Ben Coes

{{Infobox writer

| name = Ben Coes

| image = Ben Coes bookjacket.jpg

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| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1966|09|10}}

| birth_place = Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.

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| occupation = Novelist

| language = English

| education =

| alma_mater = Columbia College, Columbia University

| genre = Thriller, espionage, military, adventure, political

| notableworks = Power Down
Coup d'État
The Last Refuge
Eye For An Eye
Independence Day
First Strike
Trap the Devil
Bloody Sunday
The Russian
The Island

| spouse =

| children =

| awards = Bennett Cerf Memorial Prize, 1989 Columbia University

| signature = Ben Coes signature.jpg

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| website = {{URL|bencoes.com}}

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}}

Ben Coes (born September 10, 1966) is a New York Times best-selling author of international political thriller and espionage novels.

Coes's novels feature Dewey Andreas, a former member of U.S. Special Forces 1st SFOD-D, also known as Delta Force. Coes has called his books "reality-based," drawing upon his early career at the White House and in finance. Coes has credited his godfather, a former member of the U.S. Navy SEALs, with influencing the often violent, brutally realistic plots of his novels.{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/post_3653_b_1707664|title=In Praise of the Alphas|date=July 29, 2012|website=HuffPost}}

Early life

Ben Coes was born in Hartford, Connecticut and raised in West Simsbury, Connecticut. He attended the Groton School, a boarding school in Massachusetts which counts Franklin D. Roosevelt among its alumni{{Cite web|url=https://www.fdrlibrary.org/|title=Home - FDR Presidential Library & Museum|website=www.fdrlibrary.org}} Coes attended Columbia College in New York City, where he was awarded the university's writing prize, the Bennett Cerf Memorial Award.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sentinelandenterprise.com/ci_17763510/|title=Novelist Ben Coes will be featured speaker at MWCC graduation|date=April 3, 2011}}

Political and business career

Coes started his career as a White House intern under President Ronald Reagan, and then served as the White House-appointed speechwriter for former U.S. Secretary of Energy James D. Watkins under President George H. W. Bush. He also wrote speeches for T. Boone Pickens and was campaign manager for Mitt Romney’s 2002 run for governor of Massachusetts.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bencoes.com/aboutben-2|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319235529/http://www.bencoes.com/aboutben-2|url-status=dead|title=Ben Coes|archivedate=March 19, 2016}} He is a managing partner at The Mustang Group, a private equity firm, which has invested in a number of companies, including Cascade Lacrosse, Vermont Teddy Bear, Scribe Software, Ask Suzy, Country Club Enterprises, Renovation Brands, and SOG Specialty Knives,{{Cite web|url=http://www.mustanggroup.com/team|title=Team | Mustang Group}} and is a former fellow of the Harvard University Institute of Politics.{{Cite web|url=http://www.iop.harvard.edu/Programs/Fellows-Study-Groups/Former-Fellows/Ben_Coes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703104453/http://www.iop.harvard.edu/Programs/Fellows-Study-Groups/Former-Fellows/Ben_Coes|url-status=dead|title=Harvard University Institute of Politics|archivedate=July 3, 2010}}

Books

Power Down, Ben Coes's debut novel, stars Dewey Andreas, who faces terrorists trying to destroy America by attacking its energy resources.{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-312-58074-2|title=Fiction Book Review: Power Down by Ben Coes, St. Martin's, $24.99 (432p) ISBN 978-0-312-58074-2|website=PublishersWeekly.com}} His second book, Coup d'État, is a sequel to Power Down. Pakistan drops a nuclear bomb on India, and Dewey must stop the situation from escalating.{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-312-58076-6|title=Fiction Book Review: Coup d'%C3%89tat by Ben Coes. St. Martin's, $25.99 (464p) ISBN 978-0-312-58076-6|website=PublishersWeekly.com}} Coes's third novel, The Last Refuge, features a joint covert U.S.-Israel paramilitary operation to penetrate Iran and stop the country from detonating a nuclear device inside Tel Aviv. The fourth installment in the series, Eye For An Eye, involves a clandestine confrontation between China and the U.S., in which Dewey infiltrates the PRC to take revenge for the death of his fiancée.{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-250-00716-2|title=Fiction Book Review: Eye for an Eye by Ben Coes. St. Martin’s, $25.99 (400p) ISBN 978-1-250-00716-2|website=PublishersWeekly.com}} In Coes's fifth book, Independence Day, Dewey must stop a Russian computer hacker and terrorist from detonating a stolen Soviet-era nuclear bomb in New York City on the 4th of July.{{Cite web|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-250-04316-0|title=Fiction Book Review: Independence Day by Ben Coes. St. Martin’s, $26.99 (512p) ISBN 978-1-250-04316-0|website=PublishersWeekly.com}} "First Strike", the sixth book in the Dewey Andreas series, involves America's role in the creation of ISIS through an illegal covert arms-for-influence program. When ISIS takes over a dormitory at Columbia University, (Coes' alma mater) Dewey and a small team of operatives must wage an underground assault on the dormitory in order to save the lives of hundreds.{{Cite web|url=http://www.booklistonline.com/First-Strike-Ben-Coes/pid=8167913|title=First Strike, by Ben Coes | Booklist Online|via=www.booklistonline.com}}

