Showing results by narrator "Paul Thornley" in All Categories

Egypt, October 1942. The battle for North Africa rages fiercely along the length of the Egyptian coast. Punching their way deep behind enemy lines, the newly formed SAS carries out daring raids against the Germans. Lt Tom Caine leads a small squad of men on a desperate mission. His brief: to sabotage a terrible weapon being secretly developed by the Nazis in the desolate Libyan hills…

Tunisia 1943 - the Allies' advance is halted by determined Axis forces. The 8th Army has no choice but to outflank the enemy along their impenetrable Mareth line in the hellish Matmata hills. On a mission to safeguard this movement, Captain Tom Caine's SAS patrol is diverted by a strange emergency signal that draws them to a derelict aircraft and a mysterious black box. Besieged by a Nazi Death's Head unit intent on retrieving the box and betrayed by a comrade who steals it, Caine must make a choice.

Dan 'Spider' Shepherd was standing on the flight deck of an RAF Hercules C-130, leaning on the back of the pilot's seat and anxiously scanning the horizon ahead of them in the first faint light of dawn. Spider Shepherd and his patrol mates are heading back to Cyprus when an urgent situation arises, and they are pressed into action. A sensitive operation planned by HQ, they are sent into the Arabian desert to take on a group of dangerous terrorists.

"Sorry, boys, my hands are tied. The order comes from Special Force HQ, and I can’t countermand it. So I’m giving you a warning order for an imminent active service operation. You’ve got forty minutes to call your wives and girlfriends and sort your kit." After the tragic loss of one of his patrol on an ill-advised training exercise in the Arctic Circle, Spider Shepherd and his comrades are angry at their incompetent commanding officer.

Like a princess in a fairytale, Grace Hamilton has been showered with blessings: professional success, a happy marriage, and she even lives in a beautiful castle. But the only thing she really wants – her heart’s desire – is the one thing she can never have. Her sister, the beautiful Susannah, has made a mess of her life. Like a reverse Midas, everything she touches turns sour. But fate puts Grace’s future in Susannah’s hands, changing the balance of power between the sisters forever.

Nathan has never been able to forget the worst night of his life: the party that led to the sudden death of a young woman. Only he and Bob, an untrustworthy old acquaintance, know what really happened and they have resolved to keep it that way. But one rainy night, years later, Bob appears at Nathan's door with terrifying news, and old wounds are suddenly reopened.

Lee Arnold and Mumtaz Hakim run a detective agency in London's East End. But their latest case could have devastating consequences.A new client, Nasreen, has sought Hakim's help. Recently moved to a new house, and with a baby on the way, this should be an exciting time- but Nasreen has made friends in the community that she cannot tell her husband, Abdullah, about. And when a murder takes place close to their home, Nasreen suspects that Abdullah also has something to hide.

This is the call he is always ready for. They've had word of a planned attack. That's why he's back here, opposite some suit who's trying to tell him what he needs to do. But he knows exactly what's required. Four men. Plain clothes. Eyes peeled. Three targets. Two cases. One car. Gibraltar isn't an ideal location. Too many people. Too many blind alleys. But then again, he's not the terrorist. Who knows what goes through their minds? Well, he will soon. If everything goes to plan.

Vince Treadwell investigates the seemingly unrelated murders of a playboy aristocrat from Belgravia and a young black nurse from the wrong side of town. It takes the detective to the illegal drinking dens of Notting Hill, the nightclubs of Soho and the exclusive gaming tables of the Montcler Club. As Vince Treadwell digs deeper he finds a world of espionage and corruption where the underworld mixes easily with the aristocracy and no one is innocent.

"Spider Shepherd squatted on his heels outside his tent, drinking his first brew of the day from a battered mug as he watch the wind stirring dust devils from the dirt floor of the compound." When an inexperienced officer sends out innocent paratroopers to be betrayed by a surrendered Taliban sniper, Spider Shepherd is the man chosen to clean up the mess. With his old friends Jock and Geordie to help, along with SAS hopeful Lex, can they take their revenge? Or are they just putting themselves in the kill zone?

