A new world had emerged, and he hadn't even noticed it. As a policeman, he still lived in another, older world. How was he going to learn to live with the new? . . We live as if we were in mourning for a lost paradise, he thought...

It could be said that as a policeman, Kurt Wallander, Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell's award winning creation, isn't much cop. He eschews the meticulous and the scientific in favour of his hunches, which all too often lead up blind alleys. He drinks too much, then drives. He doesn't get enough sleep. And to cap it all, his wife has left him and his daughter doesn't speak to him.

Faceless Killers is the first of the acclaimed Wallander novels. Set in January 1990, in a frozen landscape and against the backdrop of a rapidly changing Europe, this is a bleak novel that deals with the thorny issues of immigration and racial hatred. Wallander investigates a brutal double murder at a remote farmhouse in which the only possible clues are the whispered words of a dying woman and a freshly fed horse. When this limited evidence and its implications leak to the press it stirs right wing activists into action.

At times Wallander seems too much like the traditional hard-drinking, hard-living, hard-boiled detective of old, but he is more than that. He is a truth seeker, trying to make sense of his rapidly changing world, his method happens to be detective work, and it is this search that lies at the philosophical heart of the novel.

--Iain Robinson

Meet Inspector Wallander, 02 May 2008
If not the best police procedural in terms of plot, this is certainly a good introduction to Inspector Kurt Wallander. He's a newly single grumpy forty-something who frets about his family; but he is a good, conscientious policeman who's not afraid of doing the hard stuff himself. When a gruesome double murder is committed on a farm out in the country, it takes graft in the dull Swedish winter to track down the faceless killers of the title. We don't find out much more about his family or colleagues in this first volume, but I look forward to reading many more.


The review I read......., 16 Mar 2008
.....must have been writeen by Mankell's best friend or agent. On the strength of it I bought the book and how shallow, slow, drab, grey and conclusivly dull and predictable it was too. I hate detective fiction where the people who did it enter the book ten pages from the end. Set in the Swedish winter in places that sound about as appealing as frostbite, Wallender, Manning's ace detective,is a real uninspiring bore (who wants to know that he diorea everyday and looks down at his underpants and realises they need changing?) and his team aren't much better. They is no character you don't care if they carry on living or not. I gave it two starts instead of one, as I presume, given Mankell's output of Wallender 'mysteries' he must have improved or maybe the buying population of the villages and town he mentions is enough to maintain a living by.

Surprise package, 09 Feb 2007
I was bought this book as a Christmas present. I had never heard of the author or the detective who is the main character.

However what an absolute delight. A real story about a detective in a small police force in Sweden. Normally he has to deal with petty crime so when a very violent double murder is uncovered our detective "Kurt Wallander" has a problem on his hands.

What is exceptionally good about this book is the development of the main character Wallander. His wife has left him, his father is on the start of suffering from dimentia and his daughter wont talk to him. This is story of a policeman working laboriously through what small clues there are, managing his private life, yet it is done with a very ydry humour through out the book.

Loved it

"For murder, though it have no tongue, 19 Jan 2007
will speak with most miraculous organ." Hamlet.

An aging farmer and his wife have been brutally attacked on their isolated farm in southern Sweden. They appear to have little money and no enemies. The only clue, if you can call it that is the dying word of the farmer's wife: "foreign". The police have have little else to go on but go on they must. That is the plot for Henning Mankell's first Kurt Wallander detective mystery: "Faceless Killers". The result is a well-done police procedural.

My `discovery' (I know he has already been discovered by millions of readers) of the Kurt Wallander series was the natural result of my reading a series of "Martin Beck" detective mysteries by the husband and wife team of Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall. Wallander, like Beck, is a police detective in Sweden. Unlike Beck, whose beat was Stockholm, Wallander works in the small southern-Swedish city of Ystad. The Wallander series takes place in the 1990s while the Beck series took place in the 1960s and 1970s.

Since this book is the first in a series, it provides the reader with a great deal of background information on the main characters. Wallander is gritty and determined. He is also newly separated from his wife and estranged from his daughter. Further, his father is showing the first signs of senility. Wallander sometimes drinks too much and is clumsy in his dealings with the interim prosecutor, an attractive young woman sent down from Stockholm.

The book moves along at a relatively quick pace. Mankell does a good job of keeping the pot boiling without revealing too much too quickly. The detectives follow false leads and their fallibility adds a nice veneer of realism to the story. The importance of the farmer's wife's last word "foreign" is clear but its meaning is not fully revealed (or proven) until the book's climax.

I enjoyed "Faceless Killers". Although there was nothing uniquely creative or groundbreaking about the plot or its resolution, Mankell tells a good story. He also manages to evoke a compelling picture of life (and police work) in an area as far from Stockholm as you are likely to get. As such these books make a nice contrast with the Martin Beck series. (Mankell does make a quick reference to one of the Beck books, "The Laughing Policeman", so it seems clear that the obvious comparisons between the two books and series are also clear to Mankell.

"Faceless Killers" is worth reading. While I don't think it was the best book in the series (the natural result of having to spend a lot of time with the requisite development of a large number of characters that populate a series), I think it is worth reading. I've read two other Wallander books ("The Dogs of Riga" and "Side-Tracked") to date and have enjoyed both of them. If you like police procedurals and like the idea of a somewhat exotic (if cold) setting, I think you will like "Faceless Killers". L. Fleisig.

A Good, Lazy Thriller, 05 Jan 2007
The book is no doubt well-written, with the main character - a weary police officer named Kurt Wallander - being very convincing and interesting, but it seems the crime itself is secondary to everything else that happens here (Wallander's love life, his problems with his daughter and an old father). Still - it's a pleasure to read the novel (in spite of some cruelty and the fact that certain characters ooze pessimism), just don't expect a classic 'whodunnit'; the answers to the questions "Who?" and "Why?" are usually delivered in a rather lazy manner, and all too often we only get them thanks to a surprising coincidence or pure good luck rather than because of Wallander's crime-solving skills.

Meet Inspector Wallander, 02 May 2008
If not the best police procedural in terms of plot, this is certainly a good introduction to Inspector Kurt Wallander. He's a newly single grumpy forty-something who frets about his family; but he is a good, conscientious policeman who's not afraid of doing the hard stuff himself. When a gruesome double murder is committed on a farm out in the country, it takes graft in the dull Swedish winter to track down the faceless killers of the title. We don't find out much more about his family or colleagues in this first volume, but I look forward to reading many more.


The review I read......., 16 Mar 2008
.....must have been writeen by Mankell's best friend or agent. On the strength of it I bought the book and how shallow, slow, drab, grey and conclusivly dull and predictable it was too. I hate detective fiction where the people who did it enter the book ten pages from the end. Set in the Swedish winter in places that sound about as appealing as frostbite, Wallender, Manning's ace detective,is a real uninspiring bore (who wants to know that he diorea everyday and looks down at his underpants and realises they need changing?) and his team aren't much better. They is no character you don't care if they carry on living or not. I gave it two starts instead of one, as I presume, given Mankell's output of Wallender 'mysteries' he must have improved or maybe the buying population of the villages and town he mentions is enough to maintain a living by.

Surprise package, 09 Feb 2007
I was bought this book as a Christmas present. I had never heard of the author or the detective who is the main character.

However what an absolute delight. A real story about a detective in a small police force in Sweden. Normally he has to deal with petty crime so when a very violent double murder is uncovered our detective "Kurt Wallander" has a problem on his hands.

What is exceptionally good about this book is the development of the main character Wallander. His wife has left him, his father is on the start of suffering from dimentia and his daughter wont talk to him. This is story of a policeman working laboriously through what small clues there are, managing his private life, yet it is done with a very ydry humour through out the book.

Loved it

"For murder, though it have no tongue, 19 Jan 2007
will speak with most miraculous organ." Hamlet.

An aging farmer and his wife have been brutally attacked on their isolated farm in southern Sweden. They appear to have little money and no enemies. The only clue, if you can call it that is the dying word of the farmer's wife: "foreign". The police have have little else to go on but go on they must. That is the plot for Henning Mankell's first Kurt Wallander detective mystery: "Faceless Killers". The result is a well-done police procedural.

My `discovery' (I know he has already been discovered by millions of readers) of the Kurt Wallander series was the natural result of my reading a series of "Martin Beck" detective mysteries by the husband and wife team of Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall. Wallander, like Beck, is a police detective in Sweden. Unlike Beck, whose beat was Stockholm, Wallander works in the small southern-Swedish city of Ystad. The Wallander series takes place in the 1990s while the Beck series took place in the 1960s and 1970s.

Since this book is the first in a series, it provides the reader with a great deal of background information on the main characters. Wallander is gritty and determined. He is also newly separated from his wife and estranged from his daughter. Further, his father is showing the first signs of senility. Wallander sometimes drinks too much and is clumsy in his dealings with the interim prosecutor, an attractive young woman sent down from Stockholm.

The book moves along at a relatively quick pace. Mankell does a good job of keeping the pot boiling without revealing too much too quickly. The detectives follow false leads and their fallibility adds a nice veneer of realism to the story. The importance of the farmer's wife's last word "foreign" is clear but its meaning is not fully revealed (or proven) until the book's climax.

I enjoyed "Faceless Killers". Although there was nothing uniquely creative or groundbreaking about the plot or its resolution, Mankell tells a good story. He also manages to evoke a compelling picture of life (and police work) in an area as far from Stockholm as you are likely to get. As such these books make a nice contrast with the Martin Beck series. (Mankell does make a quick reference to one of the Beck books, "The Laughing Policeman", so it seems clear that the obvious comparisons between the two books and series are also clear to Mankell.

