Standalone Thrillers

Standalone thrillers by Lisa Towles are fast-paced, high concept action thrillers with maximum impact, deep meaning, and relevance. These books will appeal to readers who like puzzles and complex plots and for those who love finding connections between seemingly disparate things. They’re fast-paced, edgy stories of corruption, secrets, espionage and escape through the eyes of snarky, clever protagonists hell bent on uncovering truths and finding justice at any cost.

Specimen - Technological Thriller (Indies United, 2024) Available now in Kindle, Paperback, and Hardcover

• Synopsis: While investigating a viral internet game, seventeen year old Thea Riggs stumbles upon a series of unsolved murders and the global crime syndicate that orchestrated them. Can she alone bring down a secret crime syndicate, or is the cost of justice too high? For fans of Blake Crouch and James Rollins.

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• Editorial Reviews: “A razor sharp, edge of your seat thriller.” The Prairies Book Review

• Awards: FIRST PLACE WINNER - The BookFest Literary Award (Thriller), WINNER - 2025 PenCraft Literary Award for Thriller, FINALIST - Four Seasons Book Awards, WINNER - Literary Titan Award.

Codex - Psychological Thriller (Indies United, 2024) Available now in Kindle, Paperback, and Hardcover

• Synopsis: FBI Agent Angus Mariner struggles to get over his wife’s untimely death, when he discovers that her car accident wasn’t an accident at all. Mariner searches for the truth, uncovering secrets his wife was keeping from him, and pulling together the threads that lead to her death. Can he unravel the truth and bring justice to his wife’s killers before it’s too late?

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• Editorial Reviews: “A genuine page turner. Fast-paced and ingenious.” The Prairies Book Review

• Awards: FIRST PLACE WINNER - The BookFest Literary Award (Psychological Thriller), WINNER - 2024 PenCraft Literary Award for Thriller, LONGLISTED - Chanticleer International Book Awards “CLUE Award” for Mystery/Suspense, WINNER - Literary Titan Award.

Terror Bay - Psychological Thriller (Indies United, 2023) Available now in Kindle, Paperback, Hardcover, and Audiobook

• Synopsis: After sustaining a gunshot wound to the head, San Francisco homicide detective Kurt Farin ends up in a coma, where he encounters a scuba diver named Genevieve Lucas. After regaining consciousness, he embarks on a frantic quest to determine if she’s real, what she wants from him, and why their lives are intertwined.

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• Editorial Reviews: “A rollercoaster ride of suspense, intrigue, and psychological tension.” - Readers Favorite

• Awards: WINNER - The BookFest Literary Award (Psychological Thriller), DISTINGUISHED FAVORITE - NYC Big Book Awards (Crime Fiction), Literary Titan Gold Medal, Book Viral Crimson Quill Award, WINNER - 2024 Pencraft Award (Fiction/Suspense)

  
  

Choke (Reprint of 2017 title) - Psychological Thriller (Indies United, 2023) Available now in Kindle and Paperback

• Synopsis: A young nursing assistant is blamed for the disappearance of a patient. As she begins to investigate the disappearance, her life begins to fall apart and her past comes back to haunt her. Three thousand miles away, Dr. Adrian Calhoun has developed a cigarette that cures lung cancer. But will he get the opportunity to publicize his creation before Pharma gets to him first? 

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• Editorial Reviews: “A magnificant story - a smokin’ good read” - Les Edgerton

• Awards: 2018 NYC Big Book Award WINNER (Thriller Category), 2018 IPPY Distinguished Favorite

The Ridders - Political Thriller (Indies United, 2022) Available now in Kindle, Paperback, Hardcover, Audiobook

Amazon Kindle #2 Bestseller, Amazon Kindle #3 New Release

• Synopsis: Young PI, BJ Janoff is randomly approached by a stranger with an offer of a million dollars to deliver an envelope to a hotel lobby. His obsession with the envelope’s contents pulls him down a rabbit hole leading to his missing father, a frightening new technology, and a global crime ring linked to a WWII-era secret society.

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• Editorial Reviews: “A must-read for fans of suspense thrillers and a cracking ending to an uncommonly absorbing novel." BookViral Reviews

• Awards: 2022 American Fiction Award WINNER (Crime Thriller), 2022 American Fiction Award FINALIST (Political Thriller), 2022 Literary Titan GOLD Award (Fiction), 2022 Millennium Book Award LONGLISTED, 2022 Southern California Book Fest HONORABLE MENTION, Spring 2023 The BookFest Award SECOND PLACE WINNER (Mystery/Spies & Espionage), Chanticleer International Book awards “CLUE” Award for Mystery/Suspense SEMIFINALIST

Ninety-Five - YA Thriller (Indies United November, 2022) Available now in Kindle, Paperback, Hardcover, Audiobook

• Synopsis: College student Zak Skinner accidentally uncovers evidence of an on-campus, organized crime scam involving drugging students, getting them to commit crimes on camera, and blackmailing them to continue under the threat of expulsion. Digging deeper, Zak discovers that the university scam is just the tip of the iceberg, connected to a broader ring of crimes linked to a dark web underworld.

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• Editorial Reviews: “A magnificent piece of work” - Reader’s Favorite

• Awards: Reader’s Favorite SILVER Award, Literary Titan GOLD Award, 2022 CLUE Awards Finalist, NYC Big Book Award Distinguished Favorite

The Unseen - Thriller/Suspense (9mm Press, 2019) Available now in Kindle and Paperback

• Synopsis: Journalist Alex Careski receives an email from his dead father on the same day that his wife, Simone, is kidnapped. Desperation leads him to Italy, where he is kidnapped along with an enterprising young woman, also embroiled in the deadly path of an ancient scroll linked to a web of family secrets.

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• Editorial Reviews: “As good as Dan Brown’s best and filled with gripping, clever twists” - A.C. Frieden

• Awards: 2020 NYC Big Book Award WINNER (Crime Fiction Category), 2019 Best Book Awards FINALIST

Books by Lisa Polisar

The following titles were written by Lisa Towles and published under her previous name, Lisa Polisar

Escape: Dark Mystery Tales - Mystery Collection (Nukeworks Publishing, 2010), Available in Paperback

• Synopsis: A collection of short, mystery fiction

• Reviews: “For fans of mystery and mayhem, short fiction doesn't get much better than this” - Mary Welk, Book Reviewer

Blackwater Tango - Psychological Thriller (Hilliard & Harris, 2003), Available in Paperback and Hardcover

• Synopsis: Criminal Profiler, Gena Hollander, gets more than she bargained for when pulled into a case involving her lifelong nemesis.

• Reviews: “A riveting read of one woman's determination to find her personal nemesis and nightmare before it claims her life as its next victim." - Midwest Book Review

The Ghost of Mary Prairie - Suspense (University of New Mexico Press, 2007), Available in Paperback

• Synopsis: (Grady, OK, 1961) 15-year-old Jake Leeds is confronted by what he thinks is a ghost in the dark on an abandoned baseball field in his home town. His obsession with the local lore of Mary Prairie leads him to unthinkable secrets and lies in his own family.

• Reviews: "To categorize this book as a mystery is like calling The Grapes of Wrath a travelogue...." — Slim Randles

Knee Deep - Suspense (Port Town Publishing, 2001), Available in Paperback

• Synopsis: A local hiker goes missing shortly after discovering a human skeleton in a New Mexico mineral mine.

• Reviews: “Knee deep gives us a fresh, new plot idea, fast action, good characters, and lots of suspense” - Tony Hillerman