Scorpion

Group Fifteen Files #1

by Mark Dawson, Steve Cavanagh

They call him 'Scorpion.' No-one knows his real name and the only people who have seen his face are dead. He works for the highest bidder, and he’s never missed a target.

The assassin appears in London with the name of an investigative reporter on his list. But has Scorpion met his match? The reporter has a protector - John Milton. And Milton might be the only man in the world more dangerous than him.

Genres: Thriller, Audiobook, Fiction, Mystery, Novella, Espionage, Suspense

107 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 7, 2017

About the author

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http://eepurl.com/Cai5X

Mark Dawson was born in Lowestoft and grew up in Manchester and Chicago. He has worked as a lawyer and currently works in the London film industry. His first books, "The Art of Falling Apart" and "Subpoena Colada" have been published in multiple languages.

He is currently writing two series. Soho Noir is set in the West End of London between 1940 and 1970. The first book in the series, "The Black Mile", deals with the (real life but little known) serial killer who operated in the area during the Blitz. "The Imposter" traces the journey of a criminal family (think The Sopranos in austerity London and you'd be on the right track).

The John Milton series features a disgruntled special agent who aims to help people to make amends for the terrible things that he has done. Mark, as a child of the 80s, will freely admit that he watched a lot of The Equalizer in his youth.

Mark lives in Wiltshire with his family.

You can find him at www.markjdawson.com or www.facebook.com/markdawsonauthor.

Reviews

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best short story by Mark Dawson that I’ve listened to. Perhaps it’s because he paired writing with Steve Cavanagh.

Evil Russians hire an assassin, known as Scorpion, to kill a woman in London for undisclosed reasons. British intelligence hires John Milton to protect the woman.

This was a freebee from Audible. It’s 2 ½ hours of unmitigated thrilling action.

[Bibi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good and short intro to the John Milton series which I only read because it had Steve Cavanagh’s name on the cover. Notwithstanding, Mark Dawson has a new fan.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good start for a short beginning and looking forward to more. 6 of 10 stars

[Terence M [on a brief semi-hiatus] · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5-Stars >> 3-Stars "It was OK"
Audiobook Novella - 02:37 Hours
Narrated by David Thorpe
This "John Milton" novella was an enjoyable enough listen and probably a little better than OK, but just not enough to round it up to 4-Stars ("I Really Liked It").

As a rule I choose not to read novellas, particularly those that are priced too close to the same level as a full book. However, I have been fan of Mark Dawson's writing for some years and I have enjoyed a number of his "John Milton" series of audiobooks. When Audible offered a few 'audio novellas' by Dawson as inclusions in their "Plus Catalogue", which is free to Audible subscribers, I was happy to put them in my library and see whether my general attitude towards 'novellas' could be moderated.
I am happy to say that I think it has. I look forward to listening to more 'audio novellas' in the hope that this becomes a permanent change of my attitude towards them.

[Kathi Defranc · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Milton, assassin, is back in the first of a series of novellas dealing with the group 15, the part of his life for which he now tries to make amends. Written with a co-author, the story is quick with all the action and suspense we have come to crave in Mark Dawson's tales.
We begin to see Milton's life from the beginning, and I am very excited to find out more as these novellas continue!!

[Pierre Tassé (Enjoying Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a short story and an introduction, it did a fairly good job. I liked it.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything you want in a thriller and everything you would expect from a Mark Dawson novel.
This is a short story about a young woman and how her life is affected by meeting John Milton.
Hailey Bank’s name is on a hit list that has been outsourced to a independent contract killer known as the Scorpion. John Milton has a twofold agenda, first thwart the hit and secondly take out the Scorpion. The question starts to be posed in the reader’s mind. “How much is Hailey expendable in the greater desire to get his man? Is Hailey simply bait to flush him out, so Milton can take out perhaps the best assassin in this area of operation.?”
Mind you Group 15 and John Milton demonstrate their effectiveness in saving her life at the start of the story.
I like the characters. Milton is a troubled soul but very good at what he does. Very confident in his own ability and simply never thinks his mission will fail.
Some brilliant action sequences and tense moments where you wonder how the author will get Hailey from one near certain death moment to live to draw another breath. There are no corny tricks, Dawson is a master of surprise and plot management.
I think the strength displayed by Hailey is a little unrealistic but the character created by the writing remains true to this assured nature.
What is incredible about Dawson and why he is so good at what he does? It is the topics chosen. Here the Russians are up to no good, and fact and fiction are hard to distinguish when elaborate methods of killing targets who have displeased the Russian state and are revealed here and in our news media.
Group 15 does unravel for Milton in later books, but here he is in harness, working as a government asset protecting U.K. interests. He is bright and resourceful and any book set around him will never disappoint.

[Marty Fried · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, perhaps?

It wasn't bad, but it was a bit too straight-forward without much in the way of character development. I suppose this might be expected from a novella somewhat, although I've read some that seemed better. Perhaps the purpose of this was simply to introduce John Milton, but I didn't get much of a sense of him except that he's a trained killing machine.

