Mark Abernethy Books In Order

Mark Abernethy is an Australian author of spy thrillers, popular for his Alan McQueen series, which includes 4 books. Alan “Mac” McQueen is an Australian intelligence agent/spy who is called in to solve various espionage-related cases.

Reading the Mark Abernethy books in order means picking up his Alan Mac McQueen series, the true crime series called Mike Daly, and his Gerry Galen book series, written under the pseudonym Mark Aitken.

Alan McQueen Books in Publication Order

Mike Daly Books in Publication Order

The Contractor, 2017
At Hell’s Gate, 2017

Gerry Galen Books in Publication Order

written under the pseudonym Mark Aitken

Arctic Floor, 2011
Strikeforce Lightning, 2013

Other Mark Abernethy Books

Business Angels: How to Be One, How to Find One, How to Use One, 1999

Alan McQueen Books Overview

Golden Serpent: Alan McQueen is on the trail of the world’s most dangerous terroristdiscovers that Sabaya is not in fact dead. Instead he’s teamed up with a rogue CIA veteran and is armed with a cache of stolen VX nerve agent he’s threatening to deploy in a dramatic and deadly manner. Battling to stay one step ahead of Sabaya’s hit-men, CIA double agents, and deep corruption within Australian intelligence, Mac must find the stolen VX before it’s too late. His mission will take him on a chase through South-East Asia and test all of his courage and ingenuity.

Second Strike: the early hours of October 13, 2002, Australian spy Alan McQueen is jolted awake by a phone callaand told to immediately head to Bali, where more than 200 people have been killed in a series of bomb blasts. Assigned to keep an eye on the forensics teams working the bomb site, Mac learns that, contrary to theaoffiical line, aone of the bombs was a military-grade mini-nuke.

As tensions rise between governments, Mac joins an elite group of spies and soldiers hunting the terrorists implicated in the bombings; a pursuit thatatakes them through the wilds of Northern Sumatra, but ends with them helplessly watching the terrorists escape by plane. Five years later, Mac is back in Indonesia doing some soft espionage. But when bullets start flying and old terrorist foes reappear, Mac is drawn into a deadly game that clearly didn’t finish in 2002.

Double Back: Mac is a tough, true-blue, resourceful Aussie. An intelligence agent, Mac spends a lot of his time doing undercover work in South East Asia. ‘Double Back’ sees Mac putting his life on the line fighting dangerous forces who will stop at nothing to sink the independence movement in East Timor.

Counter Attack: Australia’s super-spy, Alan McQueen, has been lured out of retirement. Any dreams Mac has a of a cozy office job are shattered when he’s dispatched to Singapore to oversee a covert mission. When things go disastrously wrong, he not only has to defend his reputation in Australia but also stay out of jail in Vietnam. From the leafy suburbs of Singapore to the mean streets of Saigon, from the political infighting of Canberra to the old killing fields of Northern Cambodia, Mac has to use all his cunning and a few unusual alliances to get to the bottom of a conspiracy that could throw the world into a thermo-nuclear showdown. When nothing is what it seems, and death is only one mistake away, Mac finds himself both hunter and hunted as he pursues a truth that could save millions of lives.

Mike Daly Books Overview

The Contractor: Meet Mike. Runs a building site, drives a ute, likes a beer, loves his nail-gun.

But Mike is hiding in plain sight. When the Pentagon call him in as ‘Big Unit’, he’s another kind of contractor – one as handy with a Colt M4 as he is with a Skilsaw, a man as accustomed to danger, death, and pain as he is to a hammer and nails.

In six action-packed true stories we follow a man who left foreign intelligence for a life ‘on the tools’, only to discover there’s too many dangerous scenarios and terrible people still out there. The good guys need a James Bond in Blundstones. They need The Contractor.

At Hell’s Gate:

The Contractor returns.

Mike is a big unit. He builds houses and drives a ute. But he isn’t your typical tradie.

When a client calls he downs tools and flies into the hot zone in his other guise – that of an elite private intelligence contractor.

