Gerald Seymour – författare

The arms dealer betrayed them. Now the survivors want revenge.SOMETIMES, surviving a war can almost seem worse than dying in it. In a Croatian village near Vukovar, no one who survived will ever forget the night they waited for the weapons they needed to make a last-ditch fight against the advancing Serbs. The promised delivery never came, and the village was overrun. Eighteen years later, a body is unearthed from a field, and with it the identity of the arms dealer who betrayed them. Now the villagers can plot their revenge. In leafy England, arms dealer Harvey Gillott regards himself as a man of his word. There is only one blemish on his record, and that was long ago. But Gillott, his family, his friends and his enemies are about to be pitched into a sequence of events that will unfold across Europe with breath-taking drama and almost biblical power. Harvey Gillott is about to find out what happens when the hand of the past suddenly reaches out to the present - and it's holding a gun.

On the Mongolian steppes a general in the People's Liberation Army stakes his career, and his life, on a GPS-free missile guidance system that will change the balance of power on the battlefield.In Bath a young Chinese woman has secured the affections of a young brainiac working on that very problem.In Leamington Spa a deep cover operative has given himself away.And in London Jonas Merrick watches all, assessing, planning. A moment, perhaps, for him to strike a blow to China's espionage network in the UK.One thing he does not see, however, is in Moscow. An order given: 'bring me his head'. Tautly plotted and frighteningly authentic The Best Revenge cements Jonas Merrick as one of the great figures of modern spy fiction.

On the Mongolian steppes a general in the People's Liberation Army stakes his career, and his life, on a GPS-free missile guidance system that will change the balance of power on the battlefield.In Bath a young Chinese woman has secured the affections of a young brainiac working on that very problem.In Leamington Spa a deep cover operative has given himself away.And in London Jonas Merrick watches all, assessing, planning. A moment, perhaps, for him to strike a blow to China's espionage network in the UK.One thing he does not see, however, is in Moscow. An order given: 'bring me his head'. Tautly plotted and frighteningly authentic The Best Revenge cements Jonas Merrick as one of the great figures of modern spy fiction.

On the Mongolian steppes a general in the People's Liberation Army stakes his career, and his life, on a GPS-free missile guidance system that will change the balance of power on the battlefield.In Bath a young Chinese woman has secured the affections of a young brainiac working on that very problem.In Leamington Spa a deep cover operative has given himself away.And in London Jonas Merrick watches all, assessing, planning. A moment, perhaps, for him to strike a blow to China's espionage network in the UK.One thing he does not see, however, is in Moscow. An order given: 'bring me his head'. Tautly plotted and frighteningly authentic Best Served Cold cements Jonas Merrick as one of the great figures of modern spy fiction.

'Compelling . . . almost Dickensian' Times'The best thriller writer in the world' Daily Telegraph*****Jonas Merrick - a legendary intelligence analyst for MI5 - has been banished to the Post Room of Thames House. There, he is expected to pass his remaining days before inevitable retirement.In a Russian gulag, an MI6 agent has developed an unlikely passion for a prisoner and has come up with an ingenious plan to free her. The key: a ruthless Albanian gang laundering the dirty money of the Russian elite. Merrick, the only agent with the experience to help, is brought back once again to intercept the Albanian courier until an exchange is organised by the Russians.But when it transpires that the courier is the heir of the criminal gang's leader, the danger mounts, and Merrick once again finds himself in a situation spiralling towards a bloody confrontation.Frighteningly topical and intensely plotted, Jonas Merrick - one of the great figures of modern spy fiction - returns

'Compelling . . . almost Dickensian' Times'The best thriller writer in the world' Daily Telegraph*****Jonas Merrick - a legendary intelligence analyst for MI5 - has been banished to the Post Room of Thames House. There, he is expected to pass his remaining days before inevitable retirement.In a Russian gulag, an MI6 agent has developed an unlikely passion for a prisoner and has come up with an ingenious plan to free her. The key: a ruthless Albanian gang laundering the dirty money of the Russian elite. Merrick, the only agent with the experience to help, is brought back once again to intercept the Albanian courier until an exchange is organised by the Russians.But when it transpires that the courier is the heir of the criminal gang's leader, the danger mounts, and Merrick once again finds himself in a situation spiralling towards a bloody confrontation.Frighteningly topical and intensely plotted, Jonas Merrick - one of the great figures of modern spy fiction - returns