"Faceless Killers" is worth reading. While I don't think it was the best book in the series (the natural result of having to spend a lot of time with the requisite development of a large number of characters that populate a series), I think it is worth reading. I've read two other Wallander books ("The Dogs of Riga" and "Side-Tracked") to date and have enjoyed both of them. If you like police procedurals and like the idea of a somewhat exotic (if cold) setting, I think you will like "Faceless Killers". L. Fleisig.

A Good, Lazy Thriller, 05 Jan 2007
The book is no doubt well-written, with the main character - a weary police officer named Kurt Wallander - being very convincing and interesting, but it seems the crime itself is secondary to everything else that happens here (Wallander's love life, his problems with his daughter and an old father). Still - it's a pleasure to read the novel (in spite of some cruelty and the fact that certain characters ooze pessimism), just don't expect a classic 'whodunnit'; the answers to the questions "Who?" and "Why?" are usually delivered in a rather lazy manner, and all too often we only get them thanks to a surprising coincidence or pure good luck rather than because of Wallander's crime-solving skills.

refreshingly different, 28 Feb 2008
Unusually the detective doesn't get his man - well not how you might think, anyway. The characterisation is gripping, but you need to concentrate and keep your wits about you. Can't wait for the next one.

Meet Inspector Wallander, 02 May 2008
If not the best police procedural in terms of plot, this is certainly a good introduction to Inspector Kurt Wallander. He's a newly single grumpy forty-something who frets about his family; but he is a good, conscientious policeman who's not afraid of doing the hard stuff himself. When a gruesome double murder is committed on a farm out in the country, it takes graft in the dull Swedish winter to track down the faceless killers of the title. We don't find out much more about his family or colleagues in this first volume, but I look forward to reading many more.


The review I read......., 16 Mar 2008
.....must have been writeen by Mankell's best friend or agent. On the strength of it I bought the book and how shallow, slow, drab, grey and conclusivly dull and predictable it was too. I hate detective fiction where the people who did it enter the book ten pages from the end. Set in the Swedish winter in places that sound about as appealing as frostbite, Wallender, Manning's ace detective,is a real uninspiring bore (who wants to know that he diorea everyday and looks down at his underpants and realises they need changing?) and his team aren't much better. They is no character you don't care if they carry on living or not. I gave it two starts instead of one, as I presume, given Mankell's output of Wallender 'mysteries' he must have improved or maybe the buying population of the villages and town he mentions is enough to maintain a living by.

Surprise package, 09 Feb 2007
I was bought this book as a Christmas present. I had never heard of the author or the detective who is the main character.

However what an absolute delight. A real story about a detective in a small police force in Sweden. Normally he has to deal with petty crime so when a very violent double murder is uncovered our detective "Kurt Wallander" has a problem on his hands.

What is exceptionally good about this book is the development of the main character Wallander. His wife has left him, his father is on the start of suffering from dimentia and his daughter wont talk to him. This is story of a policeman working laboriously through what small clues there are, managing his private life, yet it is done with a very ydry humour through out the book.

Loved it

"For murder, though it have no tongue, 19 Jan 2007
will speak with most miraculous organ." Hamlet.

An aging farmer and his wife have been brutally attacked on their isolated farm in southern Sweden. They appear to have little money and no enemies. The only clue, if you can call it that is the dying word of the farmer's wife: "foreign". The police have have little else to go on but go on they must. That is the plot for Henning Mankell's first Kurt Wallander detective mystery: "Faceless Killers". The result is a well-done police procedural.

My `discovery' (I know he has already been discovered by millions of readers) of the Kurt Wallander series was the natural result of my reading a series of "Martin Beck" detective mysteries by the husband and wife team of Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall. Wallander, like Beck, is a police detective in Sweden. Unlike Beck, whose beat was Stockholm, Wallander works in the small southern-Swedish city of Ystad. The Wallander series takes place in the 1990s while the Beck series took place in the 1960s and 1970s.

Since this book is the first in a series, it provides the reader with a great deal of background information on the main characters. Wallander is gritty and determined. He is also newly separated from his wife and estranged from his daughter. Further, his father is showing the first signs of senility. Wallander sometimes drinks too much and is clumsy in his dealings with the interim prosecutor, an attractive young woman sent down from Stockholm.

The book moves along at a relatively quick pace. Mankell does a good job of keeping the pot boiling without revealing too much too quickly. The detectives follow false leads and their fallibility adds a nice veneer of realism to the story. The importance of the farmer's wife's last word "foreign" is clear but its meaning is not fully revealed (or proven) until the book's climax.

I enjoyed "Faceless Killers". Although there was nothing uniquely creative or groundbreaking about the plot or its resolution, Mankell tells a good story. He also manages to evoke a compelling picture of life (and police work) in an area as far from Stockholm as you are likely to get. As such these books make a nice contrast with the Martin Beck series. (Mankell does make a quick reference to one of the Beck books, "The Laughing Policeman", so it seems clear that the obvious comparisons between the two books and series are also clear to Mankell.

"Faceless Killers" is worth reading. While I don't think it was the best book in the series (the natural result of having to spend a lot of time with the requisite development of a large number of characters that populate a series), I think it is worth reading. I've read two other Wallander books ("The Dogs of Riga" and "Side-Tracked") to date and have enjoyed both of them. If you like police procedurals and like the idea of a somewhat exotic (if cold) setting, I think you will like "Faceless Killers". L. Fleisig.

A Good, Lazy Thriller, 05 Jan 2007
The book is no doubt well-written, with the main character - a weary police officer named Kurt Wallander - being very convincing and interesting, but it seems the crime itself is secondary to everything else that happens here (Wallander's love life, his problems with his daughter and an old father). Still - it's a pleasure to read the novel (in spite of some cruelty and the fact that certain characters ooze pessimism), just don't expect a classic 'whodunnit'; the answers to the questions "Who?" and "Why?" are usually delivered in a rather lazy manner, and all too often we only get them thanks to a surprising coincidence or pure good luck rather than because of Wallander's crime-solving skills.

refreshingly different, 28 Feb 2008
Unusually the detective doesn't get his man - well not how you might think, anyway. The characterisation is gripping, but you need to concentrate and keep your wits about you. Can't wait for the next one.

Hard Landing (Dan Sheperd Mysteries), 06 Nov 2008
The Dan Shepherd series are rivetting and hard to put down. 'Spider' is an interesting and complex character but reassuringly tough - a bit like a UK version of Jack Reacher from the Lee Child books, but not such a loner. I have enjoyed everyone of the Dan Shepherd books and strongly recommend them - the fact that I have bought them all is testament to Stephen Leather being a great author

Spider Does Porridge, 25 Aug 2008
I have just read Hard Landing for the 2nd time with a gap of about 3 years. I have a talent for developing amnesia when it comes to reading and therefore I could really only remember the basic plotline. I was once again captivated by the tension the author creates in this thriller and found myself holding my breath as the action hotted up. I think the introduction of Spider's family and his interaction with his son humanises a character I have previously described as "superhuman" (my review of Dead Men).This was our first meeting with Spider and to date he has not disappointed.

Great intro to Spider, 06 Oct 2007
This is the first of Leathers books to feature Dan Shepherd, and it is a cracker! Carpenter is a drug dealer on remand in a high security prison but managing to kill off witneses so his case won't go to trial. Carpenter has a huge span of control both in and out of the nick. Enter Spider, undercover to make sure Carpenter gets convicted. This is a great and tense game of chess with Carpenter having a strong network and Spider always under the risk of being found as a cop in jail. Great story, but could have been edited down 100 pages, nevertheless.

Standard Prison story with a cracking end, 22 Mar 2007
Leather has written some amazing books and this for anyone else would be a good book but not quite as amazing as his early ones. The story starts off with Dan Shepherd being arrested and put in prison to get information on a really nasty drug runner who has killed off most of anyone who can finger him. The scenes are pretty graphic and the action as far as it can get in a prison is pretty hard and fast. The ending makes a huge extra point to the book.

Not bad.

New literary Tough Guy hits the ground running, 14 Feb 2007
HARD LANDING was the first in the Stephen Leather's series of thrillers starring Dan "Spider" Shepherd, an ex-SAS trooper now assigned to an elite Metropolitan police unit tabbed for deep undercover operations when the usual enforcement methods can't nab the bad guys. Dan's nickname came to be while on an SAS survival training mission and he won a bet on who could eat the most disgusting thing. One normally doesn't see "tarantula" on the menu even in the greasiest curry house.

HARD LANDING was followed by SOFT TARGET and COLD KILL, all three of which I've unintentionally read in reverse order. I'd recommend reading the first book first since, if nothing else, the series is a character development exercise for the protagonist.

Here, Spider is tossed into one of Her Majesty's maximum security prisons after establishing his cover as an armed desperado on an airport warehouse hold-up gone bad. Dan's mission is to nail big-time drug trafficker Gerald Carpenter, currently in the same lock-up awaiting trial. Carpenter is somehow communicating with the outside and masterminding the quashing of evidence and killing of witnesses that would otherwise convict him. Fearing Gerald will ultimately go free, Shepherd's job is to identify the leak and thus ensure Carpenter's conviction.

Spider's job prevents him from having a normal home life with his wife Sue and son Liam, a fact that causes the inevitable friction with the former and neglect of the latter and which is exacerbated by a tragedy that occurs while Dan is behind bars. I previously mentioned in my review of SOFT TARGET (dated 11/4/06 and entitled "A whopping cell phone bill, no doubt") that the author perhaps dwelled too much on Spider's spotty relationship with his son, which caused me to knock off a star from that otherwise splendid tale. With Shepherd, I'm looking for hard-boiled action not agonized soul-searching. (My other favorite fictional Tough Guy, Lee Child's Jack Reacher, never ever moons about engaging in self-castigating guilt trips.) I gave COLD KILL five stars (dated 6/29 06 and entitled "How hardball do we play it?") because it maximized the action and minimized the hand-wringing, and I'm giving HARD LANDING a full allocation of points for the same reason.