Charitable work

In 2013, Ben and his family started Thrillers for America's Best, a non-profit that sends books to U.S. Veterans at VA homes and hospitals in the U.S. Its first shipment of books was made in August 2013.{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/login/?next=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FThrillers.Americas.Best|title=Log into Facebook|website=Facebook}}

Bibliography

= Dewey Andreas series =

class=wikitable
# ! Title ! Publication Date ! Publisher
style="text-align:center"\| 1 \|Power Down \| style="text-align:center"\| September 28, 2010 \| St. Martin's Press
style="text-align:center"\| 2 \| Coup d’Etat \| style="text-align:center"\| September 27, 2011 \| St. Martin's Press
style="text-align:center"\| 3 \| The Last Refuge \| style="text-align:center"\| July 3, 2012 \| St. Martin's Press
style="text-align:center"\| 4 \| Eye For An Eye \| style="text-align:center"\| July 9, 2013 \| St. Martin's Press
style="text-align:center"\| 5 \| Independence Day \| style="text-align:center"\| May 26, 2015 \| St. Martin's Press
style="text-align:center"\| 6 \| First Strike \| style="text-align:center"\| June 28, 2016 \| St. Martin's Press
style="text-align:center"\| 7 \| Trap the Devil \| style="text-align:center"\| June 20, 2017 \| St. Martin's Press
style="text-align:center"\| 8 \| Bloody Sunday \| style="text-align:center"\| July 31, 2018 \| St. Martin's Press
style=``text-align:center''\| 9 \| The Island \| style="text-align:center"\| August 17, 2021 \| St. Martin's Press

class=wikitable

! Title

! Publication Date

! Publisher

style="text-align:center"| 1

|Power Down

| style="text-align:center"| September 28, 2010

| St. Martin's Press

style="text-align:center"| 2

| Coup d’Etat

| style="text-align:center"| September 27, 2011

| St. Martin's Press

style="text-align:center"| 3

| The Last Refuge

| style="text-align:center"| July 3, 2012

| St. Martin's Press

style="text-align:center"| 4

| Eye For An Eye

| style="text-align:center"| July 9, 2013

| St. Martin's Press

style="text-align:center"| 5

| Independence Day

| style="text-align:center"| May 26, 2015

| St. Martin's Press

style="text-align:center"| 6

| First Strike

| style="text-align:center"| June 28, 2016

| St. Martin's Press

style="text-align:center"| 7

| Trap the Devil

| style="text-align:center"| June 20, 2017

| St. Martin's Press

style="text-align:center"| 8

| Bloody Sunday

| style="text-align:center"| July 31, 2018

| St. Martin's Press

style=``text-align:center''| 9

| The Island

| style="text-align:center"| August 17, 2021

| St. Martin's Press

"Salina" (short story), February 1, 2016.
"Shooting Gallery" (short story), June 5, 2018.

= Rob Tacoma series =

class="wikitable"
# ! Title ! Publication Date ! Publisher
style="text-align:center" \| 1 \| The Russian \| style="text-align:center" \| July 30, 2019 \| St. Martin's Press

class="wikitable"

! Title

! Publication Date

! Publisher

style="text-align:center" | 1

| The Russian

| style="text-align:center" | July 30, 2019

| St. Martin's Press

References

External links

{{commons category-inline}}
{{official|http://www.bencoes.com/ }}
[http://us.macmillan.com/author/bencoes Ben Coes at the Macmillan/St. Martin's Press website]
[http://www.facebook.com/bencoes Ben Coes Facebook Fan Page]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20140222172205/http://instagram.com/authorcoes Ben Coes Instagram Account]

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:American male novelists

Category:Living people

Category:American thriller writers

Category:1966 births

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:Columbia College (New York) alumni