Black Ops - Stephen Leather

Spider Shepherd's MI5 controller, Charlie Button, has gone rogue, using government resources to get revenge on the men who killed her husband. Spider is told to betray her. Worse, he's asked to cooperate with his nemesis at MI6, Jeremy Willoughby-Brown, in taking Charlie down. And he will have to cross the assassin, Lex Harper, currently on the trail of two Irish terrorists, who may be able to lead him to his ex-boss.

Meanwhile, another high profile mission is about to engulf Spider. President Vladimir Putin is about to visit the UK and a father who lost his son on the downed Malaysian plane over the Ukraine holds Putin directly responsible for his death and wants revenge. Along with everything else, it's down to Spider to stop the assassination of a head of state on British soil.

STEPHEN LEATHER WRITES

I had a lot of fun writing this book. The Jeremy Willoughby-Brown character first appeared in the Spider Shepherd: SAS short stories and it was interesting to bring him back into Spider’s life. Willoughby-Brown will definitely be appearing in the next Spider novel. I also enjoyed spending more time with Charlotte Button, who I’ve always found to be a fascinating character. She’s named after a fan of mine who emailed me years ago and I thought it was a fabulous name. The book also features Lex Harper, who also appeared in the Spider Shepherd: SAS stories. I have already a thriller featuring Lex Harper, which I hope Hodder will publish soon.