Vagabond - Hardcover

A tale of intrigue and subterfuge which feels like it is set to explode on a slow-burning fuse. Characters are intricately constructed and the plot unravels only when all the pieces are in place to guarantee a nail-biting climax. A story of moral ambiguity without a moment's break in the rising tension, VAGABOND will appeal to newcomers to Seymour's novels and long-time fans alike. * Weekend Bookworm * Seymour's multistranded narrative of dark deeds and black ops is fuelled by an exhilarating cynicism. Here the ambitiously self-serving prosper and the virtues of loyalty, friendship and patriotism are exploitable weaknesses . . . Seymour tends to be overshadowed by John le Carre as one of the great British post-cold war novelists, but VAGABOND confirms that he deserves to be seated at the top table. * Irish Times * Back on the turf that launched his successful thriller-writing career with Harry's Game, Gerald Seymour has lost none of his instincts for gripping plots, fine characterisation and a great sense of time and place. * Choice * Gerald Seymour produces the most intelligent writing in the thriller genre . . . VAGABOND bristles with the skill he has developed over the years. Danny is a classic Seymour protagonist, and the tension here is conjured with authority. * Financial Times * Without argument, Gerald Seymour produces the most intelligent writing in the thriller genre ... Danny is a classic Seymour protagonist, and the tension here is conjured with authority. * Financial Times * A plot worthy of Le Carre. * Irish Times *

It was a dirty job in a dirty war. Danny Curnow, known in the army family by his call sign, Vagabond, ran agents, informers. Played God with their lives and their deaths, and was the best at his job - and he quit when the stress overwhelmed him. Now he lives in quiet isolation and works as a guide to tourists visiting the monuments and cemeteries of an earlier, simpler, conflict on Normandy's D-Day beaches. Until the call comes from an old boss, Bentinick. Violence in Northern Ireland is on the rise again. Weapons are needed for a new campaign. Gaby Davies of MI5, sparky and ambitious, runs the double agent Ralph Exton, who will be the supposed middle man in brokering an arms deal with a Russian contact, Timofey. The covert world of deception and betrayal was close to destroying Danny across the Irish Sea. Fifteen years later the stakes are higher, the risks greater, and there is an added agenda on the table. If he wants to survive, Danny will have to prove, to himself, that he has not softened, that he is as hard and ruthless as before. VAGABOND shows Gerald Seymour writing at the top of his powers and returning to the territory of some of his greatest bestsellers, Harry's Game, Field of Blood and The Journeyman Tailor.