Sean McFate Books in Order
Sean McFate has written 8 books, published between 2014 and 2020. The first book is The Modern Mercenary (2014) and the newest is Goliath (2020). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 8
- Published
- 2014–2020
- Pages on record
- 2,002 in 6 of 8 books
- Reading time
- 33–50 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 2,002 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 6 of 8 titles with a page count on record.
Sean McFate writes on mercenaries and modern warfare, and writes thrillers about them. The Modern Mercenary (2014), Mercenaries and War (2019) and The New Rules of War (2019) are his non-fiction, alongside Building Better Armies on security sector reform and nation-building. The Tom Locke novels turn the same material into fiction: Shadow War (2016), Deep Black (2017), Goliath (2020) and High Treason (2020). Eight titles are catalogued.
How many Sean McFate books are there?
Sean McFate has 8 books, released between 2014 and 2020. 3 of them belong to the Tom Locke series.
Sean McFate Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 8 Sean McFate books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 1The Modern Mercenary2014 · 272 pages · confirmed 1/420142721/4
- 2Building Better Armies2014 · confirmed 1/42014–1/4
- 320163541/4
- 420173361/4
- 5The New Rules of War2019 · 336 pages · confirmed 1/420193361/4
- 6Mercenaries and War2019 · confirmed 1/42019–1/4
- 720203681/4
- 8Goliath2020 · 336 pages · confirmed 1/420203361/4
Sean McFate books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Tom Locke in order
3 books- 1. Shadow War
- 2. Deep Black
- 3. High Treason
Standalone books
5 books5 Sean McFate titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Sean McFate books in order?
You only need to read Sean McFate books in order within the Tom Locke series, which holds 3 of the 8 Sean McFate books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.
Where to start with Sean McFate
Start with The Modern Mercenary (2014), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Sean McFate book?
Goliath (2020) is the newest Sean McFate book released so far.
Is there a new Sean McFate book coming?
No next Sean McFate book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Sean McFate at a glance
- No recent titles
- The newest Sean McFate title on record dates from 2020, 6 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
- Release pace
- Sean McFate books have appeared about one a year on average.
- Length
- 2,002 pages across the 6 of 8 books with a recorded length, a median of 336 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Sean McFate books, 6 of 8, were published in the 2010s.
What the Sean McFate books are about
7 of the 8 Sean McFate books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: war & military is tagged on 3 of 7. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- War & military 3 of 7 books
- Military art and science 2 of 7 books