Scorpion

By: Mark Dawson, Steve Cavanagh

Narrated by: David Thorpe

Length: 2 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's Summary

Mark Dawson's Group Fifteen Files. Quick, lightning-paced action from the first minute to the last.

They call him 'Scorpion'. No-one knows his real name, and the only people who have seen his face are dead. He works for the highest bidder, and he's never missed a target.

The assassin appears in London with the name of an investigative reporter on his list. But has Scorpion met his match? The reporter has a protector - John Milton. And Milton might be the only man in the world more dangerous than him.

©2017 Mark Dawson (P)2018 Audible, Ltd

Mark Dawson's first Group Fifteen novella

For those familiar with author Mark Dawson's novels Group 15 consists of several specially trained operatives in intelligence gathering, special personnel protection, and assassination. Group Fifteen operatives are at the service of the British MI5 and MI6 intelligence agencies. Dawson's first leading characters John Milton and Beatrix Rose were members of Group Fifteen before going independent. Dawson explains that Group Fifteen novellas will be coauthored by various other authors. His intent is to serve adrenaline junkies with 2.5 hour novellas that are action and suspense packed from beginning to end.

Scorpion certainly meets Dawson's intent. John Milton is the protagonist, but future Group Fifteen novellas will include other protagonists from Group Fifteen. For example, the second novella in the series titled Witness X introduces Bryan Duffy as protagonist. It seems that the Kindle versions of the series will be released approximately 60 days before the Audible versions. Witness X will be available at Audible on March 1. I've already read the the Kindle version which was released on December 13, 2017. It is very well written just as Scorpion is. It seems likely that David Thorpe will narrate the Group Fifteen series, but that has not been confirmed. Thorpe is a superb narrator.

At $4.47 each the Audible versions of the novellas are overpriced in my opinion, but I have pre-ordered Witness X. Author Mark Dawson assures his fans that he can and will assure the highest quality of each series novella despite the fact that he will use coauthors. I hope he can, but I am skeptical. Such authors as Tom Clancy and James Patterson blazed the coauthoring trail that Dawson is following with mixed results.

not worth your time.

seemed very amateurish. predictable and cliché. -sorry. the performance was alright, hampered by the poor writing though I think.

Is it 007? Evan Smoak? Rambo?

Non original story. Same ol Same ol. Same story. Good guy, bad guy under a Different Name, a different day. 🙈Boring.

Free Audible Book

This is one of those where you get exactly what you pay for. It gets the number of times people have tried it up though but that turns into nothing. It’s just a bad book to up the number of freebies available from the audible library.

Great storyline.

Better then the first of the series. excellent twist at the end. all in all a good read.

Short Story, Well Done

The narrator was good through most of it, but a few times when he intentionally spoke very quietly, it was hard to distinguish what was said. Full disclosure, I am somewhat hard of hearing, but would have appreciated the quiet times more distinctly enunciated.

As for the story, it moved at a very good pace. Figured out most of the ending so the last twist was very well timed. For such a short story, it was well done.

It's Milton, but it's a short story

If you know this is a short story going in, you won't be disappointed. If this short story is any indication, the Milton series won't suffer by having Cavanagh help out, but I'm hoping Dawson won't retire completely!

"Scorpion" seems to be setting up the scenario for a following, much longer book. In this story, some aspects of the plot are resolved, while others are left to be dealt with later. This is a satisfying story with a clever little twist, not a true cliff-hanger, but it leaves room for much more plot to come. I'm looking forward to what comes after this. Short stories are fine, but we really want the longer, more involved books!

Mr. Dawson has taken an apprentice here, but you can't tell the difference. It still sounds and moves like John Milton. Any little literary things I might have missed are smoothed over by David Thorpe's impeccable reading.

A very good head clearer

My first "Milton" book which though I'm not a shorter story fan, this story was just fine. The almost ending was very disappointing - unless it comes back with info thats brings more meaning. Wish I could explain.

Intriguing

I loved it easy it and the narrator. First book by this author in my library. I am looking forward to hearing another of his books.

not good

did not get my money's worth about the only thing good is the narration the rest I was highly disappointed

Great short story

Great story although £5+ for an audio book lasting less than 3 hours a bit costly

Great short story.

Bought on offer, I don't like books this short and feel they should be combined for better value. Howerer I will read/listen to any John Milton book.

Milton at his very best

A glimpse into John Milton’s group 15 days and a cracking story to boot. Mark Dawson has fast become one of my favourite authors.

Good story, but with a flaw

great story & premise, but a big flaw in that once stuck at the house, a call for additional personnel & weapons would've been a wise choice..can't work out why that wasn't negated in the plot line

great story line

narrator instilled a sense of being involved with the action. I will listen to more books from this author.

Interesting Short book

I rarely read short books but I enjoyed this one. The twist at the end was very obvious but worth a read.

cliche city

Something rare for me - gave up near the terribly predictable end. laughable dialogue, cliche plot, poor character development. I admired the narrators style however it was suited to a romcom not a 'thriller'. Not going to search out more of this author on Audible.

Excellent story well told

Initially felt I wasn’t going to enjoy this story - but before long I was hooked. Good selection of characters and less padding than sometimes happens. Will be looking for future reads.

Good Story

This is a great story and is not too long, no filler at all, good narrator and it's free at the moment.

easy listen

this is a great quick listen. I have listened to the whole series now and they are all good.