g. Atlantis, Excalibur and so forth, these topics almost always resemble more fantasy than a thriller). I have loved these novels for many years and Mariani keeps them sharp, even this deep into this stellar series, which shows no signs of fading!

Ebooks fulfilled through Glose cannot be printed, downloaded as PDF, or read in other digital readers (like Kindle or Nook).I wasn’t a fan of this one though: I felt the plot were rushed, chance encounters and occurrences were used as a plot device too often and the twist wasn’t very good. Who is the mysterious ‘Spartan’ that the British officials are so desperate to extract from behind enemy lines? While trying to acclimate in-country, Hope and his comrades begin their mission, soon locating Madison and learning of her own mission in the country, which includes trying to save a number of items from Alexander the Great. I was initially sceptical and worried this may turn into another ‘Star of Africa’ or ‘Devil’s Kingdom’ which I have enjoyed the least in the series. I’ve tried to be as unbiased as I can with this review but to put it plainly, I am a bit in love with Ben Hope.

He begins his secondary mission to find Madison and soon finds the company of some US army and ex-British SAS officers, who are on a mission to rescue hostages trapped after the US Military pull-out.It was nice to see Ben Hope back in a military role with comrades rather than being a one man force as he usually is. The 26th edition in the former SAS Major Ben Hope series by Scott Mariani is yet another explosive, high-octane thriller and one of the best so far in this series. The baddies always cop it, Ben always gets at least one bullet graze and as always, his moral compass puts Jesus Christ himself to shame. From his early days of go get ‘em to the more mature and thought provoking, Graveyard of Empires; but together with excitement, characterisation, storyline and plots, comes a history lesson of Afghanistan. I hate the majority of the dialogue, the character names set my teeth on edge, the unwritten sexual magnetism of Ben which makes him irresistible to whichever woman he's running around with - just, ugh.