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Nick Stone #13
Zero Hour
When the beautiful 20-year-old daughter of a Moldovan businessman goes missing from her university, British Intelligence will do anything in its power to track her down.
Only one man is skilled and ruthless enough for the job - but for the first time in his life Nick Stone doesn't want to play ball...
Only one man is skilled and ruthless enough for the job - but for the first time in his life Nick Stone doesn't want to play ball...
416 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2010
101 people are currently reading
902 people want to read
About the author
Andy McNab
205 books1,163 followersAndy McNab joined the infantry in 1976 as a boy soldier. In 1984 he was badged as a member of 22 SAS Regiment. He served in B Squadron 22 SAS for ten years and worked on both covert and overt special operations worldwide, including anti-terrorist and anti-drug operations in the Middle and Far East, South and Central America and Northern Ireland.
Trained as a specialist in counter terrorism, prime target elimination, demolitions, weapons and tactics, covert surveillance and information gathering in hostile environments, and VIP protection, McNab worked on cooperative operations with police forces, prison services, anti-drug forces and western backed guerrilla movements as well as on conventional special operations. In Northern Ireland he spent two years working as an undercover operator with 14th Intelligence Group, going on to become an instructor.
McNab also worked as an instructor on the SAS selection and training team and instructed foreign special forces in counter terrorism, hostage rescue and survival training.
Andy McNab has written about his experiences in the SAS in two bestselling books, Bravo Two Zero (1993) and Immediate Action (1995). Bravo Two Zero is the highest selling war book of all time and has sold over 1.7 million copies in the UK. To date it has been published in 17 countries and translated into 16 languages. The CD spoken word version of Bravo Two Zero, narrated by McNab, sold over 60,000 copies and earned a silver disc. The BBC's film of Bravo Two Zero, starring Sean Bean, was shown on primetime BBC 1 television in 1999 and released on DVD in 2000.
Immediate Action, McNab's autobiography, spent 18 weeks at the top of the bestseller lists following the lifting on an ex-parte injunction granted to the Ministry of Defence in September 1995. To date, Immediate Action has now sold over 1.4 million copies in the UK.
McNab is the author of seven fast action thrillers, highly acclaimed for their authenticity and all Sunday Times bestsellers. Published in 1997, Remote Control was hailed as the most authentic thriller ever written and has sold over half a million copies in the UK. McNab's subsequent thrillers, Crisis Four, Firewall, Last Light , Liberation Day , Dark Winter , Deep Black and Aggressor have all gone on to sell equally well. The central character in all the books is Nick Stone, a tough ex-SAS operative working as a 'K' on deniable operations for British Intelligence.
McNab's fiction draws extensively on his experiences and knowledge of Special Forces soldiering. He has been officially registered by Neilsen Bookscan as the bestselling British thriller writer of the last year.
Trained as a specialist in counter terrorism, prime target elimination, demolitions, weapons and tactics, covert surveillance and information gathering in hostile environments, and VIP protection, McNab worked on cooperative operations with police forces, prison services, anti-drug forces and western backed guerrilla movements as well as on conventional special operations. In Northern Ireland he spent two years working as an undercover operator with 14th Intelligence Group, going on to become an instructor.
McNab also worked as an instructor on the SAS selection and training team and instructed foreign special forces in counter terrorism, hostage rescue and survival training.
Andy McNab has written about his experiences in the SAS in two bestselling books, Bravo Two Zero (1993) and Immediate Action (1995). Bravo Two Zero is the highest selling war book of all time and has sold over 1.7 million copies in the UK. To date it has been published in 17 countries and translated into 16 languages. The CD spoken word version of Bravo Two Zero, narrated by McNab, sold over 60,000 copies and earned a silver disc. The BBC's film of Bravo Two Zero, starring Sean Bean, was shown on primetime BBC 1 television in 1999 and released on DVD in 2000.
Immediate Action, McNab's autobiography, spent 18 weeks at the top of the bestseller lists following the lifting on an ex-parte injunction granted to the Ministry of Defence in September 1995. To date, Immediate Action has now sold over 1.4 million copies in the UK.
McNab is the author of seven fast action thrillers, highly acclaimed for their authenticity and all Sunday Times bestsellers. Published in 1997, Remote Control was hailed as the most authentic thriller ever written and has sold over half a million copies in the UK. McNab's subsequent thrillers, Crisis Four, Firewall, Last Light , Liberation Day , Dark Winter , Deep Black and Aggressor have all gone on to sell equally well. The central character in all the books is Nick Stone, a tough ex-SAS operative working as a 'K' on deniable operations for British Intelligence.
