The Foot Soldiers: A Sunday Times Thriller of the Month (Jonas Merrick series)

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Defectors are not always welcome. Is the information they bring worth the cost of protecting them for the rest of their lives? Is it even genuine? Might they be double agents? 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. This is a wonderfully complex and unputdownable tale of defectors, traitors, internal politics or "high jingo" as Michael Connelly would describe it and assassination both actual and character.

I was completely gripped by the plot and interdepartmental jealousies and rivalries. I couldn't put it down!' 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. Gerald Seymour is one of my 'go to' thriller writers. You know the writing will be good and often there is a link to his previous career as a journalist. A brilliant, suspenseful and contemporary thriller . . . A wonderfully complex and unputdownable tale of defectors, traitors, internal politics . . . and assassination’

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The book begins with a Russian Defector handing himself over to MI6 in Denmark and it soon become obvious that the Russians are not only coming for their man but know exactly where he is, with a "Mole" within MI6 being the only explanation. But while Jonas’s colleagues regard him as scratchy, fastidious, old, he is also ruthless, cunning and brutally pragmatic. And he has a man on the inside: a would-be money-launderer on that wild Spanish coast. A man who has been undercover for so long, he has almost forgotten who he really is.

Galicia: an entire community waits on the windswept edge of Europe for the delivery of four tonnes of cocaine, brought across the ocean in an almost unbelievable craft. 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 GameHow he does it and maintains his forensic knowledge of tradecraft and the inner working of the murky world of spies and traitors I hate to think but it is hard to think of many other writers who can match his overall body of work. GS has produced a book of quality, tenacity and cunning. The ‘hero’ is all manner and levels of many characteristics - too many to list. But, he’s believable, durable and, now, enjoyable.