CHRIS RYAN THE Watchman

    The body-count is mounting, and under strict cover of secrecy Alex is ordered to track down and eliminate the killer. To assist him in this task he is assigned an MI5 liaison officer - the attractive but abrasive Dawn Harding. And so begins a deadly and relentless manhunt. The killer, Alex discovers, was almost certainly an undercover soldier codenamed the Watchman who, in the early '90s, infiltrated the highest levels of the IRA's Army Council. He was - and without doubt remains - a lethally skilful operator. But why is the Watchman slaughtering his way through the upper ranks of the security services? A nightmare chase, a betrayal and a dawn firefight will all ensue before Alex learns the bitter truth: that in the shadowy battlegrounds of the Intelligence wars there is no good and no evil - there are only winners and losers.

Chris Ryan was born near Newcastle in 1961. He joined the SAS in 1984. During his ten years he was involved in overt and covert operations and was also Sniper team commander of the anti-terrorist team. During the Gulf War, Chris was the only member of an eight-man team to escape from Iraq, of which 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. For his last two years he was selecting and training potential recruits for the SAS.