McNab's fiction draws extensively on his experiences and knowledge of Special Forces soldiering. He has been officially registered by Neilsen Bookscan as the bestselling British thriller writer of the last year.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
December 20, 2023
‘Rain pounded on the Volvo roof. The windows were steamed up and the car stank of my farts. The Burger was taking its toll.’
Andy McNab is no Salman Rushdie in the prose department. But for gritty realism and witty dialogue, along with a great character in Nick Stone he does a great job. I had moved from McNab to Stephen Leather …now I am back.
Nick Stone, ex-SAS now resting is brought back into action by the Intelligence services. Ostensibly to locate a missing Moldovan girl believed trafficked. A good twist in the story also.
Fast paced and violent. But overall Stone remains a man with a good moral compass. Must hunt more stories with him in👍
Andy McNab is no Salman Rushdie in the prose department. But for gritty realism and witty dialogue, along with a great character in Nick Stone he does a great job. I had moved from McNab to Stephen Leather …now I am back.
Nick Stone, ex-SAS now resting is brought back into action by the Intelligence services. Ostensibly to locate a missing Moldovan girl believed trafficked. A good twist in the story also.
Fast paced and violent. But overall Stone remains a man with a good moral compass. Must hunt more stories with him in👍
February 14, 2023
Great
Fantastic addition to the series.
Seems to get better with the story lines as they go.
Great read from start to finish
Fantastic addition to the series.
Seems to get better with the story lines as they go.
Great read from start to finish
April 7, 2023
I enjoyed this story so much. Anna is a great influence on Nick!
March 3, 2022
When Moldivans daughter disappears, Nick is engaged to find her. He teams up with Anna and they set off to find the missing girl.
Their hunt for the girl involves them crossing a ring of traffickers
Nick is also dealing with some news from a doctor which has implications upon his mission.
Their hunt for the girl involves them crossing a ring of traffickers
Nick is also dealing with some news from a doctor which has implications upon his mission.
July 31, 2023
This was difficult. The author seems to have the experience, but the development is faulty. I kept asking myself, each time Nick was getting his ass handed to him, "What would Reacher do in this situation?". The lead character is faulty, and that is fine, but his hubris screws him over.
April 4, 2013
I lost interest in this book after 100 pages, but unfortunately there were another 400+ pages to go. It was extremely long, unnecessarily so, although about a third of the book was probably made up of swear words. The writing was very shabby indeed. I would not pick up one of Andy McNab's books again.
February 15, 2012
Overall, I found the book a bit of slog and only got through it thanks to the well-drawn character of Nick Stone who I felt deserved better material from his creator this time out.
The main story: Nick is looking for Lilian- a girl who has been sold into forced prostitution. The British goverment are desperate to find her but we don't know why.
Nick also has an apparently terminal illness. This leads our protagonist to make some interesting moral choices as the novel progresses. This was where most interest lay for me.
Personally, I found no reason at any point in the novel to care about Lily's fate. Considering the novel is based on Nick's relentless pursuit of Lily it might have been an idea for McNab to have given the reader a half-decent reason to care for her. All we know is that her dad is very rich and that the British gov wants her.
For me, it's the worst Nick Stone novel I have read so far. I still enjoyed it enough to finish it but only because I find Nick as a character interesting enough to follow through a banal main story.
This story involves a load of cookie-cutter and faceless skin head thugs all devoid of any personality trafficking girls across Europe.
If Mcnab really wants Nick Stone to rival James Bond he really needs to work on his villains. Some guy we are told has a skin-head and a Scouse accent just is not good enough!
The main story: Nick is looking for Lilian- a girl who has been sold into forced prostitution. The British goverment are desperate to find her but we don't know why.
Nick also has an apparently terminal illness. This leads our protagonist to make some interesting moral choices as the novel progresses. This was where most interest lay for me.
Personally, I found no reason at any point in the novel to care about Lily's fate. Considering the novel is based on Nick's relentless pursuit of Lily it might have been an idea for McNab to have given the reader a half-decent reason to care for her. All we know is that her dad is very rich and that the British gov wants her.
