Novels
Vice President George "Daddy Longlegs" Wartmann has spent his career in the shadows—until the sinking of the USS George W. Bush forces him into the spotlight. From the Compass Room at Number One Observatory Circle, he plots a daring evacuation of Americans stranded in the Middle East while global powers jockey for influence. Facing crashing markets, an impeachment-hungry Congress, a hesitant President Belle, and rival intelligence services, Wartmann must outmaneuver allies and adversaries alike to restore U.S. prestige—and chart America's next course.
The Compass Room continues the high-stakes drama of Friendship Games and will be released alongside a new edition of Friendship Games and a revised version of Mark's debut novel, Alter Road, under the banner of The Wartmann Series.
Coming Soon!
"★★★★★ ... This is a story about a big corporation shutting down the power to a city and the riots that followed ... The novel has an ensemble cast, something I have become personally fond of reading in recent years. It lets authors explore a situation from different character perspectives and Mark James does this masterfully ... I particularly enjoyed how it demonstrated how protests can and do get out of hand ... The sections on the Michigan militia group were fascinating ... Mark has set this up perfectly for a sequel, which I sincerely hope that he is writing ... The twist in the last 3% of the book with the Middle East really caught me off guard. Well done! ... A solid five out of five stars!"
- Blaine Pardoe, New York Times bestselling author (Battletech series, Blue Dawn series)
"★★★★★ ... Mark James has crafted a suspenseful page-turner that is so smart and plausible, I kept forgetting it was a novel, not a work of non-fiction ... Keep your fingers crossed that nothing liked this ever ACTUALLY happens ... Mark James is a major new talent!"
- Peter Gerardo, former New York Times journalist and ghost writer of more than 40 books in finance, marketing, and management
"★★★★★ ... An explosive thriller ... The acceleration of violence during protests is terrifyingly and realistically portrayed ... Filled with heart-pounding and extreme action, it is an intense story with an explosive plot and a riveting storyline ... This is an exciting and mind-blowing novel, and I recommend it for those who relish an electrifying suspense story with a disquieting edge.
- Susan Sewell, Readers Favorite
Detroit is a city on the brink.
Decades of economic collapse, political neglect, and gang warfare have hollowed it out. Entire neighborhoods stand abandoned, police patrols cling to the gentrified downtown core, and the rest of the city is left to fend for itself.
When the local power company cuts electricity to thousands during a brutal winter, families turn to kerosene heaters. Fires sweep the streets. The death of a beloved schoolteacher and her family ignites protests that spiral into open revolt. Thousands flee across the river to Windsor, Canada, sparking an international refugee crisis that exposes how far Detroit's collapse has already gone.
Amid the unrest, the River Gees gang strikes at a rival: Fave, a seasoned street boss whose nephew commands a battle-hardened crew of military veterans. With his organization under attack, Fave fights back—then spots an opening. If he can turn the coming U.S. Army deployment against the River Gees, the Avery Organization might not just survive, but come out stronger.
As militias seize rural roads, the Michigan National Guard falters, and Washington sends in the 10th Mountain Division, Detroit becomes a war zone. At first, soldiers are welcomed as saviors. But in the city's shadows, Fave isn't the only one working an angle—powerful players far beyond Michigan's borders see a chance to turn local chaos into a global windfall.
From gangland alleys to the White House Situation Room, Alter Road delivers a relentless portrait of a fractured America—where the real battle isn't for territory, but for control of the future.
A revised version of Alter Road under the banner of The Wartmann Series is coming soon. The updated Alter Road will be released as Alter Road: A Wartmann Universe Novel.
Best Books of 2023 selection
Kirkus Reviews
No. 1 in Fiction, Kirkus Reviews Magazine Best Indie Books of October 2023
Bronze Medal Award
Military Writers Society of America
"A profound and thought-provoking thriller examining humankind's self-destructive tendencies."
"A nail-biter from beginning to end. A talented writer, Mr. James paints vivid pictures of characters such as Daddy Longlegs, Vice President of the United States, and Hash Ghavam, an Iranian admiral, in an all too real scenario of World War III ... Author James is skilled in his descriptions of desert warfare ... With non-stop action, this book is hard to put down."
- Nancy Panko, Military Writers Society of America (Bronze Medal Award)
"★★★★★ ... Wow! Found Friendship Games on WFP and it's a top class book. Great editing, great characters, and extremely original plot. I read about 4 or 5 books a month and this is the best in genre I have read in years. Well done! Need more!"
"★★★★★ ...
Mark James' Friendship Games thrusts readers into a potential nuclear confrontation between the US and Iran. This terrifying and thrilling read earns five stars!"
"★★★★★ ... Things were getting worse in Detroit with massive demonstrations and gang wars as the police holed up in the central districts to protect the businesses. At this moment of crisis, an enormous disaster struck the Navy in Bahrain ... Hussein Salmeen had been busily radicalizing desperate youth into martyrs; could he put a leash on his zealous youths even as the orders had been to abort? ... Rear Admiral Hashemi Ghavam could see the folly of the mullahs and the imams beating war drums in Tehran. But what could he do to save his people?
Friendship Games by Mark James is not only a meticulously written and entertaining work of political thriller fiction but is also thought-provoking.A modern take on the USS Maine incident that launched the Spanish-American War in 1898, a US aircraft carrier sinks in the Persian Gulf amid tensions with Iran and a changing world order.
When the US aircraft carrier George W. Bush explodes in Bahrain and sinks with more than three thousand sailors aboard, the world holds its breath. Washington blames Tehran. Tehran denies everything.
Vice President George "Daddy Longlegs" Wartmann demands immediate war. President Belle hesitates—until, in the middle of frantic rescue operations, an Iranian-backed militia launches a devastating, unsanctioned attack on a U.S. Navy base and Bahrain's royal palace, shattering any hope of restraint.
From the White House Situation Room to the streets of the Middle East, Friendship Games hurtles through a chain of events that will redraw the map of the Gulf and push the world to the brink of World War III.
The rerelease of Friendship Games is coming soon under the banner of The Wartmann Series.