Patrick Robinson – författare

During the boom years of the 1980s, the massed oil wealth of the princes of Dubai and Saudi Arabia were pitted against British millionaire Robert Sangster in a battle for control of one of the world’s rarest, most precious and most unpredictable commodities: top-pedigree thoroughbred racehorses.From the Jockey Club to Kentucky, from Royal Ascot to Belmont Park, high society and new money celebrated a horsebreeders’ bonanza as hundreds of millions of dollars were waged in the ultimate racing gamble. Horsetrader is the thrilling, compulsive story of the rise and spectacular crash of the Sport of Kings.Robert Sangster was the man responsible for the boom. Together with Irishmen Vincent O’Brien, the world’s finest trainer, and stallion master John Magnier, Sangster undertook the revolutionary policy of buying ‘baby’ stallions – the world’s most expensive yearlings. And the man who could win at this game, they decided, was the man who bought them all. They sent prices through the roof in bidding wars fought with breathtaking daring. Top stallions became worth three times their weight in gold – the breeding rights to them became a licence to print money.This book traces the gripping story of how Sangster and his little band of Irish horsemen ransacked the world’s most prestigious bloodstock auction, the Keeneland Sales in Kentucky. It witnesses too the terrible crash – the bankruptcies and the ruined thoroughbred farms. Written with the full co-operation of Sangster himself, Horsetrader is the inside track on an awesome bid to corner the thoroughbred market.

When Lehman Brothers bank went under, the world gasped. One of the world's biggest and most successful banks, its downfall was the event that sparked the slide of the world economy toward a Great Depression II.This is the gripping inside story of the dark characters who ruled Lehman, who refused to heed warnings that the company was headed for an iceberg; the world-class, mid-level people who valiantly fought to get Lehman off its disastrous course; the crash that didn't have to happen. A news-breaking explanation that answers the question everyone still asks: "why did it happen?"Larry McDonald, a former vice-president at Lehman Brothers in charge of distressed debt trading and convertible securities, was right at the centre of the meltdown of the company and gives an intimate look at the madhouse that Lehman became. This book shows beyond a doubt that Richard Fuld, the long-time CEO of Lehman, and his top executives, were totally out to lunch, allowing Lehman's risk profile to reach gargantuan proportions. While the traders, like Larry McDonald, clearly predicted more than two years in advance that the market for packaged subprime mortgages and credit default swaps would evaporate, the high-flying Lehman bosses pushed hard on the gas pedal until the very end.

It is the year 2018- a highly volatile nuclear world. Israel has obliterated the deep underground nuclear weapons facility built by Iran. The United States has destroyed the nuclear facility of a defiant North Korea. Against this background, the Russians have upped the stakes in the latest world power-play- cyber warfare- to reduce the United States to helplessness: a three-strike missile attack on the National Security Agency at Fort Mead, Maryland, while simultaneously jamming the top-secret electronic access key to America's nuclear launch system- the nuclear football. If successful, Russia would blow the United States off the nuclear map. Meanwhile the British Royal Navy, formerly the most powerful in the world, is rapidly crumbling, leaving the United States without its main deep sea ally at a time when they're needed most. As this geo-political battle comes to light behind close doors dealings and dark secrets, it is up to Mossad spymaster, codenamed the &lsquoGolan,' to avert the Russian scheme, and there is only one man he in turn can trust to get the job done: US Navy Seal Mack Bedford. It is now up to Mack Bedford, the hero previously encountered in The Delta Solution , Intercept , and Diamondhead , to devise a plan to stop the Russians before they and their cyber weaponry reach the Chinese border- the launch site of their master plan. And with the entire country's fate in his hands, Mack and his hard-trained, one of a kind SEAL Team 10 must not, cannot fail.

In June 2005 four US Navy SEALs left their base in Afghanistan for the Pakistani border. Their mission was to capture or kill a notorious al-Qaeda leader known to be ensconced in a Taliban stronghold surrounded by a small but heavily armed force. Less than twenty-four hours later, only one of those Navy SEALs was alive.This is the story of team leader Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of Operation Redwing. Blasted unconscious by a rocket grenade, blown over a cliff, but still armed and still breathing, Luttrell endured four desperate days fighting the al-Qaeda assassins sent to kill him, before finding unlikely sanctuary with a Pashtun tribe who risked everything to protect him from the circling Taliban killers.

Written by the man who masterminded the British victory in the Falklands, this engrossing memoir chronicles events in the spring of 1982 following Argentina's takeover of the South Atlantic islands. Adm. Sandy Woodward, a brilliant military tactician, presents a complete picture of the British side of the battle. From the defeat of the Argentine air forces to the sinking of the Belgrano and the daring amphibious landing at Carlos Water, his inside story offers a revealing account of the Royal Navy's successes and failures.At times reflective and personal, Woodward imparts his perceptions, fears, and reactions to seemingly disastrous events. He also reveals the steely logic he was famous for as he explains naval strategy and planning. His eyewitness accounts of the sinking of HMS Sheffield and the Battle of Bomb Alley are memorable.Many Britons considered Woodward the cleverest man in the navy. French newspapers called him "Nelson." Margaret Thatcher said he was precisely the right man to fight the world's first computer war. Without question, the admiral's memoir makes a significant addition to the official record. At the same time it provides readers with a vivid portrayal of the world of modern naval warfare, where equipment is of astonishing sophistication but the margins for human courage and error are as wide as in the days of Nelson.

In order to save a life, he must take one...Navy SEAL Mack Bedford is expelled from the military after recklessly avenging the death of fellow soldiers, killed by insurgents wielding a deadly Diamondhead anti-tank missile.Then he learns the weapons were sold illegally by the infamous terrorist abetter, Henri Foche. Meanwhile, Mack has a gravely ill son whose life can only be saved by an expensive and experimental medical procedure.When Mack is asked to assassinate Foche, his hand is forced... His reward: a chance of survival, not just for his son, but for his country.But before Mack can reach his target, a jilted mercenary group intervenes. Can he succeed and survive?A non-stop action thrill ride, Diamondhead is perfect for fans of Vince Flynn, Andy McNab and Frederick Forsyth.

A deadly foe rears its head...An appeal court judge frees four of the world's most dangerous terrorists from Guantanamo Bay. The CIA tracks them back to Pakistan's North-West Frontier, but then the men vanish.Fortunately, a communication from the Afghan side of the border is intercepted by Britain's secret surveillance station in Cyprus. Al-Qaeda is plotting a devastating attack. The CIA panics, its greatest fears realised.Retired Navy SEAL Mack Bedford is called in to assist one of the most highly classified missions ever launched from CIA headquarters, with the stakes higher than ever before...A breathtaking and unputdownable action thriller, Intercept is ideal for fans of James Phelan and Chris Ryan.