An army veteran with deep expertise in military and international affairs makes his fiction debut with this electrifying international thriller—the first volume in a blistering hot series in the tradition of Brad Thor, Tom Clancy, and Daniel Silva. In Shadow War, an elite American mercenary on a secret mission to save a businessman’s family in Eastern Europe must navigate perilous setbacks and deadly enemies that threaten to tip the balance of power between Russia and the United States.
Tom Locke is an elite warrior working for Apollo Outcomes, one of the world’s most successful private contracting firms. Pulled out of a mission in Libya, he is tapped for an unusual and risky assignment: a top secret black op in Ukraine. He is given one week to rescue an oligarch’s family and pull off a spectacular assault that could have long-lasting repercussions for this imperiled Eastern European nation and the world.
What Locke doesn’t know is that the operation comes with a dangerous complication: Brad Winters. Locke’s ambitious and enigmatic boss is engaged in a secretive, high-stakes geopolitical chess game with several influential powerbrokers in capitals around the world. One misstep could cost him—and Locke—everything.
While Locke has methodically planned the mission and hand-picked a team of trusted operatives to pull it off—and save his ass if things go south—he doesn’t count on running into a former love, war correspondent Alie MacFarlane, who impulsively makes a move that risks both their lives. Locke is an intelligent, iconoclastic soldier who specializes in pulling off the impossible. But all his brilliant preparation can’t prevent the kind of backstabbing and deception that could lead to catastrophe . . . and tip the balance of power toward Putin’s Russia.

Shadow War: A Tom Locke Novel (Tom Locke Series, 1)

Literature & Fiction

Witter, Bret

McFate, Sean

United States

William Morrow

“A bold, riveting thriller…fascinating characters and ground-level espionage and combat sure to please fans of Brad Thor, Tom Clancy, and Daniel Silva.”
— Mark Greaney, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Back Blast
Tom Locke is an elite warrior working for Apollo Outcomes, a very successful private contracting firm. He is tapped for a top-secret black op in Ukraine, and has one week to rescue an oligarch’s family and pull off a spectacular assault.
What Locke doesn’t know is that Brad Winters, his ambitious and enigmatic boss, is engaged in a high-stakes geopolitical chess game with influential powerbrokers in capitals around the world. One misstep could cost them everything. And that misstep may already have been committed by Locke’s former love, war correspondent Alie MacFarlane, who impulsively makes a move that risks both their lives.
Now Locke must move quickly to stay ahead of a looming betrayal that could lead to catastrophe…and tip the balance of power toward Putin’s Russia.
“[A] smart, exciting first novel and series launch…. Readers will look forward to seeing a lot more of Locke.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Has an enjoyable, realistic feeling…will appeal to action junkies and armchair diplomats alike.” — Kirkus 
Tom Locke must track a missing Saudi prince deep inside ISIS territory in this second military action thriller from the authors of Shadow War.
Disillusioned after a mission in Ukraine goes tragically wrong, military contractor Tom Locke is on the run from Apollo Outcomes, a private military corporation run by the treacherous Brad Winters. While working undercover with his surviving team members on the frontlines of ISIS-infected Iraq, they are approached by a Saudi middleman who offers good money to find the missing son of a high-ranking government official.
What Locke doesn’t know is that the missing young Prince may have been carrying the result of a secret agreement made with the Pakistanis in the 1960s, and that his father may or may not be trying to topple the Saudi government. As he pushes deeper into ISIS territory, Locke must figure out both the on-the-ground battle lines and the larger Deep State war he has stumbled into yet again.
Who is the mysterious Saudi who hired Locke’s team? Is the prince’s disappearance personal or political? And how many sides are being played against each other in a Middle East torn apart by overlapping and contradictory alliances? To complete the mission and keep his men safe, the battle-hardened Locke must use every skill he has to defeat a fanatical enemy on the ground—while a duplicitous adversary much closer to home waits for his chance to strike. . . .

