Top Ten Gift Ideas for the Thriller Novel Lover Under $30

Here are some books this year to give to loved one who enjoy a good, suspenseful novel without taking a chunk out of your wallet:

1. Act of Treason, Vince Flynn, $24.99
When a terrorist attack on the motorcade of a presidential candidate kills his wife, CIA operative Mitch Rapp is sent in to investigate. He soon discovers that not everything is as it seems, and the reasons behind the attack may have been of a deeper, more personal nature. Flynn's action-packed writing style ala Tom Clancy bring the story together three-dimensionally for his readers.

2. The Bancroft Strategy, Robert Ludlum, $23.00
From the author who brought you bestsellers such as The Bourne Identity and The Scarlatti Inheritance, The Bancroft Strategy focuses on intelligence agent Todd Belknap, a man with an uncanny instinct for tracking prey-a trait that has earned him the nickname "the Hound". This characteristic leads him to Lebanon to search for a kidnapped agent. The plot line intersects with a woman named Andrea Bancroft, a hedge fund analyst who suspects a conspiracy lurking behind the Bancroft Foundation's generous pretense.

3. The Book of Fate, Brad Meltzer, $27.99
To give you an idea of the story's pace, the book opens immediately with an assassination attempt on the US President. Leland Manning escapes the attempt on his life, but his chief of staff Ron Boyle is killed, and his top aide Wes Holloway is disfigured for life. Fast forward eight years later: Holloway is still working for the now former president when he discovers the seemingly long-dead Boyle is actually alive. Full of the plot lines that Meltzer is known for, any fan of his work will truly enjoy this book.

4. The Collectors, David Baldacci, $25.00
Baldacci's sequel to his 2005's The Camel Club shows CIA agent-gone-bad Roger Seagraves working as a gun-for-hire, auctioning off national secrets to the enemy. The slightly oddball Camel Club gets tangled up with Seagraves during a murder at the Library of Congress. Throughout all this a young woman plots a multimillion-dollar con scheme involving a casino owner. The author has brought a significantly more serious tone to the sequel, with less mood swings among the members of the Camel Club and two well-intertwined plot lines.

5. Cross, James Patterson, $22.95
Warning: this book contains some graphic descriptions. Alex Cross, forensic psychologist and police officer, endured the murder of his wife Maria. With a flashback, Michael Sullivan (the "Butcher of Sligo") is brought in. Formerly contracted by the mob, Sullivan is now at odds with them as he commits a series of violent crimes. Cross, now a single parent, is once again drawn into the dangerous world of tracking monstrous killers for the promise of finding Maria's killer. Patterson is a master at depicting the sometimes steep price of being human.

6. Hannibal Rising, Thomas Harris, $25.99
Harris's previous novels The Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon examined the background of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, uncovering the deaths of his family in Eastern Europe during WWII. Now, Hannibal Rising records the childhood of the frightening character, following Hannibal from ages 6 through 20 and exposing more of the circumstances surrounding the death of his family, especially his younger sister Mischa. Harris has created one of the creepiest and most haunting individuals ever, using psychological suspense on the same level as Alfred Hitchcock. In Hannibal Rising, we see the early days of Hannibal's life-and the growing progression of his twisted malevolence.

7. Nature Girl, Carl Hiaasen, $22.99
Hiaasen's 11th novel brings us to another entertaining journey in Florida. Honey Santana, the supposed "queen of lost causes" concocts a hair-brained scheme to take care of telemarketing calls forever. She brings telemarketer Boyd Shreave and his mistress Eugenie (who happens to be the former girlfriend of a tabloid murderer) into the Florida wilderness to teach them a lesson. She doesn't know she's being followed by her smitten former employer, Piejack, who in turn is being followed by Honey's ex-husband and son. When they all arrive, none are aware they're interfering with Sammy Tigertail, a half-Seminole determined to be a hermit despite little things (like a dead tourist) trying to ruin it for him. A screwball comedy wrapped in a thriller, this book promises to satisfy both appetites.

8. Next, Michael Crichton, $25.99
From the creator of the television series ER and prolific author, Crichton introduces a world that is, perhaps disturbingly, very much like our own. When genetics and chromosomes become the only important issue on earth, where does humanity end and the desire to play God begin? Crichton seamlessly blends fact with fiction to create a book that makes you think…and worry.

9. The Treasure of Kahn, Clive and Dirk Cussler, $24.00
The second book written by both father and son Clive and Dirk Cussler, The Treasure of Kahn is Dirk Pitt's 19th escapade. With action taking place in places as diverse as the Hawaiian Islands, to Siberia, to the Mongolian wilderness, the Cussler team takes you on an adventuresome journey every page of the way. A man with aspirations of restoring Mongol pride to his country sets off to search for the treasure of Genghis and Kublai Khan, famed Mongolian warriors of history. The story features heroes Dirk Pitt and other the members of NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency). The action is sometimes a little beyond credible, but is undeniably a wonderful plot line.

10. Wild Fire, Nelson DeMille, $24.99
The time is October 2002, and DeMille once again features ex-NYPD detective John Corey along with a conspiracy to plant a nuclear bomb in two US cities via suitcase (thereby setting off a chain of reactions resulting in the implementation of Wild Fire, a government plan that will destroy the Middle East in a nuclear holocaust.) As the author himself indicates, the plot is not entirely unreasonable. Corey and his wife Kate (an FBI agent) seek out agent Harry Muller, who has vanished after an assignment involving the hunting lodge Custer Hill Club. An undercurrent of subtle humor between the pair electrifies the already charged story, creating a plot that you just can't put down.