Ruthless - Chris Ryan

The ghettos of Brazil are crawling with street kids. They have nothing, and are forced into lives of crime in order to get enough to eat. Their life expectancies are short, not least because the Brazilian authorities allow paramilitaries to shoot them like rats.But it's with the street kids of Rio de Janeiro that the cadets must become embedded. Some of these kids have been recruited by the cartels. The cartels are causing untold misery, both in Brazil and on the streets of the UK. The cadets must befriend the cartel kids in the hope that they will lead them into the heart of the drug lords' empire.But when you head into the lion's den, you must expect to be bitten. The cartel chiefs are the most ruthless people in the world, and they do not take kindly to the infiltration of their secret, violent world . . .

Chris Ryan was born in Newcastle.

In 1984 he joined 22 SAS. After completing the year-long Alpine Guides Course, he was the troop guide for B Squadron Mountain Troop. He completed three tours with the anti-terrorist team, serving as an assaulter, sniper and finally Sniper Team Commander.

Chris was part of the SAS eight-man team chosen for the famous Bravo Two Zero mission during the 1991 Gulf War. He was the only member of the unit to escape from Iraq, where three of his colleagues were killed and four captured, for which he was awarded the Military Medal. Chris wrote about his experiences in his book The One That Got Away, which became an immediate bestseller. Since then he has written over fifty books and presented a number of very successful TV programmes.