Until commencing with the Dan Shepherd series, Leather had pretty much eschewed an ongoing hero beyond a couple of books. With Spider, Stephen has struck gold, and I'm eagerly awaiting the fourth installment, HOT BLOOD.

Meet Inspector Wallander, 02 May 2008
If not the best police procedural in terms of plot, this is certainly a good introduction to Inspector Kurt Wallander. He's a newly single grumpy forty-something who frets about his family; but he is a good, conscientious policeman who's not afraid of doing the hard stuff himself. When a gruesome double murder is committed on a farm out in the country, it takes graft in the dull Swedish winter to track down the faceless killers of the title. We don't find out much more about his family or colleagues in this first volume, but I look forward to reading many more.


The review I read......., 16 Mar 2008
.....must have been writeen by Mankell's best friend or agent. On the strength of it I bought the book and how shallow, slow, drab, grey and conclusivly dull and predictable it was too. I hate detective fiction where the people who did it enter the book ten pages from the end. Set in the Swedish winter in places that sound about as appealing as frostbite, Wallender, Manning's ace detective,is a real uninspiring bore (who wants to know that he diorea everyday and looks down at his underpants and realises they need changing?) and his team aren't much better. They is no character you don't care if they carry on living or not. I gave it two starts instead of one, as I presume, given Mankell's output of Wallender 'mysteries' he must have improved or maybe the buying population of the villages and town he mentions is enough to maintain a living by.

Surprise package, 09 Feb 2007
I was bought this book as a Christmas present. I had never heard of the author or the detective who is the main character.

However what an absolute delight. A real story about a detective in a small police force in Sweden. Normally he has to deal with petty crime so when a very violent double murder is uncovered our detective "Kurt Wallander" has a problem on his hands.

What is exceptionally good about this book is the development of the main character Wallander. His wife has left him, his father is on the start of suffering from dimentia and his daughter wont talk to him. This is story of a policeman working laboriously through what small clues there are, managing his private life, yet it is done with a very ydry humour through out the book.

Loved it

"For murder, though it have no tongue, 19 Jan 2007
will speak with most miraculous organ." Hamlet.

An aging farmer and his wife have been brutally attacked on their isolated farm in southern Sweden. They appear to have little money and no enemies. The only clue, if you can call it that is the dying word of the farmer's wife: "foreign". The police have have little else to go on but go on they must. That is the plot for Henning Mankell's first Kurt Wallander detective mystery: "Faceless Killers". The result is a well-done police procedural.

My `discovery' (I know he has already been discovered by millions of readers) of the Kurt Wallander series was the natural result of my reading a series of "Martin Beck" detective mysteries by the husband and wife team of Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall. Wallander, like Beck, is a police detective in Sweden. Unlike Beck, whose beat was Stockholm, Wallander works in the small southern-Swedish city of Ystad. The Wallander series takes place in the 1990s while the Beck series took place in the 1960s and 1970s.

Since this book is the first in a series, it provides the reader with a great deal of background information on the main characters. Wallander is gritty and determined. He is also newly separated from his wife and estranged from his daughter. Further, his father is showing the first signs of senility. Wallander sometimes drinks too much and is clumsy in his dealings with the interim prosecutor, an attractive young woman sent down from Stockholm.

The book moves along at a relatively quick pace. Mankell does a good job of keeping the pot boiling without revealing too much too quickly. The detectives follow false leads and their fallibility adds a nice veneer of realism to the story. The importance of the farmer's wife's last word "foreign" is clear but its meaning is not fully revealed (or proven) until the book's climax.

I enjoyed "Faceless Killers". Although there was nothing uniquely creative or groundbreaking about the plot or its resolution, Mankell tells a good story. He also manages to evoke a compelling picture of life (and police work) in an area as far from Stockholm as you are likely to get. As such these books make a nice contrast with the Martin Beck series. (Mankell does make a quick reference to one of the Beck books, "The Laughing Policeman", so it seems clear that the obvious comparisons between the two books and series are also clear to Mankell.

"Faceless Killers" is worth reading. While I don't think it was the best book in the series (the natural result of having to spend a lot of time with the requisite development of a large number of characters that populate a series), I think it is worth reading. I've read two other Wallander books ("The Dogs of Riga" and "Side-Tracked") to date and have enjoyed both of them. If you like police procedurals and like the idea of a somewhat exotic (if cold) setting, I think you will like "Faceless Killers". L. Fleisig.

A Good, Lazy Thriller, 05 Jan 2007
The book is no doubt well-written, with the main character - a weary police officer named Kurt Wallander - being very convincing and interesting, but it seems the crime itself is secondary to everything else that happens here (Wallander's love life, his problems with his daughter and an old father). Still - it's a pleasure to read the novel (in spite of some cruelty and the fact that certain characters ooze pessimism), just don't expect a classic 'whodunnit'; the answers to the questions "Who?" and "Why?" are usually delivered in a rather lazy manner, and all too often we only get them thanks to a surprising coincidence or pure good luck rather than because of Wallander's crime-solving skills.

refreshingly different, 28 Feb 2008
Unusually the detective doesn't get his man - well not how you might think, anyway. The characterisation is gripping, but you need to concentrate and keep your wits about you. Can't wait for the next one.

Hard Landing (Dan Sheperd Mysteries), 06 Nov 2008
The Dan Shepherd series are rivetting and hard to put down. 'Spider' is an interesting and complex character but reassuringly tough - a bit like a UK version of Jack Reacher from the Lee Child books, but not such a loner. I have enjoyed everyone of the Dan Shepherd books and strongly recommend them - the fact that I have bought them all is testament to Stephen Leather being a great author

Spider Does Porridge, 25 Aug 2008
I have just read Hard Landing for the 2nd time with a gap of about 3 years. I have a talent for developing amnesia when it comes to reading and therefore I could really only remember the basic plotline. I was once again captivated by the tension the author creates in this thriller and found myself holding my breath as the action hotted up. I think the introduction of Spider's family and his interaction with his son humanises a character I have previously described as "superhuman" (my review of Dead Men).This was our first meeting with Spider and to date he has not disappointed.

Great intro to Spider, 06 Oct 2007
This is the first of Leathers books to feature Dan Shepherd, and it is a cracker! Carpenter is a drug dealer on remand in a high security prison but managing to kill off witneses so his case won't go to trial. Carpenter has a huge span of control both in and out of the nick. Enter Spider, undercover to make sure Carpenter gets convicted. This is a great and tense game of chess with Carpenter having a strong network and Spider always under the risk of being found as a cop in jail. Great story, but could have been edited down 100 pages, nevertheless.

Standard Prison story with a cracking end, 22 Mar 2007
Leather has written some amazing books and this for anyone else would be a good book but not quite as amazing as his early ones. The story starts off with Dan Shepherd being arrested and put in prison to get information on a really nasty drug runner who has killed off most of anyone who can finger him. The scenes are pretty graphic and the action as far as it can get in a prison is pretty hard and fast. The ending makes a huge extra point to the book.

Not bad.

New literary Tough Guy hits the ground running, 14 Feb 2007
HARD LANDING was the first in the Stephen Leather's series of thrillers starring Dan "Spider" Shepherd, an ex-SAS trooper now assigned to an elite Metropolitan police unit tabbed for deep undercover operations when the usual enforcement methods can't nab the bad guys. Dan's nickname came to be while on an SAS survival training mission and he won a bet on who could eat the most disgusting thing. One normally doesn't see "tarantula" on the menu even in the greasiest curry house.

HARD LANDING was followed by SOFT TARGET and COLD KILL, all three of which I've unintentionally read in reverse order. I'd recommend reading the first book first since, if nothing else, the series is a character development exercise for the protagonist.

Here, Spider is tossed into one of Her Majesty's maximum security prisons after establishing his cover as an armed desperado on an airport warehouse hold-up gone bad. Dan's mission is to nail big-time drug trafficker Gerald Carpenter, currently in the same lock-up awaiting trial. Carpenter is somehow communicating with the outside and masterminding the quashing of evidence and killing of witnesses that would otherwise convict him. Fearing Gerald will ultimately go free, Shepherd's job is to identify the leak and thus ensure Carpenter's conviction.

Spider's job prevents him from having a normal home life with his wife Sue and son Liam, a fact that causes the inevitable friction with the former and neglect of the latter and which is exacerbated by a tragedy that occurs while Dan is behind bars. I previously mentioned in my review of SOFT TARGET (dated 11/4/06 and entitled "A whopping cell phone bill, no doubt") that the author perhaps dwelled too much on Spider's spotty relationship with his son, which caused me to knock off a star from that otherwise splendid tale. With Shepherd, I'm looking for hard-boiled action not agonized soul-searching. (My other favorite fictional Tough Guy, Lee Child's Jack Reacher, never ever moons about engaging in self-castigating guilt trips.) I gave COLD KILL five stars (dated 6/29 06 and entitled "How hardball do we play it?") because it maximized the action and minimized the hand-wringing, and I'm giving HARD LANDING a full allocation of points for the same reason.

Until commencing with the Dan Shepherd series, Leather had pretty much eschewed an ongoing hero beyond a couple of books. With Spider, Stephen has struck gold, and I'm eagerly awaiting the fourth installment, HOT BLOOD.



