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Direct Action

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Direct Action

By: Stephen Leather
Narrated by: Paul Thornley
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Across Britain, violent criminals are walking free – cases derailed by sharp-suited defence lawyers and soft-touch judges – and public fury is reaching breaking point.

Into that anger step the New Crusaders, a shadowy group that hunts down offenders who have slipped through the net and delivers their own brand of punishment live across social media to millions of cheering followers. To some, they're heroes. To the government, they're terrorists.

Dan 'Spider' Shepherd of MI5 is tasked with bringing them down. But as Shepherd digs deeper, he uncovers a far more dangerous truth: the New Crusaders aren't driven by justice. They're being steered by hidden forces with an agenda that has nothing to do with punishment – and everything to do with tearing the country apart.

If Shepherd fails, it won't just be the rule of law that collapses.

It will be the country itself.

©2026 Stephen Leather (P)2026 Ulverscroft Audio Action & Adventure Crime Fiction Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Thriller & Suspense Rage Crusade
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Hostile Territory By: Stephen Leather
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Another gripping thriller from the master storyteller Stephen Leather. Direct Action is a topical, fast-paced listen packed with tension, action, and suspense from beginning to end. With not only Spider Shepherd it was great to meet up with Razor and Lex from previous stories once again.
As always, Paul Thornley delivers a superb narration, bringing the characters and story to life with his excellent performance. A perfect pairing of author and narrator, highly recommended.

Spider strikes again!

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I always enjoy Stephen's books, not just the Spider Shepherd series. The narration is always excellent and well paced. You always know what to expect with this series, but that's not a bad thing, and each book is full of action and drama.
I did find this a bit preachy at times with a lot of exposition on the problems of immigration. the bad guys giving regular rants and other characters discussing the problems repeatedly. Occasionally characters explored the issue from different standpoints but it felt very one sided and became tedious

spider back in action

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Really enjoy the references to other characters, Liam, Razor, Major Gannon etc I’ve listen to the books many times and the intricacies of the story and the personalities is brilliant. The story is also written to correspond with today’s challenges and thoughts. Read by Paul Thornley, who does an incredible job!

Engaging listen, can’t wait for the next!

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I love this series - the stories are always taut and potentially realistic. The characters are interesting and Spider is a great protagonist. Thoroughly recommended

Topical new Spider Shepherd thriller

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Wow! The subject matter could be today’s headlines. I don’t know how Stephen Leather does it. He walks a tightrope between fiction and social sentiment drawing on the listener’s base feelings and moral intelligence. The story, once again was great, I didn’t want to turn it off! And with Paul Thornley’s perfect narrative, the book was over way too soon. Man, what a subject… You must give this one a listen.

Another Cracking Spider Shepherd Story… And what a topic!

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