'Compelling . . . almost Dickensian' Times'The best thriller writer in the world' Daily Telegraph*****Jonas Merrick - a legendary intelligence analyst for MI5 - has been banished to the Post Room of Thames House. There, he is expected to pass his remaining days before inevitable retirement.In a Russian gulag, an MI6 agent has developed an unlikely passion for a prisoner and has come up with an ingenious plan to free her. The key: a ruthless Albanian gang laundering the dirty money of the Russian elite. Merrick, the only agent with the experience to help, is brought back once again to intercept the Albanian courier until an exchange is organised by the Russians.But when it transpires that the courier is the heir of the criminal gang's leader, the danger mounts, and Merrick once again finds himself in a situation spiralling towards a bloody confrontation.Frighteningly topical and intensely plotted, Jonas Merrick - one of the great figures of modern spy fiction - returns

The Metropolitan Police have an unsolvable problem: 'Lachy' Wilson is a ruthless and obscenely rich British drugs lord who has bought off dozens of their officers. Thanks to these informants, no one can lay a glove on Wilson and he is considered 'untouchable'.Wilson is dreaming of one last, game-changing shipment of heroin into the UK. The Met turn to the outside for help. Jonas Merrick is an MI5 officer, unspectacular in his own right but spectacular in the success he's had in dangerous counter terrorist operations. Can he thwart the drugs plot?Jonas has an ace in the hole: Kenny 'Chopper' Harris is an ex-paratrooper and soon to be ex-member of the Flying Squad, looking for a new home, new loyalties. Jonas recruits him to get close to Wilson's Achilles's heel: Julie Wilson is the heir apparent to the family drugs empire and Lachy's go-between. Julie, like Chopper, is a lost soul - she dreams of life outside her father's brutal orbit. Her fate is about to change at their first meeting. A bond is formed, a resolution is made: Chopper will get her free of her family, if she'll betray her mission.Soon their desperate game of deception begins - a game which will inevitably end in a bloody denouement.

The Metropolitan Police have an unsolvable problem: 'Lachy' Wilson is a ruthless and obscenely rich British drugs lord who has bought off dozens of their officers. Thanks to these informants, no one can lay a glove on Wilson and he is considered 'untouchable'.Wilson is dreaming of one last, game-changing shipment of heroin into the UK. The Met turn to the outside for help. Jonas Merrick is an MI5 officer, unspectacular in his own right but spectacular in the success he's had in dangerous counter terrorist operations. Can he thwart the drugs plot?Jonas has an ace in the hole: Kenny 'Chopper' Harris is an ex-paratrooper and soon to be ex-member of the Flying Squad, looking for a new home, new loyalties. Jonas recruits him to get close to Wilson's Achilles's heel: Julie Wilson is the heir apparent to the family drugs empire and Lachy's go-between. Julie, like Chopper, is a lost soul - she dreams of life outside her father's brutal orbit. Her fate is about to change at their first meeting. A bond is formed, a resolution is made: Chopper will get her free of her family, if she'll betray her mission.Soon their desperate game of deception begins - a game which will inevitably end in a bloody denouement.

The Metropolitan Police have an unsolvable problem: 'Lachy' Wilson is a ruthless and obscenely rich British drugs lord who has bought off dozens of their officers. Thanks to these informants, no one can lay a glove on Wilson and he is considered 'untouchable'.Wilson is dreaming of one last, game-changing shipment of heroin into the UK. The Met turn to the outside for help. Jonas Merrick is an MI5 officer, unspectacular in his own right but spectacular in the success he's had in dangerous counter terrorist operations. Can he thwart the drugs plot?Jonas has an ace in the hole: Kenny 'Chopper' Harris is an ex-paratrooper and soon to be ex-member of the Flying Squad, looking for a new home, new loyalties. Jonas recruits him to get close to Wilson's Achilles's heel: Julie Wilson is the heir apparent to the family drugs empire and Lachy's go-between. Julie, like Chopper, is a lost soul - she dreams of life outside her father's brutal orbit. Her fate is about to change at their first meeting. A bond is formed, a resolution is made: Chopper will get her free of her family, if she'll betray her mission.Soon their desperate game of deception begins - a game which will inevitably end in a bloody denouement.