I'm not sure that this is the best place to start with Jardine, 18 May 2008
Quintin Jardine writes a number of serial style books about recurring characters. One of his recurring characters is Bob Skinner, the Deputy Chief Constable for the Edinburgh area of Scotland. By all accounts he's typical of most detectives these days. He bends rules when he needs to, and breaks them when he has no other alternative, but unlike most rule breaking cops, is liked by those he works with (and so has few of the flaws that are typically associated with the flawed detective).

The problem with this book is that Skinner doesn't appear in much of the book. Imagine having a Rankin book with a marginalised Rebus or a Christie crime novel with a marginalised Poirot or Marple and you've got an idea of what to expect here.

In this book, a police procedural if you hadn't guessed, Skinner's subordinates investigate the shooting deaths of two Edinburgh artists, the murder of one of their boyfriends, and the killing of a mutual friend of theirs.

While they do this, they have to contend with the multi-millionaire father of one of the victims, who has effectively put a bounty on the head of the murderer at a press-conference organised by the police.

The book isn't bad, but it has three major problems as I see it. Firstly, it feels like a story that you've walked into, part way through. It's interesting, but you get the sense that there's this whole back story you're missing.

Secondly, it's almost too procedural. Anyone who has read more than a couple of detective novels in the past 10yrs (or watched a Law and Order episode for that matter) will knows that there are certain things that the police have to do (and that they face several problems during an investigation). This book covers every one of those problems (or feels like it does), and that slows the book down somewhat, which might be a problem for some people.

Finally it's missing its' central character, which to my mind is never a good sign, and one of his more significant replacements dies 75% of the way through, which doesn't help things I don't think.

In short, this isn't a bad book, but I'm inclined to suspect that Skinner's absence is the 1000lb gorilla in the room that no one mentions. So if you want to "get into" the Bob Skinner series, I wouldn't start here (as the Irish say about travel directions).

Waiting for skinner?, 09 Mar 2008
How do you write a Bob Skinner novel without Bob Skinner ? Very well appears to be the answer. This novel I'm sure would baffle anyone attempting this as their first introduction to the series, it's taken me a while but I've finally caught up having read the whole series in order. This story is more about DI Stevie Steele and the excellent Mario mcguire as has been mentioned Bob Skinner doesn't appear until almost the end of the book.
The story though is excellent a girl is found shot in the back of the head and laid out like an angel the scene almost identical to the murder of another young girl killed 2 months ago. Links between the two girls they are both talented artists has Edinburgh got a severe art critic running loose or a serial killer who leaves no forensic traces? The premise worried me what I've always liked about the Skinner series is that the crimes have real motive love or money with the last couple of novels I felt Jardine kept trying to get the story bigger and bigger featuring Popes and prime ministers but this story returns to good old fashioned police work in fact it's only really the arrival of Skinner that takes us back into the land of spools and politics.
The balance between home life and the office is better than some previous books with Maggie Rose pregnant facing the toughest decision of her so far tough life and this one has nothing to do with police work. I read the reviews before Reading this so knew someone died but actually knowing that meant I enjoyed the book more as the victim was not who I was expecting.
The series is nicely set up to continue with the relationship between Skinner and Scotland's first minister in place, this though could prove to be a turning point in the series as Skinner in the books has always stated he doesn't want to succeed the chief constable Proud Jimmy I think what this novel shows is that Jardine shouldn't be scared to promote Bob he has the characters to continue this series without Skinner having to be so hands on in fact the series may even benefit from it. I do however agree with another reviewer some of the dialogue is poor particularly on a couple of occasions when they are interviewing suspects or witnesses and start discussing things that you feel are hardly appropriate to discuss with them present. Despite some negatives this is still one of the best of what's turning into a must have series for any lover of British crime fiction. Long may Skinner books continue even if like Taggart on TV the man himself is no longer there.

Where is Bob?, 08 Dec 2007
As a great fan of Bob Skinner I was a little disappointed as he only appears towards the end of the book. However, he was supposed to be on sabbatical! I really enjoyed getting to know some of the other characters though and to get more of an insight into people we have met in earlier books. I was sad at the loss of a great character and did fing the ending a little turgid. Still, onwards and upwards!

Too cosy, 27 Nov 2007
I find the Edinburgh Police squad a cosy bunch. Everybody is doing it with everybody. Al are related or at least were related in the past.
I never read about a police force with so many cross relations between the characters.
I have read all Jardine's books about Bob Skinner, but this is the first one where policing is not the highest priority.
Earlier books had the same tendency, but this is awful.
Maybe my last Skinner novel.
2 Stars for old times sake.

Will it get better, 09 Nov 2007
I'm about half way through this book and to be honest it's only the overall plot thats keeping me going.
I haven't noticed this in any of his other books but I'm finding the dialogue between various characters (particularly the couples) quite clunky. It all seems a bit forced and uncomfortable and when I read it I almost feel like I'm watching a couple of bad actors read a script.
Hope it gets better!

Meet Inspector Wallander, 02 May 2008
If not the best police procedural in terms of plot, this is certainly a good introduction to Inspector Kurt Wallander. He's a newly single grumpy forty-something who frets about his family; but he is a good, conscientious policeman who's not afraid of doing the hard stuff himself. When a gruesome double murder is committed on a farm out in the country, it takes graft in the dull Swedish winter to track down the faceless killers of the title. We don't find out much more about his family or colleagues in this first volume, but I look forward to reading many more.


The review I read......., 16 Mar 2008
.....must have been writeen by Mankell's best friend or agent. On the strength of it I bought the book and how shallow, slow, drab, grey and conclusivly dull and predictable it was too. I hate detective fiction where the people who did it enter the book ten pages from the end. Set in the Swedish winter in places that sound about as appealing as frostbite, Wallender, Manning's ace detective,is a real uninspiring bore (who wants to know that he diorea everyday and looks down at his underpants and realises they need changing?) and his team aren't much better. They is no character you don't care if they carry on living or not. I gave it two starts instead of one, as I presume, given Mankell's output of Wallender 'mysteries' he must have improved or maybe the buying population of the villages and town he mentions is enough to maintain a living by.

Surprise package, 09 Feb 2007
I was bought this book as a Christmas present. I had never heard of the author or the detective who is the main character.

However what an absolute delight. A real story about a detective in a small police force in Sweden. Normally he has to deal with petty crime so when a very violent double murder is uncovered our detective "Kurt Wallander" has a problem on his hands.

What is exceptionally good about this book is the development of the main character Wallander. His wife has left him, his father is on the start of suffering from dimentia and his daughter wont talk to him. This is story of a policeman working laboriously through what small clues there are, managing his private life, yet it is done with a very ydry humour through out the book.

Loved it

"For murder, though it have no tongue, 19 Jan 2007
will speak with most miraculous organ." Hamlet.

An aging farmer and his wife have been brutally attacked on their isolated farm in southern Sweden. They appear to have little money and no enemies. The only clue, if you can call it that is the dying word of the farmer's wife: "foreign". The police have have little else to go on but go on they must. That is the plot for Henning Mankell's first Kurt Wallander detective mystery: "Faceless Killers". The result is a well-done police procedural.

My `discovery' (I know he has already been discovered by millions of readers) of the Kurt Wallander series was the natural result of my reading a series of "Martin Beck" detective mysteries by the husband and wife team of Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall. Wallander, like Beck, is a police detective in Sweden. Unlike Beck, whose beat was Stockholm, Wallander works in the small southern-Swedish city of Ystad. The Wallander series takes place in the 1990s while the Beck series took place in the 1960s and 1970s.

Since this book is the first in a series, it provides the reader with a great deal of background information on the main characters. Wallander is gritty and determined. He is also newly separated from his wife and estranged from his daughter. Further, his father is showing the first signs of senility. Wallander sometimes drinks too much and is clumsy in his dealings with the interim prosecutor, an attractive young woman sent down from Stockholm.

The book moves along at a relatively quick pace. Mankell does a good job of keeping the pot boiling without revealing too much too quickly. The detectives follow false leads and their fallibility adds a nice veneer of realism to the story. The importance of the farmer's wife's last word "foreign" is clear but its meaning is not fully revealed (or proven) until the book's climax.

I enjoyed "Faceless Killers". Although there was nothing uniquely creative or groundbreaking about the plot or its resolution, Mankell tells a good story. He also manages to evoke a compelling picture of life (and police work) in an area as far from Stockholm as you are likely to get. As such these books make a nice contrast with the Martin Beck series. (Mankell does make a quick reference to one of the Beck books, "The Laughing Policeman", so it seems clear that the obvious comparisons between the two books and series are also clear to Mankell.

"Faceless Killers" is worth reading. While I don't think it was the best book in the series (the natural result of having to spend a lot of time with the requisite development of a large number of characters that populate a series), I think it is worth reading. I've read two other Wallander books ("The Dogs of Riga" and "Side-Tracked") to date and have enjoyed both of them. If you like police procedurals and like the idea of a somewhat exotic (if cold) setting, I think you will like "Faceless Killers". L. Fleisig.

A Good, Lazy Thriller, 05 Jan 2007
The book is no doubt well-written, with the main character - a weary police officer named Kurt Wallander - being very convincing and interesting, but it seems the crime itself is secondary to everything else that happens here (Wallander's love life, his problems with his daughter and an old father). Still - it's a pleasure to read the novel (in spite of some cruelty and the fact that certain characters ooze pessimism), just don't expect a classic 'whodunnit'; the answers to the questions "Who?" and "Why?" are usually delivered in a rather lazy manner, and all too often we only get them thanks to a surprising coincidence or pure good luck rather than because of Wallander's crime-solving skills.

refreshingly different, 28 Feb 2008
Unusually the detective doesn't get his man - well not how you might think, anyway. The characterisation is gripping, but you need to concentrate and keep your wits about you. Can't wait for the next one.

