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Gerald Seymour Books In Order

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Publication Order of Jonas Merrick Books

The Crocodile Hunter (2021)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Foot Soldiers (2022)Description / Buy at Amazon
In At The Kill (2023)Description / Buy at Amazon

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Harry's Game (1975)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Glory Boys (1976)Description / Buy at Amazon
Kingfisher (1977)Description / Buy at Amazon
Red Fox / The Harrison Affair (1979)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Contract (1980)Description / Buy at Amazon
Archangel (1982)Description / Buy at Amazon
In Honour Bound (1984)Description / Buy at Amazon
Field Of Blood (1985)Description / Buy at Amazon
At Close Quarters / An Eye for an Eye (1987)Description / Buy at Amazon
A Song In The Morning / Shadow on the Sun (1987)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Journeyman Tailor (1989)Description / Buy at Amazon
Home Run / The Running Target (1989)Description / Buy at Amazon
Condition Black (1991)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Fighting Man (1994)Description / Buy at Amazon
Heart of Danger (1995)Description / Buy at Amazon
Killing Ground (1997)Description / Buy at Amazon
Dead Ground / The Waiting Time (1998)Description / Buy at Amazon
A Line in the Sand (1999)Description / Buy at Amazon
Holding the Zero (2000)Description / Buy at Amazon
Untouchable (2001)Description / Buy at Amazon
Traitor's Kiss (2003)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Unknown Soldier (2004)Description / Buy at Amazon
Rat Run (2005)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Walking Dead (2007)Description / Buy at Amazon
Time Bomb (2008)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Collaborator (2009)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Dealer And The Dead (2010)Description / Buy at Amazon
Deniable Death (2011)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Outsiders (2012)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Corporal's Wife (2013)Description / Buy at Amazon
Vagabond (2014)Description / Buy at Amazon
No Mortal Thing (2015)Description / Buy at Amazon
Jericho's War (2017)Description / Buy at Amazon
Battle Sight Zero (2019)Description / Buy at Amazon
Beyond Recall (2020)Description / Buy at Amazon
A Damned Serious Business (2020)Description / Buy at Amazon

A British writer, Gerald Seymour is most famous for describing reality-based, war-time conflict. He is the best-selling author of over 30 thrillers.
Gerald was born in Guildford, Surrey, in 1941 to two literary figures. His father, William Kean Seymour, a writer, poet and literary critic, wrote poems such as the Street of Dreams, To Verhaeren and A Jackdaw in Georgia. His mother, Rosalind Wade, was also a novelist and an editor of the Contemporary Review.
Initially a journalist, Gerald joined the Independent Television Network (ITN) in 1963, and forged a successful career. He covered controversial situations such as the Munich Olympics Massacre and Palestinian Militant Groups.

At 23, ITN posted Gerald to Singapore for a year. He covered the brewing war in Vietnam and the British counter-insurgency operations in Borneo. He gave a first hand report on the full-scale land and air war between Pakistan and India. He also covered the guerrilla warfare in Aden. The savvy journalist’s report on the hijacking of three Western Airliners by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine won a commendation at the Cannes film festival.

Gerald became one of ITN’s “trouble-shooter” reporters who flew, at a moment’s notice, to cover the news happening in the world’s hot, trouble spots. He reported the blowing up of a 747 Japanese airliner by the Palestinians in Bengazi and the Bader-Meinhoff guerrilla attacks on the West German Embassy.
ITN gave him more dangerous assignments with a terrorist angle. He was the only foreign reporter allowed to meet surviving members of the Black September gang, which had attacked the Israeli Olympic team in Munich. He appeared in the Oscar-winning television film, One Day in September, which discussed the Munich Olympics Massacre.

By now a popular figure, Gerald used the setting of the streets of Northern Ireland to write his first book, Harry’s Game, which became an international best seller in 1975. In 1976, he moved with Gillian, his wife, and their two sons, Nicholas and James, to Rome to open an ITN bureau. The bureau’s responsibility was to cover events in Europe and the Mediterranean.

After the successful release of his second novel, The Glory Boys, Gerald moved to Dublin, Ireland, with his family. Sensing the need to slow down and let younger reporters have opportunities, he retired from television reporting in 1978 and became a full-time novelist.

Gerald was not used to living a settled life without constantly boarding planes, but soon produced outstanding novels like Red Fox, The Contract, Kingfisher and Archangel. He has since garnered committed fans who love his spine-tingling thrillers.

When he is not writing, Gerald fishes, watches sports on TV and walks his dogs. He often grumbles, in jest, that he has little time for these hobbies.

