Mike Martin

by Frederick Forsyth 2 books in this series

The Mike Martin novels follow an Arabic-speaking British SAS and intelligence officer whose Iraqi childhood enables him to operate under identities unavailable to most Western agents. Fist of God places Major Martin inside occupied Kuwait and Baghdad during the 1990–91 Gulf crisis, while The Afghan returns to him as an older colonel selected for an extreme impersonation operation against al-Qaeda.

The two books are separated by fifteen years and can be read independently, but both examine the psychological and practical demands of deep cover. Martin must master language, biography, gesture and political loyalties while intelligence officers far from the field decide how much risk and deception are acceptable. Real conflicts and public figures provide the framework, but the missions and principal agents are fictional.

Reading order

Books in this series (2 books)

1. Fist of God

Frederick Forsyth

First published 1994

4.4(6,789)

In August 1990, Saddam Hussein’s forces invade Kuwait and confront an international coalition preparing to remove them. Major Mike Martin, a British SAS officer raised in Iraq and fluent in Arabic, enters occupied Kuwait to support the resistance and report on Iraqi deployments. His brother Terry…

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2. The Afghan

Frederick Forsyth

First published 2006

4.4(6,770)

British and American intelligence services learn that al-Qaeda is preparing a major attack, but they have no agent inside the organisation and almost no reliable information about the target or timetable. Their opportunity is Izmat Khan, a senior Taliban commander held at Guantanamo Bay. Colonel Mike…

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