Bravo Two Zero

Notes

Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab is the autobiographical novel that launched Andy McNab’s writing career. It is not a crime story, though I have listed it here as it is, according to its critics, a complete work of fiction.

A controversial, semi-fictional account of an SAS patrol that was compromised behind enemy lines during the Iraq war.

Publisher’s Synopsis

Sergeant Andy McNab recounts the story of the top-secret mission that would reveal the secrets of the SAS to the world for the first time.

Their location: Iraq
Their mission: to sever a vital enemy underground communication link, to find and destroy mobile Scud launchers
Their call sign: Bravo Two Zero

When eight members of the elite SAS regiment embark on a highly covert operation, they are each laden with 15 stones of equipment, needing to tab 20km across the desert to reach their objective. But within days, their location is compromised. They engage in a fierce battle. They escape on foot to the Syrian border. Three men die. One escapes.

But four men are captured. For them, the worst is yet to come. Delivered to Baghdad, they are tortured with a savagery for which not even their intensive SAS training has prepared them…

This is a story of superhuman courage, strength, endurance and dark humour in the face of overwhelming odds. It shows just how much it takes to be a member of the SAS.

‘The best account yet of the SAS in action’ Sunday Times
‘One of the best books to emerge from the first Gulf War … Magnificent’ Independent on Sunday

Read a full review of Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab at The Morning Bulletin