Killing for the Company

by Chris Ryan

2003. Invalided out of the SAS Chet Freeman makes his living in high-end security, on a temporary contract for an American corporation called the Grosvenor Group. He catches a young woman, a peace campaigner, eavesdropping on a meeting the Group is holding with the British Prime Minister. The Group's interests include arms manufacture, and what Chet and the young woman overhear seems to imply that it is bribing the Prime Minister to take his country into an illegal war.Could this possibly be true?Somebody believes that this is a secret that needs covering up, because Chet and the girl are attacked. Hunted down, they go into hiding, and a deadly game of cat and mouse begins. Nearly ten years later tension is reaching breaking point in Jerusalem. The now ex-Prime Minister is working as a Middle East peace envoy. As the city descends into anarchy and rival armies are poised to turn it into a battlefield, Chet's best buddy, Luke, is part of a team tasked by the Regiment with extracting the ex-Prime Minister. At the height of the battle Luke discovers a conspiracy far more devastating than any arms deal.

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, War, Military Fiction, Action

404 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Colin Armstrong (b. 1961), usually known by the pen-name Chris Ryan, is a British author, television presenter, security consultant and former Special Air Service sergeant.
After the publication of fellow patrol member Andy McNab's Bravo Two Zero in 1993, Ryan published his own account of his experiences during the Bravo Two Zero mission in 1995, entitled The One That Got Away. Since retiring from the British Army Ryan has published several fiction and non-fiction books, including Strike Back, which was subsequently adapted into a television series for Sky 1, and co-created the ITV action series Ultimate Force. He has also presented or appeared in numerous television documentaries connected to the military or law enforcement.

Reviews

[Nick Brett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually this book started out fine but then got more daft as it went on.

Set initially back over 10 years in the past, this is about a conspiracy to create conflict and the financial benefits of supplying the weapons and equipment. Key architect in this is our own Prime Minister, Stratton (but given the history and timeline, this is supposed to be Tony Blair). It a very uncomfortable blending history and fiction, especially the Blair aspect. The main good guys in this change and the author is somewhat cavalier about how he treats some of his characters, shockingly so at times.

But what starts off as fast paced and entertaining then becomes just silly and the theme of conspiracy and war mongering (an old chestnut in thriller stories) is further muddied by poor plotting and lack of logic.

Mr Ryan seems to have gone off the boil of late.

[Maskedmadness · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably one of the most gruesome books I’ve read. I picked it up thinking I was gonna read just a SAS story, and got lots of suicide bombers instead. And the main character changes about four times because they keep getting killed. But it was still a very good story and worth it I think.

[Glenn Armstrong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Killing for the Company is a gripping story spanning a couple of decades. It’s focused on British SAS soldiers in the Saddam Hussein, “weapons of mass destruction “ period. Plenty of unexpected twists and turns and the sudden, GoT like demise of central characters is shocking (not in a bad way). It wasn’t formulaic and kept the reader guessing to the last page. The author being ex SAS provides good insight to the inner workings of the ops they carry out. There were instances of insubordination whereby a lower ranking soldier would strongly question a superior officer’s order. This surprised me as I just thought in the military you follow orders always. I also thought the use of profanity was excessive, especially the “c” bombs, the term “raghead” for muslims racist, and describing how ugly a barmaid is totally unnecessary (it adds nothing to the story). Given Ryan was a former SAS soldier I assume this is how it was. The SAS are elite and highly respected. In my opinion some of that respect has been lost on me. And finally the resurrection of Chet at the end whilst completely unexpected, left me wondering where he was while Suze and Harry were homeless, living in fear for 10 years, and eventually brutally murdered.

[Huw Rhys · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were just about enough variations from the theme of "how the SAS kill people horribly" to make this a vaguely entertaining book.

The assassinations don't finish with the dead bodies though - this is essentially an attempt at a character assassination of Tony Blair. It has a revolving series of leading characters, which is interesting in itself, and gives a pretty good description of Jerusalem and a lot of the modern history and politics which surround it.

The plot moves quickly, with plenty of twists and turns - but it goes from the barely credible to the utterly ridiculous, with so many fundamental flaws in it that the storyline loses credibility long before the ending, which felt as if it had been created almost as an afterthought to tie up some lose ends.

[ian marriott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mystery until the end!

Another brilliant book by Chris Ryan, as if the action throughout wasn't enough, the total surprise in the last pages was breathtaking. I never considered THAT ending!!

[Katrien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Niet slecht, in de bekende stijl van Chris Ryan. De algemene plot is goed, zit clever in elkaar maar inde uitwerking zitten er een paar ergerlijke stukken. Zeker op het einde wanneer het hoofdpersonage ondoodbaar blijkt.... mixed feelings

[SarahClements · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing story.
There were brilliant plot twists that I wasn't expecting. The characters were realistic and I wanted to know them in my own life. This was the book that made me want to read more of his novels and give me a premise of my own project

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Electric

A typical Chris Ryan book keeps you thinking till the end, I wasn't t really expecting it. I enjoyed it & would think Ryan fan's will enjoy the book.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have read before, it I'd OK.

[Nancy Patterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting ending twist! Had to reread the first chapter to sort it out! Sequel? Cuz bad guy ain’t dead yet!

[hemlet kiai · Rating 4 out of 5]

brilliant!

[Bud Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good thriller.

[Druss · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid good read. Pacy and full of action.