The working-class painter Terry Godden was on the brink of his first success. After a violent crisis, he finds himself outcast. Nearing 60 and with modest means, he has retreated to a small island. The island seems to be a closed, cold place. As the seasons turn, Terry comes to see that he is one of many people who have sought refuge here. These independent outsiders, all with their own considerable struggles, have made a precarious home. The island is owned by the businessman and art collector Alex Kaplan. 

"We’re professional soldiers,” said Shepherd. “We fight for queen and country. There’s a hell of a difference between us and mercenaries.” Spider Shepherd and the rest of his men are called upon to stop a bunch of South African mercenaries who have disobeyed orders and plundered diamond fields in Sierra Leone from reaching the Liberian border.

"It isn’t a part-time job, it’s a full-time, unrelenting commitment, and to become one of the inner elite you must expect to make sacrifices at the expense of family, friends, and your career.” Dan Shepherd is on a jungle training course in Belize as part of his SAS selection. Along with Liam, Geordie, and Jimbo, he is chosen for further training to see if he makes the cut for the Sabre Squadron Troop. Taken out on real operation patrol, the men run into trouble with Guatemalan troops in the disputed province.

"For eight hours Spider Shepherd had been lying up in a sand dune overlooking the six-lane highway that slashed through the desert like a knife. It was a moonless night, the blackness dotted with so many stars that looking up made his head spin." Fresh from a sniper mission in the Middle East, Spider Shepherd is sent to Afghanistan on a new assignment. Teamed up with former trainer Spud and Lex, a young Para, he receives intel that the man the Americans seek is hiding in the White Mountains.

When Julia Seagrove is found dead, a name carved into her body, old memories are stirred up for DI Hal Luchewski. The name is that of a murdered sex offender and the man who killed him, convicted in Hal's first ever murder case, has just been released from prison. As he digs deeper, Hal discovers multiple links between Dr Seagrove, the recently released killer Nino Gaudiano, and Nino's long-missing daughter Louisa.

m the killing fields of the East Midlands to the mean streets of London, from the jazz clubs and clip joints of Soho to the barren fenlands of East Anglia, this is a world of broken families and run-down estates, revenge killings and prostitution, drugs, guns and corruption; a world of overstretched police forces and underpaid detectives, men and women who strive nonetheless for a kind of justice; a world in which everything, even friendship, has a price. Featuring familiar characters including Frank Elder and Detective Inspector Charlie Resnick.

From the bestselling author of the Rebus detective series, a road worker is called on for a favour by the local loan shark.

This is the cocaine trade. This is how it's done: with hard work and a good system. With coca made into cubes, dissolved in liquid, hidden in marble blocks or inside electric cable. With willing mules swallowing drugs in ovules (they'll be arrested - this is part of the system). With shipments measured in tons. With money in cash, always. And these are the risks: police dogs, scanners, customs, infiltrators - and if you do it right, it will make you rich. And if you don't, you'll spend your life in jail.

For the sake of an old schoolmate, Robbie - and more importantly for Robbie's sister, Cate - Daniel Wade agrees to go along with a lie that has fatal consequences. Soon he's sucked into a conspiracy that threatens to consume them all. With a ruthless predator on their trail, Dan realises that evading justice is the least of their worries. All that matters now is staying alive...

On a storm-ravaged night, a 19-year-old girl is murdered. Three days later, her two younger brothers set out in search of her killer. Cole is a dark-eyed devil who doesn't care if he lives or dies; Ruben is a strange child who sometimes, inexplicably, experiences sensations above and beyond his own. This is the story of the boys' journey from their half-gypsy home in a London junk yard to the ghostly moors of Devon, where they hope and fear to find the truth about their sister's death.