Deep Black: A Tom Locke Novel (Tom Locke Series, 2)

William Morrow Paperbacks

Deep Black: A Tom Locke Novel

Genre Fiction

"Stunning. Sean McFate is a new Sun Tzu." –Admiral James Stavridis (retired), former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO
An Economist Book of the Year 2019
Some of the principles of warfare are ancient, others are new, but all described in The New Rules of War will permanently shape war now and in the future. By following them Sean McFate argues, we can prevail. But if we do not, terrorists, rogue states, and others who do not fight conventionally will succeed—and rule the world.
War is timeless. Some things change—weapons, tactics, technology, leadership, objectives—but our desire to go into battle does not. We are living in the age of Durable Disorder—a period of unrest created by numerous factors: China’s rise, Russia’s resurgence, America’s retreat, global terrorism, international criminal empires, climate change, dwindling natural resources, and bloody civil wars. Sean McFate has been on the front lines of deep state conflicts and has studied and taught the history and practice of war. He’s seen firsthand the horrors of battle and understands the depth and complexity of the current global military situation. 
This devastating turmoil has given rise to difficult questions. What is the future of war? How can we survive? If Americans are drawn into major armed conflict, can we win? McFate calls upon the legends of military study Carl von Clausewitz, Sun Tzu, and others, as well as his own experience, and carefully constructs the new rules for the future of military engagement, the ways we can fight and win in an age of entropy: one where corporations, mercenaries, and rogue states have more power and ‘nation states’ have less. With examples from the Roman conquest, World War II, Vietnam, Afghanistan and others, he tackles the differences between conventional and future war, the danger in believing that technology will save us, the genuine leverage of psychological and ‘shadow’ warfare, and much more. McFate’s new rules distill the essence of war today, describing what it is in the real world, not what we believe or wish it to be. 
The New Rules of War is an urgent, fascinating exploration of war—past, present and future—and what we must do if we want to win today from an 82nd Airborne veteran, former private military contractor, and professor of war studies at the National Defense University.

The New Rules of War: Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder

History

Americas

"Stunning. Sean McFate is a new Sun Tzu." -Admiral James Stavridis (retired), former Supreme Allied Commander at NATO
An Economist Book of the Year 2019
Some of the principles of warfare are ancient, others are new, but all described in The New Rules of War will permanently shape war now and in the future. By following them Sean McFate argues, we can prevail. But if we do not, terrorists, rogue states, and others who do not fight conventionally will succeed—and rule the world.
The New Rules of War is an urgent, fascinating exploration of war—past, present and future—and what we must do if we want to win today from an 82nd Airborne veteran, former private military contractor, and professor of war studies at the National Defense University.
War is timeless. Some things change—weapons, tactics, technology, leadership, objectives—but our desire to go into battle does not. We are living in the age of Durable Disorder—a period of unrest created by numerous factors: China’s rise, Russia’s resurgence, America’s retreat, global terrorism, international criminal empires, climate change, dwindling natural resources, and bloody civil wars. Sean McFate has been on the front lines of deep state conflicts and has studied and taught the history and practice of war. He’s seen firsthand the horrors of battle and understands the depth and complexity of the current global military situation. 
This devastating turmoil has given rise to difficult questions. What is the future of war? How can we survive? If Americans are drawn into major armed conflict, can we win? McFate calls upon the legends of military study Carl von Clausewitz, Sun Tzu, and others, as well as his own experience, and carefully constructs the new rules for the future of military engagement, the ways we can fight and win in an age of entropy: one where corporations, mercenaries, and rogue states have more power and ‘nation states’ have less. With examples from the Roman conquest, World War II, Vietnam, Afghanistan and others, he tackles the differences between conventional and future war, the danger in believing that technology will save us, the genuine leverage of psychological and ‘shadow’ warfare, and much more. McFate’s new rules distill the essence of war today, describing what it is in the real world, not what we believe or wish it to be.

The New Rules of War: How America Can Win--Against Russia, China, and Other Threats

"McFate just might be the next Tom Clancy, only I think he's even better... The action is non-stop and shuttles back and forth between scary-believable and rollicking good fun. I read High Treason during a six-hour plane ride and the trip went by like the snap of my fingers."&nbsp;--James Patterson In this pulse-pounding action thriller perfect for fans of Brad Thor and David Baldacci, Tom Locke must stop dark forces working to overthrow the president En route to the National Prayer Breakfast, the U.S. vice president's motorcade is hit in a vicious, expertly planned attack that throws Washington, DC, into chaos. Everyone assumes it's terrorists-- everyone but young FBI agent Jennifer Lin. She is certain that the easy answers here are not the likely ones. . . . Half a world away, former military contractor Tom Locke has his own doubts about what happened--and who did it. He suspects his former employer, Apollo Outcomes. But why would the global private military corporation orchestrate such a brutal strike on U.S. soil? Returning to DC, Locke teams with Lin and discovers that a civil war is secretly brewing in the military-contracting world. A division of one company has gone rogue, led by a power-hungry former colleague of Locke's who may have planned the attack on the vice president himself. But this man couldn't have pulled it off without help from inside the government. The VP's itinerary and route were confidential--which means there must be a traitor high up in either the White House or the NSA who is leaking information. But why? And who could be pulling the strings? Radical Islamic terrorists? Or is this a new ploy by Putin to subvert American leadership? Or is someone else behind the attack? Only Locke can get to the bottom of the conspiracy--and blow it apart with one bold strike before it's too late. "High Treason has brutal assassinations, shocking betrayals, even heated gun battles in the shadow of the White House. It had me breathless--from the sheer audacity of its storytelling&nbsp;to its breakneck pacing. It's not to be missed!"&nbsp;--James Rollins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Odyssey

