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  • Short Range

  • The 16th Spider Shepherd Thriller
  • By: Stephen Leather
  • Narrated by: Paul Thornley
  • Length: 12 hrs and 48 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (467 ratings)
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Short Range cover art

Short Range

By: Stephen Leather
Narrated by: Paul Thornley
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Summary

The explosive new thriller in the Spider Shepherd series

Dan 'Spider' Shepherd's career path - soldier, policeman, MI5 officer - has always put a strain on his family. So he is far from happy to learn that MI5 is using teenagers as informants. Parents are being kept in the dark and Shepherd fears that the children are being exploited. 

As an undercover specialist, Shepherd is tasked with protecting a 15-year-old schoolboy who is being used to gather evidence against violent drug dealers and a right-wing terrorist group. But when the boy's life is threatened, Shepherd has no choice but to step in and take the heat. 

And while Shepherd's problems mount up at work, he has even greater problems closer to home. His son Liam has fallen foul of the Serbian Mafia and if Shepherd doesn't intervene, Liam will die. 

©2019 Stephen Leather (P)2019 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critic reviews

Praise for Stephen Leather: "A master of the thriller genre." (Irish Times)

What listeners say about Short Range

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not the usual standard

I pre-ordered this book AND bought it on Kindle so needless to say I am a MASSIVE Spider Shepherd fan. That’s why I was so disappointed with Short Range.

Without giving away any spoilers, the reason I am disappointed is the format and structure of of the story. As is so often the case there were couple of parallel stories going on but in Short Range around 2/3 of the way through the book we just lurch into one of the sub-plots (which to me was ridiculous anyway - a lazy plot device) and everything focuses on this. A number of events happen which were silly, unrealistic and not what I expect from Stephen Leather - and then we go back for the last hour to wrap up all the loose ends. The event which happens at the very start of the book is pretty much irrelevant to the rest of this story, although I can see it being followed up in the next book.

There were things I liked. Jimmy Sharpe features once again, and I liked the references to characters in ‘The Bag Carrier’ (a Stand Alone cop book also by Leather) Parts of the book were classic Leather but the book overall was too fragmented and I wonder if cranking out so many books every year is starting to effect the quality?

I would read / listen to this again, because it’s part of a huge series of books spanning many years, and I am invested in the characters, but this is not one of his best.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

shame

Looks like going through the motions with this, perhaps Spider is past his sell-by date .

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

doesn't match the other information in the series

I thought katras mother died when she was young and she had only brothers? very confusing when the story doesn't match previous story lines

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Continuity?

Story started a bit slow and lacked the detail that would normally grip my attention. The story seemed to contradict relationships and characters that were previously dead now living? I'm missing the excitement and attention to details of the earlier Sheppard books.
Maybe this is the end of the series?

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

disappointing

I have been a fan of Stephen Leather for a very long time, especially the Dan Shepherd stories. I loved this book at the beginning and as usual I was learning loads about a side of society unfamiliar to me. Then Stephen writes a sad and unexpected, unnecessary twist which I wish he hadn't . Dan didn't deserve it. May be it will be relevant in the future.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

😳

‼️ transferring the vote was a reason to go down routine, read, and write every penny

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding

Yet again another outstanding Spider Shepard novel, great narration, great story with all the familiar characters. On to the next one

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

slow ,irrelevant, quite boring .....SHAME

events and history doesn't match up with the rest of the series.
Katra's mom died when she was little and she only had brothers.....
Spider did not live in Hereford when sue was alive....he lived in London.....moved up after she died...
Shepherd hasn't fired RPG's before??? what about in Cambodia and back in London....blowing up a wall during an armed robbery and taking out a van with terrorists attempting to blow up a plane at Heathrow?....
I lived the series.....but the last 3 books are on a downward trend with regards to quality..... sad

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another great book!

Yep same pace as ever, starting to get a little more same old.. But will always love the spider shepherd legend!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Never ever a disappointment, and a shock I never expected. Don't want to give any spoliers

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