*** A The Times Best Novels Since 1945 ***One of the 100 best crime novels and thrillers written since 1945, as chosen by the Sunday TimesA British cabinet minister is gunned down on a London street by an IRA assassin. In the wake of national outcry, ill-prepared and poorly briefed, undercover agent Harry Brown is sent into the heart of enemy territory to infiltrate the terrorists. Harry's Game rewrote the crime fiction genre when it was first published in 1975 and was an instant global bestseller. Gerald Seymour is one of the most respected thriller writers in the world, drawing on his extensive experience as a journalist covering war zones and political hotspots to deliver authentic, morally complex and utterly gripping spy novels.'Vibrant with suspense' Evening Standard'Evokes the atmosphere and smell of the back streets of Belfast as nothing else I have ever read' Frederick Forsyth, Sunday Express'Devastatingly good' Spectator'The most enduringly praised Troubles thriller' Guardian'Edge-of-the-seat reading' Washington Post'The sort of book that makes you lose track of time' The New York Times

Winnie Monks has never forgotten - or forgiven - the death of a young agent on her team at the hands of a former Russian Army Major turned gangster. Now, years later, she hears the Major is travelling to a villa on the Costa del Sol and she asks permission to send in a surveillance unit.They find an empty property near the Major's. The Villa Paraiso. It's perfect to spy from - and as a base for Winnie's darker, less official, plans.But it turns out that the property isn't deserted. The owners have invited a young British couple to 'house sit' while they are away.For Jonno and Posie, just embarking on a relationship, this is supposed to be a carefree break in the sun. But when the Secret Service team arrives in paradise, everything changes.

An Iranian soldier sits in an MI6 safe house.He may only be a corporal, but as chauffeur to a top general he knows many secrets, such as the location of nuclear sites.But the Corporal won't talk unless they bring his wife out of Iran, too.So the SAS are asked to do the job - but they say it's impossible.Which is how Zach Bennett, a university drop-out recruited for his language skills, and a rag-tag team of three ex-soldiers find themselves on a mission to Tehran. If they are caught, it will mean certain death.And the Corporal's wife - fiery, independent and beautiful - is not the kind of person Zach was expecting. In fact, she's not like anyone he's ever met in his life.

It was a dirty job in a dirty war.Danny Curnow, known in the army family by his call sign, Vagabond, ran agents, informers. Played God with their lives and their deaths, and was the best at his job - and he quit when the stress overwhelmed him.Now he lives in quiet isolation and works as a guide to tourists visiting the monuments and cemeteries of an earlier, simpler, conflict on Normandy's D-Day beaches.Until the call comes from an old boss, Bentinick.Violence in Northern Ireland is on the rise again. Weapons are needed for a new campaign. Gaby Davies of MI5, sparky and ambitious, runs the double agent Ralph Exton, who will be the supposed middle man in brokering an arms deal with a Russian contact, Timofey.The covert world of deception and betrayal was close to destroying Danny across the Irish Sea. Fifteen years later the stakes are higher, the risks greater, and there is an added agenda on the table. If he wants to survive, Danny will have to prove, to himself, that he has not softened, that he is as hard and ruthless as before.VAGABOND shows Gerald Seymour writing at the top of his powers and returning to the territory of some of his greatest bestsellers, Harry's Game, Field of Blood and The Journeyman Tailor.

Two young men -Jago and Marcantonio - both studying business and finance:Jago is a kid from a rough part of London who has worked hard to get a job in a bank and is now on a fast-track secondment to the Berlin office.Marcantonio is one of the new generation in the 'Ndrangheta crime families from Calabria, Southern Italy. He is in Germany to learn how to channel their illicit millions towards legitimate businesses all over Europe.When Jago witnesses Marcantonio commit a vicious assault and the police seem uninterested, the Englisman refuses to let the matter drop.But by pursuing the gangster to his grandfather's mountain lair, Jago is stepping into the middle of a delicate surveillance operation, which sets alarm bells ringing in Rome, London and Berlin.It also leads him to Consolata, a young woman who sees in Jago the chance to turn her non-violent protest campaign against the crime families into something altogether more lethal...NO MORTAL THING is novel of relentless power and mounting suspense, a brilliant portrayal of organised crime in Europe and the under-resourced men and women who fight it.

