The story starts when Stephen Williamson wakes up to find himself strapped to a workbench in a factory in Detroit. He thinks that the people that has abducted a wrong man. Stephen is a mere Professor from Princeton. But when he finds out from his abductors what it is regarding a meeting he attended. He knows his fate is sealed.
Two years later we are at Speakers corner London. Two people are murdered and one abducted. Ben Koenig is brought in with Jen Draper. The woman that was abducted was someone he made disappear years ago. The events have got to do with the Acacia Avenue Protocol which has 4 names on a list. One of them is Ben’s but he knows nothing about it. Ben has been given the task to find this woman before she too ends up dead.
Nobody’s hero is book 2 in the Ben Koenig series by author M. W. Craven and another fabulous episode in the high-octane series of the man that doesn’t feel fear.
I really enjoyed Fearless the first book in the series, and I was expecting somewhat of the same. But I thought this was so much better that the first. The is a fast paced, thrilling ride, with a complex and clever plot, interwoven with bits of humour. Although Ben is quite a violent character, he also a likeable one and I would cheer on if he was a real person in a fight. This is a excellent read and can’t wait for more of this character. 5 stars from me.

I am a huge fan of this author & I adore his Tilly & Poe series but, if you want your heart rate to ratchet up a notch, I highly recommend catching up with Ben Koenig. This is the second in this series & follows the highly enjoyable action crime thriller, Fearless.

Following a very public double murder in London, Koenig finds himself travelling to England with his handler, Draper. For some unfathomable reason his name is on a list which has been revealed following the opening of a never before opened safe. The duo find themselves trying to save the world from serious threat but they don’t know where, when or why & they don’t know who to trust.

This is an action packed, fast paced thriller which forced its way to the top of my tbr pile unbidden. I loved the very British references to custard creams, tea, Kendal mint cake & the carbuncle that is the Trafford Centre (speaking as a Brit!) but I also wallowed in the hugs when some of my favourite films were mentioned - Con Air, Home Alone & Die Hard. Even Maslow made an appearance; took me right back to a role in a previous lifetime. You have to read this; think Reacher x20, Bauer awake for 48 hours & someone with the intelligence of Holmes but the brawn of The Rock. I can’t wait until book 3 - yippee ki-yay!

The second in the Ben Koenig Series and I think better than book one. This time the story is set in the UK and USA and starts with a double murder in Hyde Park, London and the abduction of an as yet unknown woman. This action has repercussions in USA and results in a safe in Langley being opened and the Acacia Avenue Protocol being set in motion - there is a list of four names and Ben Koenig is the only one still alive!

Briefly, tasked with finding the missing woman and her abductor Koenig is once again working with Jen Draper and I’m sure her protestations of hate towards Koenig are hiding a bit of an attraction, I guess only time will tell. Following his gut instinct they go in search of the source of the gun used in Hyde Park and the two women, travelling from the USA, across England and Scotland, before heading back to the USA. Obviously it’s not that simple and alongside various bounty hunters he also becomes involved with seriously corrupt police, known as the East Coast Sweeney and a less than pleasant father and daughter hit team.

Ben is an amazing character he has a condition called Urbach-Weithe disease whereby he cannot feel fear. He also has a $5m bounty on his head and that makes him a constant target. He is extremely intelligent and despite everything loyal to his country. This is a dark and violent adrenaline filled read with some fairly graphic violence, even I let out an “ewwww” at one point and I’m not easily shocked. Another fast paced and exciting thriller, Koenig is Reacher on speed! There are some humorous moments though, some great one liners, dark and sarcastic, and raised a few smiles. Entertaining and enjoyable - I loved it.

Wow, this book is a sheer adrenaline rush from start to finish. I read this in one sitting, starting over breakfast and not stopping until the evening. It is, of course, a compelling read, but what drives it is a combination of terrific plotting and absolutely outstanding characters. This is such a clever, twisty plot that I swear my jaw dropped several times as I tried to keep up with the manipulation and misdirection that flows through this incredibly well thought through plot.

I really enjoyed Fearless, the first in this series, but honestly, I think this second novel is more complex, even more fast paced and has more of an intricate plot.

And though Ben Koenig is the man who can’t feel fear, he certainly isn’t humourless, and the violent, thrilling, fast moving elements of this book are threaded through with humour and more than a few surprises.

Koenig has a US $5 million bounty on his head after he killed the son of a Russian mafia leader. So, he keeps moving and is called upon by the more secretive elements of the US protection services to help out from time to time. His contact is Jen Draper and while the two are not best buddies, the verbal interplay and jousting between the two makes for entertaining reading.

In Nobody’s Hero, Koenig is brought in when people start to die and a safe is opened to disclose a series of names that have lain undisturbed for years. Everyone, bar one name on the list, has died – and the last name is Koenig’s.

This ties into a murder and an abduction at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park. Koenig has to make sense of what he is seeing on video and realises he knows the woman the authorities perceive to be the aggressor and abductor.

Koenig once helped this woman to disappear. He realises she is a protector rather than aggressor. His ability to think laterally enables him to piece together pieces of the puzzle and close in on the woman and her alleged abductee. What he finds out raises the stakes exponentially and the race is on to stop terrorists from inflicting an attack on the U.S. which would have devastating consequences that would change the nature of the geo-political world balance.

This is truly high stakes stuff and the chase is on. Craven keeps up the pace, throws in some absolutely fascinating elements and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. There’s more than one curve ball in this brilliantly paced and relentlessly driven book, and though I did not see it coming, there’s one revelation that will have massive repercussions throughout this series.

