Night of Thunder

A former Special Forces operative and a former FBI agent are pushed into an uneasy partnership. A terrorist cell is at large, and a nuclear device is part of its plan. Stopping it means working together, whatever each man thinks of the other.

The hunt for the cell drives the middle of the book. It is told through investigation and procedure, with close attention to how soldiers and law enforcement actually work. Hunter's military and police detail gives the pursuit a documented, practical feel.

The tone is tense and gritty, closer to a hard procedural than to a swashbuckling adventure. Violence is shown plainly and without softening. A bomb goes off, and a firefight follows.

A clock runs beneath the whole story. The device has to be found and stopped before it is used, and the manhunt is the only way to reach it. Romance and coming-of-age plots play no real part here.