Techno-Thrillers discussion

Welcome to the Techno-thrillers group.

Join us for:
Book of the Month (BOTM):
- members post to nominate books
- I'll put out a poll and we'll vote
- selected books are put on the group bookshelf
- we read ... early, as scheduled, or late
- we "discuss" by just posting to the book thread
- no zoom meetings or such ... so far
- we rate, review, and rank the book on our list
Lists:
- see our rank-ordered lists of favorites
Group Watch:
- if book is coming out as a movie/series, post it
- if not on the bookshelf, I'll add it
- read in advance, and post to discuss as it airs
Buddy Read (BR):
- any time, proposed by any member
- member posts to propose to a “buddy read”
- can suggest one or several books of interest
- one/more other members reply to join
- then, the book can be put on the bookshelf
- suggest you pick the next whole month
- buddies read, discuss, rate, review, and rank
Challenges
- see the categories in the Challenges folder
- post books you’ve read that fit the challenge
Bookshelf:
- see what books we’ve read
Author Self-Promotion:
- many group members are also authors
- do not shelve your own book
- do not nominate your own book for reads
- post about your book/offer in Author folder
- watch for member-author BOTM opportunity

About us:

Some of us are active, and we’re growing:
- 130 members on Apr 18, 2024
- 140 members on Jun 30, 2024
- 150 members on Aug 30, 2024
- 160 members on Nov 8, 2024
- 170 members on Dec 20, 2024
- 180 members on Jan 28, 2025
- 190 members on Feb 23, 2025
- 200 members on Apr 9, 2025
- 210 members on May 25, 2025
- 220 members on Jun 25, 2025
- 230 members on Jul 16, 2025
- 240 members on Aug 23, 2025
- 250 members on Sep 16, 2025

Member Map:

Updated October 11, 2025

Locations: (Sovereign States, Countries, States/Regions/Provinces)
Australia: ACT, NSW, SA
Bahamas
Belgium
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Brazil
Canada: MB, ON, QC
Columbia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
India: AP, GJ, KA, MH
Ireland
Italy: Apulia, Lombardy
Japan
Lithuania
Netherlands
Pakistan
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Russia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
UAE
UK:
- England: East Midlands, London, North West, South East, South West, Yorkshire and the Humber, West Midlands
- Scotland: Edinburgh, Perth & Kinross
- Northern Ireland
- Bailiwick of Jersey
Ukraine
US: AL, AZ, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, IN, LA, MD, MO, MA, NE, NC, NJ, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY (34 of 51 including DC)

Ages: 23 - 81
Men (mostly) & a couple dozen women
Readers, many writers, & a publisher

Let us know if we need to add more countries.

If you are in the UK ... I'm merely trying to reflect some more granular regions, and probably just upsetting everyone in the process. Does anyone use "regions"? Perhaps not. Counties? Seems like a hot mess. Probably cannot make anyone "happy" with a Northern Ireland flag of any kind. The St. Patrick saltire flag is just a decomposition of the Union Jack. If any of you have a preference for something else, let me know.

Tell us a little about you:

 • Name
 • Location: city, province/state, country
 • Flavor: something about your location
 • Favorites in the technothriller genre:
    - Book(s)
    - Author(s)
    - Quote(s)/Scene
 • Role: note if author, publisher, promoter

We tend to greet you, but I’ll delete “welcome” messages after about a month, leaving just your bio for the longer term. You can always edit, format, or delete your own posts.

Name: Steve
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Local Flavor: Tucson is arguably the best place to see a saguaro cactus or eat a carne seca chimichanga (Mexican food, Sonoran style).

Favorite techno-thriller book(s):
Project Hail Mary


Favorite techno-thriller authors:
Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, Andy Weir


Favorite scene: In Project Hail Mary, where … (view spoiler)[Ryland Grace has just arrived in the solar system he was aiming for, and surveys the system with his scopes. He sees a bright spot on the scope, and suddenly it moves. He goes through a series of panicky realizations, that in my mind were something like this: Holy sh*t that thing just moved, … fast, it must be (it arrives) a ship. Who the %$@# is that?! What the %$@&! are they!? That was fast! What do they want? What are their intentions? Can I do anything about it with this ship, by myself, if I don’t like their intentions? Oh H*ll, they must be here for the same reason I am, to figure out what’s going on? Unless they live here?! I’m here to save the planet and humanity. I’m by myself. They’re obviously intelligent life. I’m going to need all the help I can get to succeed. Holy $@% this is alien life. I’m pretty much sh*@&$ing my pants, but … time is of the essence and I need to know what they know. Of my G…, they’re trying to communicate! (hide spoiler)].

Hi there,

I just finished Artificial Wisdom and clicking through the links led me to this group. I'm only a little late :) Here's my tombstone data and then some thoughts / asking-for-a-friend about the book.

