Techno-Thrillers discussion

Post your nominees in this thread for the Q3 2026 Big Read Book.

BIG READ: OK, let’s go for one of those whales, … a big 700-page minimum behemoth. Something I shied away from in 2025. We’ll give the group 3 months to read it. So, I guess this is more like book of the season … SUMMER 2026 in the northern hemisphere or Q3 (quarter 3 of the year) more generally.

Just post your suggest thread something like this:
(THEME): (TITLE) by (AUTHOR)
Example: The Stand by Stephen King

All nominees:
- must be a techno-thriller
- must not be your own book
- must have at least 1,000 ratings, or be by a “well-known author” which is defined as having prior techno-thriller books with 100,000+ ratings.

I’ll go to a poll as soon as we have enough nominations. We do just one poll at a time, not two at the same time. Nominees are taken first-come first-serve. If more than 5 people nominate, I take the first book (that fits the criteria) from the first five people. If less than 5 people nominate, I take the second nominee from the first person, and so on. About half the time, no one else nominates a book, so all nominees ended up being mine. I prefer it to be a group effort. Please feel free to suggest books for the group. Please identify which theme or category you are nominating the book for, if it isn’t obvious from the title.

11/22/63 by Stephen King (2011)
Pages: 849 | Rated: 4.35 | Ratings: 682K
Why? A sci-fi thriller about time travel, JFK’s murder, and a Goodreads Choice Sci-Fi award winner of 2011.

Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon (1973)
Pages: 766 | Rated: 4.02 | Ratings: 49k
Why? Its penetrating analysis of the impact of technology on society make it an intellectual tour de force, and winner of the 1973 National Book Award. Some call it unreadable, turgid, or obscene—which a quick perusal of the plot will verify. Time magazine rates it one of the top 100 novels, and some say it is the best American novel every written.

Executive Orders by Tom Clancy (1996)
Pages: 1273 | Rated: 4.12 | Ratings: 54K
Why? Chris was just saying this was Clancy’s peak. I gotta find out. I thought Red Storm Rising was his best.

Reamde by Neal Stephenson (2011)
Pages: 1044 | Rated: 4.00 | Ratings: 57k
Why? He writes only gorillas.

Anathem by Neal Stephenson (2008)
Pages: 890 | Rated: 4.17 | Ratings: 76k
Why? Better rated than Reamde.

The poll selected 11/22/63 by Stephen King.