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Mike Daly #1
The Contractor
"...these are stories crying out to be turned into a gritty television drama - think a true story version of The Night Manager." Sydney Morning Herald 'I fix things. I can build you a house or remodel your bathroom. I can also make bad situations - and bad people - disappear.'Meet Mike. Runs a building site, drives a ute, likes a beer, loves his nail-gun.But Mike is hiding in plain sight. When the Pentagon call him in as 'Big Unit', he's another kind of contractor - one as handy with a Colt M4 as he is with a Skilsaw, a man as accustomed to danger, death, and pain as he is to a hammer and nails.In six action-packed true stories we follow a man who left foreign intelligence for a life 'on the tools', only to discover there's too many dangerous scenarios and terrible people still out there. The good guys need a James Bond in Blundstones. They need The Contractor.Tradie. Spy. Big Unit.Follow Big Unit as he goes undercover to save a family trapped by an ISIS-run drug cartel in the seedy back streets of Northern Pakistan to terrorist-besieged Paris to a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with Australia's most wanted murderer.SHORTLISTED FOR THE NED KELLY AWARD FOR BEST TRUE CRIME 2018
- GenresNonfiction
359 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 25, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
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August 14, 2017*https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com
Meet Mike Daly, a true blue Aussie builder or ‘tradie’ by day and by night, a contractor of sorts sent to ‘fix’ things up. Australia’s answer to James Bond ensures that bad situations are contained and bad people simply vanish. The Contractor is a non fiction fused with true crime offering, containing six tales involving intelligence operations.
The Contractor, told by Mark Abernethy, is a riveting collection of six different tales of counter terrorism, based on the true stories relayed to Mark by Mike Daly (pseudonym). These high octane, action based short stories are grounded on actual events that occurred when Mike Daly attended to each of these high risk operations. The stories are fast and dangerous. They include retrieving a whole expat family from Pakistan, a manhunt at Dubbo zoo for the notorious murderer Malcolm Naden, bugging a presidential palace in Jakarta and capturing a top gangster in Cambodia. Each of these tales reveals much about the gritty underworld of terrorists, criminals and the people who work behind the scenes to thwart their plans.
What boggled me most about this collection of stories is how simple Mike Daly’s life is. He is normal everyday building contractor from Melbourne, going about his day-to-day business with a loving wife to support him. It makes me wonder just how many other everyday common professionals are harbouring a secret alter ego life! Mike is a one of kind guy, with a colourful background, which Mark Abernethy works to unpack through the progression of the six varied tales contained in this collection.
Throughout the progression of this collection, Mark Abernethy works to build a picture of this suburban tradie with a brave skills set. From his background as a former government employee, working specifically in private intelligence, we learn how Mike developed his fine skills set to become a man in demand. It is quite a fascinating story how an ordinary bloke who has a penchant for VB and dearly loves his ute, has become a private intelligence expert.
I liked the style of narration Mark Abernenthy, the author of The Contractor employs in this collection. As a ghost writer, journalist and the author of six spy thrillers, he is certainly the man for the job and bringing this fascinating collection of stories to the floor. Abernethy has an accessible tone to his writing and each of his stories are explained clearly. I felt a sense of adventure and exhilaration while reading each of these stories, especially the very gripping Malcolm Naden chase. I really enjoyed the opportunity to learn about secretive operations. Further afield, the story ‘Paris Au Go-Go’ has a colourful and international flavour. This particular case revealed an intricate terrorist operation and exposed the involving nature of the delicate infiltration that took place to crack this case. Abernethy applies great observational detail to this story and all six of the cases he presents to his reader.
The Contractor, as told by Mark Abernethy, is definitely a tale that would appeal to fans of spy based novels such as Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy, just to name just a few. The Contractor is informative, highly readable and carries the reader into a world of counter terrorism, a world many of us would never entertain. This is one book true crime enthusiasts need to add to their collection.
*I wish to thank Pan Macmillan Australia for providing me with a free copy of this book for review purposes.
Meet Mike Daly, a true blue Aussie builder or ‘tradie’ by day and by night, a contractor of sorts sent to ‘fix’ things up. Australia’s answer to James Bond ensures that bad situations are contained and bad people simply vanish. The Contractor is a non fiction fused with true crime offering, containing six tales involving intelligence operations.
The Contractor, told by Mark Abernethy, is a riveting collection of six different tales of counter terrorism, based on the true stories relayed to Mark by Mike Daly (pseudonym). These high octane, action based short stories are grounded on actual events that occurred when Mike Daly attended to each of these high risk operations. The stories are fast and dangerous. They include retrieving a whole expat family from Pakistan, a manhunt at Dubbo zoo for the notorious murderer Malcolm Naden, bugging a presidential palace in Jakarta and capturing a top gangster in Cambodia. Each of these tales reveals much about the gritty underworld of terrorists, criminals and the people who work behind the scenes to thwart their plans.
