Sheepdogs

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 Horsesto the chaotic pessimism of David O Russell’s film, Three Kings -- Brian Cliff & Elizabeth Mannion * Irish Times *
A black-ops comedy of errors -- Mark Yost * Wall Street Journal *
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 *
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
Two ex-servicemen have a chance to make a cool million and get out of their professional ruts . . . What could go wrong? A lot, it turns out * New York Times *
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