Support Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander-owned small businesses
Kindle Unlimited
Unlimited reading. Over 4 million titles. Learn more
Read for Free
OR
$1.99 with 90 percent savings
Print List Price: $19.99

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Sold by Amazon.com Services LLC.
Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Tony Cooper
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Powerless: A Superhero Novel (The 'Powerless' Superhero Novel Series Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Tony Cooper (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 out of 5 stars 158 ratings
"My name is Martin Molloy. I haven’t used my powers in almost two decades. I’ve been a night security guard for four years and not had a panic attack for nearly ten months. Then my old teammate and best friend Vincent is murdered by another power. My carefully constructed solitude crumbles around me as the Police, the Powered Crime Agency and the rest of the team search for answers. All I want is to find out who killed him without having to dredge up too much pain from the past, but when the super-powered killer comes after me, all I am left with are nightmares." POWERLESS is a British-based superhero thriller. People born with extraordinary powers are called Heroes. In Britain today, laws forbid the use of powers in public and force those with abilities to register or face prosecution. Martin, or Roadblock as he used to be known, is a night security guard. It helps him forget his time in The Pulse, one of the biggest superhero teams of Element City. When his best friend is murdered, he is forced to face the demons from his past, before they destroy him. ALSO IN THIS SERIES: - KILLING GODS (The 'Powerless' Superhero Novel Series Book 2) - DIE FAMOUS (The 'Powerless' Superhero Novel Series Book 3)
Read more
Previous slide of product details
  1. Book 1 of 3
    The 'Powerless' Superhero Novel Series
  2. Print length
    544 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    July 14, 2014
  5. File size
    3.2 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
Next slide of product details
Unwell Hydration from Alex Cooper
Hydrate & focus with every sip Shop now

Shop this series

 See full series
There are 3 books in this series.
This option includes 3 books.

Customers also bought or read

Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1
Previous page
  3. Rising Tides (Capes Book 1)
    Kindle Edition
    $7.99
  4. Kill Your Heroes
    Kindle Edition
    $4.99
  5. The Reluctant Superhero Book 1
    Kindle Edition
    $5.99
  8. The Last Superheroes
    Kindle Edition
    $4.99
  16. The Outlaw: Origins
    Kindle Edition
    $3.99
  19. ULTRA (The Last Hero Book 1)
    Kindle Edition
    $2.99
  26. Making Supers 1
    Kindle Edition
    $5.99
  28. We Don't Wear Capes: Year One
    Kindle Edition
    $4.99
  29. Industrial Strength Magic
    Kindle Edition
    $7.99
Next page
Loading...

From the Publisher

superhero dark vigilante

A SUPERHERO IS MURDERED

His best friend is dragged out of retirement to find his killer.

superhero dark vigilante

DEADLY SECRETS

As he reconnects with his old teammates, a horrific secret that binds them risks destroying everything.

superhero dark vigilante

TARGETED AND EXPOSED

Can he reconcile with his past and avoid being the killer's next target?

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Born and raised in Scotland I was always writing and drawing stories as a child. In fact I wrote a full book aged about eight (it was about giant mutated cockroaches attacking a nuclear power plant; never know, might sell the film rights to Hollywood one day!) and I was always either reading or writing.
Then came videogames and I was designing them, creating characters, environments, stories, and trying to make them with the very early game creation software that existed back then.

Then I just stopped.
University study came first and I pretty much abandoned all forms of reading, writing and art for almost fifteen years.
It's only been the last five or so that I have had the itch to start being creative again. Only in the last two have I begun to think I could write a full novel, and only the last one that I have actually done it.

I released my debut novel POWERLESS in January 2013 and I would love to hear your thoughts on it @_tonycooper, or on my blog or forums at hungryblackbird.com thanks!
Tony.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00B0JOR7M
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hungryblackbird Press; 5th edition (July 14, 2014)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 14, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.2 MB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 544 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 out of 5 stars 158 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Tony Cooper

Tony Cooper

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Tony Cooper was born and raised in Scotland. He followed the traditional route of becoming a writer/artist by studying Medicine then making videogames for 16 years.

His grimdark urban fantasy superhero series is currently at three books, POWERLESS, KILLING GODS and DIE FAMOUS, and a tie-in comic book SOME KIND OF HERO.

He also created the graphic novel THE MURDER CLUB: USELESS DEATHS, a psychological thriller about a pair of schoolkids who plot to kill a fellow student.

He has also release a collection of dark short stories titled "The Resurrection Tree and Other Stories", and the science fiction comedy novella "Higgs & Soap: Galaxy Delivery".

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
158 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from the United States

  • Erin Penn
    5.0 out of 5 stars Dark - and may have Triggers for some
    Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    A "gritty" superhero world with all colors of gray, the central character struggles with PTSD and trying to remain a good man. The challenge is as a Power, he wants to support law and order -- and law and order has decided that Powers should remain Powerless. He was willing to obey the law, until a friend is murdered and he seems to be the next target.

