As I work my way through all of Stephen Leather's Dan "Spider" Shepherd series, it's always a pleasure to know I won't be disappointed (I'd have given this one 4-1/2 stars had it been possible). In this one, the fourth, Shepherd has started his new job under a new supervisor he hasn't yet learned to trust completely. At the same time, he's trying to sell his house and relocate himself, his young son Liam and the "nanny" closer to his late wife Sue's parents - thus allowing the child to be near the grandparents who love him and making it a bit easier for Shepherd to be away on his ultra-secret assignments.As he's starting out on one of those assignments, though, he learns that an old friend has been kidnapped and is being held hostage somewhere in Iraq, and the word is he'll be murdered within days. Besides being a friend and teammate, Shepherd is indebted to the man for saving his life in the heat of a previous battle. Shepherd refuses to abandon him now, and he and his teammates go off on their own to rescue him -- or die trying. Their rogue actions threaten Shepherd's new job and put his entire career in jeopardy (and his life as well).Once again, Shepherd must deal with trying to understand the reasons he does what he does -- and whether he's willing to cross the line between necessary roughness and unethical behavior (or, for that matter, whether he's already standing on the other side).
I'd had this on the shelf for ages, thinking the earlier books in the series (this is number 4) might show up, but never having read his author before, and with so many other books to read, not motivated enough to buy them. I'm trying to clear my book-club pile and this was the highest rated, so figured I'd give it a go. It turns out you can easily read it as a standalone as there's plenty of fill-in of the back story and main characters to get the gist, although it does mean the earlier books could be a bit spoiled knowing who's survived and who hasn't.So, Spider Shepherd is an ex-SAS undercover policeman whose friend has been kidnapped in Iraq, so his old team get together to plan a rescue which forces them into illegal and morally dubious moves to get the information needed. It's the ethics of 24 - do the ends justify the means, and how much can you hurt innocent strangers to save someone you care about. It's very brutal - characters are introduced, only to be shot in the head a page later, to illustrate the risks and horrors of the war, and show how evil the bad guys are. There is some explanation of the politics of the region, which I found helpful, especially given recent events.I liked the hero, and will keep looking out for the other books of the series, and enjoyed but didn't love the story, so 3.5.
Do You like book Hot Blood (2007)?
The 4th book in the Dan Shepherd series by Stephen Leather. I only started reading this series 2 weeks ago but I am already half way through book 5 and I can't get enough of it. I really don't like this star rating system and feel it needs to be out of ten to give a better indication of how good or bad books are. I gave it a 4 star rating but it was so much better than a 3 star. The book could be read as a stand alone novel as there are explanations throughout to recap but to get the best experience read in order so that you can feel the characters fill out with all the back stories. I already have already have all 11 books in this series lined up to read in time for the next instalment that is due to be released in July.
—Gary
