Tim Sebastian Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Tim Sebastian
Tim Sebastian, born in London on March 13, 1952, is a novelist, television journalist. He was a reporter for the BBC for ten years, mainly from Eastern Europe. Tim lives in London, dividing his time between broadcasting and writing.

Tim has got a Diploma in Journalism Studies after graduating from Cardiff University in the year 1974. Tim can speak both German and Russian, and he holds a BA Honours degree in Modern Languages from New College, Oxford University.

He began his journalism career at Reuters, moving to the BBC as their foreign correspondent in Warsaw in the year 1979. Then, in the year 1982, he became the Europe correspondent for the BBC, then for Moscow in 1984, until he got expelled from the USSR in 1985. Then for Washington from the year 1986 until 1989. During his time at the BBC, he hosted The Doha Debates.

As the presenter of HARDtalk, some of his famous interviews with world leaders including: Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Donald Trump, Lee Kuan Yew, Desmon Tutu, and Mikhail Gorbachev.

Other programs Tim has worked on, include: The New Arab Debates and Conflict Zone as the moderator. He was the presenter of The Outsider.

Sebastian has contributed to The Sunday Times and also worked for The Mail on Sunday.

Tim won Britain’s prestigious Royal Television Society Interviewer of the Year Award in the years 2000 and 2001 and he won the BAFTA Richard Dimbledy award in the year 1981.

Tim’s debut novel, called “Spy in Question”, was released in the year 1988. He writes thriller and mystery novels and has released non-fiction books.

“Last Rights” is a stand alone novel and was released in the year 1993. Edward Bell’s Russian heritage gets him caught up in a web of danger, compromise, and deceit in this novel of post-Cold War realities and Cold War secrets. The secrets are files that detail some possibly explosive agreements between governments of the West and Communist Russia, which were stolen during the aborted anti-Gorbachev coup.

A thief ends up dead in a vehicle right out in front of Bell’s mom’s house, and his mom goes missing. While Bell tracks the files and his mom back to Russia, he discovers that he is the pawn in the game of face-saving intrigue where the Americans, the British, and the Russians are all hungry to get the files. No one in Bell’s life is what they appear to be.

The plotting is never confusing yet is intricate, with some satisfying surprises that lead to an all too real ending. Bell, a likable character, deepens and darkens while he reveals more about himself. Tim Sebastian delivers a well-crafted and thoughtful thriller which indicts all governments equally.

“Saviour’s Gate” is a stand alone novel and was released in the year 1991. Marcus, who is a Moscow-based amateur spy and British reporter who passes information to the West, finds out that the Soviet General Secretary plans on defecting to America with the rising public unrest.

While the old guard battles to regain control inside the Kremlin and crowds out in the streets demand increased reforms, Marcus and his friends try to fight off a growing revolution.

For some, this novel helped rejuvenate the spy thriller, and is filled with strong action and suspense.

“Killing Time” is a stand alone novel and was released in the year 2003. Sergei Rodin is a Russian millionaire who walks a tightrope between the corrupt politicians of Moscow and his rivals. Deep down, he knows that it cannot last. He has done all he can to save his son Peter, the one he loves the most. Divorcing Yelena, his wife, and sent them to the States and off to England, where Peter studied in order to become a doctor.

Each year, father and son get together, in Italy, Switzerland, and one time in the South of France. During this time, they forget all the horrible dangers and pressures in the new Russia to just talk as a family. A week before this yearly vacation, Sergei makes a deal too many. Buying a major weapons complex over the ruthless Mayor of Moscow’s head, and he gets machine gunned to death.

Peter, who has pretty much became a Westerner, gets persuaded to move to Moscow by a business associate of his dad. There he finds the breadth and depth of his dad’s Mafia dealings and gets appalled. Peter is determined to stop the violence and possibly bring peace to the streets of Moscow.

On a visit to Peter’s new arms factory, he meets the Mayor, who is his dad’s killer, and negotiates a cease-fire. Unknown to him, the Mayor ordered his mom to be killed. When she gets killed, Peter’s change from an English doctor into a gangster is finished. While the hurt and anger consumes him, his western conditioning plays second fiddle and the murdering starts for real.

“Fatal Ally” is a stand alone novel and was released in the year 2019. Your strongest ally can also be your most lethal enemy.

After five years’ silence, a British intelligence asset has just made contact from Moscow. He claims to have an explosive piece of information, and wishes to defect to the West. The carefully-planned operation goes terribly wrong, and the would-be defector ruthlessly betrayed by a rogue element at the top levels of US government. MI6’s Margo Lane, as a result, is tasked with delivering a message the White House will not forget.

It is a mission that is going to take Margo to the contemporary Russia’s violent core as well as the edge of the civil war in Syria. Lastly to a horrifying personal choice she hoped she never would have to make.

Intelligent and convincing characters elevate this complex spy novel. Lane is an interesting character to follow, while she comes to grips with her orders to kill, seeing the personal costs of her choice to go ahead and comply. Any spy novel fans looking for more than the typical good guy/ bad guy face off are in for a treat.