Good books don’t need a hard sell. They earn their place by being sharp, well-written, and worth the time you give them. For many readers of Veteran Magazine, that means books that respect intelligence, avoid lazy clichés, and offer something solid in return – perspective, entertainment, insight, or simply a well-told story.
The five picks below reflect what’s landing well in the UK right now and suit a readership that’s seen a bit of life. Some deal with pressure and purpose, some with history and institutions, others are there purely because they’re enjoyable. None of them shout about who they’re for – they just deliver.
Clown Town – Mick Herron
If you’ve ever rolled your eyes at shiny corporate messaging, you’ll be at home in Herron’s world. His Slough House novels follow the misfits, screw-ups and sidelined operators of the intelligence services – the people who still have to get the job done, even when the institution would rather forget them.
What makes Clown Town a proper recommendation for veterans is that it understands systems. It’s about loyalty, competence under pressure, and what happens when organisations protect themselves before they protect their people. Herron writes with bite and humour, but he’s also sharp on the moral fog that hangs over old operations and unresolved conflicts. It’s a thriller, yes – but it’s also a reminder that “serving the mission” can come with a long tail.
The Impossible Fortune – Richard Osman
Osman’s Thursday Murder Club books have become a national habit for a reason. They’re funny without being silly, humane without being soft, and the characters feel like people you’d actually meet – the sort who’d make the tea, take the mick, and quietly step up when it matters.
For veterans, there’s something surprisingly familiar in the rhythm of it: team dynamics, sharp observations, and that mixture of banter and seriousness that tends to show up when people have seen a bit of life. It’s also a brilliant palate cleanser if your brain’s been running hot for too long. Not everything needs to be “improving” you. Sometimes you just need a cracking story that leaves you in a better mood than when you started.
Shatterproof – Tasha Eurich
Plenty of books talk about resilience like it’s an unlimited resource. Anyone who’s done demanding jobs for long periods knows that’s nonsense. Eurich’s Shatterproof is one of the more grounded, practical takes on how people actually cope when life keeps throwing punches – not just one big crisis, but the drip-feed of stress, uncertainty, change and fatigue.
This will land with readers who’ve gone from structured military environments into civilian life and thought, “Why does everything feel harder to navigate than it should?” It’s not a veteran book, but the themes are familiar: self-leadership, managing your own head, and learning how to adapt without pretending you’re invincible. The best bit is that it doesn’t patronise. It’s written for capable adults who need tools, not pep talks.
SAS Great Escapes Three – Damien Lewis
You don’t need another chest-thumping “warrior” narrative. What you do need, occasionally, is a reminder of what human beings can endure and still keep moving. Lewis’s SAS Great Escapes Three leans into that – real stories, properly researched, built around survival, ingenuity, and a refusal to quit when the odds are ugly.
It’s also a good one to dip in and out of, which matters if your concentration comes and goes after a long day. The appeal here isn’t cosplay or hero worship. It’s craft, mindset and grit, told at pace. If you miss the clarity of a hard objective and the satisfaction of problem-solving under pressure, this scratches the itch without pretending war is glamorous.
Warriors in Scarlet: The Life and Times of the Last Redcoats – Ian Knight
Not every veteran wants modern conflict on the page. Sometimes you want history with enough detail to get your teeth into – the sort that reminds you that soldiering has always been shaped by politics, public opinion, logistics and sheer bloody-mindedness.
Knight’s Warriors in Scarlet is a deep dive into the British Army in the Victorian era – a period that’s often reduced to clichés, when in reality it was messy, global, and full of hard lessons about leadership, culture and the limits of power. It’s ideal if you like understanding how institutions evolve, how traditions form, and how the Army’s “way of being” didn’t appear out of thin air. Read it for context, for curiosity, and because it’s simply a proper military history book that doesn’t talk down to you.