Gerald Seymour’s books

Harry’s Game

His first roller-coaster novel, Harry’s Game, deals with the traumatic conflict in Northern Ireland. It revolves around British soldier and undercover agent, Captain Harry Brown. The British Government sends the lone army officer to Northern Ireland to find out what he can about the murder of British Cabinet Minister Henry Derby, which has sparked national outrage.

Brown’s task is to arrest the assassin, Billy Downes, who is an IRA gunman. By the time Brown arrives in Northern Ireland, Downes has escaped to Belfast.
It is here that the thrills begin. Suspicion falls on Brown, who arrives during The Troubles, the height of the Northern Ireland conflict. In disguise as merchant seaman Harry MacEnvoy, Brown finds lodgings in Falls Road. Without realizing it, he meets Downes at a club, which the British Army raids. The army arrests Downes, but later sets him free, due to a lack of evidence. Brown, as MacEnvoy, informs his superiors that Downes was at the club. He also tells them that a girl, Theresa, whom Downes spent the night with, knows where he is. Unfortunately, Theresa, torn between her fear of the IRA and police interrogator Rennie, hangs herself.

A waiter at the club, an IRA informant, gives them news of Brown’s presence. The IRA starts checking all new arrivals, and Brown becomes their target. With two IRA gunmen, Downes ambushes Brown. The British soldier manages to escape, following Downes to his home. Unfortunately, the British Army, surveying Downes’ home, believes that he is a terrorist and shoots him. As he bleeds from his injuries in the street, Downes’ wife confronts him.

The Glory Boys

The Glory Boys, published in 1976, was Gerald’s second thriller. It focuses on the ongoing conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East. The novel, which won a nomination for the Edgar Award, begins with three terrorists from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) on their way to London to kill Israeli nuclear scientist David Sokarev, who is there to give a lecture. Only one member of the group, Abdel-El-Famy, survives a brush with a three-man hit squad sent by Israeli Intelligence to ambush them.

An untried assassin desperate to prove his competence, Famy continues on his quest to kill the scientist. Believing that his run-in with Israeli Intelligence is only a setback, he prepares to sacrifice himself for his cause. He forms an unlikely alliance with Cillian McCoy, an IRA mercenary, who is under orders from the IRA to help Famy. McCoy provides the weapons he needs to kill his target. The misgivings between the IRA and the PLO makes their alliance an uneasy one.

An alcoholic, former British Intelligence agent, Jimmy, comes out of retirement to hunt the two of them down and protect the scientist. Lethal, but drunk, he tries to contain inevitable bloodshed.

Review

A boon of Gerald’s novels is that he manages to thrill readers without being unrealistic. Though his fast-paced novels are full of suspense, they are down-to-earth. Gerald uses his experiences to make the ongoing military conflict in the places where he has worked real for his readers.

The thrilling, yet pragmatic nature of his books continues to draw readers in. The spine-chilling, fictional events he describes, based on his journalistic encounters, are situations readers relate to easily.

TV Adaptations

Yorkshire Television turned Harry’s Game into a 3-part miniseries in 1982. Ray Lonnen, the lead actor in the cold-war spy drama series The Sandbaggers, portrayed Harry Brown. Singer-actor Derek Thompson played the elusive Billy Downes. The miniseries received warm reactions, with critics giving kudos to the actors for their credible performances.

The Glory Boys was another 3-part miniseries produced by Yorkshire television in 1984. It starred Anthony Perkins as Jimmy, the alcoholic ex-British Government agent who tries to protect Israeli Professor David Sokarev, played by Rod Steiger. Aaron Harris starred as IRA agent Cillian McCoy, while Gary Brown took the role of PLO assassin Famy. Critics complimented the competent acting, but did not relish Yorkshire Television’s slow, mediocre adaptation of Gerald’s novel.

Gerald Seymour’s thrillers, with their inherent suspense, continue to bring fictional, yet true-to-life experiences to his readers.

Book Series In Order » Authors » Gerald Seymour

2 Responses to “Gerald Seymour”

  1. CHRISTOPHER BAIN: 3 years ago

    Years ago I thought I read a Seymour novel where the main protagonist kills in cold blood an IRA terrorist on the runway at Gibraltar airport. I’m not sure of the title and have perused the plots of all of the obvious candidate novels but can’t find which one it is. Has anyone any ideas or am I completely mistaken?

    Reply
    • Steph: 2 years ago

      I think you mean the book by ex SAS hero Scott Graham, a true story about the controversial shooting of three unarmed IRA terrorists on the Rock of Gibraltar.
      It is called Shoot to Kill

      Reply

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