For me, it's the worst Nick Stone novel I have read so far. I still enjoyed it enough to finish it but only because I find Nick as a character interesting enough to follow through a banal main story.
This story involves a load of cookie-cutter and faceless skin head thugs all devoid of any personality trafficking girls across Europe.
If Mcnab really wants Nick Stone to rival James Bond he really needs to work on his villains. Some guy we are told has a skin-head and a Scouse accent just is not good enough!
July 21, 2012
A solid read of the kind you expect from McNab. Turn page, turn next, do not engage brain. And that is not a criticism. Sometimes you need a book that you can just let wash over you, and McNab fills that need. That said, you always learn something with his books in terms of geo-politics, or the current state-of-the-art weaponry is showcased.
This isn't one of his best, but it shows a side to Nick Stone not seen since the earliest novels, in that he has some-one else to worry about. It also appears to take a turn for the science-fictional, with the use of a gene-specific weapon used on Ston, to convince him he is dying and should do a job. Whether true or not, no doubt we are seeing, in some way, disinformation tactics in action.
A good solid read. What more can I say?
This isn't one of his best, but it shows a side to Nick Stone not seen since the earliest novels, in that he has some-one else to worry about. It also appears to take a turn for the science-fictional, with the use of a gene-specific weapon used on Ston, to convince him he is dying and should do a job. Whether true or not, no doubt we are seeing, in some way, disinformation tactics in action.
A good solid read. What more can I say?
February 13, 2012
Andy McNab does another fine job of taking the reader into the shadowy world of former SAS operative Nick Stone. McNab handles complex world issus both competently and with a narrative that sounds authentically 'Army', as you'd expect. But there's enough character building in here to make it far more than just another 'invincible hero saves the day' story. Nick Stone gets hurt, gets it wrong and gets a kicking here and there, and all of it serves to make the story all the more believable.
I very much suspect that if James Bond were a real character, his life would be far less Martinis and Aston Martins and much more like one of Andy McNab's novels. Great stuff.
I very much suspect that if James Bond were a real character, his life would be far less Martinis and Aston Martins and much more like one of Andy McNab's novels. Great stuff.
September 9, 2012
I've never read any of the Nick Stone books before, but I don't feel that I've missed anything too crucial by starting with number 13.
This book delivered exactly what I was looking for: high octane action and a fairly uncomplicated storyline. Although I should warn potential readers that the book does contain potentially upsetting themes: human trafficking and sex slavery in Europe, and all that entails.
What surprised me was how much I liked the hero, Nick Stone. Although obviously a highly trained killer, mission focused, and extremely competent in a tight spot, he is still very human underneath.
It was a good, quick read but I probably won't rush to read another one.
This book delivered exactly what I was looking for: high octane action and a fairly uncomplicated storyline. Although I should warn potential readers that the book does contain potentially upsetting themes: human trafficking and sex slavery in Europe, and all that entails.
What surprised me was how much I liked the hero, Nick Stone. Although obviously a highly trained killer, mission focused, and extremely competent in a tight spot, he is still very human underneath.
It was a good, quick read but I probably won't rush to read another one.
May 7, 2012
Switch your brain off, sit back, open a beer/ pour a cuppa what ever floats your boat, kick back and enjoy the ride.
that sums up this and almost all of Andys books, You get your usual slice of action pace thrill and adventure, im not really sure what else anyone would be looking for when they purchase a title like this.
You get plenty of Bang for your Buck, but dont look for high brow! Totally enjoyed it for what it was.
(Parm)
that sums up this and almost all of Andys books, You get your usual slice of action pace thrill and adventure, im not really sure what else anyone would be looking for when they purchase a title like this.
You get plenty of Bang for your Buck, but dont look for high brow! Totally enjoyed it for what it was.
(Parm)
October 16, 2014
Great Read!
I had read the prior 12 Nick Stone novels and took a couple years off and let Andy MaCnab write a few more. I am so glad I picked this series back up. This book was awesome from start to finish, I now have 3 more to read. You simply can't go wrong with And MaCnab. A solid 4.5 Stars and a great escape from reality. If yo u are looking for a great series and a great hero to root for, then look no further! I love this guy! keep up the great writing Andy!
I had read the prior 12 Nick Stone novels and took a couple years off and let Andy MaCnab write a few more. I am so glad I picked this series back up. This book was awesome from start to finish, I now have 3 more to read. You simply can't go wrong with And MaCnab. A solid 4.5 Stars and a great escape from reality. If yo u are looking for a great series and a great hero to root for, then look no further! I love this guy! keep up the great writing Andy!
