Tim Tigner - Books Reading Order

[lmt-post-modified-info]Tim Tigner is the popular thriller author of fast-paced spy and conspiracy thrillers, including his Kyle Achilles series. I’ve only recently come across his name when I was looking for something new to read after I finished all the Ben Coes books. I wanted something in the similar veins, which also reminded me of the Jack Reacher books.

There are only a handful of books in the Tim Tigner Kyle Achilles series, so they will be fast reads.

Here are the Tim Tigner books in order. The book list is updated regularly with new releases.

New Tim Tigner Books

The Price of Time, 2019

Kyle Achilles Series

Chasing Ivan (Kyle Achilles #0.5), 2016
Pushing Brilliance (Kyle Achilles #1), 2016
The Lies of Spies (Kyle Achilles #2), 2016
Falling Stars (Kyle Achilles #3), 2017
Twist and Turn (Kyle Achilles #4), 2018

Standalone Tim Tigner Books

Tim Tigner Biography and Bibliography

Tim Tigner was born and grew up in the Midwest. He attended Hanover College from where he received his BA in Philosophy and Mathematics.

Next, he enrolled for the military service, and then he worked as a financial analyst and foreign-exchange trader.

Later, he continued his studies by getting two MBAs: one in Finance, and one in International Studies, both from the University of Pennsylvania.

He started his career in earnest when he joined the Green Berets with the US Army Special Forces, in Soviet Counterintelligence during the Cold War days. It was here that he learned Russian, a language that would serve him well over the coming years.

Once the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, he switched careers and moved to Moscow in Russia where he held several prominent jobs. Among others, he led several international medical companies, he worked on the MIR Space Station with a few Russian cosmonauts, he was chair of the Association of International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, and he also helped write Russia’s first law on healthcare.

When the EU was being formed, he moved to Brussels where he worked for Johnson & Johnson, running the EMEA sector.

Once he got back to the US, he moved to Silicon Valley where he became the CEO of several new medical startup companies.

Having read all the Tim Tigner books, I’ve noticed that unlike other thriller authors who focus on various Middle Eastern countries, his main focus was on Russia in every single book. Even the main character’s girlfriend (and later fiance) is Russian.

Now, after I’ve learned more about the author’s biography, I can easily see how his primary focus is on Russia. After all, he spent there several important years.

Another aspect that was taken from his life was his main character, Achilles’ climbing hobby (which he liberally used for his OPs). The author, Tim Tigner, himself is a big mountain climber, having climbed Mount Olympus (again, this also has a connection to Achilles’ name).

Tim Tigner started writing thrillers in 1996 while he was in Moscow, however, he really became successful when he published Flash, his debut not. Later he became a renowned thriller author with his Kyle Achilles novels.

Even back in his first days of writing, the author knew that he had at hand a whole world of stories to write about in his books.

Some six years later, he put even more effort into writing, and in 2013 he self-published his three standalone novels. For example, he wrote Coercion some 10 years earlier, in 2004.

Even his standalone novel, Coercion, deals with Russians and war. It focuses on the Cold War in Russia in the 1990s, featuring KGB General Vasily Karpov.

Most of the Tim Tigner books include some strange and new invention that could actually exist. For example Pushing Brilliance has at center stage a drug (and I won’t spoil it, but the book title should give you a hint). Falling Stars, the latest book in the Kyle Achilles series deals with drones which already exist, but in the book they are used in nefarious and pretty scary ways.

In fact, I’ve just finished reading Falling Stars, and it truly is frightening what could happen if something like this actually existed (and, it’s really not all that outlandish to imagine it being implemented one day).

A quick note about reading the Kyle Achilles series. Chasing Ivan is a prequel novella which can be read first. However, if you decide to read it just before picking up Falling Stars, you will also benefit because the story in Chasing Ivan directly relates to what happens in Falling Stars.

So I suggest you read it either as first or before Falling Stars. Anywhere else in the series does not make much sense.

For his books Tim Tigner does a lot of research, much of which he pins on Pinterest. In fact, he created a Pinterest board for each of his Kyle Achilles novels. He pinned drones, weapons, and anything and everything about technologies he would use in his books.

The Best Tim Tigner Books

While I loved the author’s standalone novels, his Achilles series really hooked me in. Achilles is a complex person who is one of the most brilliant minds in the spy thriller business. The way he outwits (and not only physically due to his acrobatics’ skills) his opponents is nothing short of amazing.

I really believe that the Kyle Achilles series makes for the best Tim Tigner books. The author has really grown since getting his first books published. Also, I prefer reading books in series rather than standalone novels, so I might also be biased a bit.

A quick note about Tim Tigner. A user sent me a note about Tim Tigner’s death. After managing to slow down my heart race to a normal speed, I did a bit of research on Google. Good news: the thriller author Tim Tigner is well and alive and still climbing mountains and writing books.

I understand that the author’s name is not the most common one, but the person who actually died, the author’s namesake is someone in Iuka, Mississippi.

Praise for Tim Tigner

It starts out with a bang and doesn’t stop until the end. (Carol Anderson on Pushing Brilliance)
Much better than the works of some of Tim Tigner’s better known contemporaries. (Alan Vickery)
Once I started reading Pushing Brilliance, I couldn’t put it down until I was done. (Kevin Ackerson)
The antidote of dull. (Steve Wilson)
Perfect balance between Reacher and Harvath (Jonathan Fainsilber)
Tigner’s style is so taut, you can feel the squeeze. (Janet Fleetwood)
My first thought was a new Jack Reacher — only better. (Lucia O’Brien)
The very definition of a page turner! (Dick Hill)
I usually read myself to sleep, but Flash kept me up all night. (Linda Raynor)
The same caliber and style as Flynn, Thor and Baldacci — Fantastic! ( Gina Houston)

References

Books Reading Order » Thriller Authors » Tim Tigner