Showing results by narrator "Paul Thornley" in All Categories

On the very first day of 2019 a ten-year-old girl is found murdered in a backyard in Odense, Denmark. Her body is set up as a morbid work of art; a detailed copy of the final scene in H. C. Andersen's fairy tale; The Little Match Girl; crippled, frozen to death, crunching a pile of burned-out matches. This is the starting point for one of Denmark's most macabre murder cases. A case that quickly attracts the attention of the world press and ignites a fear throughout the Danish population; is there a serial killer at stake, and will there be more "works of art?"

The image of Jonny Wilkinson's last-minute winning drop goal is etched deep into the nation's consciousness, everyone able to recall where they were during that iconic moment on the 22nd November 2003. Twenty years on, with their achievement still unmatched, the affection and respect this band of brothers command is as great as ever. There is still no modern player as beloved as Jonny Wilkinson, no captain as celebrated and respected as Martin Johnson, and no coach as revered as Sir Clive Woodward. And there is no one with the aura and drive of Lawrence Dallaglio.

No one knows for sure who Richard Yokely worked for in the past - the Army, the CIA, DEA, NSA - he has carried out missions for them all. But now he works for Grey Fox, the super secret agency that takes care of business that the White House would prefer to keep under wraps. A vicious killer has been attacking schools in America, killing without mercy. And when it looks like the killer might be a former special-forces soldier who has gone rogue, Yokely could be the only man who can stop him.

Tough, resourceful and ruthless, ex-SAS trooper Nick Stone is now working for British Intelligence on deniable operations. And is desperately in need of cash. When he is offered a lucrative freelance job, Stone thinks his problems are over. All he needs to do is kidnap a Russian mafia warlord. And so Stone is thrust into the grim underworld of Estonia, with unknown aggressors stalking the Arctic landscape. Russia has launched a cyber-espionage attack, hacking into the West's most sensitive military secrets. Stone must stop them.

Ex-SAS trooper Nick Stone is extremely highly trained. Clever, ruthless and very effective, it is no surprise that he is hired by British Intelligence. On deniable operations - one of the most dangerous lines of work. Sarah Greenwood is beautiful, intelligent and cunning - and the only woman Stone has ever truly opened up to. But now he has been ordered to hunt her down. Hotly pursued through the American wilderness, Stone finds himself at the centre of a deadly game of cat and mouse.

The media call him The Burning Man, a brutal murderer who has beaten four young women to death before setting their bodies ablaze in secluded areas of London's parks. And now the fifth victim has been found. Maeve Kerrigan is an ambitious detective constable, keen to make her mark on the murder task force. Her male colleagues believe Maeve's empathy makes her weak, but the more she learns about the latest victim, Rebecca Haworth, from her grieving friends and family, the more determined Maeve becomes to bring her murderer to justice. But how do you catch a killer no one has ever seen?

From Sunday Times bestselling author Simon Kernick - the UK's answer to Harlan Coben - come two electrifying novellas and three gripping short stories published in book form for the very first time. Fans of David Baldacci, Stuart MacBride and Peter James will not be disappointed.

The Russian oligarchs are the world's new elite. They treat the world as their plaything. But when an assassin starts killing off some of the world's richest men, an oligarch with friends in high places seeks the protection of MI5. And Spider Shepherd is placed in the firing line. But while Shepherd has to save the life of a man he neither likes nor respects, he has to deal with a face from his past. The Taliban sniper who put a bullet in his shoulder turns up alive and well and living in London. And Shepherd is in no mood to forgive or forget.

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.

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.

Villains across London are being beaten, crippled and killed by vigilante cops. Crime rates are falling, but the powers that be want Dan 'Spider' Shepherd to bring the wave of rough justice to an end. Shepherd has always known that there are grey areas in the fight against crime. And that sometimes justice gets lost in the process. He has never been comfortable investigating cops, but working for the Serious Organised Crime Agency means that he has no choice.

Ex-deniable operator Nick Stone has spent a lifetime in harm's way - but when someone he cares for very deeply is murdered in cold blood, he can no longer just take the pain. A high-level internecine conflict at the dark heart of the resurgent Russian Empire and an assassin's bullet on an isolated Alpine pass propel him from an apparently run-of-the-mill close-protection task into his most brutal and challenging mission yet. As the body count increases, Stone becomes one of Europe's most wanted.

Supernatural detective Jack Nightingale has always dealt with unusual - and dangerous - cases. When a serial killer starts killing victims using Witchfinder methods of execution, Nightingale is asked to help. As the body count mounts, Nightingale realises that the killer is on a mission of revenge for acts committed 400 years ago. And he and his assistant Jenny McLean are both on the killer's hit list.

Nick Stone's future has never looked as bleak. The only person he's ever loved is dead. The only people who might give him a reason not to join her have turned their backs. Until a chance encounter with a man he saved ten years ago appears to throw him a lifeline . . .But on the bullet- and bomb -scarred streets of Baghdad, second chances are in short supply.

In 2015 former England football star Rio Ferdinand suddenly and tragically lost his wife and soul mate, Rebecca, age 34, to cancer. It was a profound shock, and Rio found himself struggling to cope not just with the pain of his grief but also with his new role as both mum and dad to their three young children. Rio's BBC1 documentary Being Mum and Dad touched everyone who watched it and won huge praise for the honesty and bravery he showed in talking about his emotions and experiences.

Jack Nightingale is now living permanently in the US, and Joshua Wainwright has a job for him. Billionaire David Warner is being plagued by a ghost, and Nightingale must get rid of it or he won’t close his business deal with Wainwright. So it is a stay in a haunted mansion for Jack, surrounded by scared or hostile staff and dealing with an obnoxious client. Even under pressure of time, Jack’s first concern is with the welfare of the ghost.

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.

Russian troops are preparing to cross the border into Belarus, threatening its independence. The only thing facing them are an armed partisan group, but they are poorly trained and will be no match for the Russians. The British government wants an independent Belarus as a buffer against Russian expansion - so Shepherd is despatched with a crack SAS team to help the partisans.

British Doctor Raj Patel puts his own life on the line to treat the injured in war-torn Syria. His medical skills help casualties survive against all the odds. But Raj needs to rely on a completely different set of skills when he is taken hostage in a treacherous case of mistaken identity. Billionaire big-game hunter Jon van der Sandt is driven by revenge - his family have been killed by jihadist terrorists, and he wants his vengeance up close and personal.

On the barren surface of an asteroid, located deep in the galaxy beneath the unbearable light of the Kefahuchi Tract, lie three objects: an abandoned spacecraft, a pair of bone dice covered with strange symbols, and a human skeleton. What they are and what they mean are the mysteries explored and unwrapped in Light, M. John Harrison's triumphant novel.