Ben Hope Books In Order

Publication Order of Ben Hope Books

Publication Order of Ben Hope Short Stories/Novellas

Ben Hope is a series of thriller novels written by the well-known British author, Scott Mariani. The thriller series consists of a total of 10 novels published between the years 2007 and 2015, and revolves around the life of the fictional character named Benedict Hope. The author has described Ben as a former army man who has developed special elite skills. After being forced to quit the army, he uses his skills to save the children from the clutches of the kidnappers. The character sketch of Ben Hope as given by the author Scott Martini in the series is as follows: Ben was as Benedict Hope in the year 1971 in England. Being a former army m, he has an athletic body apart from 5’11” height, blond hair and blue eyes. He had joined the Oxford University to obtain a degree in Bachelor of Theology. However, he could not complete his studies and had to drop out from college in order to pursue a career in the British military services. Later, he joins the British Army in the 22 SAS Regiment and gets deployed in various war fields and black ops missions all over the world. After 13 years of service in the army, Ben gets retired with the rank of Major. After his retirement, he takes the job of as a Crisis Response Consultant and Director. He joins the Le Val Tactical Training Centre in Valgones, Normandy, as a Head Trainer. All through his lifetime, Ben Hope has changed a number of places. At first, he used to live on the west coast of Ireland before moving to northern France. Ben has also developed a safe house in Paris, which he uses at the time of emergencies.

In the course of his career and retirement, Ben has been involved in a few relationships with Roberta Ryder, Leigh Llewellyn and Dr. Brooke Marcel. Ben also has a sibling named Ruth who stays in Switzerland, and a son named Jude Arundel. Ben Hope is a man of solitude and peace. He likes to live a private life with tranquility and has a liking for sea shores, countryside and dogs. He has a Storm, German Shepard and a Scruffy from Oxfordshire. Ben likes to listen to the music f the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok along with some jazz music. He is totally against injustice exploitation of the weak and innocent ones, corruption, cruelty on animals, etc. Generally, he sees most of the politicians and police officers and corrupt people, except a few who he trusts and has a deep faith in. Theses include Commissioner Luc Simon, Detective Markus Kinkski, Commander Darcey Kane, and a few others as well. The thing that he hates the most is the disturbance of his private life, his past life, personal questions and the nature of work. Ben has the habit of getting overindulged in alcoholic beverages. He always carries a bottle of his favorite alcohol brand, the Laphroaig. He also likes to smoke French Gauloises cigarettes, by lighting them with his favorite lighter, the Zippo petrol lighter. Ben possesses a number of highly efficient skills such as the armed and unarmed CQB combat skills, rifle shot range upto 1000 meters and beyond, high speed and defensive pursuit driving, efficient use of explosives, etc. He is also trained in hostage extraction, covert entry and infiltration. Despite his addiction to cigarettes and alcoholic beverages, Ben maintains a fit body. He is fluent in multiple languages, including Spanish, French, German and Italian. His habit of sensing the human psychology with the help of his instinctive understanding has allowed him to excel as a rescue negotiator. Ben possesses a special Hi-Power, semi automatic 9mm Browning pistol, however, he is efficient in using all forms of weapons available at the time of crisis.

The first novel of the series was published in the year 2007 by the Avon publishers. The title of the novel is ‘The Alchemist’s Secret’. In this novel, the main characters of Ben Hope and Dr. Roberta Ryder, are introduced as partners against crimes. Ben, who was a former army man, now devotes all his time in rescue operations involving children. The opening sequence of the novel shows him trying to save the life of a child on a deadly mission. He is recruited to search an old manuscript, a mission which turns out to be a thrilling and dangerous quest. The manuscript is supposed to contain some important formulae written by the famous alchemist Fulcanelli around 10 years back. Considered to a precious treasure, the manuscript is on the hunt by a number of people, most of them having evil intentions. The noted ones interested in knowing about the secrets of immortality written in the manuscript include the Gladius Domini, a modern organization and the Nazis of Germany. Dr. Roberta Ryder is introduced as an American scientist, who teams up with Ben Hope to search the manuscript. She is an attractive lady and seems to be equally interested in Ben as he is.

The two go ahead on their dangerous and wild trail from Paris to Languedoc, in search of the astonishing secret which is kept hidden for centuries. The next novel of the series was titled ‘The Mozart Conspiracy’ which was published in the year 2008 by the Touchstones Books. The plot of the novel is set in Vienna, Austria and continues to show the thrilling life of Ben Hope. In this novel, Ben is hired to investigate the mysterious death of Leigh Llewellyn’s brother, Oliver. Leigh is a famous opera star with a beautiful body. Ben seems to be interested in loving her, although he is running for his life. During his investigation, he finds out that Oliver was working on his new book named Mozart, at the time of his death. The facts that Ben comes to know about in his investigation do not match with the official report, which says that Oliver died because of a tragic accident. Ben along with Leigh become successful in digging out the truth about the Mozart, who turns out to be a Freemason. It seems that he might have been killed a powerful and shadowy organization. The truth of his death was written by Mozart himself in a missing letter. Ben and Leigh find some important clues that make them realize that the ritual sacrifices are still existing today. They are required to bring out the truth about the Mozart conspiracy from all across the Europe before becoming its victims themselves. The novel became successful as an electrifying and exciting thriller.