Andy McNab

He later left the SAS, and has written a number of novels about Nick Stone, ex-SAS and now a deniable operator for the SIS (Secret Intelligence Service).

While not wholly believable, his books shows us the workings of an undercover operator, down to the gritty details of how you shit and pee when you can't leave your post, nor any tracks of your having been there.

He has written two autobiographical books:

Bravo Two Zero about his experiences in the Gulf War
Immediate Action about his life as an elite soldier and how he became one

The Nick Stone thrillers are:

Remote Control
Crisis Four
Firewall
Last Light
Liberation Day: Nick Stone is tricked or coerced into an operation against Al-Qaeda money laundering networks in Europe. With his team, he stakes out places where money are to be delivered, in order to find the money launderers. While McNab is good at describing action, his surveillance scenes are filled to the brim and beyond with detail, making them too long-winded. His characters are quite shallow, but his action is good making this, all in all a readworthy thriller.
Dark Winter: Nick and a female operator has to find Bin Laden-associated terrorists and stop them from committing large-scale biological warfare operations in central London, against an unsuspecing civilian population. There is a lot of fast-paced action here, and less of the painstaikingly (boringly) described surveillance scenes. A side story is Nick's constant problems with taking care of Kelly, having to bully her grandparents in order to be able to serve both Kelly and his own unscrupolous master. While the action is up to class, I am a bit disappointed that McNab does little to exploit the dangers of the biological agent in order to build up the tension in this novel. The havoc that would have become the result of such a terrorist attack is underplayed, instead of being an overshadowing consideration. And I am also a bit surprised that McNab lets Nick botch up things to the extent he does here, with such devastating consequences. The ending is very sad, but not gripping - McNab has never built up any character but Nick, so I can't say I feel I've gotten to know anyone but him - hence no sadness for others. All in all: better than Liberation day but not an outstanding thriller.
Deep Black The story starts with a preamble: Unable to act, Nick in 1994 has to witness cold-blooded killings of Bosnian moslems by Serbs.
When Jerry, a photographer, in 2004 contacts Nick in order to get help with tracking down a moslem leader they both saw in Bosnia, Nick agrees to come with him. They go to an occupied Baghdad, but end up being thrown out by the Americans. The then continue to Bosnia, where they eventually come into contact with the man they are searching for. In the end, it turns out Nick has been double-crossed, and much is quite different from what it has seemed.
While there is a lot of well-written action here, and the 1994 episode is both gripping and well-told, I had problems following or finding an over-all line in the story. There is, of course, a plot here, but I find it unconvincing so I am a bit disappointed over this book.
Aggressor
Recoil SHIPPING SOON!

The Boy Soldier books are:

Boy Soldier
Payback
Avenger SHIPPING NOW!

Bravo Two Zero also was adapted for TV

Further reading or seeing about the SAS regiment:

The SAS at war This is the histoy of the first years of the SAS
The SAS: Savage Wars of Peace The sequel, about the post-war years
Heroes of the SAS The personal history of the men who made their mark in the history of the SAS
The Complete Encyclopedia of the SAS
True Stories of the SBS Not about the SAS, but its rival outfit, the Special Boat Service
DVD: The Story Of The SAS
Andy McNab - The Ultimate Warrior
The SAS in Action
Search Amazon.co.uk for more literature on SAS. You'll find a number of novels, and there are other things named SAS than the regiment, but with some patience you'll find your way.
More Special Forces books.

Another of the soldiers of Bravo Two Zero has written his account of what happened, and a number of thrillers, under the name of Chris Ryan. His book about Bravo Two Zero is called The One That Got Away

The Real Bravo Two Zero by Michael Asher (also ex-SAS) represents yet another account of the events. Asher retraced the route and events of Bravo Two Zero ten years later, and tells a slightly different story from McNab and Ryan.

[30.04.03]A must for the reader of modern crime novels, The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Modern Crime Fiction gives a encyclopedic view of post-war crime fiction. For non-English readers it is a drawback that very little non-English material is included, but it is a great fountain of facts about English language authors. Its scope is strictly crime, leaving thrillers out - it still fills 780 pages, so you'll have more than enough to read.
More Mammoth Encyclopedias or Mammoth Books of a surprisingly wide range of subjects - Erotic photography, Shaggy Dog stories, Murder and Science and so on....

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This page was last updated on 09.08.2008 .

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