Two young men - Jago and Marcantonio - both studying business and finance:Jago is a kid from a rough part of London who has worked hard to get a job in a bank and is now on a fast-track secondment to the Berlin office.Marcantonio is one of the new generation in the 'Ndrangheta crime families from Calabria, Southern Italy. He is in Germany to learn how to channel their illicit millions towards legitimate businesses all over Europe.When Jago witnesses Marcantonio commit a vicious assault and the police seem uninterested, the Englishman refuses to let the matter drop.But by pursuing the gangster to his grandfather's mountain lair, Jago is stepping into the middle of a delicate surveillance operation, which sets alarm bells ringing in Rome, London and Berlin.It also leads him to Consolata, a young woman who sees in Jago the chance to turn her non-violent protest campaign against the crime families into something altogether more lethal...NO MORTAL THING is novel of relentless power and mounting suspense, a brilliant portrayal of organised crime in Europe and the under-resourced men and women who fight it.

THE TARGET: Israel's leading nuclear scientist, giving a lecture in London.THE ASSASSIN: A Palestinian terrorist, the lone survivor of a three-man hit squad ambushed by Israeli Intelligence in France while on their way to London. THE MERCENARY: Ciaran McCoy, formerly of the IRA, and The Assassin's only contact in London. THE MAVERICK: Jimmy, an alcoholic, over-the-hill MI5 agent assigned to protect the Israeli scientist. Jimmy is arguably the most dangerous of the lot, but only when sober. Will he be able to prevent a brutal killing?

A group of four students, Ukrainian Jews, are fighting for recognition within the Soviet Union. They are tired of being treated as second-class citizens and are prepared to use violence if necessary. When one of their number is captured after shooting a policeman, they know time is running out. Their only hope is to hijack a plane, fly to the West and then on to Israel.One country after another refuses to let them land, untill the plane finally sets down in Britain, low on fuel. Charlie Webster, an Intelligence officer on the Soviet desk, is brought in to negotiate with the hijackers. But it is unclear whether they are political refugees or dangerous criminals. As the government wavers, the students become increasingly desperate and start to lose patience, and control.

Beautiful, seductive and extremely dangerous, Franca Tantardini is one of Italy's most ruthless political extremists. When she is captured in a shoot-out, her fanatical young lover, Giancarlo Battestini, vows to set her free and, with quiet watchfulness, waits for the moment to strike.In Rome, a British businessman, Geoffery Harrison, has been taken hostage by a ruthless organised crime syndicate - kidnap is, after all, a growth industry. The British Government are adamant that they will not pay the two-million-dollar ransom and discharge responsibility to the Italian police. As political wrangling takes hold, Battestini sees a weakness and realises that the only way to secure the release of his beloved Franca is to capture Harrison and bargain his life for hers.The authorities are confronted with a terrible choice. Should they release a woman who has masterminded the murder of so many or let an innocent man die?

Discharged from the British Army in disgrace, Johnny Donoghue is eager to redeem himself. His task is to slip undercover into East Germany and persuade a prominent scientist working on Soviet missile systems to defect.But no one warns Johnny of the dangers involved in crossing the border, nor can he ever imagine the effect the actions of fickle politicians will have on his task. Nothing can prepare Johnny for the impact of the momentous decision the scientist will be forced to make, and no one could have predicted the involvement of the scientist's headstrong daughter . . .

From the author of Harry's Game - A Sunday Times '100 best crime novels and thrillers since 1945' pickWhen British Intelligence asks Michael Holly, a mechanical engineer, to run an errand for them in the Soviet Union, the consequences of capture are never mentioned. But what seems a simple handover carries unimaginable risks, and now Holly is facing fifteen years imprisoned in a gulag in the midst of the frozen tundra. Along with his fellow inmates, Holly has to find the strength to fight the camp's brutal regime in any way he can. But Camp 3 is the place where hopes and dreams are brought to die. Against the might of the Soviet state, is Michael Holly strong enough to sustain his will to survive?

Barney Crispin, a Captain in the SAS, is as tough as they come. He is sent on an urgent mission to the Afghanistan border: to destroy one of the Soviet Mi-24 helicopters, a highly sophisticated and virtually invulnerable piece of military equipment, and retrieve the hardware. In order to do so, he needs the help of the Mujahidin resistance and must first train them in the ways of stealth and sabotage.But the guerillas he trains are ill-equipped and disorganised. Their attempt fails and several of them are killed in the process. Against orders and with only eight missiles and a local boy as his guide, Barney decides to undertake the mission alone, his own solitary battle for vengeance...

