From the author of the bestselling, The One That Got Away and Stand By, Stand By comes a compelling and hard-hitting new thriller which gives an extraordinary insight into the SAS in action.
Geordie Sharp, SAS sergeant, returns following his heroic triumphs in Stand By, Stand By. Still caught in a desperate personal battle with the IRA, Sharp is ordered to undertake two top-secret missions, in the full knowledge that, if they go wrong, the authorities will deny all involvement.
The first is to liquidate an Iraqi defector in Libya. The hit team must leave no trace of their identity, dressed in Arab clothes and using Soviet weaponry they work undercover.
Returning to base, Sharp is ordered to carry out a high-level political assassination in mainland Britain. His failure will result in tragic consequences - his kidnapped four-year-old-son and his girlfriend will die at the hands of the IRA - Sharp has no option but to succeed in the mission.
Trapped between opposing forces in a fight to the death, he twists and turns through a nightmare maze, desperately seeking some way of averting tragedy. Who will be hit hardest - Geordie Sharp or the British Government?
With a frightening ring of plausibility, Zero Option is as gripping and explosive a story as we have as we have come to expect from Chris Ryan.

'Real strength in detailing the nitty-gritty of operations' Sunday Times

When an SAS team is sent to train government troops in Kamanga, a poverty-stricken and war-torn republic in the dark heart of southern Africa, Geordie Sharp is caught up in the most dangerous and difficult assignment of his military career. At the outset of the mission a juju, or witch doctor, predicts that ten whites are going to die, and as the prediction starts to come true one by one down they go.
In the south of Kamanga rebel forces have seized the diamond mines which produce the bulk of the country's wealth. The aim of the crack government unit is to recover these lucrative assets, with Geordie Sharp and his squad providing much-needed back-up. When the SAS men see that the rebels are boosted by ex-US Navy SEALs mercenaries, they begin to sense a hidden agenda. Before they can discover what it is, Sharp and two others fall into rebel hands. His comrade Whinger dies a hideous death, but Sharp manages to escape.
At last Sharp stumbles onto the secret which is drawing such strong international interest - only to realise that he himself may have been exposed to a lethal dose of radiation in the process.
Is he the tenth and last of the juju's victims?

Praise for Chris Ryan novels:
'Remarkable...gripping' Express
'Slick, polished and gut-wrenching stuff' Irish Times
'Real strength in detailing the nitty-gritty of operations' Sunday Times

Chris Ryan was born near Newcastle in 1961, and in 1984 he joined the SAS, completing three tours in many different parts of the world. For his escape from Iraq in January 1991 he was awarded the Military Medal. He left the SAS in 1994. He is the author of four bestsellers, The One That Got Away (1995), Stand By, Stand By (1996), Zero Option (1997) and The Kremlin Device (1998).

Frank Machianno is the guy, a late-middle-aged ex-surf bum who runs a bait shack on the San Diego waterfront. That's when he’s not juggling any of his other three part-time jobs or trying to get a quick set in on his long board. He’s a beloved fixture of the community, a stand-up businessman, a devoted father to his daughter. Frank’s also a hit man. Well, a retired hit man.
Back in the day, when he was one of the most feared members of the West Coast mob, he was known as Frankie Machine. Years ago, Frank consigned his mob ties to the past, which is where he wants them to stay. But a favor called in by the local boss is one Frank simply can’t refuse, and before he knows it he’s sucked back into the treacherous currents of his former life. Someone from his past wants him dead, and he has to figure out who, and why, and he has to do it fast. The problem is that the list of candidates is about the size of his local phone book and Frank’s rapidly running out of time...