Spiders Web

Dan Shepherd #ss

by Stephen Leather

Three all-action short stories, including two brand new Spider Shepherd adventures. The collection also includes an extract from the tenth Spider Shepherd thriller, TRUE COLOURS, out 18 July 2013.

One of the new Spider Shepherd short stories, Hard Evidence:

When Dan 'Spider' Shepherd wakes up alone in a bricked basement room, chained by the wrists to a cast-iron ceiling pipe with a throbbing pain in his skull, he knows he has a big problem.

He has no idea how he got there.

He has no idea who put him there.

He has no idea of his fate.

And he has no idea how he is going to escape . . .

Genres: Thriller, Short Stories, Fiction

61 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 6, 2013

About the author

Stephen Leather was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. His bestsellers have been translated into more than ten languages. He has also written for television shows such as London's Burning, The Knock and the BBC's Murder in Mind series. For much of 2011 his self-published eBooks - including The Bestseller, The Basement, Once Bitten and Dreamer's Cat - dominated the UK eBook bestseller lists and sold more than half a million copies. The Basement topped the Kindle charts in the UK and the US, and in total he has sold more than two million eBooks. His bestselling book The Chinaman was filmed as The Foreigner, starring Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan and grossing more than $100 million.

Reviews

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Three short stories from the pen of Stephen Leather, of which two feature Dan 'Spider' Shepherd. Only the first really piqued my interest, although even this failed to satisfy me. The other two were fairly unmemorable. I am of the opinion that short stories, and novellas, are not the writer's forte, as they lacked the writing style I have come to expect from his full length books. All in all I was rather disappointed in this, and perhaps I will avoid these shorter works in future.

[Alicia Huxtable · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually like this author

I like this author so I'm disappointed that this book didn't grab me like I hoped it would. Oh well, next time

[Steve Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wasn’t impressed. While there were some nifty portions of the narrative, the stories left too many holes for me to ignore.

On another note, it seems bots have infiltrated Goodreads reviews, given s “reviewer wrote “Arapaho Indians” as a review about this collection.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Arapaho Indians

[Jo Scarfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great work, hopefully one day they will be made into full books instead of short stories

[Sharon Coles · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting

A great introduction to a new author. Enjoyable and engaging. Enough story to get a feel of the characters and will try a full length novel.

[A Reader's Heaven · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been a fan on Stephen Leather's for quite a while and was keen on reading some short fiction from him.

The first story, Hard Evidence, was an interesting opening. More like a scene from a novel, it features Dan Shepherd being held prisoner by a Russian bad guy. And, it feels like the end of a book where the bad guy is convinced to tell the good guy the reasons behind everything he did. A lot of dialogue but no real action until the very end.

The next story was Hiatus. A story of two would-be-thieves who decide on a plan to rob an old man and the way the tables can turn if you aren't careful. Not Leather's best work.

The last story is Hard Target and, to be honest, I have pretty much forgotten what it was about...

Some authors are very skilled at the short story. I think Stephen Leather should stick to his novels where his character development and story arcs are at their best.


Paul
ARH

[Sophie Narey (Bookreview- aholic) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published: 06/06/2013
Author: Stephen Leather
Recommended for: fans of his other books and novellas
Edition: Kindle

I really love books by Stephen Leather so I thought I would read one of his short novels... however I wasn't really that impressed with this one.

The first one (Hard Evidence) is quite good and did grab my attention abit , it felt more like it was the opening of a full length novel. It could have done with abit more action throughout the whole story rather than just at the very end.

The second story ( Hiatus) was abit disappointing the storyline didn't really grab my attention at all.

I much prefer Stephen Leathers full length novels but some of his other fans might prefer these ones.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spider Shepherd was how I was first introduced to Stephen Leather's books.It has been a long time since I last ventured into Spider's world but it certainly didn't take too long to get back
Three short stories two which involved Spider and one which involved an old man seen as a victim by two lads looking to rob him

[Geoff Woodland · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never feel that time has been wasted reading Stephen Leather's books. Some I like more than others, but overall Spiders Web fitted well for me as a quick holiday read. I do prefer his single story books rather than a compilation of three short stories.

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read one of Stephen Leather's books before. Had Spiders Web been my first, I would not have read any other books by him. These short stories reminded me of the old TV series 'Tales of the Unexpected' and were just as corny.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only read the first 2 stories. The third one 'Hard Target' I couldn't really get into. They were okay, but I'm not sure I'd read them again.

[Liam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Half - decent, free, can't ask for much more really.
Will check out his other FREE(!!!) short story of a different genre to see if I'll start buying his books.

[Nisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

first two stories were interesting but too short to enjoy once captured.
the third story was difficult to get into with no grip of a storyline.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first short story in this collection was good, the others didn't grab me at all. I've read other books from this author, which I've found good. Unfortunately this isn't one of them.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good set of short stories