So, if you want a fairly simple story that moves from point a to point b without much in the way of surprises or thinking, perhaps this will fit the bill. I might decide to try one of the subsequent books to see if a full-length book is better, but I have a lot of other books that might be as good or better, so I'm not really sure.

[Natalie M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than average, but it felt long for a novella.

It is definitely action-packed, and it has good character development which is unusual for a short story. Still, I was expecting a more realistic storyline, so that it might be an expectation versus reality issue.

Jack Reacher and Co. fans would probably love the series, but it's not one for me.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meet John Milton, super spy action man. He’s “the one MI5 calls when they need someone to pull a trigger.” We first encounter this dark shadow of a character hiding in a kitchen, protecting a journalist from an assassin called the Scorpion, a faceless hit man for hire. Only by reading the whole of Scorpion do you find out whether Milton is successful in his mission.

Taking place in a very short window of time, this is an action packed fast paced story. There is so much crammed into this 100 page book. I got assassins, break ins, murders, kidnapping…but I’ll leave it there before I totally ruin the story for you! All this is set before the full novels so it gives you an insight into Milton and his background.

Given there are two guys writing one novella, you can’t tell who has written what. There is seamless writing at work here and it’s piqued my interest to reading more about John Milton, both in the full length novels and the collaborations under the Group 15 series.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. I considered going only 3 stars as the book is really very short and more of a novella than a novel. It's like a chapter or two of a longer story.

Which I guess it is in a way. I'm planning on continuing the story, in time.

Pretty good anyway. Master assassin up against a Nemesis.

Enjoy.

[Laur · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Russians target a young journalist for a kill. When doing so expecting flawless results, they send their best, a man only who is known as Scorpion. But when MI-5 needs to counter strike and protect an asset, they send their best - a stealthy force to be reckoned with, John Milton.

This is a short Audible Original, (2 hrs and 37 minutes). Plenty of action with a great twist for those who need or like an espionage thriller mystery. No foul language or sex.

[myreadingescapism · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this short novella, there was more action than any of the other books I listened to today. 🙌

[David Highton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A prequel novella to the John Milton series - a job protecting a potential assassination victim gets difficult

[Abibliofob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am trying to get up to date on the books about John Milton. Now I finally have the time for the "Group Fifteen Files" Scorpion is the first and it's a sort of prequel to the John Milton series. I have been a fan of Mark Dawson since I first got my paws on the adventures of ex assassin Milton. They are fantastic and different from many in the genre. There is a great flow in Dawsons writing and since you never know where the next book is set. You get to travel with his characters. Highly recommended.

[Jim A · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very quick read novella for fans of Dawson's John Milton. As with his other novellas, this one goes back to a time when Milton was still an operative of Group 15. He is on the trail of Scorpion, an assassin for Russia's SVR. In essence, he's Milton's equivalent for the Russian government.

Don't be put off by the four star rating. I seldom give five stars to works of fiction.

[Farhan · Rating 1 out of 5]

cliche plot, cliche characters. Waste of time.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent short read. Probably a 3.5 stars. I like the main character. He is a little bit James Bond, suave and competent. Not sure how an assassin keeps his soul but it’s a nice thought. Plenty of action and excitement to make this fun to read.

[Macky · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️3.5⭐️

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little novella, great introduction to the books.

[Riette Beling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent little novella by @markjdawson and @sscav . We get the introduction in to Group 15 and John Milton. This was action packed and it just didn't let up! Incredible writing and fantastic storyline! Punchy and to the point - I am really looking forward to jumping into this series!

[Nickie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An assassin called Scorpion is targeting a reporter. Milton steps in to protect her.

This is 2.5 hours of a fun novella where Milton does his thing in protecting the reporter.

Dawson draws you in and I seem to like the Group 15 novellas.

[BookishDramas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first book by Mark Dawson and I read it because of Steve Cavanagh whose books I have been following with great interest. I discovered a great author with this one.

Mark has put up a great short story here about an investigative journalist who has been marked for assassination. The Scorpion is considered infallible but this is a story where an irresistible force meets an immovable object.
John Milton is a spy who puts Bond and Bourne to shame.

This is a great teaser for the series and I'm impressed enough to read other Mark Dawson (John Milton) books.

[Leonid · Rating 2 out of 5]

This stuff looks not like a crime novel but like some comic book for teenagers with a super hero. And further more - The Stechkin pistol is not a revolver, it is an automatic pistol, which, moreover, were declared obsolete
and has long been out of production, therefore it could hardly be used nowadays by the special forces. The author at first could have read Wikipedia before starting to write his novella!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stechki...

[Larry · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you've noticed anything about what I read is that I love series and that is 99% of what I read. Last year I started reading the Eddie Flynn series by Steve Cavanagh and I was impressed by how good the series is. When I saw that Steve was attached to this book and after I read the description I thought I would read the three novellas that are out now under the series name "Group Fifteen Files" which Dawson uses different writers. How much Cavanagh and the other writers contribute I have no idea, but what the heck, go for it. I've never read any of Dawson's John Milton books but I probably should add them to my ever-lengthening list.