What boggled me most about this collection of stories is how simple Mike Daly’s life is. He is normal everyday building contractor from Melbourne, going about his day-to-day business with a loving wife to support him. It makes me wonder just how many other everyday common professionals are harbouring a secret alter ego life! Mike is a one of kind guy, with a colourful background, which Mark Abernethy works to unpack through the progression of the six varied tales contained in this collection.
Throughout the progression of this collection, Mark Abernethy works to build a picture of this suburban tradie with a brave skills set. From his background as a former government employee, working specifically in private intelligence, we learn how Mike developed his fine skills set to become a man in demand. It is quite a fascinating story how an ordinary bloke who has a penchant for VB and dearly loves his ute, has become a private intelligence expert.
I liked the style of narration Mark Abernenthy, the author of The Contractor employs in this collection. As a ghost writer, journalist and the author of six spy thrillers, he is certainly the man for the job and bringing this fascinating collection of stories to the floor. Abernethy has an accessible tone to his writing and each of his stories are explained clearly. I felt a sense of adventure and exhilaration while reading each of these stories, especially the very gripping Malcolm Naden chase. I really enjoyed the opportunity to learn about secretive operations. Further afield, the story ‘Paris Au Go-Go’ has a colourful and international flavour. This particular case revealed an intricate terrorist operation and exposed the involving nature of the delicate infiltration that took place to crack this case. Abernethy applies great observational detail to this story and all six of the cases he presents to his reader.
The Contractor, as told by Mark Abernethy, is definitely a tale that would appeal to fans of spy based novels such as Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy, just to name just a few. The Contractor is informative, highly readable and carries the reader into a world of counter terrorism, a world many of us would never entertain. This is one book true crime enthusiasts need to add to their collection.
*I wish to thank Pan Macmillan Australia for providing me with a free copy of this book for review purposes.
May 5, 2024
Not a bad book, but not great either.
Mike is a Tradie. He builds houses. He's also a "Contractor" for Governments and other companies and individuals, when they need something done "Off the books". He's worked all over the world, but mainly in South-East Asia, either individually, or as part of a team. His usual missions are either rescue/extraction of persons kidnapped or just under threat, or surveillance of targets.
These 6 stories run the gamut of excellent to 'meh', with the second one about an extraction of a high level executive and family in the middle of the Paris attacks in Nov 2015 the best of the bunch.
The other stories are ok, but need a little more action to really keep me entertained.
Mike is a Tradie. He builds houses. He's also a "Contractor" for Governments and other companies and individuals, when they need something done "Off the books". He's worked all over the world, but mainly in South-East Asia, either individually, or as part of a team. His usual missions are either rescue/extraction of persons kidnapped or just under threat, or surveillance of targets.
These 6 stories run the gamut of excellent to 'meh', with the second one about an extraction of a high level executive and family in the middle of the Paris attacks in Nov 2015 the best of the bunch.
The other stories are ok, but need a little more action to really keep me entertained.
December 24, 2025
An easy read, written in a spy-thriller fashion. Being a collection of short stories you don't have to mess around for long in order to reach the action. The six parts fit together like a TV series and each one has a clear hook to it.
I admit that I struggled with the 'true' aspect however. Many of the stories were closer to the plot of a James Bond film than what a real intel operator would do. Bugging the phone lines of the Indonesian presidential palace during a cocktail party- really? Are we seriously meant to believe that the data management centre is just in an unlocked room off a corridor that connects to the dining hall, and that bugging the phone lines is as simple of attaching a device using crocodile clips? With all the secret police watching the room this story felt like it was a spy version of Roald Dahl's The Witches. In the same story he also has a 'hunch' about a guy he sees in a cafe, then tails him to the airport, somehow calls in government intel support, fights off a goon who follows him into the toilet, and then learns the guy is a major figure in organised crime.
The stories of private security work were less far fetched, though I suspect some embellishment was still there. Like why go to the trouble and risk of evacuating a Paris based insurance executive right in the middle of the Nov 2015 terrorist attacks? The exec and his family were hiding in the bathroom of their huge apartment, several floors up, in the middle of a city of tens of thousands of apartments. The whole story revolved around getting military clearance for airspace, diplomatic vehicles, etc, and as the family are being loaded into the car we hear about gunshots ringing out on the streets. A basic security operator would surely conclude that in a situation like that staying inside - like the ten of thousands of other residents of Paris that night - is the far safer option. I wonder if this evacuation happened at a later date and the story was re-written to take place in the middle of the chaos, otherwise there really wouldn't be much to it.
And then after all this we are supposed to also believe that the main character runs a successful house building business in between taking off for random missions of indeterminate length?
I admit that I struggled with the 'true' aspect however. Many of the stories were closer to the plot of a James Bond film than what a real intel operator would do. Bugging the phone lines of the Indonesian presidential palace during a cocktail party- really? Are we seriously meant to believe that the data management centre is just in an unlocked room off a corridor that connects to the dining hall, and that bugging the phone lines is as simple of attaching a device using crocodile clips? With all the secret police watching the room this story felt like it was a spy version of Roald Dahl's The Witches. In the same story he also has a 'hunch' about a guy he sees in a cafe, then tails him to the airport, somehow calls in government intel support, fights off a goon who follows him into the toilet, and then learns the guy is a major figure in organised crime.
