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Hidden Steel

(John Steel #2)

Stuart Field

4.05 · Rating details · 105 ratings · 18 reviews

In the UK, Detective John Steel is investigating the organization who killed his family. When he comes across information that something big is going to happen on the cruise ship Neptune, Steel goes undercover. He has fourteen days to figure out what is going to happen - and to stop it.

In New York, Steel’s NYPD partner, Detective Samantha McCall, is investigating a series

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Kindle Edition, 618 pages

Published December 25th 2019 by Terminal Velocity - A Next Chapter Imprint

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Feb 01, 2020 Jacqueline sharp rated it liked it

This is quite a difficult review to write. I finished book one in this series, ignored some mistakes, enjoyed the action.

So was looking forward to book 2 as I liked the characters in book 1. So story wise ok same characters from book one John Steel and Sam McCall. However this time John was on a huge cruise liner, Sam was in NYC.

Steel is still following clues as to who killed his family, but as he is investigating, things are happening on the cruise liner, back into James Bond, meets John Mcla ...more

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Feb 08, 2020 Zoé-lee O'farrell rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2020

Now I have a confession! I have read the first book in this series but it has been so long I must admit I couldn’t remember a lot about it! However, you can read this as a stand-alone, of course, there are thong slides to and mentioned that I haven’t remembered and some I did. So it proves my point but also makes me want to re-read it again! (It’s just my old fuddled brain!)

If this was a film, man this would be, in my opinion, a high octane Mission Impossible esq type of film! It was intense! Yo

Now I have a confession! I have read the first book in this series but it has been so long I must admit I couldn’t remember a lot about it! However, you can read this as a stand-alone, of course, there are thong slides to and mentioned that I haven’t remembered and some I did. So it proves my point but also makes me want to re-read it again! (It’s just my old fuddled brain!)

If this was a film, man this would be, in my opinion, a high octane Mission Impossible esq type of film! It was intense! You have John Steel, the hero of the book, on a cruise ship where you know things are going to explode figuratively and literally! We follow Steel like a lovesick puppy on the ship trying to figure out what is going on, watching women swoon and Steel take on Bond persona and become someone else. To be honest, if Steel looks anything like he does in my head I would probably swoon too lol.

Sam McCall, meanwhile back on NY, missing our Bond man and is asked with her team to close down some cases. All seeming to be suicides, accidental deaths…or are they a part of something bigger?

At times, I had to re-read a couple of passages because the point of views does change rapidly. I didn’t always instantly know who was talking. So I was confused at times but I did find it easier to pick out the different voices once I got into the book. The problem with this book, once it has a grip on you it pulls you in hook, line and….wait for it…….sinker LOL.

There is a LOT of action, which I loved! Think Mission Impossible and classic 80s action film, especially with a fight in the gym! I did sit and think Arnie could pull this off in his hay day! Failing that analogy, think Under Siege instead!!! As I said pure adrenaline pumping, high octane thrilling book! There is always something going on, you feel on edge because you know it is time sensitive and you are left wondering who will make it out alive!

Now if you like nice and tidy endings, this is NOT the book for you! I have SO many questions still and the ending here just created more! I can’t believe it was the ending, I mean What!!! It is so not clean-cut but then when you become invested in a series why would you want it to be? You want something that is going to tease you and leave you wanting the next blinking book right now!!! I am looking forward to seeing John for sure and hoping more with Sam!

My second foray with Mr Field and I loved it! We see more of Steel and learn more about this is linked to his past. We see McCall and her team and how she is determined to get to the truth no matter what! I, for one, will be here for the long haul! Roll on book 3!! ...more

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Feb 13, 2020 Amanda rated it really liked it

This Ginger Book Geek loves discovering new authors and Stuart Field is certainly a new author to me. Having enjoyed reading 'Hidden Steel' as much as I did, I can guarantee that I will be reading more of his work in the future. I really enjoyed reading 'Hidden Steel' but more about that in a bit.
I liked the character of Detective John Steel. He put me in mind of that famous NYPD police officer John McClane, as played by Bruce Willis. Well Steel certainly seems to have the sort of luck as McClan This Ginger Book Geek loves discovering new authors and Stuart Field is certainly a new author to me. Having enjoyed reading 'Hidden Steel' as much as I did, I can guarantee that I will be reading more of his work in the future. I really enjoyed reading 'Hidden Steel' but more about that in a bit.
I liked the character of Detective John Steel. He put me in mind of that famous NYPD police officer John McClane, as played by Bruce Willis. Well Steel certainly seems to have the sort of luck as McClane. Steel is a bit of a James Bond type of person. He kicks arse, deals with the baddies and has women (& no doubt some men) throwing themselves at him. He strikes me as being a bit of a mean and moody type, which isn't surprising when you consider that his family were wiped out by an assassin. Steel is a determined, kick arse, stubborn and persistent detective.
I must be honest and say that it took me a little while to get into this story, which probably has more to do with the fact that I was tired when I started to read the book than anything else. 'Hidden Steel' wasn't a book that I could binge read over the course of a day but I did manage to read the book over a course of a few days. Once I started reading, I was immediately taken away and dropped into the middle of an action packed Hollywood blockbuster film. The action was non-stop and Steel was certainly put through his paces. I reached the end of the book a bit quicker than I had expected. I was sad to say goodbye to Detective John Steel but I soon cheered up when I realised that I had the first book in the series, called 'Steel & Shadows', to catch up on.
'Hidden Steel' is well written. The author has one of those writing styles that is easy to get used to and easy to get along with. The author has a knack of grabbing your attention from the start and slowly but surely he draws you into the story. The author uses such powerful and vivid descriptions that I felt as though I was part of the story myself.
In short, I did enjoy reading 'Hidden Steel' and I would recommend it to other readers. I will definitely be reading more of Stuart's work in the future. I look forward to learning a lot more about Detective John Steel. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*. ...more