Hard Landing (Dan Sheperd Mysteries), 06 Nov 2008
The Dan Shepherd series are rivetting and hard to put down. 'Spider' is an interesting and complex character but reassuringly tough - a bit like a UK version of Jack Reacher from the Lee Child books, but not such a loner. I have enjoyed everyone of the Dan Shepherd books and strongly recommend them - the fact that I have bought them all is testament to Stephen Leather being a great author

Spider Does Porridge, 25 Aug 2008
I have just read Hard Landing for the 2nd time with a gap of about 3 years. I have a talent for developing amnesia when it comes to reading and therefore I could really only remember the basic plotline. I was once again captivated by the tension the author creates in this thriller and found myself holding my breath as the action hotted up. I think the introduction of Spider's family and his interaction with his son humanises a character I have previously described as "superhuman" (my review of Dead Men).This was our first meeting with Spider and to date he has not disappointed.

Great intro to Spider, 06 Oct 2007
This is the first of Leathers books to feature Dan Shepherd, and it is a cracker! Carpenter is a drug dealer on remand in a high security prison but managing to kill off witneses so his case won't go to trial. Carpenter has a huge span of control both in and out of the nick. Enter Spider, undercover to make sure Carpenter gets convicted. This is a great and tense game of chess with Carpenter having a strong network and Spider always under the risk of being found as a cop in jail. Great story, but could have been edited down 100 pages, nevertheless.

Standard Prison story with a cracking end, 22 Mar 2007
Leather has written some amazing books and this for anyone else would be a good book but not quite as amazing as his early ones. The story starts off with Dan Shepherd being arrested and put in prison to get information on a really nasty drug runner who has killed off most of anyone who can finger him. The scenes are pretty graphic and the action as far as it can get in a prison is pretty hard and fast. The ending makes a huge extra point to the book.

Not bad.

New literary Tough Guy hits the ground running, 14 Feb 2007
HARD LANDING was the first in the Stephen Leather's series of thrillers starring Dan "Spider" Shepherd, an ex-SAS trooper now assigned to an elite Metropolitan police unit tabbed for deep undercover operations when the usual enforcement methods can't nab the bad guys. Dan's nickname came to be while on an SAS survival training mission and he won a bet on who could eat the most disgusting thing. One normally doesn't see "tarantula" on the menu even in the greasiest curry house.

HARD LANDING was followed by SOFT TARGET and COLD KILL, all three of which I've unintentionally read in reverse order. I'd recommend reading the first book first since, if nothing else, the series is a character development exercise for the protagonist.

Here, Spider is tossed into one of Her Majesty's maximum security prisons after establishing his cover as an armed desperado on an airport warehouse hold-up gone bad. Dan's mission is to nail big-time drug trafficker Gerald Carpenter, currently in the same lock-up awaiting trial. Carpenter is somehow communicating with the outside and masterminding the quashing of evidence and killing of witnesses that would otherwise convict him. Fearing Gerald will ultimately go free, Shepherd's job is to identify the leak and thus ensure Carpenter's conviction.

Spider's job prevents him from having a normal home life with his wife Sue and son Liam, a fact that causes the inevitable friction with the former and neglect of the latter and which is exacerbated by a tragedy that occurs while Dan is behind bars. I previously mentioned in my review of SOFT TARGET (dated 11/4/06 and entitled "A whopping cell phone bill, no doubt") that the author perhaps dwelled too much on Spider's spotty relationship with his son, which caused me to knock off a star from that otherwise splendid tale. With Shepherd, I'm looking for hard-boiled action not agonized soul-searching. (My other favorite fictional Tough Guy, Lee Child's Jack Reacher, never ever moons about engaging in self-castigating guilt trips.) I gave COLD KILL five stars (dated 6/29 06 and entitled "How hardball do we play it?") because it maximized the action and minimized the hand-wringing, and I'm giving HARD LANDING a full allocation of points for the same reason.

Until commencing with the Dan Shepherd series, Leather had pretty much eschewed an ongoing hero beyond a couple of books. With Spider, Stephen has struck gold, and I'm eagerly awaiting the fourth installment, HOT BLOOD.



I'm not sure that this is the best place to start with Jardine, 18 May 2008
Quintin Jardine writes a number of serial style books about recurring characters. One of his recurring characters is Bob Skinner, the Deputy Chief Constable for the Edinburgh area of Scotland. By all accounts he's typical of most detectives these days. He bends rules when he needs to, and breaks them when he has no other alternative, but unlike most rule breaking cops, is liked by those he works with (and so has few of the flaws that are typically associated with the flawed detective).

The problem with this book is that Skinner doesn't appear in much of the book. Imagine having a Rankin book with a marginalised Rebus or a Christie crime novel with a marginalised Poirot or Marple and you've got an idea of what to expect here.

In this book, a police procedural if you hadn't guessed, Skinner's subordinates investigate the shooting deaths of two Edinburgh artists, the murder of one of their boyfriends, and the killing of a mutual friend of theirs.

While they do this, they have to contend with the multi-millionaire father of one of the victims, who has effectively put a bounty on the head of the murderer at a press-conference organised by the police.

The book isn't bad, but it has three major problems as I see it. Firstly, it feels like a story that you've walked into, part way through. It's interesting, but you get the sense that there's this whole back story you're missing.

Secondly, it's almost too procedural. Anyone who has read more than a couple of detective novels in the past 10yrs (or watched a Law and Order episode for that matter) will knows that there are certain things that the police have to do (and that they face several problems during an investigation). This book covers every one of those problems (or feels like it does), and that slows the book down somewhat, which might be a problem for some people.

Finally it's missing its' central character, which to my mind is never a good sign, and one of his more significant replacements dies 75% of the way through, which doesn't help things I don't think.

In short, this isn't a bad book, but I'm inclined to suspect that Skinner's absence is the 1000lb gorilla in the room that no one mentions. So if you want to "get into" the Bob Skinner series, I wouldn't start here (as the Irish say about travel directions).

Waiting for skinner?, 09 Mar 2008
How do you write a Bob Skinner novel without Bob Skinner ? Very well appears to be the answer. This novel I'm sure would baffle anyone attempting this as their first introduction to the series, it's taken me a while but I've finally caught up having read the whole series in order. This story is more about DI Stevie Steele and the excellent Mario mcguire as has been mentioned Bob Skinner doesn't appear until almost the end of the book.
The story though is excellent a girl is found shot in the back of the head and laid out like an angel the scene almost identical to the murder of another young girl killed 2 months ago. Links between the two girls they are both talented artists has Edinburgh got a severe art critic running loose or a serial killer who leaves no forensic traces? The premise worried me what I've always liked about the Skinner series is that the crimes have real motive love or money with the last couple of novels I felt Jardine kept trying to get the story bigger and bigger featuring Popes and prime ministers but this story returns to good old fashioned police work in fact it's only really the arrival of Skinner that takes us back into the land of spools and politics.
The balance between home life and the office is better than some previous books with Maggie Rose pregnant facing the toughest decision of her so far tough life and this one has nothing to do with police work. I read the reviews before Reading this so knew someone died but actually knowing that meant I enjoyed the book more as the victim was not who I was expecting.
The series is nicely set up to continue with the relationship between Skinner and Scotland's first minister in place, this though could prove to be a turning point in the series as Skinner in the books has always stated he doesn't want to succeed the chief constable Proud Jimmy I think what this novel shows is that Jardine shouldn't be scared to promote Bob he has the characters to continue this series without Skinner having to be so hands on in fact the series may even benefit from it. I do however agree with another reviewer some of the dialogue is poor particularly on a couple of occasions when they are interviewing suspects or witnesses and start discussing things that you feel are hardly appropriate to discuss with them present. Despite some negatives this is still one of the best of what's turning into a must have series for any lover of British crime fiction. Long may Skinner books continue even if like Taggart on TV the man himself is no longer there.

Where is Bob?, 08 Dec 2007
As a great fan of Bob Skinner I was a little disappointed as he only appears towards the end of the book. However, he was supposed to be on sabbatical! I really enjoyed getting to know some of the other characters though and to get more of an insight into people we have met in earlier books. I was sad at the loss of a great character and did fing the ending a little turgid. Still, onwards and upwards!

Too cosy, 27 Nov 2007
I find the Edinburgh Police squad a cosy bunch. Everybody is doing it with everybody. Al are related or at least were related in the past.
I never read about a police force with so many cross relations between the characters.
I have read all Jardine's books about Bob Skinner, but this is the first one where policing is not the highest priority.
Earlier books had the same tendency, but this is awful.
Maybe my last Skinner novel.
2 Stars for old times sake.

Will it get better, 09 Nov 2007
I'm about half way through this book and to be honest it's only the overall plot thats keeping me going.
I haven't noticed this in any of his other books but I'm finding the dialogue between various characters (particularly the couples) quite clunky. It all seems a bit forced and uncomfortable and when I read it I almost feel like I'm watching a couple of bad actors read a script.
Hope it gets better!

A Promising Series Debut, 23 Oct 2008
The first in a series featuring Joe Farraday, a Detective Inspector working in Portsmouth. It is a promising series debut, although it took a while to get going - the case which forms the core of the book only really kicks in at about page 70. The denouement was also slightly disappointing. But it was well written, with some great characterisation - the relationship between Joe Farraday and his deaf teenage son was particularly moving. I look forward to reading further books featuring DI Farraday as I'm confident that Graham Hurley is capable of ironing out the wrinkles as the series progresses.

amazingly good, 09 Apr 2008
It was my first book by Graham Hurley.
He really got me into the atmosphere of the town and the plot. the characters are compelling. A great book to dive into another world and lose sense of time...

