The Graveyard Team by Gerald Seymour

I've just found this blurb for a new Gerald Seymour novel on Amazon UK:

They used to meet for a smoke behind the MI5 building. They were disbanded after the death of the youngest member of their team at the hands of a Russian gangster. Now, suddenly, the Graveyard Team is being called back together.

Word is that the ganster is staying at a villa in Spain - the Costa del Sol being a multi-billion dollar hub in the worldwide drug trade.

Winnie Monks has never forgotten - or forgiven - the murder of her agent. Now she asks permission to put a photo surveillance unit in the empty house next door to the villa, not mentioning that she is also sending one of the Graveyard Team - Sparky the sniper.

In another part of London, likeable young man Jonno is starting a relationship with a girl called Polly. They are offered the chance to spend a week in a little house belonging to family friends on the Costa del Sol. A house that MI5 thinks is empty . . .

The Graveyard Team is vintage Seymour: action, suspense, brilliant characterisation and fascinating insight into a full-scale war - the war against organised crime, which is happening all around us. every day.

The Graveyard Team is due for publication in July.

A Deniable Death by Gerald Seymour

Abigail Jones, aka Alpha Juliette, is an MI6 agent in Iraq. She develops some sources across the border in Iran that help her identify the engineer who is developing the sophisticated IEDs that are causing so much death and injury to allied troops in Iraq and Afganistan. She also learns that the engineer’s wife is seriously ill and will be travelling to seek medical expertise outside Iran. If MI6 knows where they will be travelling then they can “interdict” the engineer with help from the Americans and the Israelis.

But the sources inside Iran are killed and so an alternative method of finding out the destination is needed. The decision is made to send in two experts in CROP - Covert Rural Observation Posts. They will set up position near the engineer’s house and listen with a microphone for the all important destination.

The two men picked are nicknamed Badger and Foxy. They have never worked together before and take an instant dislike to each other. Badger is young and has a natural talent for the role of a “croppie”.Foxy is older, more experienced and most importantly he knows Farsi.

However Foxy is also a little full of his own self importance. For example as he lies in the hide he imagines working the experience into an anecdote in his next lecture.

The novel describes their covert entry into Iran and vividly describes their experiences in the mosquito ridden marshes as they wait, watching and listening for any hint of where the engineer and his wife will be travelling. Across the border Abigail Jones waits with her protection team to help extract Badger and Foxy as curious locals edge closer.

In typical Seymour fashion the “opposition” are not faceless and evil. We get to know the engineer, his wife and their security “goon” Mansoor. We get to know the motivations of each and sympathize a little despite their actions.

Gerald Seymour routinely turns out high quality work but every now and then one of the books is exceptional. I think this is one of the exceptional ones. The final section of the book is agonisingly tense.

The book is bookended by descriptions of repatriations of British service personnel through the town of Wootton Bassett. In another author’s hands the passages would feel like extraneous material inserted for their topicality. It’s hard to imagine this book without them.

A Deniable Death out now

A Deniable Death is officially out today in hardback and trade paperback editions. I actually saw the softcover edition a week ago in Easons but decided to hold on for a week to get the hardcover edition, especially since both versions are identically priced.

Tesco are offering the hardback edition for £8, which is where I got my copy. I suspect Asda and Sainsburys will also be selling the book but I have not had a chance to check yet.

Carte Blanche for a fiver

Today Carte Blanche, the new James Bond novel by Jeffrey Deaver, is published. Some shops are selling it for half price, however I managed to buy a copy in my local Tescos for a mere £5.00, or 75% off the RRP.

Other new books out this week that caught my eye include the new Jason Bourne novel The Bourne Dominion by Eric Lustbader, the paperback of The Dealer and the Dead by Gerald Seymour and the paperback of Harbour by John Ajvide Lindqvist.

Gerald Seymour's A Deniable Death cover

A cover image for A Deniable Death has turned up on Amazon UK.

Gerald Seymour update

Thanks to Brian for alerting me that the release date for the next Gerald Seymour hardback has been put back slightly. A Deniable Death is now due for release on 4 August 2011.

Source: www.amazon.co.uk

The paperback of last year's The Dealer and the Dead is due out on 26 May 2011 from Hodder paperbacks and Amazon have the following cover image up.