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May 19, 2020 Peter Adams rated it it was amazing

A complex and totally absorbing plot

Book 1 was an explosive roller coaster with John Steel, ex-British Special Forces and now detective, tracks the killers of his family to New York where he works with Samantha McCall, Detective with the NYPD.
Book 2 in contrast is a slow burning fuse; a complex and totally absorbing plot.
John Steel disappears and Sam McCall is not happy about it. He then announces, out of the blue, he is on the maiden voyage of a luxury cruise ship leaving England and, in a ro A complex and totally absorbing plot

Book 1 was an explosive roller coaster with John Steel, ex-British Special Forces and now detective, tracks the killers of his family to New York where he works with Samantha McCall, Detective with the NYPD.
Book 2 in contrast is a slow burning fuse; a complex and totally absorbing plot.
John Steel disappears and Sam McCall is not happy about it. He then announces, out of the blue, he is on the maiden voyage of a luxury cruise ship leaving England and, in a roundabout route, is bound for New York. Sam McCall is incandescent with rage, her weirdo Brit partner on a jolly holiday just at the time when her stretched team are faced with a series of mysterious deaths, some looking like accidents, others, muggings, but her antennae says it is more than that; she could do with Steel right about now.
And so the scene is set: Steel has his own undisclosed leads he is following on the liner and after a few telephone conversation that were not expletive riddled, both detectives see a link between events on the open seas and New York; the relationship between Steel and McCall is building and it is likely to be a Brahma.
I found the plot bordering on the fantastical but strangely believable. I liked the way the author slowly reveals events both in New York and on the ship, leaves clues to tenuous links.
In New York the plot thickens and there could be a mole in the department. On the Liner, the plot could not be more complex as there appears to be at least three factions vying for a mysterious cargo concealed in the hull; Russians (Mafia or State, or both), CIA and Wealthy Entrepreneurs each with their own agenda.
The finale is mind blowing as the ship nears New York and the McCall team discover what has been happening in the City and how this effects what Steel is investigating.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The complex narrative was deftly handled as the author unravelled the web he had woven, I’m in on this series and have bought book 3 already.
5 Stars.
...more

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Feb 19, 2020 Honestmamreader rated it liked it · review of another edition

How can I describe John Steel. He is the epitome of a man of mystery and a thrill seeking secret agent. Think James Bond, Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, Bruce Willis in Die Hard. These men have all got the same thing in common, they run around fighting evil and saving the world. Never getting hurt and always bedding the ladies. When I read up about the author Stuart Field, John Steel made perfect sense. Field has a passion for all these action films and grew up on James Bond. And, he's put al ...more

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Feb 14, 2020 Donna Maguire rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020-blog-tours, book-reviews, crime-mystery-suspense, kindle-read

https://donnasbookblog.wordpress.com/...

I was really looking forward to reading this book and it certainly did not disappoint!

It is a well written story with some great characters – I really enjoyed the interaction between McCall and Steel and I think they worked really well with the story too.

The plot was well developed and there was plenty of action! The setting for the book was great, the author had great attention to detail for me and I thought that the descriptions used were great too.

This ...more

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Feb 20, 2020 Hobart added it

Shelves: 2020-reads

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
It sounds like the first volume of this series has John Steel working closely with a group of detectives from the NYPD, but the sequel has them (ultimately) pursuing the same criminal group from very independent directions—Steel is in Britain and then on a trans-Atlantic cruise ship following leads he uncovered while investigating his family's death.

Meanwhile, Det. McCall and those she works within Homicide are investigating a serious of s This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
It sounds like the first volume of this series has John Steel working closely with a group of detectives from the NYPD, but the sequel has them (ultimately) pursuing the same criminal group from very independent directions—Steel is in Britain and then on a trans-Atlantic cruise ship following leads he uncovered while investigating his family's death.

Meanwhile, Det. McCall and those she works within Homicide are investigating a serious of suspicious deaths (deaths that would be easily written off as random crimes or accidents). Eventually, the detectives conclude that they are murders, the question then shifts to why these people were killed as much as who did the killing.

Ultimately, as one would guess from the outset, the work that Steel and McCall are doing lead to the same culprits and there is plenty of interaction to satisfy fans between Steel and the team in New York over the course of the novel.

