Andy Mcnab Popular Books
Andy Mcnab Biography & Facts
Steven Billy Mitchell (born 28 December 1959), usually known by the pseudonym and pen-name of Andy McNab, is a novelist and former Special Air Service soldier.He came into public prominence in 1993 when he published a book entitled Bravo Two Zero containing an account of a military mission which he led with the Special Air Service (SAS) during the Gulf War, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He had previously been awarded the Military Medal in 1979 for gallantry in action whilst serving with the Royal Green Jackets in Northern Ireland.He has published a number of other novels and two autobiographies in addition to Bravo Two Zero. He has also published a book on psychopathy entitled The Good Psychopath's Guide to Success, claiming that he exhibits many psychopathic traits. Early life McNab was born on 28 December 1959. He did not do well in school, and eventually attended nine schools in seven years. After dropping out of school McNab worked at various odd jobs, usually for friends and relatives, and was involved in petty criminality, finally being arrested for burglary in 1976. Partly inspired by his brother's time in the army, he wanted to join the British Army. He failed the entry test for training as an army pilot, but enlisted with the Royal Green Jackets at the age of sixteen after being released from juvenile detention.When McNab joined the army he was found to have the reading age of an eleven-year-old. Shortly before his seventeenth birthday he read his first book, entitled Janet and John. Speaking in 2019, McNab recalled how "I can vividly remember the sense of pride and achievement I felt. It was meant for primary school children but I didn’t care ... From then on I read anything and everything I could get my hands on." Military career He was posted to Kent for his basic training, and boxed for his regimental team. After basic training, he was posted to the Rifle Depot in Winchester. In 1977 he spent time in Gibraltar as part of his first operational posting, while with 2nd Battalion, Royal Green Jackets.From December 1977 to June 1978, he was posted to South Armagh, Northern Ireland, as part of the British Army's Operation Banner. In 1978 and 1979, he returned to Armagh as a newly promoted Lance Corporal, and claimed to have killed for the first time during a firefight with the Provisional Irish Republican Army. McNab wrote of the incident: "I remember vividly the first time I had to kill someone to stay alive. I was a 19-year-old soldier in Keady, South Armagh, and my patrol stumbled across six IRA soldiers, preparing for an ambush. When the shooting started, they were just 20 metres away from my patrol. I was scared, very scared." He was awarded the Military Medal for this incident. However, security sources later reported that the person McNab shot was only wounded and died as a result of injuries from a separate shootout later that day.In 1982, after six years' service with the Royal Green Jackets (RGJ), and having been promoted to the rank of sergeant, he applied for transfer into the Special Air Service Regiment, which was approved by the RGJ. After failing his first attempt at United Kingdom Special Forces Selection, he passed in 1984, and was attached to the SAS, with which he remained for the rest of his career in the British Army. During his 10 years with "Air Troop", B Squadron, 22 SAS Regiment, he served with Al Slater, Frank Collins and Charles "Nish" Bruce. Writing in The Daily Telegraph in November 2008, McNab describes Bruce as "one of my heroes."McNab worked on both covert and overt operations including counter terrorism and drug operations in the Middle East and Far East, South and Central America and Northern Ireland. McNab trained as a specialist in counter terrorism, prime target elimination, demolitions, weapons, tactics, covert surveillance roles and information gathering in hostile environments, and VIP protection. He worked on cooperative operations with police forces, prison services, anti-drug forces and Western-backed guerrilla movements as well as on conventional special operations. In Northern Ireland, he spent two years working as an undercover operator with 14 Intelligence Company, going on to become an instructor.During the Gulf War, McNab commanded an eight-man SAS patrol, designated Bravo Two Zero, that was given the task of destroying underground communication links between Baghdad and north-west Iraq and with tracking Scud missile movements in the region. The patrol was dropped into Iraq on 22 January 1991, but was soon compromised, following which it attempted an escape on foot towards Syria, the closest coalition country.Three of the eight were killed, and four captured (including McNab) after three days on the run; one member, Chris Ryan, escaped. The captured men were held for six weeks before being released on 5 March. By that time, McNab was suffering from nerve damage to both hands, a dislocated shoulder, kidney and liver damage, and hepatitis B. After six months of medical treatment he was back on active service. Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal during his military career, McNab claims to have been the British Army's most highly decorated serving soldier when he left the SAS in February 1993. Post-military career McNab assumed his pseudonym while writing Bravo Two Zero. When he appeared on television to promote his books or to act as a special services expert, his face was shadowed to prevent identification. According to the book The Big Breach, by Richard Tomlinson, a renegade MI6 spy, McNab was part of a special training team after the Iraq War, training MI6 recruits in sabotage and guerrilla warfare techniques. Due to the extremely sensitive nature of his work while serving with the SAS, McNab is bound by contract to submit his writings to the Ministry of Defence for review.After leaving the Army, McNab developed and maintained a specialist training course for news crews, journalists and members of non-governmental organisations working in hostile environments. He spent time in Hollywood as a technical weapons adviser and trainer on Michael Mann's film Heat. He was also the technical adviser on the 2005 crime film Dirty.In February 2007, McNab returned to Iraq for seven days as The Sun newspaper's security adviser with 2nd Battalion, The Rifles.McNab has written about his experiences in the SAS in three best-selling books, Bravo Two Zero (1993), Immediate Action (1995), and Seven Troop (2008). Bravo Two Zero sold over 1.7 million copies, with Immediate Action selling 1.4 million in the UK. It has been published in 17 countries and translated into 16 languages. The CD spoken word version of Bravo Two Zero, narrated by McNab, sold over 60,000 copies and earned a silver disc. A BBC film of Bravo Two Zero, starring Sean Bean, was shown on prime time BBC One television in 1999 and released on DVD in 2000. Immediate Action, McNab's autobiography, spent 18 w.... Discover the Andy Mcnab popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Andy Mcnab books.
Best Seller Andy Mcnab Books of 2024
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Trouble at Zero Hour
Rob LofthouseWritten by a retired British soldier, Trouble at Zero Hour is a breathless and vivid story, dramatizing three of the key Allied operations that turned the tide of the Second World ...
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Letters from Russia
Marquis de CustineThe Marquis de Custine's unique perspective on a vast, fascinating country in the grip of oppressive tyrannyIn 1839, encouraged by his friend Balzac, Custine set out to explore Rus...
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Find Fix Finish
Ben McKelveyThe new book from the bestselling author of The Commando and Mosul.It was Australia's longest war, and also our most secretive.In the craggy mountains, green belts and digital batt...
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Burning Angels
Bear GryllsA prehistoric corpse entombed within an Arctic glacier, crying tears of blood.A jungle island overrun by rabid primates escapees from a research laboratory's Hot Zone.A massive se...
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Remote Control
Stephen LeatherA brand new Spider Shepherd short story, including an exclusive extract from the eleventh Spider Shepherd all action thriller, WHITE LIES, out 14 August 2014.When Dan 'Spider' Shep...
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Murder Team
Chris RyanDanny Black is a lone wolf on an unofficial mission.He is in the deserts of East Africa looking for his old comrade in arms Spud, wounded in their last mission and now missing.A wo...
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Zero Six Bravo
Damien LewisThe Sunday Times No.1 bestseller. They were branded as cowards and accused of being the British Special Forces Squadron that ran away from the Iraqis. But nothing could be furthe...
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Stratton
Duncan FalconerNOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING DOMINIC COOPER READ IT BEFORE YOU SEE IT! THE ENEMY HAS A WEAPON. SO DO WE.Discover the hugely bestselling debut thriller by a former member of the elit...
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The Girls Inside
NJ MackayA gripping, compelling psychological thriller about a cult, a fire, and the dark secrets that four young girls have carried with them but can no longer keep buried...Blue grew up i...
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Death Force
Matt LynnA riveting military action adventure novel Band of Brothers mets Andy McNab in a story of hard nosed mercenaries. In Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan, the British are fighti...
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White Lies
Stephen LeatherDan 'Spider' Shepherd is used to putting his life on the line for his friends and for his job with MI5. So when one of his former apprentices is kidnapped in the badlands of Pakis...
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Operation Mayhem
Steve Heaney MC & Damien Lewis'Captures the confusion, black humour, raw courage and sheer exhilaration of combat brilliantly' THE TIMES'Read this account of his stint with the 26man strong X Platoon in the swe...
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Silent Kill
Chris RyanThe fourth book in Chris Ryan's Extreme series.The Chris Ryan Extreme books take you even further into the heart of the mission with more extreme action, more extreme language and ...
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The Long Shot
Stephen LeatherThe plan is so complex, the target so well protected that the three snipers have to rehearse the killing in the seclusion of the Arizona desert.Cole Howard of the FBI knows he has ...
