Brad Thor's Bio

Brad Thor: Master of thrillers

As the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of 22 thrillers, including Rising Tiger, Black Ice, The Last Patriot, among others, Brad Thor’s novels of international intrigue parallel the real threats facing the world today.


Bradley George Thor Jr. is an American thriller novelist. He is the author of The Lions of Lucerne, The First Commandment, The Last Patriot, and other novels. His last novel in the Harvath series, Rising Tiger, was released in July 2022. Thor's novels have been published in countries around the world. He also contributed a short story entitled "The Athens Solution" to the James Patterson-edited anthology, Thriller. Thor also makes frequent appearances on Fox News and The Blaze.

The Last Patriot was nominated for "Best Thriller of the Year" by the International Thriller Writers Association. His novel Blowback was voted by National Public Radio listeners as one of the "100 Best Ever" Killer Thrillers, while Black Ice was voted ThrillerFix Best Thriller of the Year, Backlash nominated for the Barry Award for Best Thriller of the Year, and Spymaster cited as one of the all-time best thriller novels by The Washington Times.

Thor was born on Aug 21, 1969 and raised in Chicago. He had lived in Park City, Utah for eight years.

Thor is a graduate of the Sacred Heart Schools, the Francis W. Parker School (Chicago), and the University of Southern California (cum laude), where he studied creative writing under author T.C. Boyle. Besides that Thor also studied film and television production. Prior to becoming a novelist, he was the award-winning creator, producer, writer and host of the critically acclaimed national public television series, Travelling Lite.

Thor has served as a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Analytic Red Cell Unit. He has also lectured to law enforcement organisations on over-the-horizon/future threats, and has been a keynote speaker for the National Tactical Officers Association annual conference.

In 2008, Brad shadowed a Black Ops team in Afghanistan to research his thriller, The Apostle.

Thor is also a member of The Heritage Foundation and has spoken at their national headquarters on the need for robust missile defence.

He is a regular contributor to the Glenn Beck television program and has appeared on other Fox News Channel shows, as well as on CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, and PBS to discuss terrorism and parallels between his novels and real threats facing the world today.

In May 2016, he made speculative comments on the Glenn Beck radio show about Donald Trump that appeared to offer conditional support for violence against him if Trump were elected and did something that he felt endangered the country.

Thor announced his candidacy for President of the United States in the 2020 election but on July 5, 2018, Thor decided against running and left the Republican Party, becoming an independent, citing frustration with the Republican-controlled Congress and President Donald Trump. He later softened his tone toward Trump as he would be a better choice than Hillary Clinton. 

Bibliography

Scot Harvath Series

  • The Lions of Lucerne (2002)

  • Path of the Assassin (2003)

  • State of the Union (2004)

  • Blowback (2005)

  • Takedown (2006)

  • The First Commandment (2007)

  • The Last Patriot (2008)

  • The Apostle (2009)

  • Foreign Influence (2010)

  • Full Black (2011)

  • Black List (2012)

  • Hidden Order (2013)

  • Act of War (2014)

  • Code of Conduct (2015)

  • Foreign Agent (2016)

  • Use of Force (2017)

  • Spymaster (2018)

  • Backlash (2019)

  • Near Dark (2020)

  • Black Ice (2021)

  • Rising Tiger (2022)


The Athena Project Series

  • The Athena Project (2010)Brad Thor: Master of thrillers