Tom Gray Books In Order

Publication Order of Tom Gray Books

Tom Gray is a series of thriller novels written by Alan McDermott; a south of England author, who began writing after his daytime work as a clinical software engineer. The spare time writing for her daughter turned him into a full-time novel writer with most his books well received, earning him membership to independent authors international. Tom grays series revolves the life of Tom Gray, an ex-military soldier running a very successful security business until he lost his wife and his only child to a career criminal. The killer is let off with the timed served, so Gray has two options: to accept the justice system unfair ruling or take it upon himself to fix it. Grays chooses the latter and firmly decides to give the system an overhaul. At one point, he and his EX-SAS buddies kidnap a group of offenders and ask the public to vote for his outrageous proposed changes. Even though the authorities and the public know where he is, they are too powerless to stop him carry out his audacious plan, but one man, Andrew Harvey travels miles away just to prove him wrong.

Throughout the series, Alan McDermott puts the thriller in a suspense style, weaving the reader with a detailed tale lavishing it with a devilish and cunning accuracy of military preparedness without falling into the trap of technicality, even though he has no experience whatsoever in the military.

The first book in the series, “Gray Justice” begins with Tom’s Gray child being killed in an accident by an unlicensed driver with a long history of conviction. The killer driver doesn’t show any remorse for his action, and to add the salt, the CPS lets him plead for minor charges, free him too quickly in a scenario that is too easy to believe. Her wife commits suicide moment after, as he plans to fix the justice system in his own ways.

With the help of his buddies, he locks five repeat offenders in a reinforced underground shelter, in Sussex Countryside. He creates a website, posts the kidnapping video on it, plays the video as the news channel and let the Britain people determine the offenders’ fate. Meanwhile, the MI5 learns about his plan, and his whereabouts, but there is not much they can do to save the young hostages. Being an Ex-military his plan is well-thought, so to him, nothing is going to prevent his overhaul to the British Justice system.

Alan McDermott, writing styles on this novel, leads nicely from thriller to action fiction. With two sentences a reader can easily understand the message conveyed as he explains characters and the story scenes. What makes this book more interesting is the suspense, in most thriller novels you could easily anticipate the outcome, but the way Alan McDermott portrays the Tom grays make it completely unpredictable. Even after the perceived terrorist act, some people sees him as a hero; with everyone one admiring his harsh and inconsistent motivation rather than objecting it considering that he is willing to endanger other lives just to fix the system.

This novel is fast paced, with the events very gripping and lucid. There are many battles in between the pages, explosions, and death, but Alan writes every event to fit the plot perfectly with no dangling subplots or excessive details. He handles the character with aplomb and makes his writing of the thriller look easy but interesting.

The second book in Tom Gray series named “Gray resurrection” is a continuation of the events in the first book, but this time, the series begins with Tom being declared dead but living under an assumed name in the Philippines. Alan McDermott does an excellent job of moving things along in this novel at a decent pace. Tom, after a year of survival of horrific injuries, has lived here under government surveillance, under James Farrar, but he is trying very hard to turn his life around, a new name, new life, a new business, and a new girlfriend. Farrar recruits him for a mission that requires his skills, and everything turns to be great until his girlfriend’s brother is mysteriously murdered. While visiting her girlfriend family, Tom, assuming the name of Sam Grant is kidnapped and held hostage by a group militant organization in the Southern Island led by Abu Sayyaf. Two of his best friends are hired by the British government to rescue him, except the events turns out to be different; the rescue mission turns to be a battle for survival, even to the untrained terrorist. Many people want Tom dead, even the people he thought he could trust turns out to be the last person he should. Chained up with a journalist woman called Vick, who he becomes attracted to, Tom, discovered that the kidnap was more than money and with the prospect of losing his life; he uses his military skills to find ways for escape. The ending of this novel is very surprising and more believable.

Much like the first novel in the series, Alan McDermott manages to write a thriller with so much action, threats and killing, just that in this novel, the rip-roaring adventures happen in the jungle. The plot is clear hooking the reader to the story. Alan develops many characters from the first book, using powerful language and more suspense, but the development is relatively minimal. There is an unexpected twist in the plot much the same as most of the novels in this series that it becomes impossible to predict what will happen next, making you intrigued to turn page after another. The writing is well constructed and all the action organized. There are quite enough technical details to satisfy guns and fighting enthusiast, but still, not too much for a layman to understand. The actions are fast paced; the writing is concise, short and without spoilers.

None of Tom grays novels has been featured on TV Series, but many of his novels are truly one of those rare reads that have attracted the attention of major publishers. His books will keep you at the edge of the seat, reading, without entirely reaching to a satisfying conclusion leaving you to scope for more.