[john coe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read

Another good book , could not put down waiting for the follow up.have to start looking straight away more people to catch up with. ?????

[Lyn Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very gruesome SAS story but a good book

[Myra McCulloch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Corruption at the highest level. War mongers bribing Prime Minsters to start a war in Middle East flashpoints. Dedicated soldiers following orders and protecting their country

[Asher Philp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ryan writing in his element. This is the first Chris Ryan novel I read and now I have 15+ on my shelf.

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whomp whomp…..

[Marcus · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely brilliant read, plenty of intrigue and intense action.

[David Laflin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story but left me a little confused as to who was working for who,and what their aim was.
Most of the characters in the book end up dead.
Not the most enjoyable book I have read.

[Kelly Hine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent as always, plot gripping, characters enticing and violence by the truck load ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Cam Yaxley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, fast-paced book full of twists and turns. The ending twist had me floored. Something I would have normally expected to happen but was a huge suprise given how the book had flowed through

[Karen]

I'm starting to wonder if it's become mandatory for ex-SAS or other special forces members to leave active duty and write books. It seems that there are a lot of options for this sort of informed thriller style book, but you'll need to be partial to something that includes a military theme somewhere.

KILLING FOR THE COMPANY has, as it's first military connection, an ex-SAS member, Chet Freeman, invalided out, now working in anti-bugging and surveillance on contract for a major American corporation. Long story short, he catches Suze McArthur, a peace campaigner, eavesdropping on a meeting between corporation executives and the British Prime Minister, Alistair Stratton, that seems to be talking about a personal financial incentive for the Prime Minister to be take his country into the Gulf War.

The opening action takes the reader back 10 years, leaping forward to the current as the cover-up for that eavesdropping proves deadly, even after all these years. The Prime Minister (nobody's going to earn a gold star for working out who it's based on) is now a Middle East peace envoy and in the second military connection, Freeman's mate and special services, close protection agent Luke Mercer is in the action. Firstly he's contacted by McArthur asking for his help, secondly as he's assigned to get Stratton into Gaza.

The setup is absolutely rapidfire, and totally no holds barred. Once the baddies and the goodies are all sorted out though, you're going to need to fire up that suspension of disbelief and keep it operating at tip top condition. You're also going to need a little bit of a thick skin (actually you're probably going to need that from the outset). After all, there's "getting" the idea that sometimes you have to dehumanise the opposition to be an effective fighter, and then there's some very confrontational terminology and attitudes. Readers are also going to have to be comfortable with the idea that sometimes bad things happen - very very bad things.

I've never read anything else from this author, and I've never seen any of the television programs that he's been connected with, so I've no idea how this book sits in terms of his other work. Whilst this was a very action packed thriller, particularly in the early stages, and there's some good and some very surprising twists in the lives of the characters. There are some rather formulaic aspects, a bit of a dodgy plot, and for some reason, that dehumanising that really stuck out. There's also that idea that because you can work out who the high-profile figure is, you just can't shake the feeling that there could be a bit of political statement going on. Perhaps if the connection to the Prime Minister hadn't been quite so obvious, the plot might have been slightly more believable. If you don't care about that, and you don't mind your plots wobbling a bit under the pressure of the action, KILLING FOR THE COMPANY would definitely be one of those high-action summer reading type thrillers.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...

[Sallie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I caught the second series of Strike Back (Project Dawn) on tv here in the UK this year and thought the stories were smart, sexy, and liked the combo of the American and English operatives (and they weren't bad to look at, either.). So in the airport last week, it wasn't a stretch to pick up this book. The writing turned out to be smart, too - and though still filled with a level of violence that makes LeCarre look like a dull weapon, it's enough to keep you reading.

I'd read another, definitely. Has the potential to be a good replacement for those terrible Vince Flynn novels that have gotten entirely too right-wing for my taste.

[Chris Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant book, hooked right from the start and had so many unexpected twists and turns throughout, won't spoil it for new readers but was shocked at the outcome of the fire scene and the church scene. However that was nothing to the final page. Good interesting characters too. I've read lots of Chris Ryan and Andy McNab books and I'd say this is probably my favourite book.

[Neill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was expecting some SAS ops story and I was pleasantly surprised. Tony Blair got into Iraq for personal gain! Was surprised and disappointed that the main characters kept getting killed off. So you start with one hero and finish with another. Finish was totally unexpected. Well written, tight, gritty. good fun

[Lamis Akkad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the plot a lot. It was a bit sad but at the same time more realistic in some aspects.
however, I disliked the language of the characters. It is true that the language reflects the cultural level of the characters but I wasn't too fond of it. In summery, I found it satisfying and interesting.

[Rupert Matthews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd never read any Chris Ryan before. I found this book very enjoyable holiday reading and interesting stuff about how special forces operate. That said, some of the characters were a bit stock - the key assassin was cold-eyed, brutally ruthless, highly trained blah blah blah - though that did not detract from this as a holiday read. Over all a good boy book.

[Jim Whitefield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Killing for the Company is like a series of mini stories rolled into one continuous fast moving plot that all comes together brilliantly at the end. It is Ryan at his best. No need to reveal any details, just trust that the ex SAS master story teller will enthral on every page. Highly recommended.

[TheIron Paw · Rating 2 out of 5]

A decent thriller, though somewhat formulaic and with a little overdone gory violence, as well as some plot twists that are somewhat unlikely or hard to believe. Overall though, an acceptable thriller for a cold winter night.