The stories of private security work were less far fetched, though I suspect some embellishment was still there. Like why go to the trouble and risk of evacuating a Paris based insurance executive right in the middle of the Nov 2015 terrorist attacks? The exec and his family were hiding in the bathroom of their huge apartment, several floors up, in the middle of a city of tens of thousands of apartments. The whole story revolved around getting military clearance for airspace, diplomatic vehicles, etc, and as the family are being loaded into the car we hear about gunshots ringing out on the streets. A basic security operator would surely conclude that in a situation like that staying inside - like the ten of thousands of other residents of Paris that night - is the far safer option. I wonder if this evacuation happened at a later date and the story was re-written to take place in the middle of the chaos, otherwise there really wouldn't be much to it.
And then after all this we are supposed to also believe that the main character runs a successful house building business in between taking off for random missions of indeterminate length?
July 30, 2017
I loved this book - it's a collection of 6 true stories that describe the operations of a private intelligence contractor, Mike Daly. He is also a builder in Melbourne, runs a business, has a wife and good friends. But when the phone goes from people needing his skills, he's off to deal with incredible and dangerous situations. His 'team' consist of people like him: former intelligence operators and special forces soldiers who now do private work.
In The Contractor we see the details of infiltrating into a country, staying under the radar, collecting information and building and then completing an operation. All very fascinating.
Mostly, I loved the voice of Mike - it's great to have a book like this, with a real Aussie voice and sense of humour. Made me wonder about those tradies you see everyday - what are they really up to?
Entertaining, informative and thrilling - and the 6 separate stories make it an easy-read.
In The Contractor we see the details of infiltrating into a country, staying under the radar, collecting information and building and then completing an operation. All very fascinating.
Mostly, I loved the voice of Mike - it's great to have a book like this, with a real Aussie voice and sense of humour. Made me wonder about those tradies you see everyday - what are they really up to?
Entertaining, informative and thrilling - and the 6 separate stories make it an easy-read.
February 17, 2020
I worked for several decades in the Australian intelligence community, counterterrorism and with insurance companies, and not much of this book rings true. Abernethy has a superficial knowledge of what he is writing about. Being a ghost writer for "Mike" is a clever way of keeping himself distant from Mike's unbelievable (underlined) exploits. I very much doubt that Mike exists. A book for the gullible!
April 10, 2019
A light and easy read. A touch of Les Norton in the forces but without the humour.
February 2, 2022
Enjoyed the stories of real work adapted to fiction - the Aussie character is so..real looking forward to the next
October 14, 2023
Good book…At Hell’s Gate next…also useful if you ever come across contractors you got nothing in common with; use The Big Unit Mike’s stories with ‘em as your talking subject….
December 25, 2019
4.5 stars
The Contractor aka The Big Unit aka Mike Daly. Whatever you want to call the man of many aliases, he has some ripping stories from his time as an intelligence officer for the Australian Government and as a private contractor once he left.
Living life between being a builder and a private contractor who gets things done, there isn’t much Mike Daly cannot ‘fix’. In The Contractor, he details six of his jobs to journalist and author Mark Abernethy. Based both in Australia and overseas, all six stories will have you on the edge of the seat as you ride the adrenaline highs and heart stopping lows of intelligence, counter terrorism and espionage work.
Being non-fiction, the plot writes itself; but the style in which Mike tells his stories and Abernethy writes them makes for a fantastic read. The Contractor is a brilliant book, which I highly recommend.
The Contractor aka The Big Unit aka Mike Daly. Whatever you want to call the man of many aliases, he has some ripping stories from his time as an intelligence officer for the Australian Government and as a private contractor once he left.
Living life between being a builder and a private contractor who gets things done, there isn’t much Mike Daly cannot ‘fix’. In The Contractor, he details six of his jobs to journalist and author Mark Abernethy. Based both in Australia and overseas, all six stories will have you on the edge of the seat as you ride the adrenaline highs and heart stopping lows of intelligence, counter terrorism and espionage work.
Being non-fiction, the plot writes itself; but the style in which Mike tells his stories and Abernethy writes them makes for a fantastic read. The Contractor is a brilliant book, which I highly recommend.
April 28, 2018
“True stories as told to......”. Reads more as a novella.
Referencing the “a big unit true story” quote on the cover of the edition I had, it appears that the “a big unit” series is not over. I won’t be rushing back.
Referencing the “a big unit true story” quote on the cover of the edition I had, it appears that the “a big unit” series is not over. I won’t be rushing back.
April 4, 2019
Absolutely horrible.
This reads like complete and utter fiction.
Nothing more than an anthology of fanciful stories.
I'm glad I borrowed this book from the library and didn't waste my money on it.
This reads like complete and utter fiction.
Nothing more than an anthology of fanciful stories.
I'm glad I borrowed this book from the library and didn't waste my money on it.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews