Hard Landing by Stephen Leather

Hard Landing is the first book in the Spider Shepherd series by British author Stephen Leather. I don’t really many thrillers but when I am in the mood for one, I want excitement, action, and really tough people beating the shit out of other really tough people. Hard Landing delivers and was way more enjoyable than a lot of books in this genre.

First, the plot. Dan ‘Spider’ Shepherd is an undercover cop. He is ex-SAS and hard as fuck. He goes undercover in prison for real bad boys, hoping to find out info on a major drug kingpin. That’s pretty much all you need to know.

The action is well described and gripping, which is good because that is what you want from a thriller. What surprised me was how good the characters are, in particular, the protagonist Shepherd. I have only read one Jack Reacher book and it was great. But Reacher himself, in the first book anyway, didn’t have a lot of depth. Maybe that changes as you read more, I don’t know.

Dan ‘Spider’ Shepherd, however, is impressively human. As I said, hard as nails and balls of steel and so forth, but he is surprisingly believable and human. I liked him and you really feel for his plight.

While quite a large chunk of the book is set inside a high-security prison, the tension mounts. Just when I thought I had guessed how things were going to pan out, the story turned in a direction that was totally unexpected and absolutely brilliant. I don’t want to give much away but it is, well, thrilling.

There isn’t much to add without the risk of spoilers but if you are looking for a fun, exciting, and believable action thriller, I really recommend trying this out. I finished Hard Landing and immediately bought the next two books in the series. (They are really cheap on Amazon.) Highly recommended!