Good start!, 09 Feb 2008
It's taken me a while to come across Graham Hurley. Given that I knew there were quite a few books in this series, I thought I'd start at the beginning and I'm glad I did. I found it enjoyable and easy to read with a number of pointers to future books. Very promising!!!

Turned to Stone Boredom, 05 Jun 2007
Joe Faraday is your typical hard working modern police officer. He is the head of an undermanned CID section that oversees crime in Portsmouth. When he is not dealing with the criminals he is tackling the piles of paper work and internal bickering that has increasingly invaded the job. Things come to a head when his deaf son decides to move to France and Faraday begins to investigate the disappearance of a full grown man. Doesn't he know that there are real crimes to fight? Or does Faraday still have the cop instincts that tell him when something fishy is going on?

For the first half this book is decent enough introducing us to a solid central character as well as some other police officers. The start of the mystery is also good and is intriguing to know what may have happened. Unfortunately Hurley is unable to keep this up and the book descends into a boring, plodding novel that got me confused. Too many uninteresting characters and plots were thrown into the mix when simplicity would have sufficed. I also felt that the character of Faraday went against everything he stood for at the conclusion of the book - what a strange U Turn.

This novel was ok for a quick read, but reminded me of the bland middle class detective series that seem to fill the ITV schedule. There was no darkness or menace; just the boring day to day life of a typical police officer.


Good, but not great., 14 May 2006
Hurley's portrayal of the police--their strengths, weaknesses, personal problems, those who are ethical and those who are less than-felt very true. That, to me, was the strength of the book. The plot itself seemed a bit convoluted. The one element that really bothered me was that, in the prelude, Emma is the one who starts the entire story, yet she is mentioned only briefly in the rest of the story. It is the first book in a series, and felt to be a first book. I'd be interested to read a later book in the series, but don't know that I'd seek them out.

Meet Inspector Wallander, 02 May 2008
If not the best police procedural in terms of plot, this is certainly a good introduction to Inspector Kurt Wallander. He's a newly single grumpy forty-something who frets about his family; but he is a good, conscientious policeman who's not afraid of doing the hard stuff himself. When a gruesome double murder is committed on a farm out in the country, it takes graft in the dull Swedish winter to track down the faceless killers of the title. We don't find out much more about his family or colleagues in this first volume, but I look forward to reading many more.


The review I read......., 16 Mar 2008
.....must have been writeen by Mankell's best friend or agent. On the strength of it I bought the book and how shallow, slow, drab, grey and conclusivly dull and predictable it was too. I hate detective fiction where the people who did it enter the book ten pages from the end. Set in the Swedish winter in places that sound about as appealing as frostbite, Wallender, Manning's ace detective,is a real uninspiring bore (who wants to know that he diorea everyday and looks down at his underpants and realises they need changing?) and his team aren't much better. They is no character you don't care if they carry on living or not. I gave it two starts instead of one, as I presume, given Mankell's output of Wallender 'mysteries' he must have improved or maybe the buying population of the villages and town he mentions is enough to maintain a living by.

Surprise package, 09 Feb 2007
I was bought this book as a Christmas present. I had never heard of the author or the detective who is the main character.

However what an absolute delight. A real story about a detective in a small police force in Sweden. Normally he has to deal with petty crime so when a very violent double murder is uncovered our detective "Kurt Wallander" has a problem on his hands.

What is exceptionally good about this book is the development of the main character Wallander. His wife has left him, his father is on the start of suffering from dimentia and his daughter wont talk to him. This is story of a policeman working laboriously through what small clues there are, managing his private life, yet it is done with a very ydry humour through out the book.

Loved it

"For murder, though it have no tongue, 19 Jan 2007
will speak with most miraculous organ." Hamlet.

An aging farmer and his wife have been brutally attacked on their isolated farm in southern Sweden. They appear to have little money and no enemies. The only clue, if you can call it that is the dying word of the farmer's wife: "foreign". The police have have little else to go on but go on they must. That is the plot for Henning Mankell's first Kurt Wallander detective mystery: "Faceless Killers". The result is a well-done police procedural.

My `discovery' (I know he has already been discovered by millions of readers) of the Kurt Wallander series was the natural result of my reading a series of "Martin Beck" detective mysteries by the husband and wife team of Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall. Wallander, like Beck, is a police detective in Sweden. Unlike Beck, whose beat was Stockholm, Wallander works in the small southern-Swedish city of Ystad. The Wallander series takes place in the 1990s while the Beck series took place in the 1960s and 1970s.

Since this book is the first in a series, it provides the reader with a great deal of background information on the main characters. Wallander is gritty and determined. He is also newly separated from his wife and estranged from his daughter. Further, his father is showing the first signs of senility. Wallander sometimes drinks too much and is clumsy in his dealings with the interim prosecutor, an attractive young woman sent down from Stockholm.

The book moves along at a relatively quick pace. Mankell does a good job of keeping the pot boiling without revealing too much too quickly. The detectives follow false leads and their fallibility adds a nice veneer of realism to the story. The importance of the farmer's wife's last word "foreign" is clear but its meaning is not fully revealed (or proven) until the book's climax.

I enjoyed "Faceless Killers". Although there was nothing uniquely creative or groundbreaking about the plot or its resolution, Mankell tells a good story. He also manages to evoke a compelling picture of life (and police work) in an area as far from Stockholm as you are likely to get. As such these books make a nice contrast with the Martin Beck series. (Mankell does make a quick reference to one of the Beck books, "The Laughing Policeman", so it seems clear that the obvious comparisons between the two books and series are also clear to Mankell.

"Faceless Killers" is worth reading. While I don't think it was the best book in the series (the natural result of having to spend a lot of time with the requisite development of a large number of characters that populate a series), I think it is worth reading. I've read two other Wallander books ("The Dogs of Riga" and "Side-Tracked") to date and have enjoyed both of them. If you like police procedurals and like the idea of a somewhat exotic (if cold) setting, I think you will like "Faceless Killers". L. Fleisig.

A Good, Lazy Thriller, 05 Jan 2007
The book is no doubt well-written, with the main character - a weary police officer named Kurt Wallander - being very convincing and interesting, but it seems the crime itself is secondary to everything else that happens here (Wallander's love life, his problems with his daughter and an old father). Still - it's a pleasure to read the novel (in spite of some cruelty and the fact that certain characters ooze pessimism), just don't expect a classic 'whodunnit'; the answers to the questions "Who?" and "Why?" are usually delivered in a rather lazy manner, and all too often we only get them thanks to a surprising coincidence or pure good luck rather than because of Wallander's crime-solving skills.

refreshingly different, 28 Feb 2008
Unusually the detective doesn't get his man - well not how you might think, anyway. The characterisation is gripping, but you need to concentrate and keep your wits about you. Can't wait for the next one.

Hard Landing (Dan Sheperd Mysteries), 06 Nov 2008
The Dan Shepherd series are rivetting and hard to put down. 'Spider' is an interesting and complex character but reassuringly tough - a bit like a UK version of Jack Reacher from the Lee Child books, but not such a loner. I have enjoyed everyone of the Dan Shepherd books and strongly recommend them - the fact that I have bought them all is testament to Stephen Leather being a great author

Spider Does Porridge, 25 Aug 2008
I have just read Hard Landing for the 2nd time with a gap of about 3 years. I have a talent for developing amnesia when it comes to reading and therefore I could really only remember the basic plotline. I was once again captivated by the tension the author creates in this thriller and found myself holding my breath as the action hotted up. I think the introduction of Spider's family and his interaction with his son humanises a character I have previously described as "superhuman" (my review of Dead Men).This was our first meeting with Spider and to date he has not disappointed.

Great intro to Spider, 06 Oct 2007
This is the first of Leathers books to feature Dan Shepherd, and it is a cracker! Carpenter is a drug dealer on remand in a high security prison but managing to kill off witneses so his case won't go to trial. Carpenter has a huge span of control both in and out of the nick. Enter Spider, undercover to make sure Carpenter gets convicted. This is a great and tense game of chess with Carpenter having a strong network and Spider always under the risk of being found as a cop in jail. Great story, but could have been edited down 100 pages, nevertheless.

Standard Prison story with a cracking end, 22 Mar 2007
Leather has written some amazing books and this for anyone else would be a good book but not quite as amazing as his early ones. The story starts off with Dan Shepherd being arrested and put in prison to get information on a really nasty drug runner who has killed off most of anyone who can finger him. The scenes are pretty graphic and the action as far as it can get in a prison is pretty hard and fast. The ending makes a huge extra point to the book.

Not bad.

New literary Tough Guy hits the ground running, 14 Feb 2007
HARD LANDING was the first in the Stephen Leather's series of thrillers starring Dan "Spider" Shepherd, an ex-SAS trooper now assigned to an elite Metropolitan police unit tabbed for deep undercover operations when the usual enforcement methods can't nab the bad guys. Dan's nickname came to be while on an SAS survival training mission and he won a bet on who could eat the most disgusting thing. One normally doesn't see "tarantula" on the menu even in the greasiest curry house.

HARD LANDING was followed by SOFT TARGET and COLD KILL, all three of which I've unintentionally read in reverse order. I'd recommend reading the first book first since, if nothing else, the series is a character development exercise for the protagonist.

Here, Spider is tossed into one of Her Majesty's maximum security prisons after establishing his cover as an armed desperado on an airport warehouse hold-up gone bad. Dan's mission is to nail big-time drug trafficker Gerald Carpenter, currently in the same lock-up awaiting trial. Carpenter is somehow communicating with the outside and masterminding the quashing of evidence and killing of witnesses that would otherwise convict him. Fearing Gerald will ultimately go free, Shepherd's job is to identify the leak and thus ensure Carpenter's conviction.

