A former SAS corporal and the only man to escape death or capture during the Bravo Two Zero operation during the 1991 Gulf War, Ryan turned to writing thrillers to tell the stories the Official Secrets Act stops him putting in his non-fiction. His novels have gone on to inspire the Sky One series Strike Back. Red Strike sees Ryan’s two heroes go undercover into the circle of a British populist demagogue with links to the Kremlin.