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Harm: An Absolutely Gripping Crime Thriller (The Rina Walker Series) Kindle Edition

by Hugh Fraser (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 293 ratings
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A London-based female assassin runs into trouble on a mission in 1970s Mexico in this action-packed debut crime thriller.

Acapulco 1974: Rina Walker is on assignment. Just another quick, clean kill.

When she wakes to discover her employer’s severed head on her bedside table, and a man with an AK 47 coming through the door of her hotel room, she must use all her skills to neutralise her attacker and escape.

Notting Hill 1956: Fifteen-year-old Rina is scavenging and stealing to support her siblings and her alcoholic mother. When a local gangster attacks her younger sister, Rina wreaks revenge. Innocence betrayed, Rina faces the brutality of the post-war London underworld—a world that teaches her the skill to kill . . .

Praise for Harm

“Hugh Fraser’s Harm is the perfect combination of action, mystery and intrigue. It also features some superbly constructed characters, who develop over the course of the story—which is a rarity in mystery novels.” —Benjamin Maio Mackay, actor

“Go and buy it quick. It is very filmic and very taut.... This book will do you HARM because you won’t want to do anything else but sit down and get to the next bit fast. Fabulous.” —Celia Imrie, actress, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Calendar Girls, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
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  1. Book 1 of 4
    The Rina Walker
  2. Print length
    300 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publisher
    Bloodhound Books
  6. Publication date
    April 25, 2021
  7. File size
    1547 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Actress Celia Imrie (Bridget Jones' Diary, Calendar Girls, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) writes "Go and buy it quick. It is very filmic and very taut... this book will do you HARM because you won't want to do anything else but sit down and get to the next bit fast. Fabulous."

"Hugh Fraser's Harm is the perfect combination of action, mystery and intrigue. It also features some superbly constructed characters, who develop over the course of the story - which is a rarity in mystery novels." (Benjamin Maio Mackay)

About the Author

Hugh Matthew Fraser is an English actor, theatre director and author. He was born in Westminster, but grew up in the Midlands. He studied acting at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09C6JSD43
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloodhound Books (April 25, 2021)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 25, 2021
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1547 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 300 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 293 ratings

About the author

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Hugh Fraser

Hugh Fraser

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Hugh Fraser is best known for playing Captain Hastings in Agatha Christie's 'Poirot' and the Duke of Wellington in 'Sharpe'. His films include Patriot Games, 101 Dalmatians, The Draughtsman's Contract and Clint Eastwood's Firefox. In the theatre he has appeared in Teeth'n'Smiles at the Royal Court and Wyndhams and in several roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

He has also narrated many of Agatha Christie's novels as audio books.

'Malice' is book 3 in the bestselling Rina Walker series, following 'Harm' and 'Threat'. London 1964. Gang warfare is breaking out and Rina Walker's struggle to survive amid the battles and betrayals of a gruesome cast of racketeers and gangsters require all her considerable skills as an assassin. Playing one side off against the other to protect those she loves, Rina is caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse where her life is just one of many at stake…

Hugh is based in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
293 global ratings
"I Say!" Poirot's 'Captain Hastings' turns out to be a great Crime Writer in His own right.
5 Stars
"I Say!" Poirot's 'Captain Hastings' turns out to be a great Crime Writer in His own right.
My first surprise is the story's first person perspective. A tad odd, as the character is a woman and the writer is a man. But Hugh Fraser pulls it off! You start off, hoping to be able to read a few pages before turning off the light. Next thing you know, you're into the next chapter, and it's after 2 in the morning. NOT good if you have to be up at 7 am. Thankfully, I work evening shift. So I have the luxury of getting to read a bit longer. But attention to work suffers when you're trying to figure out what the leading character's next move will be.
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Top reviews from the United States

