Showing results by author "Stephen Leather" in All Categories

This collection of stories goes back to Dan “Spider” Shepherd’s SAS days, and the missions that shaped him. From his training in the welsh hills and the jungles of Belize, through to his early missions in Sierra Leone and the Middle East, these nine stories chart his rise through the SAS, and his involvement with the elite Sabre Squadron. Along with his comrades Jimbo, McKay and Geordie, Spider puts his life on the line on active duty…and sows the seeds of his future career.

Murderous jihadists have been crossing the English Channel, passing themselves off as asylum seekers. MI5 have been keeping them under surveillance, but what starts as a simple terrorist takedown goes badly wrong, and dozens of innocent civilians are killed in the heart of London. And the screw is tightened when a bomb takes out senior members of the Secret Intelligence Service.

Former SAS trooper turned undercover cop Dan 'Spider' Shepherd knows there are no easy solutions in the war against terrorism. But when a killer starts to target pardoned IRA terrorists, Shepherd has to put his life on the line to protect his former enemies. While he is undercover in Belfast, a grief-stricken Saudi whose two sons died under torture in the name of the War on Terror is planning to avenge their deaths. As the Muslim assassin closes in on his prey, Shepherd realises that the only way to save lives is to become a killer himself.

The 14th thriller in the Spider Shepherd series promises even more gripping action from The Sunday Times best seller Stephen Leather. Working undercover is all about trust - getting the target to trust you and then betraying them in order to bring them to justice. But what do you do when you believe an undercover cop has crossed the line and aligned herself with the international drugs smuggler she was supposed to be targeting?

Ten years ago, Andrea Hayes was the best master bombmaker in the business. Young, beautiful, and deadly, she was the favourite of her Irish republican masters. Then it all went wrong. Five children were killed, when disruption was all that was intended. It all became too much, and she turned away from her trade.… Now, a new Andrea Hayes lives a safe suburban life, with her loving husband and young daughter. Safe in the knowledge that her past is another country. But then her daughter is kidnapped and the past has come knocking.

“You’re going to hell, Jack Nightingale”: They are words that ended his police career. Now Jack’s a struggling private detective – and the chilling words come back to haunt him. Nightingale’s life is turned upside down the day that he inherits a mansion from a man who claims to be his father. It comes with a warning that Nightingale’s soul was sold at birth and a devil will come to claim it on his 33rd birthday – just three weeks away.

Dan 'Spider' Shepherd is used to putting his life on the line - for his friends and for his job with MI5. So when one of his former apprentices is kidnapped in the badlands of Pakistan, Shepherd doesn't hesitate to join a rescue mission.But when the plan goes horribly wrong, Shepherd, ends up in the hands of al-Qaeda terrorists. His SAS training is of little help as his captors beat and torture him. Shepherd's MI5 controller, Charlotte Button, is determined to get her man out of harm's way, but to do that she's going to have to break all the rules.

Kidnapping is one of the cruellest crimes - lives are put at risk for cold, hard cash. But when Somali pirates seize the crew of a yacht off the coast of Africa, they bite off more than they can chew. One of the hostages has friends in high places, and Spider Shepherd is put on the case. He goes deep undercover in an audacious plan to bring an end to the pirate gang's reign of terror. But as Shepherd closes in on his quarry, he realises that there's much more at stake than the lives of the hostages.

The SAS are used to deaths during combat—it goes with the turf. But when one of their own is said to have committed suicide in Thailand, red flags are raised. Pete Green wasn't the sort of soldier who would ever take his own life—and no one is more sure of that than his twin brother, Davie. Davie is determined to fly to the Land Of Smiles to find out what really happened to his twin brother. But if he is going to find out the truth he'll need help—the sort of help only SAS Sergeant Matt Standing can provide.

Las Vegas is known as Sin City. And what happens in Vegas usually stays in Vegas. But someone in the city has powers that allow them to strike anywhere in the world and take lives—for a price. Jack Nightingale has a track record of dealing with occult killers and so far he has always come out on top. But this time the only way to find the killer is to set himself up as bait. And this might be the time when his luck finally runs out.