In four high-octane adventures, The Contractor takes on a counter-surveillance gig in Singapore, a jungle ambush on a bomb-maker in South-East Asia, a cannonball run against the Taliban in Kabul and a gun deal on a floating armoury in the Indian Ocean.

Will Mike make it back to his BBQ and building site? Or will fate deliver The Contractor at hell’s gate?

Gerry Galen Books Overview

Arctic Floor: Gerry Gallen is searching for peace after years serving as a captain in the US Marines Special Forces. But when he agrees to lead a team of former soldiers looking after the personal security of an eccentric oil billionaire, he finds himself catapulted onto a rollercoaster of violence and double-crossing where private intelligence operators and clandestine hit teams are commonplace.

Eventually, Gallen and his men are faced with a choice between personal safety and saving the world. They can either walk away, or go to the Arctic Floor …

Strikeforce Lightning: His war is over and former special forces captain Gerry Gallen is enjoying the relative peace of running a cattle ranch in Wyoming. But when he’s asked to lead a team to Jordan to retrieve his war-time sergeant, he agrees.

Landing in Amman, Gallen re-enters a world of Arab gangsters, American mercenaries and the constantly shifting loyalties of the CIA. And watching over his every step is the lethal presence of Hamas – a daily reminder that Gallen is working under the constant threat of death.

Nothing about the gig is what it seems and as Gallen realises that his former boss has stolen $3 million dollars from some powerful locals, the spectre of Iraqi aggression rears its head. But why are neo-Baathists chasing Gallen? And what do they want with the cargo he is carrying?

Hunted, beaten and trapped, Gerry Gallen is a man running two races… Can he break clear before lightning strikes?

Mark Abernthey Biography – About the Author

Mark Abernethy is a renowned Australian author, speechwriter, journalist, and ghostwriter, born in New Zealand and spent most of his adult life in Australia. During his university days at Victoria University of Wellington, he wrote for the university campus newsletter in the 1980s. His first book, written in 1991 on the Gold Coast, was never published. Abernethy attempted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a lawyer, enrolling in law school twice, but dropped out after discovering his lack of interest in law. He then applied to journalism school and worked for a newspaper as an induction course to gain work experience.

After working as a ghostwriter for other authors, Mark Abernethy began writing books for himself. The publisher liked the first four chapters of what would become his debut novel, Golden Serpent, and urged him to finish the book, which he did in eight weeks. The novel is part of the Alan McQueen series, which focuses on a semiretired Australian super spy who gets lured back into espionage and assassin work. Abernethy’s inspiration for the character came from his love of spy novels by authors such as Ian Fleming and Alistair MacLean and his desire to create a new character that was Australian.

The Alan McQueen series is part of a 6-book deal with Allen and Unwin Publishers, and Counter Attack is the fourth book in the series. Abernethy conducts extensive research for his thriller novels, reading widely and interviewing relevant people such as government employees, Australian special forces, and others. His experience as a journalist and editor for Australian Penthouse magazine and a writer for the Australian Financial Review, The Bulletin, and Sydney Morning Herald aided his research and writing.

Under the pen name Mark Aitken, Mark Abernethy has written the Gerry Galen series, which features a younger hero living in the United States. Abernethy’s debut novel, Golden Serpent, was released in 2007 and tells the story of Alan McQueen, who tracks down the world’s most dangerous terrorist, whom he believed he had killed years ago. McQueen, a former star of the global intelligence community, discovers that the terrorist, Abu Sabaya, is still alive and has teamed up with a rogue CIA veteran to obtain a cache of stolen VX nerve agent, which he threatens to deploy lethally and dramatically.

As Mac battles to stay ahead of CIA double agents, Sabaya’s assassins, and deep corruption within Australian intelligence, he must locate the stolen VX before it becomes a weapon of mass destruction. Abernethy’s thrillers are well-researched and action-packed, and his writing is influenced by his journalism background, providing a unique perspective on the world of espionage and intelligence gathering.