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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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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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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

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