Spider's job prevents him from having a normal home life with his wife Sue and son Liam, a fact that causes the inevitable friction with the former and neglect of the latter and which is exacerbated by a tragedy that occurs while Dan is behind bars. I previously mentioned in my review of SOFT TARGET (dated 11/4/06 and entitled "A whopping cell phone bill, no doubt") that the author perhaps dwelled too much on Spider's spotty relationship with his son, which caused me to knock off a star from that otherwise splendid tale. With Shepherd, I'm looking for hard-boiled action not agonized soul-searching. (My other favorite fictional Tough Guy, Lee Child's Jack Reacher, never ever moons about engaging in self-castigating guilt trips.) I gave COLD KILL five stars (dated 6/29 06 and entitled "How hardball do we play it?") because it maximized the action and minimized the hand-wringing, and I'm giving HARD LANDING a full allocation of points for the same reason.

Until commencing with the Dan Shepherd series, Leather had pretty much eschewed an ongoing hero beyond a couple of books. With Spider, Stephen has struck gold, and I'm eagerly awaiting the fourth installment, HOT BLOOD.



I'm not sure that this is the best place to start with Jardine, 18 May 2008
Quintin Jardine writes a number of serial style books about recurring characters. One of his recurring characters is Bob Skinner, the Deputy Chief Constable for the Edinburgh area of Scotland. By all accounts he's typical of most detectives these days. He bends rules when he needs to, and breaks them when he has no other alternative, but unlike most rule breaking cops, is liked by those he works with (and so has few of the flaws that are typically associated with the flawed detective).

The problem with this book is that Skinner doesn't appear in much of the book. Imagine having a Rankin book with a marginalised Rebus or a Christie crime novel with a marginalised Poirot or Marple and you've got an idea of what to expect here.

In this book, a police procedural if you hadn't guessed, Skinner's subordinates investigate the shooting deaths of two Edinburgh artists, the murder of one of their boyfriends, and the killing of a mutual friend of theirs.

While they do this, they have to contend with the multi-millionaire father of one of the victims, who has effectively put a bounty on the head of the murderer at a press-conference organised by the police.

The book isn't bad, but it has three major problems as I see it. Firstly, it feels like a story that you've walked into, part way through. It's interesting, but you get the sense that there's this whole back story you're missing.

Secondly, it's almost too procedural. Anyone who has read more than a couple of detective novels in the past 10yrs (or watched a Law and Order episode for that matter) will knows that there are certain things that the police have to do (and that they face several problems during an investigation). This book covers every one of those problems (or feels like it does), and that slows the book down somewhat, which might be a problem for some people.

Finally it's missing its' central character, which to my mind is never a good sign, and one of his more significant replacements dies 75% of the way through, which doesn't help things I don't think.

In short, this isn't a bad book, but I'm inclined to suspect that Skinner's absence is the 1000lb gorilla in the room that no one mentions. So if you want to "get into" the Bob Skinner series, I wouldn't start here (as the Irish say about travel directions).

Waiting for skinner?, 09 Mar 2008
How do you write a Bob Skinner novel without Bob Skinner ? Very well appears to be the answer. This novel I'm sure would baffle anyone attempting this as their first introduction to the series, it's taken me a while but I've finally caught up having read the whole series in order. This story is more about DI Stevie Steele and the excellent Mario mcguire as has been mentioned Bob Skinner doesn't appear until almost the end of the book.
The story though is excellent a girl is found shot in the back of the head and laid out like an angel the scene almost identical to the murder of another young girl killed 2 months ago. Links between the two girls they are both talented artists has Edinburgh got a severe art critic running loose or a serial killer who leaves no forensic traces? The premise worried me what I've always liked about the Skinner series is that the crimes have real motive love or money with the last couple of novels I felt Jardine kept trying to get the story bigger and bigger featuring Popes and prime ministers but this story returns to good old fashioned police work in fact it's only really the arrival of Skinner that takes us back into the land of spools and politics.
The balance between home life and the office is better than some previous books with Maggie Rose pregnant facing the toughest decision of her so far tough life and this one has nothing to do with police work. I read the reviews before Reading this so knew someone died but actually knowing that meant I enjoyed the book more as the victim was not who I was expecting.
The series is nicely set up to continue with the relationship between Skinner and Scotland's first minister in place, this though could prove to be a turning point in the series as Skinner in the books has always stated he doesn't want to succeed the chief constable Proud Jimmy I think what this novel shows is that Jardine shouldn't be scared to promote Bob he has the characters to continue this series without Skinner having to be so hands on in fact the series may even benefit from it. I do however agree with another reviewer some of the dialogue is poor particularly on a couple of occasions when they are interviewing suspects or witnesses and start discussing things that you feel are hardly appropriate to discuss with them present. Despite some negatives this is still one of the best of what's turning into a must have series for any lover of British crime fiction. Long may Skinner books continue even if like Taggart on TV the man himself is no longer there.

Where is Bob?, 08 Dec 2007
As a great fan of Bob Skinner I was a little disappointed as he only appears towards the end of the book. However, he was supposed to be on sabbatical! I really enjoyed getting to know some of the other characters though and to get more of an insight into people we have met in earlier books. I was sad at the loss of a great character and did fing the ending a little turgid. Still, onwards and upwards!

Too cosy, 27 Nov 2007
I find the Edinburgh Police squad a cosy bunch. Everybody is doing it with everybody. Al are related or at least were related in the past.
I never read about a police force with so many cross relations between the characters.
I have read all Jardine's books about Bob Skinner, but this is the first one where policing is not the highest priority.
Earlier books had the same tendency, but this is awful.
Maybe my last Skinner novel.
2 Stars for old times sake.

Will it get better, 09 Nov 2007
I'm about half way through this book and to be honest it's only the overall plot thats keeping me going.
I haven't noticed this in any of his other books but I'm finding the dialogue between various characters (particularly the couples) quite clunky. It all seems a bit forced and uncomfortable and when I read it I almost feel like I'm watching a couple of bad actors read a script.
Hope it gets better!

A Promising Series Debut, 23 Oct 2008
The first in a series featuring Joe Farraday, a Detective Inspector working in Portsmouth. It is a promising series debut, although it took a while to get going - the case which forms the core of the book only really kicks in at about page 70. The denouement was also slightly disappointing. But it was well written, with some great characterisation - the relationship between Joe Farraday and his deaf teenage son was particularly moving. I look forward to reading further books featuring DI Farraday as I'm confident that Graham Hurley is capable of ironing out the wrinkles as the series progresses.

amazingly good, 09 Apr 2008
It was my first book by Graham Hurley.
He really got me into the atmosphere of the town and the plot. the characters are compelling. A great book to dive into another world and lose sense of time...

Good start!, 09 Feb 2008
It's taken me a while to come across Graham Hurley. Given that I knew there were quite a few books in this series, I thought I'd start at the beginning and I'm glad I did. I found it enjoyable and easy to read with a number of pointers to future books. Very promising!!!

Turned to Stone Boredom, 05 Jun 2007
Joe Faraday is your typical hard working modern police officer. He is the head of an undermanned CID section that oversees crime in Portsmouth. When he is not dealing with the criminals he is tackling the piles of paper work and internal bickering that has increasingly invaded the job. Things come to a head when his deaf son decides to move to France and Faraday begins to investigate the disappearance of a full grown man. Doesn't he know that there are real crimes to fight? Or does Faraday still have the cop instincts that tell him when something fishy is going on?

For the first half this book is decent enough introducing us to a solid central character as well as some other police officers. The start of the mystery is also good and is intriguing to know what may have happened. Unfortunately Hurley is unable to keep this up and the book descends into a boring, plodding novel that got me confused. Too many uninteresting characters and plots were thrown into the mix when simplicity would have sufficed. I also felt that the character of Faraday went against everything he stood for at the conclusion of the book - what a strange U Turn.

This novel was ok for a quick read, but reminded me of the bland middle class detective series that seem to fill the ITV schedule. There was no darkness or menace; just the boring day to day life of a typical police officer.


Good, but not great., 14 May 2006
Hurley's portrayal of the police--their strengths, weaknesses, personal problems, those who are ethical and those who are less than-felt very true. That, to me, was the strength of the book. The plot itself seemed a bit convoluted. The one element that really bothered me was that, in the prelude, Emma is the one who starts the entire story, yet she is mentioned only briefly in the rest of the story. It is the first book in a series, and felt to be a first book. I'd be interested to read a later book in the series, but don't know that I'd seek them out.

Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes, 29 Apr 2008
The punctuation and spelling mistakes made me give up at page 40. To spell beatles twice on the same page with a double "E" was too much!
I forgot what the story was about looking for the next mistake
SGH


Great dan shepard story, 20 Apr 2008
I love to read series books and the Dan Shepard stories are excellent. Great fiction story. If you like this try Soft Target (same title) by Conrad Jones, mind blowingly good !!! great reads both of them....10/10

Brilliant, 28 Nov 2007
This was the first Stephen Leather I read and I thought it brilliant. I was so impressed I went & bought it for my 40ish old brother-in-law who also loved it. Very difficult to put down; I am now completeley addicted to these books.

Cracking read, 17 Nov 2007
The 2nd Dan 'Spider' Shepherd novel from Leather, and it is a cracker! Spider is undercover exposing people who employ hit men to get rid of their business partners or spouses, where unknown to him,gets the attention of a well known drug smuggler. Moving on Spider goes undercover in the Police's armed response unit to uncover some corrupt cops. These 2 plots meet in a chilling scenario with terrorist suicide bombers in the London Underground (incidentally written before U.K.'s 7/7). Spider has to think fast on his feet and deal with a host of emotional turmoil. A great read!

