Novels
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
First Place
Global Thrillers of the Year
Chanticleer Reviews
Finalist
CLUE Book Awards for Suspense/Thrillers
Chanticleer Reviews
"A profound and thought-provoking thriller examining humankind's self-destructive tendencies."
- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"★★★★★ ...
Mark James' Friendship Games thrusts readers into a potential nuclear confrontation between the US and Iran. This terrifying and thrilling read earns five stars!"
"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!"
"★★★★★ ... 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 a must-read!
An American aircraft carrier blows up and sinks in the Persian Gulf.
Was it a horrible accident? A catastrophic terrorist attack?
Does it matter?
Maybe not.
Not after decades of hostility and brinkmanship between the United States and Iran. And certainly not after a known Iranian-funded and supported terrorist organization launches an attack on an American naval facility in the middle of rescue operations.
Iran is convinced that the United States is about to embark on a full-scale war and seek nothing short of regime change.
They aren't wrong.
So, Iran strikes first. And they have some tricks up their sleeve.
But nothing goes to plan, for either side.
This book is a warning.
The next war may be like no other in American history.
Friendship Games is available at Amazon in Paperback, Kindle, and Audiobook, and wherever you buy your books (just ask for it).
"★★★★★ ... 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
Following decades of deindustrialization, economic decline, income inequality, and political polarization, parts of America are a tinderbox. In Detroit, the match is lit when the local power company routinely shuts off the electricity of households behind in their monthly payments even in the midst of an unusually brutal winter. Thousands of households resort to space and kerosene heaters, causing a spike in house fires and fire-related deaths. Following the death of a popular retired school teacher and her family, massive protests erupt. An underfunded and undermanned police department is quickly overwhelmed, and the U.S. Army is deployed. Welcomed at first by exasperated residents, the Army soon finds itself navigating internecine conflicts, an international refugee crisis, and failing infrastructure.