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Moving Target
Ross KempFormer Special Reconnaissance Regiment Sergeant Nick Kane always stands by his friends. So when an old comrade is leaned on by gangsters, Nick's only too happy to help. But Nick qu...
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Selected Writings
Gerard De NervalPoet, visionary, shortstory writer and autobiographer, Gérard de Nerval (18081855) explored the uncertain borderlines between dream and reality, irony and madness, autobiography an...
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Osama
Chris RyanDespatches from the secret world behind the headlines. Former SAS legend Chris Ryan brings you his seventeenth novel, filled with his trademark action, thrills and inside knowledge...
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The Kill Zone
Chris RyanFrom the author of the bestselling Danny Black series and the hit TV show Strikeback.The guys in the Regiment know they face their fiercest enemies when they fight the Taliban. Noo...
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Favour the Dead
Mackenzie Smith'Smith is back and hits gold with his most gripping adventure yet.' Bear GryllsMy name is Christian McKie and a few months ago I was killed in military action in Sierra Leone.I am ...
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The Double Tap
Stephen LeatherThe assassin: the world's most successful contract killer. An anonymous professional with a unique calling card one bullet in the head and one in the chest for each and every targ...
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Trouble Ahead
Rob LofthouseHeraklion, May 1941. On the north coast of Crete, the British forces are redeploying troops, ahead of a German invasion of the island. A brutal defeat in Greece has forced them to ...
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Sabre Squadron
Cameron SpenceWith the outbreak of Gulf War hostilities a unit from 22 SAS slipped quietly over the border and into the enemy's backyard. It would be six weeks before any of the patrol again rea...
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Black Ops
Stephen LeatherIn what could be his highestprofile mission ever, Dan 'Spider' Shepherd is called in to prevent the assassination of a head of state on British soil. As an MI5 agent, Spider is ...
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The Pillow Book
Sei Shonagon & Meredith McKinneyA new translation of the idiosyncratic diary of a C10 court lady in Heian Japan. Along with the TALE OF GENJI, this is one of the major Japanese Classics.
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Shadow Force
Matt LynnThe third thrilling action adventure novel in the Death Force series, SHADOW FORCE plunges the team of hardened mercenaries into a battle to defeat Somali pirates.Somalia, 201...
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Winkle
Paul BeaverDiscover the daring life story and astonishing adventures of Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown Britain's greatestever pilotSmall in stature but immense in reputation and talent, there w...
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Rising Sun Victorious
Peter G. TsourasIn war, victory can be held hostage to seemingly insignificant incidents–chance events, opportunities seized or cast aside–that can derail the most brilliant military strategies an...
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Osama
Chris RyanFrom the author of the bestselling Danny Black series and the hit TV show Strikeback.Despatches from the secret world behind the headlines. Former SAS legend Chris Ryan brings you ...
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Killing for the Company
Chris RyanFrom the author of the bestselling Danny Black series and hit TV show Strikeback. Former SAS legend Chris Ryan brings you his sixteenth novel and it is full of all his trademark ac...
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Ice Force
Matt LynnThe fourth book in the brilliant Death Force series plunges the elite squad of hardened mercenaries into a deadly battle for survival in the frozen wastelands of the Arctic. A pl...
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Outbreak
Chris RyanThirteenyearold Ben Tracey is looking forward to spending the summer in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where his father has been hired to examine the valuable mineral Coltan tha...
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Never Will I Die
Toby Gutteridge & Michael CalvinThere's no pain, no theatrical agony. No screaming, no shouting. The kill shot is catastrophic and conclusive. I slump silently on to my knees and topple forward, head first, into ...
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Fire Force
Matt LynnThe new highstakes, actionpacked military thriller from the author of DEATH FORCE. Batota, Africa. A nation under the rule of a brutal, aging dictator. A group of businessmen belie...
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Soldier Spy
Tom MarcusThe explosive, shocking and honest account from an MI5 officer, revealing neverbeforeseen detail into MI5's operation 'I do it because it is all I know. I'm a hunter of people and ...
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Executive Action
Richard DoyleJack Meade wakes in a hospital bed. The doctors tell him he has been in the sea for two days that he is lucky to be alive. His face is so salt ravaged he barely recognises himself...
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Blood and Sand
Frank GardnerOn the June 6, 2004, while on assignment in Riyadh, BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner and cameraman Simon Cumbers were ambushed by Islamist gunmen. Simon was killed outright...