A whopping cell phone bill, no doubt, 05 Nov 2006
It wasn't until I was well into SOFT TARGET that I realized it's apparently the second in the Dan Shepherd series. The third installment, COLD KILL, I'd read some months ago - see my review "How hardball do we play it" dated 6/29/06 - and the first, HARD LANDING, awaits on my unread shelf. I wish I'd read them in order, but who was to know? As I recall, even the Hardy Boys mysteries of my youth were sequentially numbered on the jacket.

Ex-SAS trooper Dan Shepherd is now a Detective Constable with London's Metropolitan Police seconded to and working with a special hush-hush undercover unit tasked with missions otherwise impossible. In SOFT TARGET, the marks are a businessman and a crime lord's wife, each soliciting the murder of his partner and her husband respectively, where Dan plays killer-for-hire Tony Nelson, and a corrupt cop in the Met's elite armed response unit, which Dan joins as Stuart Marsden, that, in the course of the plot, tackles armed pizza shop bandits, a gang of roving teenage thugs on the Tube, and, ultimately, Moslem suicide bombers. On his bedside table, Dan/Tony/Stu has a cell phone for each identity. Kathy Gift is the shrink assigned by Dan's boss to make sure that Shepherd, who recently lost his wife in a road accident, isn't suffering debilitating stress. Gee, you think?

I gather that SOFT TARGET and HARD LANDING - the latter I have yet to read, you recall - serve as the character development bit in the evolution of author Stephen Leather's hero, whose ultimate mission in his fictional life is to foil Arab terrorists. In SOFT TARGET, there is fleeting reference to a mysterious Saudi, who travels the world on a British passport recruiting and arming suicide bombers, and who plays a major roll in COLD KILL.

I'm giving SOFT TARGET four stars not because it falls short as a thriller, but simply because it's not quite as riveting as COLD KILL, to which I gave five stars. (This reviewing gig is subjective and relative, after all.) I'm also somewhat impatient with the text time devoted to Dan's well-meaning but too often poor performance as a single Dad to his now motherless son, Liam. I gather Leather included this to show Dan as a regular bloke with a warm, fuzzy side to attract female readers, but the subplot never seems to go anywhere (and doesn't even in COLD KILL). Less Liam and more Gift would've been more interesting.

Stephen tells me that there's to be a fourth Shepherd novel (in which, presumably, Dan's confrontation with Islamic nutters escalates). I'm actually looking forward to this book more than I am the first in the series because by that time the Shepherd character will have evolved to literary maturity.

Meet Inspector Wallander, 02 May 2008
If not the best police procedural in terms of plot, this is certainly a good introduction to Inspector Kurt Wallander. He's a newly single grumpy forty-something who frets about his family; but he is a good, conscientious policeman who's not afraid of doing the hard stuff himself. When a gruesome double murder is committed on a farm out in the country, it takes graft in the dull Swedish winter to track down the faceless killers of the title. We don't find out much more about his family or colleagues in this first volume, but I look forward to reading many more.


The review I read......., 16 Mar 2008
.....must have been writeen by Mankell's best friend or agent. On the strength of it I bought the book and how shallow, slow, drab, grey and conclusivly dull and predictable it was too. I hate detective fiction where the people who did it enter the book ten pages from the end. Set in the Swedish winter in places that sound about as appealing as frostbite, Wallender, Manning's ace detective,is a real uninspiring bore (who wants to know that he diorea everyday and looks down at his underpants and realises they need changing?) and his team aren't much better. They is no character you don't care if they carry on living or not. I gave it two starts instead of one, as I presume, given Mankell's output of Wallender 'mysteries' he must have improved or maybe the buying population of the villages and town he mentions is enough to maintain a living by.

Surprise package, 09 Feb 2007
I was bought this book as a Christmas present. I had never heard of the author or the detective who is the main character.

However what an absolute delight. A real story about a detective in a small police force in Sweden. Normally he has to deal with petty crime so when a very violent double murder is uncovered our detective "Kurt Wallander" has a problem on his hands.

What is exceptionally good about this book is the development of the main character Wallander. His wife has left him, his father is on the start of suffering from dimentia and his daughter wont talk to him. This is story of a policeman working laboriously through what small clues there are, managing his private life, yet it is done with a very ydry humour through out the book.

Loved it

"For murder, though it have no tongue, 19 Jan 2007
will speak with most miraculous organ." Hamlet.

An aging farmer and his wife have been brutally attacked on their isolated farm in southern Sweden. They appear to have little money and no enemies. The only clue, if you can call it that is the dying word of the farmer's wife: "foreign". The police have have little else to go on but go on they must. That is the plot for Henning Mankell's first Kurt Wallander detective mystery: "Faceless Killers". The result is a well-done police procedural.

My `discovery' (I know he has already been discovered by millions of readers) of the Kurt Wallander series was the natural result of my reading a series of "Martin Beck" detective mysteries by the husband and wife team of Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall. Wallander, like Beck, is a police detective in Sweden. Unlike Beck, whose beat was Stockholm, Wallander works in the small southern-Swedish city of Ystad. The Wallander series takes place in the 1990s while the Beck series took place in the 1960s and 1970s.

Since this book is the first in a series, it provides the reader with a great deal of background information on the main characters. Wallander is gritty and determined. He is also newly separated from his wife and estranged from his daughter. Further, his father is showing the first signs of senility. Wallander sometimes drinks too much and is clumsy in his dealings with the interim prosecutor, an attractive young woman sent down from Stockholm.

The book moves along at a relatively quick pace. Mankell does a good job of keeping the pot boiling without revealing too much too quickly. The detectives follow false leads and their fallibility adds a nice veneer of realism to the story. The importance of the farmer's wife's last word "foreign" is clear but its meaning is not fully revealed (or proven) until the book's climax.

I enjoyed "Faceless Killers". Although there was nothing uniquely creative or groundbreaking about the plot or its resolution, Mankell tells a good story. He also manages to evoke a compelling picture of life (and police work) in an area as far from Stockholm as you are likely to get. As such these books make a nice contrast with the Martin Beck series. (Mankell does make a quick reference to one of the Beck books, "The Laughing Policeman", so it seems clear that the obvious comparisons between the two books and series are also clear to Mankell.

"Faceless Killers" is worth reading. While I don't think it was the best book in the series (the natural result of having to spend a lot of time with the requisite development of a large number of characters that populate a series), I think it is worth reading. I've read two other Wallander books ("The Dogs of Riga" and "Side-Tracked") to date and have enjoyed both of them. If you like police procedurals and like the idea of a somewhat exotic (if cold) setting, I think you will like "Faceless Killers". L. Fleisig.

A Good, Lazy Thriller, 05 Jan 2007
The book is no doubt well-written, with the main character - a weary police officer named Kurt Wallander - being very convincing and interesting, but it seems the crime itself is secondary to everything else that happens here (Wallander's love life, his problems with his daughter and an old father). Still - it's a pleasure to read the novel (in spite of some cruelty and the fact that certain characters ooze pessimism), just don't expect a classic 'whodunnit'; the answers to the questions "Who?" and "Why?" are usually delivered in a rather lazy manner, and all too often we only get them thanks to a surprising coincidence or pure good luck rather than because of Wallander's crime-solving skills.

refreshingly different, 28 Feb 2008
Unusually the detective doesn't get his man - well not how you might think, anyway. The characterisation is gripping, but you need to concentrate and keep your wits about you. Can't wait for the next one.

Hard Landing (Dan Sheperd Mysteries), 06 Nov 2008
The Dan Shepherd series are rivetting and hard to put down. 'Spider' is an interesting and complex character but reassuringly tough - a bit like a UK version of Jack Reacher from the Lee Child books, but not such a loner. I have enjoyed everyone of the Dan Shepherd books and strongly recommend them - the fact that I have bought them all is testament to Stephen Leather being a great author

Spider Does Porridge, 25 Aug 2008
I have just read Hard Landing for the 2nd time with a gap of about 3 years. I have a talent for developing amnesia when it comes to reading and therefore I could really only remember the basic plotline. I was once again captivated by the tension the author creates in this thriller and found myself holding my breath as the action hotted up. I think the introduction of Spider's family and his interaction with his son humanises a character I have previously described as "superhuman" (my review of Dead Men).This was our first meeting with Spider and to date he has not disappointed.

Great intro to Spider, 06 Oct 2007
This is the first of Leathers books to feature Dan Shepherd, and it is a cracker! Carpenter is a drug dealer on remand in a high security prison but managing to kill off witneses so his case won't go to trial. Carpenter has a huge span of control both in and out of the nick. Enter Spider, undercover to make sure Carpenter gets convicted. This is a great and tense game of chess with Carpenter having a strong network and Spider always under the risk of being found as a cop in jail. Great story, but could have been edited down 100 pages, nevertheless.

Standard Prison story with a cracking end, 22 Mar 2007
Leather has written some amazing books and this for anyone else would be a good book but not quite as amazing as his early ones. The story starts off with Dan Shepherd being arrested and put in prison to get information on a really nasty drug runner who has killed off most of anyone who can finger him. The scenes are pretty graphic and the action as far as it can get in a prison is pretty hard and fast. The ending makes a huge extra point to the book.

Not bad.

New literary Tough Guy hits the ground running, 14 Feb 2007
HARD LANDING was the first in the Stephen Leather's series of thrillers starring Dan "Spider" Shepherd, an ex-SAS trooper now assigned to an elite Metropolitan police unit tabbed for deep undercover operations when the usual enforcement methods can't nab the bad guys. Dan's nickname came to be while on an SAS survival training mission and he won a bet on wh