January 12, 2011
Excellant book. Looks at human trafficking issue. A well written storyline with the usual Macnab style
September 19, 2013
Another incredible story in the Nick Stone series. Nuff said. Five stars all the way. All my reviews of McNab's earlier books apply equally to this one.
March 20, 2014
Here goes ( short and sweet) but deserves more! The last 25% of this book is phenomenal! I couldn't put it down and just raced through it
July 31, 2015
Full of action and a straight shoot storyline, never a boring moment. I liked it.
August 11, 2013
Another excellent addition in true Andy McNabb style.
September 13, 2019
ho lasciato Nick anni fa in una strana e difficile situazione.. ma è tornato alla grande. Il fisico magari non è ancora quello perfetto di 20 anni fa ma il cervello funziona alla grande e qui ne fa pieno uso, nonostante non parta molto bene il libro, in materia di "cervello", letteralmente parlando... capirete.
Come sempre i libri di Nick Stone non hanno bene-male, giusto-sbagliato, lieto fine per i buoni, bianco o nero, ma un giusto mix di tutto. McNab non si fa mai problemi a scardinare i cliché e a far patire i propri personaggi, per questo mi è sempre piaciuto. Sano realismo.
Qui si viaggia nell'est e si trattano donne - ragazzine, anzi- sfruttate e sporchi giochi burocratici. Nick ha la sua età e ha perso affetti ma non ha mai perso anima e cuore, farà di tutto per mettere le cose a posto.
Come sempre i libri di Nick Stone non hanno bene-male, giusto-sbagliato, lieto fine per i buoni, bianco o nero, ma un giusto mix di tutto. McNab non si fa mai problemi a scardinare i cliché e a far patire i propri personaggi, per questo mi è sempre piaciuto. Sano realismo.
Qui si viaggia nell'est e si trattano donne - ragazzine, anzi- sfruttate e sporchi giochi burocratici. Nick ha la sua età e ha perso affetti ma non ha mai perso anima e cuore, farà di tutto per mettere le cose a posto.
October 6, 2019
The plot involving sex trafficking is horrendous in its verisimiltude! (But I still feel uncomfortable with Nick Stone feeling justified in killing the traffickers...) But this book is one of the strongest in the series. It also seems that Nick Stone is making friends - he likes his new boss Jules, and he is still involved with the russian journalist Anna! In true McNab style, the story takes us all over the world - it starts in Syria, and then follows a trafficked girl Stone has been tasked to find from Moldova, Denmark, and The Netherlands.
The collateral deaths are appalling, so ready yourself for some strong and upsetting action. Also, Stone is unusually reflective about his life, which is promising for a new take in the subsequent sequels - a very smart way to keep the franchise fresh!
The collateral deaths are appalling, so ready yourself for some strong and upsetting action. Also, Stone is unusually reflective about his life, which is promising for a new take in the subsequent sequels - a very smart way to keep the franchise fresh!
June 21, 2025
Only the second book that I have read by this author and a vast improvement in style and pace from the first (Recoil)
The hero has many facets to his character and you can really believe that Mr. McNab knows from his own experience the situations he places him in.
The hero has many facets to his character and you can really believe that Mr. McNab knows from his own experience the situations he places him in.
August 30, 2018
Have read before, a good read.
May 16, 2019
Andy Mcnab gives us a fast pacing novel. However it was depressing to feel the depression of the protagonist
September 1, 2019
A good read but sometimes I couldn’t keep track of what was going on and the short chapters drove me insane and seemed a little unnecessary.
January 5, 2020
Extremely complex, somewhat unbelievable but an entertaining read!
May 15, 2020
Not what I was expecting. The story was interesting, the action parts were really good but there was too much attack preparation detail and the hard storyline went soft too quick for me.
May 18, 2020
Very slow going.
July 18, 2020
Gripping
Excellence again from McNabb, a rollercoaster of a ride from start to finish with twists and turns and give me food for thought
Excellence again from McNabb, a rollercoaster of a ride from start to finish with twists and turns and give me food for thought
Want to read
July 19, 2020elibrary
October 8, 2021
Everything you'd expect from a Nick Stone book...
If you're fan, read it
If you're fan, read it
June 16, 2023
Pretty good.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews