Ben Coes

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Ben Coes
Ben Coes bookjacket.jpg
Born (1966-09-10) September 10, 1966 (age 57)
Hartford, Connecticut U.S.
Occupation Novelist
Language English
Nationality American
Alma mater Columbia College, Columbia University
Genre Thriller, espionage, military, adventure, political
Notable works Power Down
Coup d'État
The Last Refuge
Eye For An Eye
Independence Day
Notable awards Bennett Cerf Memorial Prize, 1989 Columbia University
Spouse Shannon Bowman
Children Charlie, Teddy, Oscar, Esmé

Signature
Website
www.bencoes.com

Ben Coes (born September 10, 1966) is a New York Times best-selling author of international political thriller and espionage novels. He lives with his wife and four children in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

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.[1]

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[2] Coes attended Columbia College in New York City, where he was awarded the university's writing prize, the Bennett Cerf Memorial Award.[3]

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.[4] 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, Mr. Youth, CrowdTap, Country Club Enterprises, Net Direct Merchants, and SOG Specialty Knives,[5] and is a former fellow of the Harvard University Institute of Politics.[6]

Books

Power Down, Ben Coes's debut novel, stars Dewey Andreas, who faces terrorists trying to destroy America by attacking its energy resources.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10] 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.[11]

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[12]

Bibliography

Dewey Andreas series

 #  Title Publication Date Publisher
1 Power Down   September 28, 2010 St. Martin's Press
2 Coup d’Etat September 27, 2011 St. Martin's Press
3 The Last Refuge July 3, 2012 St. Martin's Press
4 Eye For An Eye July 9, 2013 St. Martin's Press
5 Independence Day May 26, 2015 St. Martin's Press
6 First Strike June 28, 2016 St. Martin's Press

References

  1. "The Last Refuge", Huffington Post, 07/29/2012.
  2. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library.
  3. [1], Sentinel & Enterprise, 04/03/2011.
  4. Ben Coes
  5. The Mustang Group
  6. Harvard University Institute of Politics
  7. "Power Down", Publishers Weekly, 07/19/2010.
  8. "Coup d'État", Publishers Weekly, 08/01/2011.
  9. "The Last Refuge", Huffington Post, 07/29/2012.
  10. "Eye For An Eye", Publishers Weekly, 05/20/2013.
  11. "Independence Day", Publishers Weekly, 03/30/2015.
  12. "Thrillers for America's Best", T.A.B. on Facebook, 2013.

External links