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A far cry from Captain Hastings
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2023
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I'm a long Agatha Christy fan and this book is a far cry from her character Captian Hastings! The plot was excellent! And The way the history of how Welch became who she is was woven with her current "job" was an excellent way to familiarize you with the character. The serial sequence was a big surprise because I couldn't believe Fraser could conceive it, let alone write about it. But, you never know. I told myself this book was too depressing to read about poverty life in London and I would finish it and that would be it. Well, I got the next book in the series. If you can stand the violence and graphic sex this is a surprising great read!!!!!!
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4.0 out of 5 stars Good read
Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2018
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And strange in the same time. It is full of energy and action. Still, too violent. Yes, the reality it describes is violent, so it's not strange. I liked the alternating story line. I would like to read how she got where she was, but also next "troubles" she's getting in.
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W. Bishop
5.0 out of 5 stars I am happy I have another Rina book to get through (Threat) ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2017
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I devoured this in one sitting. I am a fast reader but the truth is, I couldn't put it down. I don't even normally read fiction, but I couldn't resist. This is thrilling and so well written. I am happy I have another Rina book to get through (Threat) but I'll want more! Some of the character studies are so real you can hear their voices, especially Rina's but still she is an enigma. Normally you don't find yourself feeling empathy for the unlawful but this is different. If any of you are wondering if this will become a movie, it could easily because it is almost written as a screenplay would be. I have a different take on it, however, it should be a TV series, like Remus. Harm is great and I hope that while Rina may be more well understood in the next book (and I sincerely hope Hugh Fraser doesn't stop here!) I don't want her to change! Enjoy, and I know I can say that because you will.
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David Hardy
3.0 out of 5 stars Good Thriller
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2016
Acapulco 1974: Rina Walker is on assignment. Just another quick, clean kill. She wakes to discover her employer's severed head on her bedside table, and a man with an AK-47 coming through the door of her hotel room. She needs all her skills to neutralise her attacker and escape. After a car chase, she is captured by a Mexican drug boss who exploits her radiant beauty and ruthless expertise to eliminate an inconvenient member of the government. Notting Hill 1956: Fifteen-year-old Rina is scavenging and stealing to support her siblings and her alcoholic mother. When a local gangster attacks her younger sister, Rina wreaks violent revenge and murders him. Innocence betrayed, Rina faces the brutality of the post-war London underworld - a world that teaches her the skills she needs to kill...

An interesting and fast-paced thriller with good characters.

Brilliant writing. The author doesn't hold back with his descriptive dialogue.

The problem I found was the flow of the book. It wasn't difficult to switch between the two time periods, but within the same time periods, the book jutted and skipped, missing out what I thought were important parts.

A good read, though.
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Coco
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book! I knew nothing about it, but HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!
Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2015
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I honestly had no idea what to expect from this book. I had heard of the author from his career as a British actor, and I bought the book on a lark, having no clue what it might hold. I bought it to read on my subway commute (in NYC) to and from work to pass the time. I could not have imagined I would stay up late each night to read and, on one suspenseful morning, even miss my subway stop when I was so engrossed in the book I didn't realize I had passed my stop! It's gripping! From the top of page 2 I was hooked. The descriptions are incredibly visual and evocative. The scenes of crime and England and the drug landscape of Mexico are rich with visuals that make you scan the morning newspapers for articles reporting the book's crimes. You will be obsessed! And the female hit woman is a refreshing twist on traditional male-hitman crime novels. I was sad when the book was over and there was no more to read... Well done Mr. Fraser! Please hurry up and share what Rina does next!
6 people found this helpful
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T. V. OBrien
4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for the person who wants more Marlene Ciampi than Tanenbaum gives you
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2017
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Not for the faint of heart, this first fiction effort from TV's Captain Hastings is a gripping tale of a British hitwoman on the job in Mexico. Chapters from Rina Walker's current (1974) "job" (a drug-related hit that becomes an operation on behalf of the US DEA that becomes... well, I won't spoil it for you) alternate with chapters describing Rina's troubled youth in 1956 Notting Hill, including the horrific abuse that desensitizes her to violence and leads directly to her life of crime. Scenes involving murder and sexual assault are fairly graphic--too much for my taste--but not more than other crime fiction along the lines of Robert K. Tanenbaum. The plot moves along rapidly, and there are a few dei ex machina, but overall, it's an enjoyable and fast-paced thriller. Rina is a compelling character, and at the conclusion of this tale, the reader is left wanting to find out what happens to her next.
2 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars Big Disappointment but do love his audio books.
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2015
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Really disappointed - as it has a lot of violence and the usual splatter of four letter words one sees in movies. Not a credible story IMO.
4 people found this helpful
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Saifir
5.0 out of 5 stars I wasn't disappointed. Its brilliant
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2016
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I am a huge fan of Hugh Fraser and when he wrote this book I really looked forward to reading it. I wasn't disappointed. Its brilliant. I found parts of the book very sad describing life in the slums in London in the 50's. What people had to suffer makes you cry. This book can pull at your heartstrings in places. Its a very fast paced thriller popping from the 50's to the 70's and I am glad to say there is a sequel.
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Top reviews from other countries

