Gerald Seymour Books in Order
Explore all Gerald Seymour books in order, with quick summaries, series info, TV tie-in notes and simple reading-order tips to help you decide where to start.
Last updated: December 17, 2025
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Publication Order
40 books
The Best Revenge
by Gerald Seymour
2024
Now on MI5's China desk, Jonas Merrick tracks a deep‑cover Chinese agent targeting a young scientist developing GPS‑free missile guidance in Britain. At the same time, Russian intelligence moves to settle old scores, forcing Jonas to juggle overlapping enemies who all want his head.
In At The Kill
by Gerald Seymour
2023
Shifted to the "backwater" of organised crime, Jonas Merrick builds an operation around a semi‑submersible carrying cocaine from South America to Spain. On a Spanish beach and a Liverpool street, undercover officer Kenny Blake and rival crime families converge on a landing that cannot go unnoticed.
The Foot Soldiers
by Gerald Seymour
2022
When a Russian military intelligence officer defects in Denmark and is swiftly targeted for assassination, suspicion falls on a mole inside MI6. Recalled from retirement, Jonas Merrick interviews the small circle of insiders while violence flares in Scandinavia and Moscow tightens the screws.
The Crocodile Hunter
by Gerald Seymour
2021
Jonas Merrick, an MI5 analyst mocked for never leaving his desk, spots signs that a British jihadist survivor from Syria is heading home with murder in mind. As the threat closes in on southern England, Jonas must finally step into the field to try to stop him.
Beyond Recall
by Gerald Seymour
2020
Gaz Baldwin, a British watcher traumatised by an atrocity he observed in Syria, hides as a handyman on the Orkney islands. When an old‑school MI6 operator learns the Russian officer responsible is now in Murmansk, Gaz is pulled back to identify the man for an off‑the‑books assassination.
A Damned Serious Business
by Gerald Seymour
2020
MI6 case officer Edwin "Boot" Coker turns a captured Russian hacker into an unwilling guide to a secret gathering of state‑sponsored cyber criminals. To hit them, he recruits Merc, a battle‑hardened mercenary, to carry a bomb across the Estonian border and into the heart of the operation.
Battle Sight Zero
by Gerald Seymour
2019
Undercover policeman Andy Knight has infiltrated a British extremist cell intent on importing AK‑47s from Marseille. As he grows close to Zeinab, the radicalised student at its centre, one battered rifle's long journey across decades of conflict runs alongside their dangerous trip.
Jericho's War
by Gerald Seymour
2017
Legendary MI6 officer Corrie Rankin is sent back into the field to exploit a chance to hit a key al‑Qaeda facilitator in Yemen. With a less‑than‑elite sniper team and a fragile local source, he must carry out a deniable mission across empty desert and shifting loyalties.
No Mortal Thing
by Gerald Seymour
2015
Banker Jago Browne sees a young Italian gangster violently shaking down a Berlin café owner and cannot let it go. Tracking the man back to his powerful 'Ndrangheta family in Calabria, Jago becomes an uninvited player in a dangerous game between prosecutors and a clan that owns its territory.
Vagabond
by Gerald Seymour
2014
Years after the peace deal in Northern Ireland, old grudges simmer in rural Tyrone. MI5 drags former agent‑runner Danny Curnow, code‑named Vagabond, out of retirement to manage a risky operation involving Russian arms dealers and hard‑line republicans who refuse to let the war end.
The Corporal's Wife
by Gerald Seymour
2013
Farideh's husband, a low‑ranking driver in Iran's Revolutionary Guard, has been trapped in a honey‑trap and is being debriefed in a Western safe house. He will only talk if she is smuggled out of Tehran, forcing a small team of ex‑soldiers and a student linguist into the regime's heartland.
The Outsiders
by Gerald Seymour
2012
Ten years after a young agent is kicked to death in Budapest, former MI5 officer Winnie Monks hears that the Russian crime boss responsible is headed to Spain. She installs a team in the empty villa next door, only to find a young British couple already house‑sitting there.
Deniable Death
by Gerald Seymour
2011
MI6 targets the engineer behind devastating roadside bombs used in Iraq and Afghanistan, but first needs to know when he will leave his home in Iran. Two surveillance specialists crawl into a covert hide near his marsh‑side house, knowing capture will mean torture and official denial.
The Dealer And The Dead
by Gerald Seymour
2010
Eighteen years after a botched arms deal during the Croatian war, villagers finally learn the name of the Englishman they blame for their slaughter. They hire a London hitman to exact revenge, only to discover how tangled the past becomes once the gun is raised again.
The Collaborator
by Gerald Seymour
2009
Immacolata Borelli, a student in London and daughter of a powerful Camorra clan, is shaken when a friend's death is traced to her family's toxic business. Choosing to testify against them, she endangers herself and her English boyfriend as Naples closes in.
Time Bomb
by Gerald Seymour
2008
In 1992 a sacked security officer from a secret Russian facility buries a compact nuclear device. Sixteen years later a buyer emerges, and an undercover British policeman travelling with him must decide how far he will go to stop the sale from succeeding.
