Tom Buckingham Books in Order

Fans of Andy McNab are likely used to the gritty, paranoid existence of Nick Stone. Stone is a man who lives off the grid, surviving on cash-in-hand jobs while constantly checking his rearview mirror. Sergeant Tom Buckingham is a completely different kind of soldier. He represents the modern face of the Special Air Service. He isn’t a deniable asset working in the shadows to pay the bills; he is an active-duty operator at the absolute top of his game. He has the full weight of the Regiment behind him, along with the best gear and the most dangerous assignments.

The change in protagonist allows McNab to shift gears from slow-burn espionage to high-octane, cinematic action.

This new energy is evident right from the start of the trilogy. In Red Notice, Buckingham is technically off the clock. He is sitting on a Eurostar train deep beneath the English Channel, heading to Paris with a ring in his pocket and a plan to propose to his girlfriend, Delphine. But the romantic getaway dissolves into chaos when a team of highly trained mercenaries hijacks the train. Trapped in the dark with no communications and hundreds of civilian hostages, Buckingham has to go to work.

It is a classic siege scenario, but it is handled with the tactical precision only a former SAS soldier could write.

The series continues to ramp up the tension in Fortress and State of Emergency. Unlike the smaller, personal skirmishes that often define the Nick Stone novels, the Buckingham books tackle massive geopolitical threats. We are talking about coordinated terrorist attacks, suicide bombers, and domestic insurgencies that threaten to bring the United Kingdom to its knees. The settings shift from the claustrophobic tunnels of the Eurostar to the snowy streets of London and conflict zones in the Middle East.

Buckingham is a slightly more polished hero than Stone, but he is just as dangerous.

He attempts to balance a public face with a secret life, trying to maintain a steady relationship while doing a job that requires total emotional detachment. The stakes here are absolute. If Nick Stone fails, he usually just ends up dead or broke. If Tom Buckingham fails, thousands of innocent people die.

Despite the shift toward blockbuster scenarios, McNab’s trademark authenticity remains the series’ backbone. The weapons handling, the radio chatter, and the split-second decision-making all feel incredibly real. It is a series for readers who want the adrenaline of a Hollywood action movie but demand the technical accuracy of a military memoir.