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staho
5.0 out of 5 stars Großartig, etwas grauslich.
Reviewed in Germany on September 11, 2015
Verified Purchase
Die Geschichte ist hervorragend geschrieben und flüssig zu lesen, sowohl Stil als auch Handlungsaufbau waren für mich nahezu einwandfrei.
Das Einzige, was mich ein wenig stört, sind die detailreichen Gewaltszenen. Gar so genau hätte ich persönlich es nicht wissen müssen. Ich vergebe dennoch 5 Sterne, weil die paar Zeilen, die ich überflogen habe, dem Lesevergnügen keinen Abbruch tun.
One person found this helpful
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James Silvester
5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting, engaging and superbly written.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 26, 2015
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Harm is a book which succeeds with ease where others often fail, in not just telling two stories at once, but doing so in a masterful way, ensnaring the reader so completely within both narratives, that neither suffers for it. While reading, I would frown at the end of a chapter, desperate to continue the story, only to be engrossed within a few words of the next, in picking up where I had left off earlier. Spanning both stories is Rina, an assassin whom we first meet becoming embroiled in a drugs hit gone wrong (oh, boy does it go wrong), before stepping back in time to witness the squalid, abusive existence which would gradually twist her into the person she eventually becomes. The character herself is refreshingly original. So often, female assassins can be written, intentionally or otherwise, as clichéd caricatures, but there is none of that here. By allowing us into her early life and the hopelessness of her situation, we develop an empathy with her through which helps us extend sympathy, even despite her later apparent callousness, or perhaps more accurately her cold professionalism. Particularly engaging to me were the scenes set in the slums of 1950’s Britain. Having parents who hailed from that era, I have often heard tales of what life was like, but reading this book made it real. The grey, damp, sickly atmosphere contrasts neatly with the sunny, bright feux-luxurious surroundings of Mexico, but the horrors in Rina’s life remain a constant; the abuse, the brutality, the casual racism, the nonchalant disposal of rivals while the innocent struggle to remain unsullied. The ending manages to quite subtly blend elements from both time frames together, but one is left with the feeling that while Rina may have left her past behind, this is certainly not the end of her story, as the author gently teases. A thoroughly engaging and exciting novel which packs quite the emotional punch in places, this is a wonderful debut from Hugh Fraser and, I hope, the first of many books to come.
2 people found this helpful
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alexandra
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it!
Reviewed in France on August 16, 2015
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Hugh Fraser is an actor, probably best known for playing Captain Hastings in Agatha Christie's Poirot.
I must say I was very curious when I learnt Mr Fraser had published his first novel, Harm. Needless to say, I bought it as soon as I could and I really don't regret it.
Hugh Fraser's style is very interesting. As a foreigner, whose native language isn't English, I really appreciated the way Mr Fraser built his story. Indeed, I didn't struggle to understand the plot.

Harm is an action-packed thriller. The main character is called Rina and I loved her for being a strong kick-ass woman who does "a man's job" (she's a paid assassin). The story, set between 1956 and 1974 allows us to understand what happened to her, what she went through in order to become who she is.

I loved following Rina from her terrible childhood in London (she suffered from poverty, her mother was an alcoholic) to Mexico, where our protagonist has to face drug barons and other dangers!

I really hope Hugh Fraser will soon publish another novel!!
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Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars Don't !
Reviewed in Canada on March 1, 2017
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Worst book I ever read !
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Louise Bookmarks and Stages
5.0 out of 5 stars A Captivating Read!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 6, 2017
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I first borrowed this book, but quickly realised it was a keeper, so bought it to add to my ever burgeoning book collections on bookcases.

Hugh Fraser - actor turned author can definitely write. Don't expect a carbon copy of an Agatha Christie novel for Hugh Fraser has developed his own style and writing voice (it's all written in the first person for a start) as he paints the the world that his main protagonist, Rina Walker lives in. This is a book with a Lot of Attitude! We see Rina Walker as both a girl in her youth in 1956 to her grown up self in 1974. She is a strong woman who just so happens to be an assassin as the question in the blurb bravely and intriguingly asks "why would an innocent girl become a contract killer?" Why indeed and that's what is explored very well within this book, which is full of action as she becomes more involved with the underworld and a Mexican drugs cartel. The book would defy any reader not to be reeled in as there is a compulsion to read on to find out the answer to the posed question and because Rina has evidently still got some soul.

Hugh Fraser is a smart author as he takes the reader further into Rina Walker's world with a good deal of pace and twists and turns at what feels like, exactly the right moments and in a way that would make any reader want to continue with story to the end. It is excellently written with plots of time spans of the younger and older Rina Walker being cleverly interwoven together in a manner which flows well. To write with different time spans and and all in the first person is no mean feat but one which Hugh Fraser accomplishes very well.

I look forward to reading the further 2 books.
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