I have found that with many techno-thriller heroes that they are usually super competent in one area. An interesting hero is Jack Du Brul‘s Dr. Philip Mercer, a mining engineer and geologist who gets involved in several world threatening issues, all tied to geology.
Du Brul may be better known as the co-author of Clive Cussler‘s Oregon series, but before he started them he was writing his own Mercer works.
I stumbled upon them when they came out and enjoyed them. Mercer is a a little different from other techno heroes in that he doesn’t have an organization or assistants behind him. He is a science advisor to the President, but that’s it. There are a few secondary characters, but they are more involved with Mercer’s “non-action” life, such as Tiny, who runs the small bar near his house, and Harry, an octogenarian bum who more or less moves in with Mercer. In later novels, they do get dragged into the action. And like any good action hero, Mercer usually gets involved with a girl during the story.
After doing the books annually, Du Brul would start working on Cussler’s Oregon series with the third novel. Around that time he wound up also taking on the family business, which didn’t leave him much time to write both an Oregon novel and a Mercer novel each year, so we only got another novel after he started working on the Oregon series.
For some reason, he is no longer doing the Oregon series, and has come out with a new Mercer novel, but I have yet to get it.
- Vulcan’s Forge (1998)
- Charon’s Landing (1999)
- The Medusa Stone (2000)
- Pandora’s Curse (2001)
- River of Ruin (2002)
- Deep Fire Rising (2003)
- Havoc (2006)
- The Lightning Stones (2015)
We kick things off with the Vulcan’s Forge, where a nuclear warhead causes a new volcano to start emerging the Pacific, with the promise of new power. But there are many after this, and Mercer is soon in the middle of it all.
Things move to Alaska in Charon’s Landing, with a plot to destroy the Alaskan oil pipeline. Will Mercer be able to stop this?
King Solomon’s Mine in Africa is at the center of The Medusa Stone, with Mercer caught between various groups after it.
In Greenland, Mercer stumbles upon a forgotten secret Nazi submarine base. In it are stolen treasure, but the real danger is what is contained in them, Pandora’s Curse. When a German company wants to erase its Nazi past, Mercer is right in the middle of it.
A Paris auction leads Mercer to Panama after an Incan treasure on the River of Ruin. He also stumbles upon a plot by the Chinese to take control of the Canal, and Mercer is working with several others to stop this, including his old friend Harry.
Deep Fire Rising has Mercer in the Himalayas working to stop a secretive monastery from detonating an atomic bomb in a volcano to bring about the prophesied end of the world.
Mercer returns to Africa in Havoc, with a matter that ties to radioactive stones used by Alexander the Great that some terrorists are after.
The new Mercer novel, The Lightning Stones, sounds great, and I hope to get it soon.
Check out this overlooked (in my opinion) techno-thriller author.