The Walking Dead
by Gerald Seymour
2007
A shy young man leaves a remote Saudi village, committed to becoming a suicide bomber in England. In London, armed protection officer David Banks wrestles with doubts about his job as he tracks an attack that forces both men to question what they believe.
Rat Run
by Gerald Seymour
2005
Branded a coward after an ambush in Iraq, former intelligence officer Malachy Kitchen drifts into a grim London housing estate. When an elderly neighbour is mugged, he begins targeting the drug network that rules the blocks, colliding with an international plot that uses the same routes.
The Unknown Soldier
by Gerald Seymour
2004
Once an ordinary British teenager, Caleb reinvented himself as Abu Khaleb and attached himself to al‑Qaeda. Freed from Guantanamo by posing as a harmless taxi driver, he treks across the Saudi desert toward a deadly mission while US and UK teams scramble to understand his true value.
Traitor's Kiss
by Gerald Seymour
2003
For years, Russian naval officer Viktor Archenko has secretly supplied intelligence to MI6. When suspicion falls on him and the flow of information stops, a last‑chance operation is launched to extract him from a fortified base in Kaliningrad before the window closes.
Untouchable
by Gerald Seymour
2001
London crime boss Mister Albert Packer believes he is beyond the law and heads to post‑war Sarajevo to strike deals with other major players. Customs investigator Joey Cann follows, using the chaos of Bosnia to try to bring down a man who thinks he is untouchable.
Holding the Zero
by Gerald Seymour
2000
Civilian marksman Gus Peake travels to northern Iraq to help Kurdish fighters by taking on Saddam's forces at long range. His presence draws Iraq's best sniper to the battlefield, turning the conflict into an intense, personal duel played out across harsh terrain.
A Line in the Sand
by Gerald Seymour
1999
Frank Perry once had rare access to Iran's chemical‑weapons sites and helped cripple its programme. Now hiding in an English coastal town, he is hunted by an Iranian assassin, while nervous neighbours begin to see him as the real threat to their quiet lives.
Dead Ground
by Gerald Seymour
1998
British army corporal Tracy Barnes witnesses her lover's killing by the East German secret police just before the Wall falls. Years later, in a supposedly reunited Germany, she returns to confront the man responsible, only to find old loyalties still shape new power.
Killing Ground
by Gerald Seymour
1997
Schoolteacher Charley Parsons agrees to work as a nanny in Palermo for the family of Peppino Ruggerio, brother and money man to a hidden Sicilian drug lord. Recruited by investigators, she becomes a fragile bridge into a mafia empire built on heroin.
Heart of Danger
by Gerald Seymour
1995
When the mutilated body of an Englishwoman is found in a Croatian mass grave, her estranged mother hires investigator Bill Penn to find out what happened. His search through a ravaged landscape brings him face to face with war criminals and his own idea of justice.
The Fighting Man
by Gerald Seymour
1994
Gord, an ex‑SAS soldier haunted by the West's betrayal of the Kurds, heads to Guatemala to fight alongside guerrillas in their own unwinnable war. Back in Britain, officials debate whether to rescue or sacrifice the troublesome hero they would rather forget.
Condition Black
by Gerald Seymour
1991
On the eve of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, young FBI agent Bill Erlich tracks a British‑born assassin working for Baghdad across Europe and back to England. His hunt uncovers a plan to draw a disillusioned nuclear scientist into Saddam Hussein's weapons program.
The Journeyman Tailor
by Gerald Seymour
1989
Deep in rural County Tyrone, rumours swirl that the Provisional IRA has a traitor in its ranks. MI5 handler Cathy Parker and field agent Gary Brennard fight to protect their prized informer as suspicion rises and innocent neighbours risk being swept up in the purge.
Home Run
by Gerald Seymour
1989
Veteran MI6 officer Mattie Furniss runs Iranian sources from London, including Charlie Eshraq, whose drug‑smuggling bankrolls a private vendetta. When a minister's daughter dies of an overdose, political fury and inter‑service rivalry leave both men dangerously exposed.
At Close Quarters
by Gerald Seymour
1987
After a British diplomat is murdered on the steps of a hotel in Yalta, an operation is mounted to hit back. Survivor Holt must walk into Lebanon's Beqaa Valley with an Israeli sniper to identify the killer inside a heavily guarded Palestinian camp.
A Song In The Morning
by Gerald Seymour
1987
In apartheid‑era South Africa, a British undercover agent sits on death row after years inside the regime's prisons. The son he abandoned decades earlier travels south, determined to free a father he barely knows from a system built to crush dissent.
Field Of Blood
by Gerald Seymour
1985
Sean McNally, a seasoned IRA gunman, is coerced into one last operation and then arrested, facing a lifetime behind bars. Offered a deal if he turns informer, he becomes entwined with reluctant British lieutenant Ferris in a tense duel of trust and betrayal.
In Honour Bound
by Gerald Seymour
1984
SAS captain Barney Crispin is sent to the Afghan border with a handful of Stinger missiles to help the mujahideen bring down Soviet helicopter gunships. When the operation falls apart, he crosses into Afghanistan himself, driven by duty and a need to finish the job.
