Showing results by narrator "Jack Hawkins" in All Categories

Know your enemy. Liam Scott is back in Afghanistan, this time with 4 Rifles. No longer the new guy, it's his chance to prove himself and take the lead. But the warzone has changed dramatically, and so have the rules. Working alongside the Afghan National Army, Liam and his new patrol face daily attacks from Taliban insurgents. But the real threat seems to be coming from within his unit. It looks like there's a traitor in their midst.

Most of us think the law is only relevant to criminals, if we even think of it at all. But the law touches every area of our lives: from intimate family matters to the biggest issues in our society. Our unfamiliarity is dangerous because it makes us vulnerable to media spin, political lies and the kind of misinformation that frequently comes from other loud-mouthed amateurs and those with vested interests. This 'fake law' allows the powerful and the ignorant to corrupt justice without our knowledge - worse, we risk letting them make us complicit.

With his father dead, Martyn has a choice. Tell the police what happened - and be suspected of murder. Or get rid of the body and get on with the rest of his life. Simple, right? Not quite. One story leads to another. Secrets and lies become darker and crazier. And Martyn is faced with twist and turns that leave him reeling. Life is never easy. But death is even harder.

It's a deadly game of hide and seek. Liam Scott has joined Recce Platoon, and it looks like he will be heading for Somalia. His mission is to gather intelligence from behind enemy lines, carrying out top-secret surveillance and dead-letter drops. But he's new to the game and there's a lot to learn. Soon Liam is monitoring a den of Al Shabaab militants and hunting a key terrorist target. Can Recce Platoon find their man and get out undiscovered? If the militants find them first, it's game over...

We live in the age of the individual. We are supposed to be slim, prosperous, happy, extroverted and popular. This is our culture's image of the perfect self. We see this person everywhere: in advertising, in the press, all over social media. We're told that to be this person, you just have to follow your dreams, that our potential is limitless, that we are the source of our own success. But this model of the perfect self can be extremely dangerous. People are suffering under the torture of this impossible fantasy.

Thomas of Hookton, a veteran of Crecy and many other battles, is the leader of a mercenary company of bowmen and men-at-arms who ravage the countryside east of Gascony. Edward, Prince of Wales, later to be known as the Black Prince, is assembling an army to fight the French once more, but before Thomas can join, he must fulfil an urgent task.

Bob Howard's career in the Laundry, the secret British government agency dedicated to protecting the world from the supernatural, has involved brilliant hacking, ancient magic and combat with creatures of pure evil. Now the Laundry's existence has become public, and Bob is being trotted out on TV to answer pointed questions about elven asylum seekers.

Lent, 1469. The recent wars between the House of York and the House of Lancaster seem over. The Yorkist King Edward sits on his throne in Westminster while the Lancastrian claimants are in exile or under lock and key in the Tower. But within the family of York, there is discord. The Earl of Warwick conspires against his king, and while to one another's faces they are all smiles, their household men speak in lies and whispers. No man comes to court unarmed.

Never volunteer for active duty... Bob Howard is a low-level techie working for a super-secret government agency. While his colleagues are out saving the world, Bob's under a desk restoring lost data. His world was dull and safe; but then he went and got Noticed. Now, Bob is up to his neck in spycraft, alternative universes, dimension-hopping terrorists, monstrous elder gods and the end of the world. Only one thing is certain: it will take more than 'control+alt+delete' to sort this mess out...

Commander Lanoe is one of the navy's greatest heroes, but the civil war left him with nothing but painful memories. When a planetary governor is murdered, it falls to Lanoe to hunt down the killer and bring them to justice. Yet his pursuit will lead him towards the greatest threat mankind has ever faced. An unknown armada has emerged from the depths of space, targeting an isolated colony planet. As the colonists plead for help, the politicians and bureaucrats look away. But Lanoe has never run from a fight.

Years after a violent war destroyed much of the world, Kaspar has grown up in a society based on peace and harmony. But beyond the city walls, a vicious band of rebels are plotting to tear this peace apart. It is up to the Guardians - an elite peacekeeping force - to protect the city, without ever resorting to the brutal methods of their enemy. When Kaspar joins the Guardians, he has a chance encounter with a rebel - a beautiful girl named Rhea.

After 10 years of servitude, Nish is about to be released from the blackest prison of his corrupt father, the maimed God-Emperor, Jal-Nish Hlar. Using the sorcerous Profane Tears, Gatherer and Reaper, Jal-Nish has crushed all opposition and is remaking Santhenar in his depraved image. The oppressed peoples of the world see Nish as a messianic figure, the Deliverer, who promised long ago to return and cast down his father.

Tyrone Lewis is messing about in the woods, trying to keep out of trouble, when he stumbles upon something weird... a glowing lump of rock or metal. Whatever it is, it gives him an amazing power. Which is cool at first, until Ty’s new powers start attracting attention, and soon he’s being followed by two sinister agents who seem intent on ‘collecting’ him. But Ty has no intention of letting that happen. So now he’s got to run....

Ex-lawyer Noah has never forgotten his first love. When, years later, he hears that she's suspected of murder, he knows with certainty that she's innocent. With April on life support and the evidence pointing towards her guilt, he's compelled to help her. But he's also unprepared as he's forced to confront what happened between them all those years ago. A secret she would never reveal.

In a harbour town long ago, a boy is entranced by his uncle's stories of adventure in lands far away. Ignoring the crazy talk of the harbour pilot's son about the uncle being the Devil, the boy boards a ship with his uncle. But the uncle soon makes enemies of the captain and crew and, in frustration at their superstition, kills an albatross that has befriended the ship. As the ship sails on, madness and death ensue, and the boy and the crew face unimaginable horrors. A superbly gripping and haunting tale for fans of all classic horror.

The inspiring story of Ben Smith – who ran 401 marathons in 401 days with minimal support, to raise money for Stonewall and Kidscape. On 1 September 2015, Ben Smith set out from Bristol. Over the next 401 days, he would burn an estimated 2.4 million calories; run with almost 10,000 people; inspire almost 600 first-time marathon runners and visit 101 schools. He would also raise in excess of £325,000 for charity.

Driven by money, power and success, Gabriel has worked ruthlessly to get to the very top of the banking game. He's not going to let the inconvenience of a terminal brain tumour get in his way. But the tumour has other ideas. As it grows, it appears to be doing strange things to Gabriel's personality. Whether he likes it or not, he seems to be becoming less selfish, less mercenary, less unlikeable. Once he could dismiss the rest of humanity as irrelevant. Now he's not so sure.

Twins Burt and Cameron are in competition with each other about everything. When they hear the Queen wants moose cheese – which is near-impossible to make – they embark on a dangerous world-wide venture to collect the ingredients for the Queen. Only they are so busy being in competition with each other, they don’t even notice Dr X, another competitor, steal all their ingredients to claim the prize himself. And worse, the twins uncover Dr X’s plot to poison the Queen with his moose cheese!

When Mackenzie's 17th birthday comes around, she plans to spend a few years at the school for the marked learning about her new powers and then leaving and living her life. But nothing goes as planned when she attends the marking ceremony and all 12 marks appear. Kenzie lives in a world where being marked with six powers is normal, being marked with seven or more is rare. But being marked with 12? Well, that's unheard of.

What was a Buddhist monk doing at the 2014 World Economic Forum in Davos lecturing the world's leaders on mindfulness? Why do many successful corporations have a chief happiness officer? What can the chemical composition of your brain tell a potential employer about you? In the past decade, governments and corporations have become increasingly interested in measuring the way people feel: the Happiness index, Gross National Happiness, well-being and positive psychology have come to dominate the way we live our lives.