Guns For Hire

Warfare & defence.

They have a combined total of 500 million book sales, and have won every possible award in the mystery, thriller, and dark fiction genres. Thirty original hitman stories by today's modern masters. Noir. Wise guys. Sex. Freelance assassins. Humor. Violence. Femme fatales. Amateurs. Horror. Surprise twists. Hardboiled. Get ready for some wet work...

Robert Young Pelton first became aware of the phenomenon of hired guns in the War on Terror when he met a covert team of contractors on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border in the fall of 2003. Pelton soon embarked on a globe-spanning odyssey to penetrate and understand this shadowy world, ultimately delivering stunning insights into the way private soldiers are used. Enter a blood-soaked world of South African mercenaries and tribal fighters backed by ruthless financiers. Drop into Baghdad’s Green Zone, strap on body armor, and take a daily high-speed ride with a doomed crew of security contractors who dodge car bombs and snipers just to get their charges to the airport. Share a drink in a chic hotel bar with wealthy owners of private armies who debate the best way to stay alive in war zones. Licensed to Kill spans four continents and three years, taking us inside the CIA’s dirty wars; the brutal contractor murders in Fallujah and the Alamo-like sieges in Najaf and Al Kut; the Deep South contractor training camps where ex–Special Operations soldiers and even small town cops learn the ropes; the contractor conventions where macho attendees swap bullet-punctuated tales and discuss upcoming gigs; and the grim Central African prison where contractors turned failed mercenaries pay a steep price. The United States has encouraged the use of the private sector in all facets of the War on Terror, placing contractors outside the bounds of functional legal constraints. With the shocking clarity that can come only from firsthand observation, Licensed to Kill painstakingly deconstructs the most controversial events and introduces the pivotal players. Most disturbingly, it shows that there are indeed thousands of contractors—with hundreds more being produced every month—who’ve been given a license to kill, their services available to the highest bidder.

Being an assassin is all well and good...until you're hired to kill the only man you ever loved. In the not-too-distant future, governments all over the world break down, leaving society uprooted, the prey of war lords, gangsters, bullies, and bosses. But Chester Horowitz--Witz to his friends--doesn't care about all that. He got an early start at eliminating people and he's supposed to be one of the best, but he's getting tired of looking over his shoulder. There's a real nice beach down south and one of these days he'll score big enough to go there. For good. When the shit hits the fan he takes a job out of pure desperation. His sister's in a coma (beaten up by a couple of goons trying to get at him), he owes serious money to one ruthless boss, and he's dodging another one. This job would fix everything for him and his family--everything that matters. Until Witz sees who the target is. They used to say you never forget your first love. Well, if your first love is the heir of the biggest gang in the darkcity, that goes double. If your first love also happens to be the guy your sadistic prick of a father just manipulated you into agreeing to kill, it's triple. Why the hell couldn't this one job have been simple?

'Engaging and enjoyable. A must read for soldiers and civilians.' - Damien Lewis. Gun For Hire: A Michael Devlin Omnibus Nothing To Lose. Killing comes easy to Michael Devlin, a soldier turned assassin. When he murders Martin Pound, a corrupt politician, he considers it to be just another job. His days are spent drinking, reading and visiting his late wife's grave. Devlin has nothing to live for. Then he meets Emma, "a good Catholic girl". Everyone deserves a second chance. But the hunter is about to become the hunted. The Parker brothers, the criminal family who put the hit out on the politician, want to tie-up loose ends. Devlin must kill or be killed. 'Nothing To Lose' is a literary thriller, set in South London. Thomas Waugh has created a hero (or anti-hero) who will seem human to some readers and inhuman to others. You decide. Darkness Visible Michael Devlin, former soldier and contract killer, thought he had retired. He was wrong. Rameen Jamal - the man who murdered and maimed his comrades in Helmand - is in London. Devlin vows to kill again. He decides to call upon the help of the fixer, Oliver Porter, to plan the hit at The Ritz hotel. But not everything will go to plan. 'Darkness Visible' is a page-turning novella, in the vein of Graham Greene's "entertainments" and Lee Child's Jack Reacher novels. Ready For Anything Killing isn't good for the soul... After the tragic shooting of a friend during his last job Michael Devlin promises to never draw his gun again. But he is tracked down and blackmailed by Mason Talbot, a CIA agent stationed in London, into planning a hit on a prominent UK politician. With the help of the fixer, Oliver Porter, Devlin must carry out the job - and somehow find a way to prevent himself from becoming one of Talbot's assets. The assassination goes ahead. But Talbot inhabits a world of smoke and mirrors. Not all goes according to plan. Devlin will end up confronting his most formidable enemy of all, his conscience. Thomas Waugh is the pseudonym of a bestselling historical novelist. His books have been widely praised. 'A gripping thriller, elegantly told. A complex plot, deftly handled. And a narrative that puts the city of London, with its wealth and poverty, goodness and evil, at the heart of the story.' - Alison Joseph. 'Tense and atmospheric.' - Humphrey Hawksley