Sheepdogs

About the book

TWO MISFITS.

ONE MISSION.

ZERO BACK-UP.

WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

‘You know Slow Horses – now meet the Sheepdogs... glorious... hilarious' SUNDAY TIMES

'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' WASHINGTON POST

Skwerl and Cheese are down on their luck after being screwed over by the US military. Skwerl used to work for the CIA’s elite paramilitary wing until he was unceremoniously fired after a raid went bad in Afghanistan. Big Cheese Aziz, a legendary Afghan pilot also formerly employed by the CIA, is stuck working the graveyard shift at the local gas station.

Armed with a ton of unique and not obviously useful skills for peacetime living, both are recruited into a shadowy network of so-called ‘sheepdogs’ working jobs for an anonymous dispatcher.

Their first mission? To repossess a luxury private jet stranded on a remote Ugandan airfield. Their fee: a cut of the jet’s $5 million value. But nothing about the job adds up. Their contact vanishes. Their handler’s motives are suspect. 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 the glitz of Marseille, Sheepdogs is a sly, hilarious, action-packed thriller introducing an instantly iconic spy duo. Operating in the moral grey zone between predator and prey, this is a wild ride through the absurd underworld of war and intelligence.

‘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

‘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... an absolute gem of a novel’ KEVIN POWERS

Praise for this book:

"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

"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

"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

"Sheepdogsis 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

"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