Overview

Two down-on-their-luck ex-CIA operatives get caught in a shadowy network working jobs for an unknown dispatcher - Sheepdog - in this rollicking thriller by New York Times-bestselling author Elliot Ackerman 'Skwerl, Cheese, Dickhead Mike, the White Russian-these characters are totally addictive. I couldn't put Sheepdogs down. A thriller and comedy in one, it's a wild ride' HARLAN COBEN A sly, funny, action-packed thriller introducing an instantly iconic spy duo, from the author of New York Times bestseller 2034 Skwerl and Cheese are down on their luck. Skwerl, who is resourceful like a squirrel (Marines win battles, not spelling bees), used to work for the CIA's elite paramilitary wing. He was unceremoniously fired after a raid went bad in Afghanistan. 'Big Cheese' Aziz, a legendary pilot - his nation's Maverick - is equally hard up. So Skwerl recruits Cheese into an anonymous network of so-called sheepdogs, who operate in the shadowy moral grey zone between predator and prey. Their first mission? To repossess a private jet stranded on a remote Ugandan airfield. Their fee- a commission on the jet's $5 million value. But nothing about the job seems to add up. Their contact goes missing. Their handler is as mysterious as the real source of the money. And when the women in their lives get involved - one pregnant wife and one dominatrix - the stakes skyrocket overnight. From the jungles of Kampala to a glamorous hotel in Marseille, from a veteran-run pizzeria in Kyiv to a Panera in northern Virginia, Skwerl and Cheese must navigate an increasingly tangled set of loyalties where no one and nothing is what it seems. Globe-trotting and page-turning, full of heart and humour, Sheepdogs is a wild ride through the underbelly of modern war and intelligence.

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9780241772539

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Reviews

Skwerl, Cheese, Dickhead Mike, the White Russian—these characters are totally addictive. I couldn’t put Sheepdogs down. A thriller and comedy in one, it’s a wild ride -- Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Twice The brilliant Sheepdogs by Elliot Ackerman shatters paradigms and moves the genre forward with two unique and quirky heroes named Skwerl and Cheese who will endear themselves to you from the first page to the last. Do yourself a favor and dive into the action with these post war-on-terror repo men as they take you on a thrill ride you will not soon forget. Move Sheepdogs to the top of your list! -- Jack Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Sky Mourning Raw and real and beautifully told, Sheepdogs isn’t just a page-turner, it’s a mind-bender. Elliot Ackerman takes the reader into the CIA’s most secret space—the paramilitary ‘special activities’ of its Ground Branch. It’s a helluva read, a heist chase melded with a spy novel—think Ocean’s Eleven meets James Bond. And it builds toward one of the best surprise endings I’ve read in a long while. Read it before it gets classified! -- David Ignatius, author of Phantom Orbit 

You know Slow Horses – now meet the Sheepdogs . . . A glorious globetrotting caper . . . Sheepdogs is primarily a hilarious heist thriller, rich in double-crossings , farcical cockups and outlandish characters. But as with Joseph Heller and Thomas Pynchon, Elliot Ackerman (a veteran of conventional and special operations in Afghanistan and Iraq) combines black comedy with satire -- John Dugdale * Sunday Times * There's a new Maverick hero on the block . . . fun and pacy . . . thrilling -- Simon Ings * Daily Telegraph * An unorthodox and highly contemporary spy thriller, set in the shadowlands between legal and illegal military action . . . a black comedy with deadly serious undertones * Mail on Sunday * A rollicking military-adjacent adventure . . . replete with jet-setting paramilitary types, secret meetings at the highest level of government and firefights, with some rough sex and women in peril added for good measure. But if the novel has its fair share of tropes, Ackerman is also determined to unravel a few of them, to expose how corrupting a world full of crumbling democracies can be . . . Sheepdogs thrives in exposing the moral uncertainty of this new world order -- Mark Athitakis * Washington Post * Akerman has been reflective, elegiac, often ruefully nostalgic, at times quietly angry, always sternly principled, and analytical to the point of prophetic . . . Sheepdogs is a gear shift into deceptively rip-roaring caper mode -- Celia McGee * New York Times * Lean but globe-trotting, it’s both funny and deadly earnest. Where lots of military thrillers lean on gruff brutality, this instead lends something like the castoff perspective of Slow Horses to the chaotic pessimism of David O Russell’s film, Three Kings -- Brian Cliff & Elizabeth Mannion * Irish Times * A plane heist goes outrageously awry . . . lively . . . moving . . . Though his tone is light, Ackerman regularly reminds the reader of the lifelong shadow war casts on the men who fight -- Rav Grewal-Kök * New York Times * Skwerl, Cheese, Dickhead Mike, the White Russian—these characters are totally addictive. I couldn’t put Sheepdogs down. A thriller and comedy in one, it’s a wild ride -- Harlan Coben, author of Nobody's Fool Sheepdogs is the best thriller I’ve read in a long, long time. With a perfect blend of action and humor, I was hooked from the first page and couldn’t put it down until I’d finished. Here’s hoping this isn’t the last we’ll hear of Skwerl, Cheese and the rest of Ackerman’s unforgettable band of misfits. It’s an absolute gem of a novel -- Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds A gripping CIA crime novel already on the fast track to TV – you really don't want to miss this one * i *

Skwerl, Cheese, Dickhead Mike, the White Russian—these characters are totally addictive. I couldn’t put Sheepdogs down. A thriller and comedy in one, it’s a wild ride -- Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Twice Pacy, witty, full of great characters, unexpected twists and insider insights about what it’s like to serve in the special forces, this novel has everything. Bring on the TV! -- Andrew Roberts, author of Leadership in War This fast-paced book, at once engrossing and insightful, sweeps the reader into military and post-military life, explains how baroque operations work and what can happen when they go awry. It’s a rollicking adventure story populated with compellingly real characters, a brilliantly constructed thriller that describes both physical escapades and psychological drama -- Andrew Solomon The brilliant Sheepdogs by Elliot Ackerman shatters paradigms and moves the genre forward with two unique and quirky heroes named Skwerl and Cheese who will endear themselves to you from the first page to the last. Do yourself a favor and dive into the action with these post war-on-terror repo men as they take you on a thrill ride you will not soon forget. Move Sheepdogs to the top of your list! -- Jack Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Red Sky Mourning Raw and real and beautifully told, Sheepdogs isn’t just a page-turner, it’s a mind-bender. Elliot Ackerman takes the reader into the CIA’s most secret space—the paramilitary ‘special activities’ of its Ground Branch. It’s a helluva read, a heist chase melded with a spy novel—think Ocean’s Eleven meets James Bond. And it builds toward one of the best surprise endings I’ve read in a long while. Read it before it gets classified! -- David Ignatius, author of Phantom Orbit 

Author Information

ELLIOT ACKERMAN is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Halcyon, 2034, Red Dress In Black and White, Waiting for Eden, Dark at the Crossing, and Green on Blue, as well as the memoir The Fifth Act- America's End in Afghanistan, and Places and Names- On War, Revolution and Returning. His books have been nominated for the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal in both fiction and nonfiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize among others. He is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and Marine veteran who served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart. He divides his time between New York City and Washington, D.C.

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