The Englishman

Description

A Financial Times Thriller of the Year Penal Colony No. 74, AKA White Eagle, lies some 600 kilometres north of Yekaterinburg in Russia's Sverdlovskaya Oblast. Imprisoning the country's most brutal criminals, it is a winter-ravaged hellhole of death and retribution. And that's exactly why the Englishman is there. Six years ago, Raglan was a soldier in the French Foreign Legion engaged in a hard-fought war on the desert border of Mali and Algeria. Amid black ops teams and competing intelligence agencies, his strike squad was compromised and Raglan himself severely injured. His war was over, but the deadly aftermath of that day has echoed around the world ever since: the assassination of four Moscow CID officers; kidnap and murder on the suburban streets of West London; the fatal compromise of a long-running MI6 operation. Raglan can't avoid the shockwaves. This is personal. It is up to him to finish it - and it ends in Russia's most notorious penal colony. But how do you break into a high security prison in the middle of nowhere? More importantly, how do you get out?

David Gilman has enjoyed many careers, including paratrooper, firefighter, and photographer. An award-winning author and screenwriter, he is the author of the critically acclaimed Master of War series of historical novels, and was shortlisted for the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize for The Last Horseman. He was longlisted for the same prize for The Englishman, the first book featuring ex-French Foreign Legionnaire Dan Raglan. David lives in Devon. Follow David on @davidgilmanuk, www.davidgilman.com, and facebook.com/davidgilman.author

The pace is relentless, the action and fight scenes superbly choreographed and Raglan is nicely complex: an action man with inner depths... A cracking, finely crafted thriller' * Financial Times * The Englishman is electrifying proof that high-tension international thrillers are back - and with an absolute vengeance -- William Shaw, author of Deadland Fight scenes, car chases, sex romps, lots of foreign locations and dead goons, and even a Bondesque escape by snowmobile... Vivid and inventive' * Sunday Times * Full of thrills * Literary Review * The pulse-pounding pace just never lets up -- Peter May, bestsellling author of Lockdown A sweat-inducing tour de force * The Times * Verve, pace, shocks and intrigue, this is spy thriller writing by an author at the zenith of his powers -- Peter James A pulse-pounding thriller in the mould of the Terry Hayes bestseller, I Am Pilgrim * Scottish Field * This spy thriller will get your heart racing... [An] action-packed thriller!' * My Weekly. * A tightly plotted, very well told tale of clandestine campaigns, violent revenge and murky dealings at all levels * SciFi Bulletin. * This non-stop cat and mouse thriller circumnavigates the globe and a cornucopia of action... The Englishman is very good on detail and credible background, the novel has an enigmatic and intriguing hero and excites from page one to a very satisfying end' * Crime Time * Discover full-on heart-pounding action, plus smart, sharp writing in this absolute reading feast of a book... This is the first in what promises to be a smash-hit spy thriller series and I already can't wait for the next book... Shockwaves of action expanded and the storyline tripped me with unexpected developments. Even though I had read the prologue, the ending still came with a whammy' * LoveReading * The action is furiously paced... I thoroughly enjoyed this well written and absolute page turner. It cries out for a sequel. Wholly recommended' * Woman's Way * The narrative goes at breakneck speed but between the action Gilman slowly and deftly unveils Raglan's back-story * Financial Times *