High Treason: A Novel (Tom Locke Series, 3)

“McFate just might be the next Tom Clancy, only I think he’s even better... The action is non-stop and shuttles back and forth between scary-believable and rollicking good fun. I read High Treason during a six-hour plane ride and the trip went by like the snap of my fingers.” —James Patterson\nIn this pulse-pounding action thriller perfect for fans of Brad Thor and David Baldacci, Tom Locke must stop dark forces working to overthrow the president\nEn route to the National Prayer Breakfast, the U.S. vice president’s motorcade is hit in a vicious, expertly planned attack that throws Washington, DC, into chaos. Everyone assumes it’s terrorists— everyone but young FBI agent Jennifer Lin. She is certain that the easy answers here are not the likely ones. . . . Half a world away, former military contractor Tom Locke has his own doubts about what happened—and who did it. He suspects his former employer, Apollo Outcomes. But why would the global private military corporation orchestrate such a brutal strike on U.S. soil? 
Returning to DC, Locke teams with Lin and discovers that a civil war is secretly brewing in the military-contracting world. A division of one company has gone rogue, led by a power-hungry former colleague of Locke’s who may have planned the attack on the vice president himself. But this man couldn’t have pulled it off without help from inside the government. The VP’s itinerary and route were confidential—which means there must be a traitor high up in either the White House or the NSA who is leaking information. 
But why? And who could be pulling the strings? Radical Islamic terrorists? Or is this a new ploy by Putin to subvert American leadership? Or is someone else behind the attack? Only Locke can get to the bottom of the conspiracy—and blow it apart with one bold strike before it’s too late.\n“High Treason has brutal assassinations, shocking betrayals, even heated gun battles in the shadow of the White House. It had me breathless—from the sheer audacity of its storytelling to its breakneck pacing. It’s not to be missed!” —James Rollins, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Odyssey

High Treason (Tom Locke Series, 3)

DEEP BLK (Tom Locke Series)

MorrowPb

It was 2004, and Sean McFate had a mission in Burundi: to keep the president alive and prevent the country from spiraling into genocide, without anyone knowing that the United States was involved. The United States was, of course, involved, but only through McFate's employer, the military contractor DynCorp International. Throughout the world, similar scenarios are playing out daily. The United States can no longer go to war without contractors. Yet we don't know much about the industry's structure, its operations, or where it's heading. Typically led by ex-military men, contractor firms are by their very nature secretive. Even the U.S. government-the entity that actually pays them-knows relatively little. In The Modern Mercenary, Sean McFate lays bare this opaque world, explaining the economic structure of the industry and showing in detail how firms operate on the ground. A former U.S. Army paratrooper and private military contractor, McFate provides an unparalleled perspective into the nuts and bolts of the industry, as well as a sobering prognosis for the future of war. While at present, the U.S. government and U.S. firms dominate the market, private military companies are emerging from other countries, and warlords and militias have restyled themselves as private security companies in places like Afghanistan and Somalia. To understand how the proliferation of private forces may influence international relations, McFate looks back to the European Middle Ages, when mercenaries were common and contract warfare the norm. He concludes that international relations in the twenty-first century may have more in common with the twelfth century than the twentieth. This "back to the future" situation, which he calls "neomedievalism," is not necessarily a negative condition, but it will produce a global system that contains rather than solves problems. The Modern Mercenary is the first work that combines a broad-ranging theory of the phenomenon with an insider's understanding of what the world of the private military industry is actually like.

The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order

Business & Money

Industries

Oxford University Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McFate, Sean. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by McFate, Sean

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McFate, Sean. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Shadow War: A Tom Locke Novel (Tom Locke Series, 1)

Shadow War: A Tom Locke Novel (Tom Locke Series, 1)

Deep Black: A Tom Locke Novel (Tom Locke Series, 2)

Deep Black: A Tom Locke Novel

The New Rules of War: Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder

The New Rules of War: How America Can Win--Against Russia, China, and Other Threats

High Treason: A Novel (Tom Locke Series, 3)

High Treason (Tom Locke Series, 3)

DEEP BLK (Tom Locke Series)

The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order