Product Description

SAS Captain, Alex Temple is on an urgent mission. Someone has been murdering MI5 officers and it looks as if the killer is an insider, one of the Regiment's own. Alex's task is to track down and eliminate the killer, and to assist him he is assigned an MI5 liason officer - the attractive but abrasive Dawn Harding. The body-count is mounting and a deadly and relentless manhunt begins. Soon Alex will learn the bitter truth: in the shadowy battlegrounds of the Intelligence wars there is no good and no evil - only winners and losers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8175 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 432 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Readers of Chris Ryan thrillers know exactly what to expect: gritty, pared-down prose with regular doses of bone-crunching action and a hero not usually given to introspection. His books do not inhabit the same atmospheric world as such thriller writers of the past as Graham Greene and Eric Ambler, and he lacks the political sophistication of such current writers as Gerald Seymour. But Ryan knows exactly what his readers want and can always be counted upon to deliver a tough and fast-moving package. And that's very much the case in this latest thriller.

The theme in The Watchman is a duel to the death between an SAS soldier and the man who trained him. Ryan's protagonist, the resourceful Alex Temple, has been recently commissioned from the ranks, and returns from a hostage rescue mission in Sierra Leone to find that someone has been gruesomely murdering MI5 officers, Hannibal Lecter-style (a skinning knife is involved). The security services believe that the killer is an insider, SAS-trained, and Alex is ordered to track him down. As he gets closer and closer to the eponymous Watchman, the body count rises inevitably. This one will glean no literary prizes, but the legion of Ryan fans will devour this as eagerly as they did The Hit List and Zero Option. The villain, too, is a memorably nasty creation. --Barry Forshaw

Review
Alex, a 36-year-old SAS captain is summoned home from Sierra Leone to help catch the brutal killer of MI5 officers as it seems that the murderer might be SAS trained. To assist him Alex has MI5 officer, the attractive but abrasive Dawn Harding, and a nightmare chase, a betrayal and a dawn firefight will ensue before Alex learns a bitter truth.A genuine white knuckle ride page-turner.

Mirror
‘Pure, unadulterated violence…all part of the myth and mystique of the SAS’

Customer Reviews

Pure Class
Having read all of Ryans books in sequence, I thought I knew what to expect as I picked up 'The Watchman'.

However, I was blown away by this book, it has everything a good story needs and was a huge step up from his other attempts which set a pretty high standard themselves.

The ending is immense and quite shocking, I got that hairs on the back of my neck standing up sensation after I finished it.

I read it in 5 days which is unusually quick for me as most books take at least 3 weeks, but you keep telling yourself, 'just one more page and then I'll get some sleep', but you just cant put it down!!

If ever a book was crying out to be made into a film, it is this one!

A top, TOP!! read.

Another Excellent Read by Chris Ryan
This book was THE best one i've read by Chris Ryan, and i've read nearly all of them. It was such a good story, with excellent characters and great settings. If you're looking for a good read, this is definately the one to buy.

Wonderful!
This is one of my favourite books of all times - i own Chris Ryan's entire works and barring the Alpha Force books, most of his work is prima, but this is simply the best ever. I read it again and again, if I don't have something else to read or if I do have something else to read. Really well written, and holds your interest very well! Even though it isn't all action, you're compelled to keep on reading at once, because it's exciting from beginning to end.
-Afterthought: the (fictional, of course) murder of Craig Gidley took place in my home town. Makes it a lot more real :-) He isn't creating placenames here.
If you're going to read anything by Chris Ryan, read this one!! Other recommendations are Zero Option, the Hit List and the Kremlin Device.