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Invasion
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  • Published: 25 June 2024
  • ISBN: 9781787635470
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $42.99

Invasion

Formats & editions
Paperback
15 July 2025
Tr. Paperback
28 May 2024
EBook
23 May 2024
Audiobook
23 May 2024
Hardback
25 June 2024
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One of the bestselling names in the British spy thriller firmament, BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner's new novel sees MI6 operative Luke Carlton racing against time and the odds to prevent the next geo-political cataclysm: China's invasion of Taiwan.

THE PULSE-POUNDING NEW LUKE CARLTON THRILLER . . .

Across the Strait from Taiwan, China’s armed forces appear to be readying for war. Could the People’s Republic be preparing to invade its island neighbour?

The world is on high alert.

Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service has a mole deep within the Chinese Communist Party leadership – an individual in possession of intel that could defuse this fast-escalating situation. A ‘collector’ is sent to meet the spy and, in an anonymous Hong Kong café, the information is handed over. But before the collector can get the data to MI6, she is overpowered, drugged and abducted by persons unknown. Is it the MSS, China’s feared state security agency? Or has another, less predictable player entered the game?

As geo-political tensions rise, MI6 field operatives Luke Carlton and Jenny Li are dispatched to find the missing agent and the precious intel she carries. With the clock ticking and tip-offs taking them to shady Macau casinos, tawdry night clubs and multiple dead ends, Luke is convinced they are being deliberately strung along.

Then they get the vital lead they need. It points to Taiwan – a country frantically preparing for imminent invasion. And it’s there that Luke and Jenny uncover what is really going on. . .

Drawing on his years of experience reporting on global security stories and in-depth knowledge of the security services, Frank Gardner has written his most frighteningly real, unnerving and explosive thriller yet.

BBC Security Correspondent FRANK GARDNER'S thrillers are . . .

'Fast, taut, tense, accurate.' FREDERICK FORSYTH

'Utterly authentic.' DAILY MAIL

'Enthralling, intelligent.' FINANCIAL TIMES

'Nerve-shredding.' TONY PARSONS

'Heart-in-mouth.' i-NEWSPAPER

'Compulsively readable.' RADIO TIMES
  • Published: 25 June 2024
  • ISBN: 9781787635470
  • Imprint: Bantam
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 400
  • RRP: $42.99
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About the author

Frank Gardner

Born in 1961, Frank Gardner is the BBC's Security Correspondent, reporting for television and radio on issues of domestic and international security, notably on Islamist extremist related terrorism. A fluent Arabist, with a degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies, he was previously the BBC's Middle East Correspondent based in Cairo, and before that in Dubai. In June 2004, while reporting in Riyadh, Frank and his cameraman, Simon Cumbers, were ambushed by Islamist gunmen. Simon was killed outright, Frank was shot multiple times and left for dead. Against all expectations, he survived and, in 2006, published his acclaimed and bestselling memoir, Blood and Sand. In 2009 he published Far Horizons, a much praised account of his life as an inveterate traveller and explorer. His first novel, the thriller Crisis, was a No.1 bestseller. Awarded an OBE for services to journalism, Frank has also written for the Economist, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph and Time Out and has been published in The Best of Sunday Times Travel Writing.
He lives in London with his family.

portrait photo of Frank Gardner

Also by Frank Gardner

Outbreak
Ultimatum
Crisis
Far Horizons
Blood and Sand
See all

Praise for Invasion

A genuinely unnerving and fast-paced race-against-time thriller . . . its potent combination of Tom Clancy-style hi-tech military and naval manoeuvring and a John Le Carre-like espionage thriller rings all too true . . . highly recommended.

IRISH INDEPENDENT

Everything is impressive in this masterly account . . . exhilarating (if alarming) topicality.

SUNDAY TIMES

Tensions rise to boiling point . . . Gardner cuts to the molten core of a modern flashpoint in an electric thriller.

THE SUN

Praise for Frank Gardner

:

Fast, taut, tense, accurate.

Frederick Forsyth

Gardner skilfully mixes knowledge garnered as the BBC’s security correspondent with breathless action.

The Times

Thriller writing of a high order . . . Gardner steadily ratchets up the tension, peppering the narrative with nuggets of expertise . . . an enthralling, intelligent read.

Financial Times

Confirms Frank Gardner’s place among the pantheon of distinguished reporters who have become excellent thriller writers, including Gerald Seymour and Frederick Forsyth . . . utterly authentic.

Daily Mail

A fast and exciting story rooted in the present horrifying dangers that surround us . . . brimful of an insider’s insights . . . reeks of authority.

Gerald Seymour

Combines insider knowledge with heart-in-mouth excitement.

i-Newspaper