Verdict: Nobody’s Hero is an urgent, well plotted thriller with memorable characters, more than a few surprises, and a relentless pace that left me breathless. Ben Koenig is a fascinating character and this book has it all. There’s depth to his characters, loads of danger and some brilliantly executed action sequences. The plot is cleverly laid down and very suitably thrill laden and the baddies are very bad indeed, with some spectacularly violent scenes. Craven keeps the reader on the edge of their seat as his protagonist makes decisions that a man who does feel fear would never contemplate. This is such a great storyline I can’t wait for the next in the series. A must read from me.

Nobody’s Hero by M.W. Craven is book is book 2 in the Ben Koenig series. It is published on 10 October. Thank you to Little Brown Book Group UK, Netgalley and the author for the ARC to read and review. I have read and loved all this author’s books. They are intense, exciting and certainly entertaining, and very hard to put down. Nobody’s Hero was no exception. Right from the beginning the story pulls you in as it races along. You don’t get too comfortable reading one of M.W. Craven’s books. You need to keep your wits about you. Koenig used to be a Commander in the Special Operations Group until he ends up with a 5 million dollar bounty on his head, so tries to stay under the radar. He also has a condition that makes it impossible to feel fear. Feeling no fear certainly places him in some, for us anyway, tense but exciting situations. You wonder how he is going to get himself out of impossibly dangerous situations. Koenig is on a list that comes to light when the Acacia Avenue Protocol is activated. He has no idea what that is, but he and Jen Draper, a partner from years before, are determined to find out. They are thrown together when Koenig finds himself in a tight spot and an email sets off a chain reaction. Their first item on the agenda is to find a homeless woman in London who has committed a crime at Speaker’s Corner. This is a woman Ben had killed years earlier. I love Koenig’s style. He is very talkative and very inventive particularly when it comes to weapons. It is a roller-coaster of a ride, a thrilling ride. There is humour throughout and plenty of violence but all in context. I loved it.

This book should come with a warning - may disrupt the space-time continuum. It's the only way I can explain how one minute I was at the start of chapter one, the next I was turning the last page (electronically speaking), staring at the acknowledgements, and wondering whether I had just read a book with a hole in it ... Just kidding. It's just one of those kinds of books, the ones which suck you in, keep you absolutely enthralled and engaged, and just tearing through the chapters in a clear need to see just where, and how far, Mr Carvenis going to take it. It was a book that had me sitting there with a huge smile on my face and a total feeling of satisfaction when I was done. Ben Koenig is back, and I, for one, am so very happy.

If you have read book one in the series, Fearless, you will know that ben Koenig has a very particular medical condition. It makes him lack some of the arguably sensible reactions that most heroes may have to danger. If you haven't read book one, I would suggest you start there, as theer are other elements of Ben's life that play a significant, and entertaining part, of the early narrative in this story, and whilst explained in this book, have far more context if the books are read in order. You will also understand the dynamic between Ben and his 'partner' in this latest escapade, Jen Draper. Let's jsut say the two are not comfortable bedfellows, and Fearless really makes the why abundantly clear. But for all of their reluctance in partnering, more Jen than Ben to be fair, they make for an exceptional team and I love the partnership and the banter between them, even of some of its edges are dangerously sharp, and is probably more appropriately called barbs ...

In Nobody's Hero, an abduction and murder, carried out in broad daylight in the centre of London, sees Ben being drawn into the midst of a case which, for him and the US Government, has no immediate context. Why someone is pointing them all in Ben's direction, nobody knows, but it soon becomes clear that he has links to someone at the centre of the case, and when it comes to finding out who is responsible and why, there really is only one man for the job. Which is great news for fans of action thrillers as you know, when Ben is called into the fray, things are going to get pretty messy. MW Craven certainly serves up some memorable action scenes, delivering a high body count, softening the impact a touch by use of some classic dark humour and dry observations of both Ben and Jen. The tension is pitch perfect, the mystery of the case quite perfectly hidden, largely because the one person with all of the clues as to what is going on, remaining stubbornly silent.

Not only do we have the main case, one which has significant implications for the US Government as it turns out, but there are a few scenes which initially have little to no context. Never fear - the author is a master at delivering tight plotting, and with a story packed with chicanery, he manages to keep many elements of the narrative back, dropping them in at just the optimum moment to create the greatest impact. Nothing is as it seems, not even those in the know are really in the know, and with a few jaw dropping twists and an eyebrow raising revelation right at the end, this is most definitely a book fns of the author, and of action thrillers will love. It ticked all the boxes for me - humour, tension, pace, threat, brilliant characters and just damned good storytelling, and whilst I think Ben has earned a short rest, you can bet I'm going to be as impatient as the next reader for the Ben's next misadventure.

Definitely recommended. Gutted I finished so quickly. More please!

A great follow up to Fearless, the first book in the Ben Koenig series. In this new one Ben is tasked with tracking down a mysterious woman who has kidnapped an elderly professor in London. Ben recognises the woman from his previous job as a US Marshall- she was someone who had to disappear- so why is she back and kidnapping an old lady?
This is a thrill a minute sort of book and the story leads Ben and his handler, Draper , as far as London, Manchester and a remote part of Scotland. There is a lot of shooting which does not frighten Ben- his super power is that he feels no fear. This means he is difficult to catch and as the bad guys find out, difficult to beat!
I enjoyed “Nobody’s Hero” even if a few of the scenarios were slightly difficult to believe. It will certainly appeal to readers who enjoy action hero thrillers containing larger than life characters. If I’m honest I prefer the more cerebral crime fighters such as Washington Poe and Tillie Bradshaw, the author’s other inventions but Koenig is an interesting character and the books about him are enjoyable.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my advance copy.