Showing results by narrator "Alister Austin" in All Categories

In 2003, Russian physicists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov found a way to produce graphene the thinnest substance in the world by using sticky tape to separate an atom-thick layer from a block of graphite. Their efforts would win the 2010 Nobel Prize for Physics, and now the applications of graphene and other two-dimensional substances form a worldwide industry.

Charlie Cobb is the man they call "Breaker". The guy the mob sends to scare the worst of the worst. He's promised his daughter he'll change his ways. But there's a witness to silence. Which finds Charlie at a crossroads.... Pull the trigger on young Danny, or turn protector and take on vicious crime boss, Ivan Rudenko?

This striking new collection exemplifies the way in which Mendelsohn - a classicist by training - uses the classics as a lens to think about urgent contemporary debates. There is much to surprise here. Mendelsohn invokes the automatons featured in Homer’s epics to help explain the AI films Ex Machina and Her and perceives how Ted Hughes sought redemption by translating a play of Euripides (the ‘bad boy of Athens’) about a wayward husband whose wife returns from the dead.

Magic is fading from Wales—choked off by King Offa’s Dyke, the enemy earthworks that spans the entire border. Even the dragons have disappeared. And now an attack is imminent. Prince Taliesin would love to watch magic die. Prince Dafydd fears it, and the throne. But when their father promises the crown to whichever son can destroy the dyke and restore magic to Wales, the brothers are forced into an uneasy rivalry.

The murder squad’s resources at Salford Precinct Station are stretched to the limit. DS Kevin Coupland is called out to a fatal fire at a local residential home for vulnerable people and immediately suspects arson. One of the victims is the sister of local gangster Kieran Tunney, sparking revenge attacks which threaten to bring the city to a standstill. For Coupland the clock is ticking.

When he stopped a serial killer in his tracks earlier in the year he thought that would be the end of it, but for DS Kevin Coupland his nightmare has just begun. A child’s body is discovered hidden in a bag, kicking off a major investigation for Salford Precinct’s murder squad. Soon the National Crime Agency roll into town and Coupland is under strict instructions to play nice.

For centuries, the Supreme has reigned with an iron fist. The people are slaves to her whim and at the mercy of her followers who revere her as their goddess. Using a supernatural ability, known as the "Power", she is able to channel emotions and convert them into superhuman abilities. Some resist. Not all live their lives in servitude. A few rare people also possess the power and try to fight.

How far would you go to save a stranger? For ex-mafia fixer Charlie, it could be all the way to the grave. That innocent job driving a truck from port? Not so innocent. He’s told not to look in the back. But Charlie can’t resist. He’s drawn into the dark, dangerous London underworld. And across the path of beautiful, feisty Amira. Soon she’s the victim of an international crime ring. With Charlie her only hope. Will Charlie continue his journey of redemption?

Sixteen-year-old Jordan dreams of excitement, hoping something would happen to make his tiny Cornish village more interesting. During his school holidays, left by himself with nothing but pixelated zombies on the Xbox for company, he wishes for a life where the adventures are real.

Following 10 years of detailed investigation, documentary film-maker Guillaume Coudray presents a powerful examination of the use of nitro-additives in meat. As he reveals, most mass-produced processed meats, and now even many ‘artisanal’ products, contain chemicals that react with meat to form cancer-causing compounds. He tells the full story of how, since the 1970s, the meat-processing industry has denied the health risks because these additives make curing cheaper and quicker, extending shelf life and giving meat a pleasing pink colour.

Can the villain be the hero? If you like Lee Child and Mark Dawson, meet the tough new antihero with a particular set of skills. Charlie Cobb - aka "Breaker" - is a mafia fixer on the gritty, crime-ridden streets of Manchester, England. He's the guy the mafia send in to deal with the worst of the worst. The legendary underworld 'fixer' who keeps the peace between rival gangs. But after his idealistic daughter makes him swear to give up his life of crime, Breaker finds himself torn between two futures.

It's 1923, and Terrence Chalambert is celebrating the death of his father. Egbert Whistle celebrates with him. For Terrence, the death means inheritance, land, and titles. For Egbert, it's the motivation he needs to return to his spiritual home, London. In batty, blue-blooded Chalambert family tradition, however, there's a catch: Terrence has three days in which to return to the capital and claim his birthright or forfeit it all to his sister.

A young man arrives in an abandoned village where the only inhabitant offers to lead him down a dangerous trail to safety. Love is paid with love, reads a plaque on their way. But is this really true?

A renowned warrior, Brynhild Grimsdotter, and her biographer, William Barding, aid a young girl seeking vengeance for the murder of her father, a trinket bearer and victim of the king's obsession with finding occult artifacts.

Tasked with auditing the accounts of the queen's ore mines, auditor Howard Forsyth encounters the notorious and feared administrator of the mines. Soon his life is threatened on an adventurous train ride with steam cars and a steam-powered flying object. Then, when he is suspected of murdering the former accountant, his secret lover, whom no one is supposed to know about, rushes to his aid. Will they both survive? What role does the missing general ledger play? What is the sinister invention for?

In the book, originally published in 1994, Adams challenges stereotypes to present a view of World War II that avoids the simplistic extremes of both glorification and vilification. The Best War Ever charts the complex diplomatic problems of the 1930s and reveals the realities of ground combat: no moral triumph, it was in truth a brutal slog across a blasted landscape. Adams also exposes the myth that the home front was fully united behind the war effort, demonstrating how class, race, gender, and age divisions split Americans.

Revenge is a dish best served bloody. An old friend is brutally murdered. The police don't have a clue. Enter Charlie Cobb. Back on the mean streets of Manchester and on the hunt of a savage killer. Charlie's hot on the man's trail. But there are three big problems. One, the murderer is protected by a powerful underworld boss. Two, a disposed Russian kingpin wants him dead. And three, Charlie must babysit a five-year-old in the process.

Dead men can’t talk. The people behind a movie star’s death are banking on it. The police think it’s an accident. Ex-mob fixer Charlie’s not convinced. He starts digging. Way too deep. What secrets will he uncover? Soon he’s framed for murder. Hunted by the LAPD and stalked by a mysterious stranger. The stakes ratchet up fast. And so do the players. But when Charlie’s in town, there’s nowhere to hide. You’ll love this action-packed series because it’s full of pause-resisting twists, perfect for fans of James Patterson and Lee Child.

You wake up at the wheel of a car. Dead guys, rifles, a bag of stolen money. You’re in the desert, vultures circling, hotter than hell. You know who you are, but not how you got here. If you knew whose money that was, you’d be on the run. But is it too late already?The mob want blood. The oil company want their land. And you’re caught in the middle, in the small town of Rattlesnake, Arizona.

Tenets is a twisting story that can be enjoyed on its own or used to supplement the larger narrative of the series. After a break from his older brother’s shadow, Stille van Veen returns with his mercenary band to his home island of Lekelith. Rumors relay strange events across the island: lowlander villagers are being abducted, prisoners have escaped from the Five Snakes, and Racinian nobles are being assassinated. But his band has their own mission to fulfill. Little do they realize how intertwined these events truly are.