SAS trooper Matt 'Lastman' Standing is a lethal killing machine with experience in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Plus he's worked with French in the past. It's not a mission he wants, but Standing made a bad choice in his past, and it has come back to haunt him. Now he's hunting French in the lawless Wild West forests of Humboldt County, where the US produces most of its legal - and illegal - cannabis. But French isn't the only predator in the wilderness - there are Mexican cartels, Russian Mafia and Hungarian gangsters - and Standing has to overcome them all to get to his target.

Friendships forged in the heat of combat can be stronger than anything. So when SAS trooper Matt Standing is told that the former Navy SEAL who saved his life is in trouble, he doesn't hesitate to go to his aid - even if that means flying halfway around the world to Los Angeles. Navy SEAL-turned-bodyguard Bobby-Ray Barnes has been accused of killing the man he was supposed to be protecting. Three other bodyguards were also killed, and now Bobby-Ray is on the run. The dead client was a Russian oligarch with connections to the Kremlin.

Dan 'Spider' Shepherd's career path - soldier, policeman, MI5 officer - has always put a strain on his family. So he is far from happy to learn that MI5 is using teenagers as informants. Parents are being kept in the dark and Shepherd fears that the children are being exploited. As an undercover specialist, Shepherd is tasked with protecting a 15-year-old schoolboy who is being used to gather evidence against violent drug dealers and a right-wing terrorist group. But when the boy's life is threatened, Shepherd has no choice but to step in and take the heat.

Professional killers are carrying out hits for the Iranian government across the European continent, hitting targets amongst the wealthiest and most privileged. After a slew of murders in London, MI5 decide that enough is enough: they are going to have to hit back at the hitmen for hire. Dan 'Spider' Shepherd, the secret service's most dangerous weapon, is tasked with infiltrating the organisation's ranks and cutting off its head. But just how deep does this hydra go?

A friend in need is a friend indeed. And no one is a better friend than hitman-for-hire Lex Harper. When a mate from his past ends up in a Bolivian prison, Harper doesn’t think twice about going to his aid. Beatings, rapes and murders are an everyday occurrence in the prison. But the only way to break his friend out is for Harper to put his own life on the line, in a place where death comes quickly and only the strong survive. Getting into the prison is easy enough – but can Harper get out? And how many people will he have to kill to make it back?

Hong Kong: The British administration is preparing to hand the capitalist colony back to communist China with the minimum of fuss. But Colonel Joel Tyler has other plans for the British Colony, plans which involve four Vietnam War veterans and a spectacular mission, making use of their unique skills. Vietnam was the one thing the four men had in common before Tyler moulded them into a team capable of pulling off a sensational robbery. But while the vets are preparing to take Hong Kong by storm, their paymaster, Anthony Chung, puts the final touches on an audacious betrayal.

New Orleans. They call it the Big Easy, but there’s nothing easy about Jack Nightingale’s latest case. Dead usually means dead, but corpses are coming back to life and carrying out targeted killings. The supernatural detective is called in to investigate and he soon discovers that Voodoo is behind the spate of murders. Whoever is making the dead rise obviously has a plan - a plan so heinous that even the Devils of Hell are concerned.... But there are darker forces at work. And they have Nightingale in their sights. His life - and his soul - are on the line.

When a murdered young girl miraculously returns to life saying she's spoken to God, it's clear that sinister forces are at play. And when those who speak to her inexplicably commit suicide shortly afterwards, Nightingale is called in. He discovers a demon has possessed the girl's body…and the only way to banish it is to kill her. And that's not all he has to deal with. After a farmer kills eight people before turning the gun on himself, the press label him as a Satanist.

The explosive new stand-alone thriller from the author of the Spider Shepherd series. Sally Page is an MI5 'footie', a junior Secret Service Agent who maintains 'legends': fake identities or footprints used by real spies. Her day consists of maintaining flats and houses where the legends allegedly live, doing online shopping, using payment, loyalty and travel cards and going on social media in their names - anything to give the impression to hostile surveillance that the legends are living, breathing individuals.

Jack Nightingale fights his battles in the shadows - in the grey areas where the real world meets the supernatural. But when he arrives in San Francisco to take on a group of Satanists bent on opening a doorway to hell, the danger is out in the open and all too real. The Apostles - a Satanic coven using murder and torture to pave the way for a demon to enter the real world - realise that Nightingale is on their tail and unleash their own brand of monsters to take him down.