A Deniable Death by Gerald Seymour

For a while Amazon have had a listing for an untitled Gerald Seymour novel due out next summer. Tonight I noticed that they have added a description...

C.R.O.P.: Covert Rural Observation Posts are places where men like Danny ‘Badger’ Baxter hide for endless, motionless hours, secretly recording criminal or terrorist activity.

But now Badger has a bigger job than photographing dissident Republicans in muddy Ulster fields or Islamic extremists on rainswept Yorkshire moors.

I.E.D.: Improvised Explosive Devices are the roadside bombs which account for 80% of British casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.

MI6 have a plan to assassinate the leading maker of these weapons when he leaves his house in Iran to visit Europe. But first, they need to know when he is leaving, and where he is going.So it is that Badger finds himself on the wrong side of the Iranian border, lumbered with a partner he loathes, lying under a merciless sun in a mosquito-infested marsh, observing the house. And knowing that if they are caught, Her Majesty’s Government will deny all knowledge of them.

Welcome to A Deniable Death.

I am assuming A Deniable Death is the title. The publication date is currently 7 July 2011.

New books for July

Here are a few books that I bought last Thursday and am looking forward to reading over the next few weeks.

First of all Gerald Seymour's new novel The Dealer and the Dead has just been published in hardback in the UK. I've been reading Seymour since 1987 and he's my favourite author currently writing, so his new novel is always something I look forward to.

This new book deals with a hit-man being sent after an arms dealer who never delivered weapons to a Croatian village that was under siege during the civil war in the 1990s.


Next up is the new Robert Harris paperback, Lustrum. As with a previous novel, Imperium, the book is set in ancient Rome and takes the form of a fictional biography of Cicero. Put like that it sounds quite boring but Harris can make anything exciting and is great at describing his characters.


Finally there's the new 800 page plus door-stopper from Stephen King, Under the Dome. This books deals with a mysterious barrier appearing around a small town that cuts it off from the outside world. (I know at least one other novel that dealt with a similar set-up, All Flesh is Grasss by Clifford D Simak.)

The UK publisher has the gimmick of a "limited edition" set of different covers, four of which are shown below. I think there is at least one other that I have not seen online yet. I went for the "young woman" cover oddly enough, although the "old man" cover is growing on me!

Gerald Seymour's The Dealer and the Dead cover revealed

Thanks to Ross for alerting me that www.amazon.co.uk have put up the cover for Gerald Seymour's new novel, The Dealer and the Dead.


The cover art matches the design of the last year's novel The Collaborator. The publication date is still set for 8 July 2010.

Gerald Seymour's The Dealer and the Dead publication date moved up

Just spotted this on Amazon UK. Gerald Seymour's next novel, The Dealer and the Dead, has had its publication date changed to 8 July 2010.

This is only ten months since the previous book, The Collaborator, came out in hardcover so I imagine it might be a mistake.

Still, I am quite happy to be proved wrong!

Gerald Seymour's The Dealer and the Dead blurb

Amazon UK now have a short blurb for Gerald Seymout's next novel, The Dealer and the Dead...

Eighteen years after the barbarous war with the Serbs that tore their communities apart, a group of Croatian villagers discover the identity of the Englishman who they believe betrayed them by welching on a deal to supply arms.

With revenge in sight at last, they hire a professional killer from London to track him down . . . but is the story as simple as they think?

A brilliant, bruising thriller, told in a unique way, about what happens when the hand of the past suddenly reaches out to the present - and is holding a gun.

Source: www.amazon.co.uk

New Gerald Seymour novel listed

It's a long way off but Amazon UK are listing a new Gerald Seymour novel to be published toward the end of the year.

It's presently titled The Dealer and the Dead and will be published by Hodder & Stoughton on 14 Oct 2010.

No cover or plot details yet and I wouldn't be surprised if the title changes before then.

In the meantime you can find the hardback listing at http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dealer-Dead-Gerald-Seymour/dp/034091890X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264289340&sr=1-2

The Collaborator paperback news

Amazon UK have put up a cover for the paperback edition of Gerald Seymour's new novel, The Collaborator. It's due for publication by Hodder paperbacks on 29 April 2010. The cover is similar to the hardback design with the main changes being a large black area below the title and the addition of colour to the figures at the top. Indeed they have added (I assume) Immacolata Borelli to the picture.



No word yet on his next book or if Hodder will be reprinting the back catalog.