Name: Harry
Location: Governor's Harbour, Eleuthera, Bahamas
Flavour: Paradise six months of the year, paradise + hurricanes the other six. It's like living at the end of a bowling alley. Sooner or later, someone is gonna throw a strike.
Fav Book: Does Station Eleven count in the genre? Otherwise Hail Mary
Fav Author: Andy Weir
Role: Reader, Author


I loved Artificial Wisdom until about the 50% point then got into the mystery rhythm of clue-nextChapter-clue-... but that passed quickly enough and I got back to loving it. Then the ending ... hmmm. From reading the acknowledgments, it sounds like his daughter demanded more, which might explain why it felt rushed/tacked-on.

I'm all for leaving the door open to a sequel, but I think the questions he left open to build that door were important to close off. Like ... in a whodunnit, don't you have to say whodunnit?

Anyway, I still really liked it, but it went from a 5 to a 4 for me with the finish.

𝙰𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜! 𝙵𝚎𝚎𝚕 𝚏𝚛𝚎𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚍𝚍 𝚖𝚎 💟
𝙸'𝚖 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙽𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚗 𝙸𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍, 𝚄𝙺. 𝙸 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎𝚜, 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚢, 𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛, 𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎.

I'm new to Goodreads and have been slowly adding the books I've read. I stumbled across this group and got an alert, so figured I'd offer up a reply.

• Name: Michael J. Lalonde
• Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
• Flavor: Very heavy traffic :(
• Favorites in the technothriller genre:
The Hunt for Red October
Tom Clancy
There's more but I would be here all day trying to list them all. Needless to say, like many others, Clancy is what got me into the genre.
• Role: Author
The Quiet War: Canadian Front

Hello to all. I'm Victor and I'm writing from Armenia, Colombia.

I'm new to GoodReads and I'm very happy to be part of this group where I hope to learn more about this wonderful genre.

I just finished reading ‘The Fear Index’ by Robert Harris and it left me with a lot of ideas in my head, reminding me of some Michael Crichton and Preston & Child stories :)

Love the idea for this group. Interesting place to come for sci-fi that could be reality.

I joined Goodreads mainly because I am a new writer and published my first book.

The Hunt for the Red October and Tom Clancy in overall are big influencers for me.

I haven't gotten to filling out my list of books yet, but I will!

Thanks for hosting this group!

Hello there, I'm S. A. Black. Nice to meet you all!

• Location: USA
• Favorites in the technothriller genre:
- Ready Player One
- Stephen King
• Role: I'm a newly published indie author and enjoy reading.

Name: Romain
Location: Lausanne, Switzerland
Local Flavor: One of the big wine region of Switzerland with vineyards looking over the Leman Lake

Favorite techno-thriller book(s):
The Dervish House
Glasshouse
Neuromancer
No list will be complete, no list will be perfect.

Roles: avid reader, author

Name: Chris

Location: West Yorkshire, northern England

Flavour: Also known as the Heavy Woollen District, the area is rich with industrial heritage

Favourites:
Books - Cryptonomicon (Stephenson), Daemon (Suarez)
Authors - Clancy, Crichton, Stephenson, Forsyth
Quotes - “Didn’t they know that the only unhackable computer is one that’s running a secure operating system, welded inside a steel safe, buried under a ton of concrete at the bottom of a coal mine guarded by the SAS and a couple of armoured divisions, and switched off?”
(Charles Stross, The Atrocity Archives)

Role: reader and inchoate author

Name: Ryan

Location: Northern Virginia

Flavor: It's the Swamp - half the people around me work for "the government" - IYKYK

Favorites: Too many to count - this is my favorite genre to read. Can't believe it took me this long to find this group.

Huge fan of:

Tom Clancy
Clive Cussler
Michael Crichton
James Rollins
Matthew Reilly
Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
Stephen Coonts
Dale Brown
A.G. Riddle
Steve Berry
Robert Ludlum

Role: I'm an indie author, but here mostly as a reader - would love to get more recs! Especially of the James Rollins/Matt Reilly type technothrillers, I feel like there's not enough well-researched ones out there.

Hello everyone! 👋

My name is Cody Alaniz, I’m from Lake Charles, Louisiana, USA.
One thing I love about my area is the mix of Cajun culture, food, and the resilience of the community—it’s a place full of stories and energy that always inspires me.

As for technothrillers, some of my favorites are:

Books: Daemon by Daniel Suarez, Neuromancer by William Gibson, and The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton.

Authors: Michael Crichton, Daniel Suarez, and William Gibson always keep me hooked.

Quotes/Scenes: One that really sticks with me is from Neuromancer — “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” The imagery captures exactly why I love the genre.

My role here: I’m an author. My book The Edge of Control dives into AI, power, and the human struggle to control the very technology we create. I’m looking forward to connecting with other readers and writers who share this passion, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on favorite technothrillers, too.

Excited to be here and join the conversation! 🚀

Welcome Zara!

Welcome Aaron!


So many from UK, I decided to track more than just the constituent country. One level deeper now … London.

Welcome Ethan!

Welcome Andrea!

Welcome Elizabeth!

Welcome Luis!

Welcome Seda!

Welcome Bohdan!


You are the first Ukrainian in the group. Adding your country to the list.

Welcome KC!

Welcome Joe!

Welcome Justinas!

Welcome NV!

Welcome Duncan!

Welcome Matt!

Welcome Jeff, Alan, and JR!

Welcome Kernel Panic!