter Killer series was adapted into a movie entitled, not unsurprisingly, Hunter Killer starring Gerard Butler as a US sub skipper. Good story, albeit a little “out there” in some respects and one that provides interesting insights to life on a high tech nuclear submarine.
But for me – a personal opinion only – Tom Clancy was the master of the techno- thriller. I first came to his work in 1985 when I read The Hunt for Red October and met Clancy’s main protagonist, Jack Ryan, for the first time.
Red October started small but grew. It was sold for $5000 and was published by the Naval Institute Press of Annapolis Maryland.
The book tells the story of a Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius as he seemingly goes rogue with his country's cutting-edge ballistic missile submarine “Red October”. Jack Ryan is an analyst working for the CIA who concludes, against the odds, that Ramius is defecting to the US. Part of the problem for the US navy is that “Red October” is a super-quiet and almost undetectable submarine, and for the US to capture and secure it would be a real coup. Clancy’s ability to tell a good paced story with believable technical detail captured the attention of then US President Ronald Reagan who recommended the book. Clancy’s reputation was made.
A film adaptation was made in 1990 starring Sean Connery as Marko Ramius and the book was instrumental in bringing the book genre of techno-thriller into the mainstream.
Clancy went on to write a series of techno-thrillers featuring Jack Ryan through to his passing on 1 October 2013. Towards the end of his life he had a collaborating author and obviously his affairs were arranged in such a way that the “Jack Ryan” universe and elements of it would continue to be the subject of books written by a stable of authors who were able to match Clancy’s style.
The Jack Ryan universe includes a number of other elements that Clancy developed such as the international “police force” Rainbow Six which later morphed into “The Campus” – a “black ops” outfit that engages in wet work on behalf of the President of the US. In the Jack Ryan universe, Jack is the President and one of the quirks of that Universe is that the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution, limiting the term of any one person to holding the office of President to two terms (8 Years), doesn’t seem to be operative. Either than of Jack and his family (especially Jack Jr and daughter Katie) are confronting international crises on a daily basis.
I have read and enjoyed all of the Tom Clancy authored books about Jack Ryan and I have made of point of reading all the books that have been continued by his family estate through a series of authors. They maintain the themes that Clancy developed about highly skilled, disciplined, honest, thoroughly professional, who only lose their cool when incompetent politicians or bureaucrats get in their way and who use or have allies who use high tech tools that are identified clearly. So clearly that one can google the particular model Sig-Sauer pistol referred to and find it immediately. Similarly if the story revolves around a Virgina class submarine that can be found online as can the Typhoon class submarine of which Red October was an example.
Virginia Class Submarine
Typhoon Class submarine
My most recent venture into the Jack Ryan universe was “Act of Defiance” which I have just finished reading. When I started I began to wonder if this was a rehash of Red October. A Russian submarine, Belgorod, has unexpectedly got underway. It is very capable, very quiet and can launch remotely controlled nuclear devices that will cripple US Navy bases on the Atlantic. A cabal of former Soviet military officers is planning a coup. And the skipper of Belgorod is the son of the engineer who designed Red October.
But as the story developed it was clear that although the Red October story line sits in the background, this was not a rehash. In some respects it provides an alternative scenario to Red October and the way that the plot develops and the challenges that the characters face is in the Clancy style and the final 100 pages bring the story to a stunning climax that is as good, at least in my humble opinion, as Red October. And the final couple of pages square the circle with the Red October story.
The two authors who wrote this episode of the Jack Ryan story are Brian Andrews, a veteran of the US Navy and former submarine officer with a psychology degree from Vanderbilt and a masters in business from Cornell University, and Jeffrey Wilson who has worked as an actor, firefighter, paramedic, jet pilot, and diving instructor, as well as a vascular and trauma surgeon. He served in the U.S. Navy for fourteen years and made multiple deployments as a combat surgeon with an East Coast-based SEAL Team. Together they have crafted a fine story that adds to the Jack Ryan universe and is a worthy successor to the Hunt for Red October.
Then there is the Greg Hurwitz Orphan X series about a modern-day Robin Hood. They're heavily reliant on creative use of digital and weapons technology with hearty dashes of psychology and politics. I enjoy them because the protagonist is on the spectrum and is largely unable to function "normally" in relational situations while he has extraordinary abilities spatially and physically. His struggles to relate to others develop as the series goes on, which for me mitigates the violence.
Great, will read it. Have hung back because I feared 'formula writing'.