Hellfire

Islamic State is here, all around us. There is no defence. Only attack.

[Ryan] is reliably capable of depicting international crises and special forces operations in plausible and gripping detail

Praise for Chris Ryan

Ryan writes the kind of no-frills prose that virtually dictates the pace at which it is read. We're told just as much as we need to know, and it never gets in the way of the action . . . If you want a demonstration of how 400-odd pages can pass by in the wink of an eye, Ryan is your man.

Ryan... became so expert as a modern thriller writer that it is easy to underestimate his talents...He chooses fiercely up-to-the-minute plots, and laces them with an exceptional eye for detail and insider knowledge...Fearsome and fast-moving...much more than a conventional thriller.

A shockingly authentic tale to keep your adrenaline pumping as fast as the blood on the pages.

Chris Ryan has always been underrated as a novelist of ideas... a welter of treachery and mayhem.

The books are masterpieces of social realism. [Chris Ryan] has lived the virtual life he writes about - and that makes him the right kind of war novelist for this generation. These storylines are dependent on a bustle of verbs that lead in every instance to blood and explosions, desperate screams and increasing levels of difficulty: it is never long before we find things and people being zapped, fried, crunched, toasted and skewered, as the bad deeds of the world are comprehensively avenged.

Former SAS corporal and the only man to escape death or capture during the Bravo Two Zero operation in the 1991 Gulf War, Chris Ryan turned to writing thrillers to tell the stories the Official Secrets Act stops him putting in his non-fiction. His novels have gone on to inspire the Sky One series Strike Back. Born near Newcastle in 1961, Chris Ryan joined the SAS in 1984. During his ten years there he was involved in overt and covert operations and was also sniper team commander of the anti-terrorist team. During the Gulf War, Chris Ryan was the only member of an eight-man unit to escape from Iraq, where three colleagues were killed and four captured. It was the longest escape and evasion in the history of the SAS. For this he was awarded the Military Medal. He wrote about his experiences in the bestseller The One That Got Away, which was adapted for screen, and since then has written three other works of non-fiction, over twenty bestselling novels and a series of children's books.