The Collaborator by Gerald Seymour

I've been reading Gerald Seymour's novels since 1987 and each new novel is a highlight of my year's reading. This year sees the publication of his 26th novel, The Collaborator.

In this one he retreats from his usual look at terrorism and focuses on organised crime. He did this before, most notably in Killing Ground, The Untouchable and to some degree in Rat Run.

The main character is Eddie Deacon, a young English teacher who meets and falls in love with an Italian girl called Immacolata Borelli whom he immediately calls "Mac".

Unknown to him she is part of a Camorra clan, one of the organised crime families in Naples who run protection rackets with impunity. She is in London with her brother who is on the run from the Italian authorities. When she secretly travels back to Italy to attend the funeral of a friend she is met with hostility and is humiliated by her friend's parents. It turns out that her friends death was partly the fault of the Borelli family. Immacolata resolves to collaborate with the prosecutors and give evidence against her family.

When "Mac" vanishes off the face of the earth Eddie decides to follow her. He heads to Naples to find her and falls into the clutches of her hideous grandparents and their enforcer who want to use him as leverage against her. Eddie finds himself held prisoner and he has to discover if he has the strength that will let him endure and escape.

The other main character is Lukas, an American formerly of the FBI who now travels to troublespots around the world when his expertise is needed to help release hostages.

This is another excellent entry into my Seymour collection. The book is a slight departure from the norm as there is very little British involvement. Usually we get a glimpse of the workings of MI5 and MI6. In this book they are notable by their absence. The vast majority of the book is set in Italy, principally Naples. Seymour does a good job describing Naples as a dangerous place, in particular the bits the tourists don't get to see.

Kingfisher by Gerald Seymour

I first read Kingfisher back in 1987 or 1988. (I can't be exactly sure of the date except to say that I read all Seymour's books to date in a short period in late-'87 and early-'88. I liked him and I wanted to read them all!) Recently I have reread it.

Kingfisher is probably my favourite of his earlier books. By now his trademark template was established with multiple shades of gray colouring everything that happens.

The book was written and is set in 1977 when the Soviet Union was still a monolith a long way from crumbling. The story concerns a number of Jewish students in the Ukraine who have grown tired of the repression and decide to takes things into their own hands. They botch the shooting of a policeman and one of their number gets captured. The three remaining students decide to hijack a plane in the naive belief that the West will welcome them with open arms and let them go to Israel.

Their illusions are quickly shattered when various Western European airports prevent the plane from landing. Eventually they land in England low on fuel and demand that they are allowed to continue to Israel.

In the control tower is Charlie Webster of MI6's Soviet Desk. He's what passes for an expert on dissidents and has been summoned in order to advise his political masters and the police on the hijackers and their motives. What he observes only reinforces his cynicism and he's desperate to find a way for both the passengers and the hijackers to survive and avoid the inevitable bloodshed.

The book works particularly well because much of the story is told from the point of view of the hijackers. We discover that they are not evil people; rather they are misguided and ultimately find themselves as powerless as the passengers they have taken hostage.

Kingfisher is well worth a look.

More Gerald Seymour covers

I've scanned in a few more covers for my Gerald Seymour page...

Here we have the 1991 TV tie-in cover for Red Fox featuring John Hurt and Jane Birkin plus the David Scutt covers for A Song in the Morning, Condition Black and The Heart of Danger.

Gerald Seymour 1990 paperbacks

And now here are six of the 1990 reprint paperback covers. Most of the covers for this series were by David Scutt.

The books shown below are The Glory Boys, Kingfisher, Red Fox, The Contract, Archangel and Field of Blood.

Gerald Seymour hardback scans

Recently I have been updating my Gerald Seymour web page and I thought I'd add a few scans of his early UK hardbacks.

Here are The Glory Boys, Kingfisher, Red Fox, The Contract, Archangel and In Honour Bound.

The Collaborator by Gerald Seymour gets a cover

I just found this cover to Gerald Seymour's next novel, The Collaborator on Amazon UK.

The book is due out on 17 September 2009 from his new publisher, Hodder & Stoughton.

As the cover text implies the book appears to be focusing on Mafia goings-on rather than his usual terrorism related plots.

Seymour is officially my favourite author who is still writing books.

My Gerald Seymour site can be found at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/chevron/geraldseymour/