The Phoenix believes criminals should pay for their crimes. The system often fails to deliver the correct punishment. He can redress the balance.
The Olympus Project
Rescued by strangers from a watery grave and given a new identity. The Phoenix is a stone-cold killer. An ideal fit for the Olympus Project, a secret organisation fighting injustice.
Gold, Silver, and Bombs
The eyes of the world are on London 2012. British security services anticipate an organised terror attack. Safety is paramount. What if the real danger comes from a lone wolf?
Nothing Is Ever Forever
The action never slows. The tension never slackens. The Phoenix stares death in the face once more. Detectives Phil Hounsell and Zara Wheeler are back, as Colin Bailey’s past threatens to catch up with him.
In The Lap Of The Gods
Olympus battle vicious gangsters on home soil. The body count rises. Dimitar Marinov cements his reputation as the most brutal criminal ever to have set foot on UK soil. Phoenix and Athena attend their first senior meeting with Zeus and the other Gods. They sense factions within the Project are plotting to take it in a different, more sinister direction. Who can they trust?
Ted Tayler is the international best-selling indie author of the Freeman Files and Phoenix series. Ted lives in the English West country, where his stories are based. He was born in 1945 and has been married to Lynne since 1971. They have three children and four grandchildren.
His thought-provoking mysteries appeal to readers of Sally Rigby, Joy Ellis, Pauline Rowson, and Faith Martin. His action-packed thrillers are a must for fans of Mark Dawson and J C Ryan.
Gus Freeman’s cold case investigations are carried out with reasoned deduction rather than bursts of frantic action. In each of the 24 books, unsolved murders are accompanied by romance, humour, and country life. The core message in the 12 Phoenix novels is that criminals should pay for their crimes. Unfortunately, the current system fails to deliver the correct punishment, so Phoenix helps redress the balance.
From the very first page I was sucked into Colin’s world! The characters are rich, interesting and surprisingly believable if you keep an open mind. I can’t wait to tackle the entire series now. On to the next!! On a side note, I’m also looking forward to the new series. Keep grinding.
Fast paced action , well researched narrative. Things are not always as they seem. The characters have there own identities, but they are united toward one objective. Get these books,and don't miss the rest of the series.
Info Dumps and Quirky Punctuation About, But Still a Good Read
While the thriller subgenre has always been an interest of mine, I will admit that I have been more drawn to them now. Perhaps it is something about the dark and stormy nights that makes you want to curl up with a scary book! I was not familiar with this author or this series until I picked up this book. Unfortunately, I thought that the beginning of the first book of the series had a bit too much of an information dump at the start, as did part of the second chapter. I also thought that the first chapter was bogged down by having an exciting event told in flashback rather than in real time as it unfolded. That technique definitely takes you out of the action and makes for less of a thrill ride. Once past these information dump chapters--although there are still a few moments like this scattered throughout the novels--I enjoyed the quick pace and the inevitable thriller twists and turns. I like to see unusual settings, which these books did provide, and I thought the author did an excellent job of research to make the books feel more realistic. The punctuation and grammar of this book were highly unusual in places. I would almost call it whimsical, as I am feeling in a somewhat charitable mood this morning. It was distracting at times. The writer is English, so I know some allowances must be made as I am accustomed to American style writing, but some punctuation and grammar rules hold for both variants of English. (I am a copy editor, so I know this!). Was it George Bernard Shaw who said something along the lines that America and England were two countries separated by a common language? Still, all in all, after I got past the information dump sections and let myself just enjoy the quirky grammar and punctuation, I did find this collection to be an engaging read.
NOTE: I read a version that contained the first 3 novels, not four.
Lots of action, good character development, decent pace. But only on books. 1,2, and 4. Book 3 also St seems to come from a different pen. Much more time is spent on developing the antagonists that you know are going to be killed. Why waste so much time on them?
We love Phoenix, Athena and the Olympus team, don’t drag us through criminals backstories.
Unless you enjoy simplistic verbose action tropes it might be helpful to give this a miss. While the basic premise is adequate the process & execution is mired in an unsophisticated narrative that spoils the possibly good action sequences m
Tremendous storytelling. Many readers will agree with the sentiments expressed. Nice to see my birth town and town of residence mentioned. Can't wait to read next instalment.
Characters are excellent and believable. Ted writes as though he was there. This series is my kind of book. I have read books 1 thru 5. Will now read the remaining books in the series. I highly recommend this author.