Hodder gets 'Who Dares Wins' host Billingham's debut novel

Hodder & Stoughton is to publish "Who Dares Wins" host Mark "Billy" Billingham’s debut novel, after triumphing in a multi-publisher auction. 

Eve Hall, senior commissioning editor, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Kill or Capture, including audio, from Gordon Wise at Curtis Brown.

The novel is the first in a series featuring SAS solider Matt "Mace" Mason and will be published in May 2021 in hardback, e-book and audio format. A paperback will follow later in the year, and a second title in the series will publish in 2022.

Billingham spent 17 years in the SAS, responsible for planning and executing strategic operations and training in locations including Iraq, Afghanistan, South America and Africa, in addition to leading hostage rescues. He later became a bodyguard to celebrities such as Brad Pitt, Michael Caine and Tom Cruise. Since 2015, Billingham has been one of the lead presenters on the Channel 4 series "SAS: Who Dares Wins". 

Kill or Capture is co-written with Conor Woodman, who also worked on Billingham's autobiography. The synopsis states: "Matt ‘Mace’ Mason is deployed on a deniable SAS mission in war-torn Yemen, becoming embroiled in a hostage rescue that goes terribly wrong. Initially unwillingly, Mace has to work with female CIA agent (and Islamic scholar) Redford, as well as his own team, to prevent an attack that would spark a regional war and create the largest environmental disaster the world has ever seen."

Hall said: "The time is right for new heroes in fiction. So, when I received Kill or Capture and saw it was from someone with such incredible personal combat experience, I was hugely excited. When I read it, I became even more so. Matt ‘Mace’ Mason is the hero (or perhaps anti-hero) we have all been waiting for. The pace of Kill or Capture is non-stop, the characters are nuanced, and the plot is twisty, break-neck and unexpected. Perhaps most importantly, the personal experience that has gone into this make the characters leap off the page, and imbues the writing with a shocking truth. I’m thrilled to be positioning this as a major launch title for Hodder in 2021."