This novella is written bouncing back and forth between the protagonist, John Milton, and the antagonist, the Scorpion, and every now and then third person. Milton's job is to kill the Scorpion and the Scorpion's job is to kill 3 people. A Saudi prince, a former war correspondent Hailey Banks, and a third unknown person. Milton's job is to catch the Scorpion when he goes after Banks. Like most books, it see-saws the advantage between the main characters to see who comes out on top, or in a book's place in the last chapter. It's sort of easy to guess who makes it to the last chapter.

If you want a nicely written spy novel that you can read in a couple of hours then give Scorpion a shot. I'm sure a lot of you have read some of the John Milton series (no, not Paradise Lost) and are familiar with the character. I'm not. 3 stars from me for Scorpion.

Scorpion by Mark Dawson w/ Steve Cavanagh
A Group Fifteen Novella (Group Fifteen Files Book 1)

[Trish R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, John Milton came before the Isabella Rose series that I just read 4 books of so I thought I’d give this novella a try, just to see if I might like Milton.

This was about an assassin that came to kill Hailey because she had uncovered some information she wasn’t even aware of so she had no clue why anyone wanted her dead. Anyway, John Milton was there to see to her safety and kill the assassin, Scorpion. For so few pages this was quite exciting so I bought the second novella, Witness X.

The one thing I didn’t like about this was the fact that Milton got a wake-up call at 7:00 in the morning went downstairs for a 10 minute meeting then ordered a gin and tonic. Yeah, someone drinking before 8:00 in the morning doesn’t do it for me. Let’s see if he continues that kind of crap in the next book. Even when he was questioning Scorpion he was on his 4th shot of scotch. Umm, no! John is an assassin too and it’s hard to believe he can function if he’s drinking so heavily.

As to the narration: First time hearing David Thorpe and he was pretty good. He needs to work on his women’s voices more but I would listen to him again.

[Sandy Wallace · Rating 5 out of 5]

New Series Starts Off with a Bang! (Or Two)

This short novella is the first in a new series by Mark Dawson (collaborating with Steve Cavanaugh) dealing with Group 15, the small circle of assassins operating covertly allowing MI6 plausible deniability for "wet" operations. The series is a spin-off of Dawson's John Milton and Beatrix Rose novels..

SCORPION pits agent John Milton against a former Russian assassin gone rogue. This assassin, code name Scorpion, is in England to kill three people. Milton assignment is to protect one of the targets, a female journalist named Hailey Banks.

This was an enlightening glimpse into John Milton's backstory -- the years before his series of books begins. The reader sees the first stirrings of the forces that will come to haunt Milton in the present day. While a short read, it starts with a clever twist in Chapter 1 and is action all the way to a very satisfying end. A perfect read for a rainy afternoon or a plane flight. I'm curious to see what other secrets from the past are revealed in the next books.

[Neelabh Pratap Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Scorpion" by Mark Dawson provides readers with a captivating glimpse into the earlier life of John Milton, portrayed as an assassin working for Britain's covert intelligence agency, Group Fifteen. Set before the events of Dawson's main series featuring John Milton, this novella offers a compelling exploration of Milton's transformation from a ruthless killer to a man grappling with emerging conscience—a journey that ultimately leads to his evolution into John Smith, the central character in Dawson's main series.

The novella follows Milton on a mission in England to find Scorpion , a Russian assassin who had a job to eliminate three targets. Milton is tasked with protecting Hailey Banks, a female journalist and one of the intended victims.

"Scorpion" serves as a valuable addition to Dawson's John Milton series, providing readers with crucial insights into the character's backstory and the events that shape his journey in the main series.

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book and read it before Mark Dawson revealed that it was written as a collaboration, and I was genuinely surprised to learn that he wasn't the sole author, as it was well up to his usual standard. I have read books from several other authors who have collaborated and the books have been quite disappointing, I am glad to say that this is the exception.
To the book itself; it is a great story and for readers new to John Milton it provides a superb introduction to this great character, for existing Milton fans it provides some fascinating background to his early days in the secretive Group 15. The action sequences are brilliant and the plot is very clever. This book is highly recommended for anyone who loves thrillers, I enjoyed it so much that even though I received a free copy I bought a copy anyway!.

[Janet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first of the Group 15 novellas, a spin off from the John Milton series, and was a quick, fast-paced, entertaining read. This goes back to a time before Milton was Number 1 and jumps right into the action and doesn't let up. Milton is as cunning and dangerous as we know him to be, always one step ahead of everyone. Control also features and he is as oily and insidious as ever. Seeing Milton earlier on in his Group 15 career is a bonus, having read all the John Milton novels, and really adds to understanding how he came to be the Milton we know. It is as gripping as Mark's full length novels and I hope there are a lot more Group 15 books to come.
I received an ARC from the author but have voluntarily decided to write a review and the opinions are my own.