From the author of Harry's Game - A Sunday Times '100 best crime novels and thrillers since 1945' pickSean McNally has sworn his oath to the IRA. But then he'd turned his back on the violence and the hatred, and gone south to the Republic. Life was good, until they came for him to do one last job. But in its aftermath, McNally is captured and is facing a lifetime's imprisonment. Unless he dares think the unthinkable... and becomes a tout.Lieutenant David Ferris hadn't wanted to join the army, but found himself in it anyway. In a cruel twist of fate, his path crosses that of Sean McNally's and he quickly becomes a pawn on the frontline of a brutally tense war of nerves. As McNally prepares to gives evidence, Ferris must confront his own destiny. Not only is his life at stake, but also that of the future of the entire command structure of the IRA...

From the author of Harry's Game - A Sunday Times '100 best crime novels and thrillers since 1945' pickJeez Curwen, a British undercover agent in South Africa reporting on the African National Congress, has received the death penalty for his part in a job in which he should never have been involved. He is incarcerated in the maximum security jail outside Pretoria, awaiting execution.By the time his son Jack, abandoned by Jeez 25 years ago, discovers that the British government has washed its hands of his father's case, Jeez has only three weeks to live.But Jack, though young and untried, is determined to see the father he has never known, and to set him free.

From the author of Harry's Game - A Sunday Times '100 best crime novels and thrillers since 1945' pickPeter Holt, a young diplomat, witnesses the horrific murder of his fiance and the British Ambassador within days of a new posting to the Soviet Union. The report of the murder lands on the desk of a British Intelligence officer who suspects Palestinian involvement, althought the Russians insist that it was not a terrorist attack.The British government are determined to extract revenge and Holt is the only man able to identify the assassin. He is sent to the Lebanon and the perilous Beqa'a Valley, which serves as a stronghold for the most extreme guerilla groups. Unauthorised access to the valley is virtually impossible, and capture by the Syrian Army would result in torture and death. His only company is Noah Crane, an Israeli expert sniper, who acts as his mentor and guide. But when Syrian Intelligence learn of their presence, their cover is blown. And now it is too late to turn back.

Mattie Furniss has run British Intelligence agents in Iran from his desk in London for two decades. But when he is ordered to the country himself, it is clear that times are desperate. One of Furniss' key informants and close friends is Charlie Eshraq, a young Iranian whose family was murdered during the revolution. Charlie is determined to avenge their deaths and becomes involved in drug smuggling to fund his campaign.When the daughter of a prominent MP dies from a heroin overdose and the British establishment demands a crackdown on Iranian drug traffickers, Mattie and Charlie suddenly find themselves alone in the spider's web. In a hostile environment where their every move is watched, will they be able to escape alive?

From the author of Harry's Game - A Sunday Times '100 best crime novels and thrillers since 1945' pickIt is only month before Saddam Hussein instructs his troops in invade Kuwait, and the Iraqis will stop at nothing to achieve nuclear capability. They are actively targeting scientists from the West who can help them acquire the intelligence they need.When Bill Erlich, a young FBI agent, learns that one of his closest friends has been murdered in Athens, he vows that he will find the killer, even if it means breaking the rules. The man he suspects is a British mercenary known as Colt, who has been working for the Iraqi government, and is as elusive as he is dangerous.Erlich follows Colt to England, where he has been dispatched to recruit a disaffected scientist. Determined to bring Colt to justice at whatever cost, Erlich crosses an invisible line beyond which there is no return...

In the villages and on the mountains of County Tyrone, in the heartland of the Provisional IRA's most active Brigade, the golden rule is 'Hear nothing, see nothing, know nothing'. To collaborate with British Intelligence is to invite an inescapable death sentence.But there is word on the mountain that inside the Brigade there is a 'tout', an informer. He will be identified, interrogated, tortured, then hooded and shot.Gary Brennard, the MI5 field agent, and Parker, who runs the informer, have to protect their man at all costs: he is the critical asset to hold on to until the stakes are high enough... and if the innocent step into the crossfire, that's just bad luck.