Archangel
by Gerald Seymour
1982
Mechanical engineer Michael Holly agrees to courier a package for British intelligence while on business in Moscow, only to be arrested by the KGB. Reclassified as a Soviet citizen and shipped to a remote gulag, he becomes the unlikely spark for a dangerous prison revolt.
The Contract
by Gerald Seymour
1980
A disgraced British officer is offered redemption if he escorts a high‑value Soviet scientist across the treacherous East–West German border. The mission demands absolute nerve, but the closer they get, the murkier the motives on both sides become.
Red Fox
by Gerald Seymour
1979
When Italy's most feared female terrorist is captured, her lover seizes a British businessman to force her release. French and British authorities scramble to manage the kidnapping as personal loyalties and state interests pull in opposite directions.
Kingfisher
by Gerald Seymour
1977
In 1970s Ukraine, three young Jewish dissidents hijack a Soviet airliner in a bid to reach Israel and freedom. As Western governments argue over what to do, MI6 man Charlie Webster tries to keep both passengers and hijackers alive amid Cold War posturing.
The Glory Boys
by Gerald Seymour
1976
In London, a Palestinian militant and an IRA gunman team up to assassinate Israel's leading nuclear scientist. Alcoholic, burned‑out security man Jimmy is tasked with protecting the target, pitting one damaged survivor against two fanatics on a collision course.
Harry's Game
by Gerald Seymour
1975
A British cabinet minister is shot by an IRA gunman, and undercover soldier Harry Brown is sent alone into Belfast to find the killer. Living under cover on the Falls Road, he discovers how blurred the lines between hunter and hunted can become.
Where should I start?
If you want his Troubles-era thrillers: Harry's Game → Field Of Blood → The Journeyman Tailor.
For classic Middle East and Cold War stories: The Glory Boys → In Honour Bound → Home Run.
If you prefer modern organised-crime drama: Killing Ground → The Collaborator → No Mortal Thing.
To meet Jonas Merrick from the start: The Crocodile Hunter → The Foot Soldiers → In At The Kill → The Best Revenge.
Author bio
Gerald Seymour was born in 1941 in Guildford, Surrey, into a family where writing was an everyday job rather than something mysterious. His father, William Kean Seymour, wrote poetry and criticism; his mother, Rosalind Wade, was a novelist and editor, so books and deadlines were part of the household noise.
He went on to study modern history at University College London after school at Kelly College in Devon. The degree mattered, but the habit of watching how power works, and how ordinary people get caught up in big events, turned out to matter more.
In 1963 he joined Independent Television News as a young reporter. Early on he was sent to stories that now feel like milestones: the Great Train Robbery at home, the growing conflict in Northern Ireland, and then further afield to Vietnam, Borneo, Aden and the Middle East. He learned to file copy from jungle clearings, street riots and cramped hotel rooms while the next flight out was already boarding.
Before long he was one of ITN's troubleshooters, flying at short notice to whatever trouble spot had just flared. He reported on the Munich Olympics massacre, Germany's Red Army Faction, Italy's Red Brigades and Palestinian hijackings, and was the only foreign journalist allowed to meet surviving members of the Black September group. Years later he appeared in the documentary One Day in September, reflecting on that period.
Television gave him a front‑row seat on history; the novels let him slow it down.
He began to write fiction in the mid‑1970s, drawing directly on what he had seen in Northern Ireland. The result was Harry's Game (1975), a tense story about an undercover British soldier sent into Belfast to hunt an IRA assassin. The book was a bestseller, later adapted into a TV mini‑series, and showed there was an audience for thrillers grounded in real conflicts rather than fantasy plots.
More novels followed in quick succession. The Glory Boys set Palestinian militants and an IRA gunman against an exhausted British security man in London. Kingfisher turned a hijacked airliner into a stage for Cold War dilemmas, while In Honour Bound sent an SAS captain to the Afghan border to help bring down Soviet helicopter gunships. Again and again, Seymour picked contemporary flashpoints and wrote about the foot soldiers more than the politicians.
Through the 1980s and 1990s he kept moving with the news cycle: the Troubles in Field Of Blood and The Journeyman Tailor, the aftermath of apartheid in A Song In The Morning, the Sicilian and Neapolitan mafias in Killing Ground and The Collaborator, the Balkans and the Stasi legacy in The Fighting Man, Heart of Danger and Dead Ground, and later the world of post‑9/11 terrorism in books like The Unknown Soldier and The Walking Dead.
In recent years he has turned to cyber warfare, Russian intelligence and organised crime, and to the slow, grinding work of modern British agencies. The Jonas Merrick novels – starting with The Crocodile Hunter and continuing through The Foot Soldiers, In At The Kill and The Best Revenge – centre on an ageing MI5 analyst whose patience and pattern‑spotting matter more than glamour.
Seymour left daily reporting in the late 1970s and has written more than forty thrillers, several of which have been adapted for television. He lives in the West Country and still works much like a reporter: long stretches of quiet research and note‑taking, punctuated by trips to the places he wants to describe. Away from the desk he fishes, watches sport and walks his dogs, often joking that there is never quite enough time left over for those things.
Edited by
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