The Regulators: Shadow Of Malice

by Ben Bruce

2019 Adventure Writers Competition Semi Finalist. The thrills of 24, with the swagger of Reacher, the smarts of Spooks... A child turns up at a rural police station in Yorkshire, with a tale that will shock the nation. As Thea Watts begins her investigation, she realises she can't trust the system to keep the boy safe, so she calls on the one man she knows won't let her down, Jack Quinn, a vigilante with his heart set on doing one thing; the right thing. But Quinn is out of The Regulators, the secret organisation he was a member of, exiled for failing to carry out an order to kill Watts. Will he be able to help her and if he does, will he be able to do it the right way, or will need the justice outweigh the need to follow the law? Shadow Of Malice is the thrilling second book in The Regulators series, by Ben Bruce.

421 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 1, 2019

About the author

Growing up in a small town in the middle of England, with not a lot really happening, was the perfect place for an imagination to flourish. Indeed, having gone to the same secondary school as noted filmmakers Ken Loach and Gareth Edwards, it almost seemed inevitable that Ben Bruce would end up telling stories sooner, rather than later.

A career working behind the scenes in TV opened a number of doors as he sought out a career as a screenwriter, but when one script was rejected, he was unable to let it go, and thus The Regulators went from the screen to the page.

Now with three Regulators books under his belt and a new series kicking off with the 1960s London based police procedural Dead Men Don’t Pay due for release in July 2024, Ben is quickly cementing his reputation as one of the hottest new indie authors on the scene.

He can often be found on the U.K. Crime Book Club, the country’s largest online book group for crime fiction, where he is an admin and runs the quiz, a staple of the UKCBC Live and Winter Festival. He also hosts their podcast, Criminally Inspired where he talks to authors about their inspirations.

Away from writing, Ben is married with two kids and resides in the East Midlands. A proud Scot, he supports Manchester United and mourns the loss of Nuneaton Borough. He’d love to travel to Philadelphia to see his beloved Eagles play and coaches Nuneaton Jaguars Flag Football team at both Adult and Junior levels.

Reviews

[Tony Parsons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yorkshire. Sergeant Rankine (Pickering PD) called Detective Thea Watts (Yorkshire PD; CID, Sexual Assaults U, former NCA officer) about the lad he had at the station & had been taken to the Malton NHS hospital to get checked out.
Sergeant Rankine met her there to her Ciaran’s story.
London, England. David Warner (Regulator vigilante network head) had spied Jack Quinn (divorced husband/father, former SAS Iraq/Afghanistan) having a drink in a bar & offered him a job.

Adam Morgan, Ms. Emmie Weston, & Moeen “Mo” Younis (Muslim, hacker hacker) were some of the other Regulators field agents.
Later, Jack arrived at the hospital to hear Detective Thea/Ciaran’s story.
What was Nabil wanting to speak to Mo about?
Lowri Graves (House of Commons civil servant, Vehmic underground court system head), Parliamentary & Diplomatic Protection team (PaDP) was going to help with the investigation into a potential pedophile ring.
Dick Shakespeare (Social Services) had showed up to see Ciaran also.
Sergeant Oliver Wilkes (Thea’s boss) came to see how Ciaran was improving.
DCI Graham Hayes (elderly, Northumberland PD, CID) had told Detective Watts DC Chris Randle (39) had filed a complaint against her.
David had been hit by a sniper bullet & was in the hospital.
Lowri was watching the video tapes from several of the cameras.
She was looking to see if Narek Voskerchyan (Armenian) was in them.

Craggan’s Farm dairy farm. John Braun (Lord Brier’s gamekeeper) & his entourage had taken Mo & Jack hostage.

I did not receive any type of compensation for reading & reviewing this book. While I receive free books from publishers & authors, I am under no obligation to write a positive review, only an honest one. All thoughts & opinions are entirely my own.

A very awesome book cover, & proper great font & writing style. A very well written thriller book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a great set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great thriller movie, or better yet a mini TV series. There is no doubt in my mind this is a very easy rating of 5 stars.

Thank you for the free Goodreads; Making Connections; Making Connections discussion group talk; Author; PDF book
Tony Parsons (Washburn; MSW)

[Stuart Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly paced thriller

Have now read both of the Regulator books and am loving the character s. Sometime you root for them and sometimes you don't but all in all a good read. Can't wait for the next one.

[barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have read both books now great read characters are real and fit in well really love this series well worth a read can't wait for next book almost feel in with them.
Ben must be a new author as i looked for more by this author keep up the great work Ben .

[Clive Barnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dissapointing and disjointed.

To many threads going on. Bounces around between them to much. Untimely doesn't go anywhere. Looks like another series that will go on and on without each book having a satisfying conclusion.

[Steve Sinnott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read .

Great book read the first book and couldn't wait to read this next book.
Very believable story of widespread corruption.
That has hallmarks of the truth throughout.
Look forward to the next in the series.