I want to stress that this is one of the most complex and ambitious plots that I've read in months. The more you read of this the wider-spread the scope of the action is. I can't imagine how much planning this took to get all of the parts and pieces to line up just right with each other to produce this—I'm close to using the word audacious to describe the scope of the novel. Once it all starts to come together and the reader can understand all the ways that the criminals were moving to get their schemes rolling, the mind will reel.

Most of this book reads like the novelization of a TV episode/Movie. More often than not, the visuals evoked by the book belong to a visual medium. The way people move, stand dramatically, climb out of this or that, and so on is very screen-inspired. Once I realized this is what's going on, everything made so much more sense.

I don't like being this guy, but the number of proofreading problems in this book were very distracting. I don't remember any words that were spelled incorrectly, but there were repeated instances of similar words being used instead of the correct ones, e.g. "guy's" instead of "guys," "he's" instead of "his," "draw" rather than "drawer," and so on. There were scenes/passages that begin the same way they began, a sentence that is a direct contradiction of something mere paragraphs before; commas that serve no function; commas that are missing; unnecessary question marks; and so on. This kind of thing happened so frequently that it drew attention away from the action and I couldn't focus.

At the end of the day, whatever good I'd want to highlight from the novel was offset by a problem, concern or drawback to either the logic, grammar or word choice. There's a lot to commend, but the issues suck all my enthusiasm for it away. This is the kind of thing that will truly entertain an audience if it finds one, and I hope for Fields's sake, it does.

My thanks to damppebbles blog tours for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including a copy of the novel) they provided. ...more

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Mar 22, 2020 Jessica Belmont rated it really liked it

Quick paced, action packed thrill ride, Hidden Steel is book two in the series, but I read this as a standalone and had no issues. The only “issue” is adding yet another book to my TBR, because now I want to read book one!

The book does tend to change points of view quickly and it was a bit confusing until I got into it. Of course, once I was into the book, ines hooked! It was such an absorbing story that I felt like I couldn’t put it down.

Lots of action and characters that are believable, Stuart ...more

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Mar 03, 2020 ReadandRated rated it liked it

3.5 Stars from me

This is book 2 of a series featuring John Steel, the hero, who is on a cruise ship 'Neptune' where he has a matter of days to work out what is going on and beat the bad guys.

I wonder if John Steel is a bit marmite - will you love or loathe his all action hero style? He is a bit of Bond, Bruce Willis (from every Bruce Willis movie), Siegal, Cruise et al pretty much rolled into one 'dude' who has ladies falling at his feet.

Meanwhile back in New York, Sam McCall, is busy clearing d ...more

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Jan 18, 2021 Margaret A. rated it it was ok

Poorly written and edited

The story had good intrigue but was so poorly edited that it took too much away from the story. There were words used incorrectly like vale instead of veil, embraced instead embarrassed as well as others. It was hard to follow who was speaking because sentences were correctly punctuated. It is unfortunate because the many obvious errors detracted too much away from the story.

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Oct 16, 2020 Elaine rated it liked it

Good storyline, terrible editing

Hidden Steel could be a good book it if was edited correctly. It seems to have been edited by someone unfamiliar with the English language; wrong words used,wrong tenses used, grammatical errors throughout, paragraphs starting and ending in the wrong places. It is difficult to decide who is speaking due to the incorrect grouping of sentences. All of these errors make for a frustrating read.

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Oct 06, 2020 Susan Murray rated it it was amazing

No answers

The 2 books were riveting but the spelling was bad. Sack the proofreader!

I read this book to find out the answers to the cliffhangers in the first book but sadly that was not the case.

There seem to be fifteen books on John steel and if that’s how long it takes to solve the riddles then I am not bothering.

I would have read more of these if each one completed the story as they are well written and numerous.

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Dec 09, 2020 Blinda E. Irby rated it really liked it

Enjoyed reading this book, but it was so full of errors. Someone needs to proofread with a person & not spell check. The writing is highly entertaining, just what you want. The errors detracts from the entertainment. This problem carries on to 3rd book. For example “fir” instead of “fur”. I would have given it 5 stars if not for spelling errors. Thank you

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Nov 18, 2020 Bernadine rated it it was ok

Too many errors!!

Story line may be decent but too difficult to get past all the errors: “Bowls of the ship” instead of bowels; “inenviable friendly questions” instead of inevitable; etc. These are just 2 of many, within the first few pages of the first chapter. I gave up on reading past this.

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Nov 11, 2020 MR R DAVIES rated it did not like it

Do a word check next time!

Peppered throughout the book are many off putting mistakes
The story itself is not bad.
2 examples: ' where' when you clearly meant ' were'. And vale instead of veil Lots more I won't be reading any more
Richard Davies ...more

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Feb 26, 2021 Eunice McEwen rated it it was amazing

I like this Series of John Steel, but can't always know what ones I have Read. At one time it was slashed in the courner which one was finished. Is there a way to cancil them off my Kindle #2. ...more

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