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First Response

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First Response

By: Stephen Leather
Narrated by: Paul Thornley
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About this listen

 From the bestselling author of the Spider Shepherd and Jack Nightingale series comes First Response, the utterly addictive new thriller by Stephen Leather.

London is under siege.

Nine men in suicide vests primed to explode hold hostages in nine different locations around the city, and are ready to die for their cause.

Their mission: to force the government to release jihadist prisoners from Belmarsh Prison.
Their deadline: 6 p.m. Today.

But the bombers are cleanskins, terrorists with no obvious link to any group, and who do not appear on any anti-terror watch list. What has brought them together on this one day to act in this way?

Mo Kamran is the Superintendent in charge of the Special Crime and Operations branch of the Met. As the disaster unfolds and the SAS, armed police, and other emergency services rush to the scenes, he is tasked with preventing the biggest terrorist outrage the capital has ever known.

But nothing is what it seems. And only Kamran has the big picture. Will anyone believe him?

A chillingly plausible and pulse-pounding depiction of how London might be held to ransom in a concerted terrorist attack: this is thriller writing at its very best.

(P)2016 Hodder & Stoughton©2016 Stephen Leather Action & Adventure Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Suspense Thriller & Suspense Exciting Fiction Middle East

Critic reviews

The sheer impetus of his storytelling is damned hard to resist
Leather has the rare knack of writing in such a way that you almost feel as if you are watching a film . . . I devoured chapter after chapter late into the night
As tough as British thriller writers get
Explores complex contemporary issues while keeping the action fast and bloody
All stars
Most relevant
First listen to this author.
Very impressed.
Looking forward to next in the series. .

Best story in a long time.

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Excellent story, the type that you wish never ends. Mr Leather gives another compelling yarn.

Always on form...

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Would you consider the audio edition of First Response to be better than the print version?

I haven't read the print version, so I can't say, however Paul Thornley is excellent.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved the way that, as the listener, you knew something wasn't quite right.....but you couldn't put your finger on it

Which character – as performed by Paul Thornley – was your favourite?

Can't choose as they were all so good, but had equal parts to play.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not that particularly moved me, but revenge is always a "heart-warming" moment

Any additional comments?

Just fantastic.
On the back of this I have started listening to Stephen Leather's "Jack Nightingale" series.
That is brilliant.....I bought extra credits so that I could listen to the first 3 back to back!

Fantastic twist

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The performance was great and the book keeps you engrossed as such thrillers do. However there are many inconsistencies in the story. Without giving anything away, it jarred me that a new terrorist incident was being announced every one hour or so, with no awareness or suspicion among people at large, who seemed to be going about their daily routine. The main twist was blindingly obvious and the fact the police hadn't picked up the discrepancy when it occured nearly made me put the book down. My first one by SL, will try another but this will make for a better movie than a book.

Keeps you listening but full of flaws

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When he's not writing about the intricacies of 'Spider' Shepherds' life, and writes a standalone novel, Stephen Leather whisks you clean away from everything you know (or thought that you knew) and surprises & shocks and amazes you!

This is a novel about major incident procedures and multi-discipline collaboration (except the amateurs in G4S); about extremely ordinary citizens, about the respectable terrorist who greets you pleasantly every day; about brotherly love and a London on the brink of a major, career changing/breaking, sinister terrorist plot.

And you get to see behind the thought processes of the 'great and the good', or do I mean the overprivileged political brains whose first thoughts are ALWAYS about themselves!

This book is absolutely superb. You will not want to put it down until its story is told and even then, you want details about what will happen next…!

This is a standalone novel, so there is no more - but if there were to be a sequel, there is a rich fount of stories waiting to be told…

Stephen Leather at his best! Enjoy!

Absolutely Superb!

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