    No one in this story is wonderful and sweet and heroic. Heroes, to be heroes, fight against incredible odds. Odds where they can lose ... badly. Martin had been a small-time hero, than a big-time hero, then ... and then the public changed the law and he went into hiding.

    Now a friend from his time as a hero has died, and Martin's hero complex demands he figure out the reason even though his power is muscles, not brain. His friend with the brain had died. Can he pull it off without a panic attack or being attacked?

    Triggers abound in here. One of the villains is a mind-manipulator, and the author presented it a way four-color comics on the newspaper rack in 7-11 never could.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Michael R. Saltzman
    4.0 out of 5 stars Original, engaging, deep,dark, and thoughtful superhero novel.
    Reviewed in the United States on May 8, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    First off, I am pretty sure that I must have a newer version of this text than some of the other reviewers here. I say that because I am extremely sensitive to editing errors in books and I noticed maybe two in the entire book. So I can only assume that whatever mistakes there were have no been corrected. The book is written using a lot of U.K. English instead of American: things like "saviour" instead of "savior". But that's not a big deal.

    The story itself is very dark. There is a lof of violence (as one might expect from a superhero novel) and also a lot of sexual content (which one might not). This is very clearly NOT a book for children. It includes rape and all manner of other sexual content not suitable for kids.

    Basically, this book is really 2 different stories: one which takes place in 1993 about a team of superheroes, and the second in 2012 which is about those same heroes (or mostly one in particular) 18 years later. The chapters tend to alternate between the two stories (although not always) and the stories are somewhat related.

    The main character (Martin/Roadblock) is a superhero. He was once part of a team but has spent the last 18 years basically hiding from life, working as a night watchman. His one connection to his old life is his buddy Vincent, who was also a member of the team. Vincent gets murdered and Martin embarks on a series of events that bring him back into contact with all the things from his old life he's been trying to avoid.

    At its heart, this book is a murder mystery. It's a classic whodunnit, except with superheroes and for the most part, it all hangs together very well. The story was easy to follow without the author beating me over the head with it. The characters are interesting, the action is good, and the mystery kept me guessing until the very end.

    It's not a perfect story, by any means. There are some plot twists at the end that I found extremely far-fetched. I will not, of course, spoil the book by revealing any of them here. But suffice to say there are a few plot-holes in this story - or at least some things that are left unexplained.

    Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book and upon finishing it, I immediately downloaded the sample for the sequel. So that's a sure indication that I enjoyed it enough to want to keep reading more.
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • John G Robert
    3.0 out of 5 stars Darker super hero story
    Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    The powers of the characters are interesting and the plot twists around the super hero group versus a villain with incredible mental powers is somewhat engaging. The use of present tense for chapters set in the past and past tense for chapters occurring in the present is a format that I personally don't care for. I also found it hard to reconcile the anti hero sentiments of the present with the wide variety of social and economic status the former heroes now enjoy. The story itself is an interesting take on what happens when a successful super hero group privately implodes followed shortly after by society turning against the use of super powers. I plan on reading book2 and hopefully will enjoy it.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Kindle Customer
    4.0 out of 5 stars Heroes all have we gets but some are unheroic
    Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    PTSD for a super hero must be.a.right bugger. All that cape and cowl, crime fightinv, mysterious villians, monsters must leave a faint on the sohl, dark shadows on the heart. What is a hero to do who feels her failed and suffers PTSD from the event? He crawls into a hole and gives up? A.problem that affects real life heroes, cops, soldiers, medical professions is explored in the.most wonderfully.depressing hero tale yet.
    And I thought Batman.had problems?
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Mvargus
    2.0 out of 5 stars Too convoluted for the payoff.
    Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Wow,

    The idea here of a retired superhero who has flashbacks regarding events from decades before becoming dragged back into the world thanks to the death of a former teammate is one that should inspire a lot of wonder. Sadly, this is another story with less than stellar execution. The characters are not inspiring and the author's need to alternate flashbacks with chapters that cover current events left the narrative disjointed.

    Honestly, this felt like another case where the author was just a bit too eager to try to use techniques they just did not have the experience to make work. The plot ended up muddled and unclear not because there was an attempt to make it htat way, but because the constant changes to where the story was in the timeline left a lot of information out until it no longer felt important.

    It was a story that also suffered once again because the characters are mostly redshirts without much development or purpose. There are too many deaths of characters that are implied to be important just before they vanish from the tale. It ended up once again leaving a lot of the punch out.

    Not a bad idea, but just not a good story.
    5 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Leboux
    1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
    Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    This book sucks! A waste of time
    Helpful
     Report
  • Adam Heinrich
    4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent despite poor editing
    Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2014
    This is one of the most imaginative superhero stories I have ever read, and I've read quite a few. But the editing is worse than almost any other novel I have ever purchased - it takes a few extra seconds every paragraph just to decipher where the commas should be. That adds up to at least an extra hour to read the book. It's still well worth the effort, though.
    Helpful
     Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
  • Laola
    3.0 out of 5 stars Ernstes bis schwermütiges Superhelden Novel
    Reviewed in Germany on June 20, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    Eindrücke:
    Schwermütig, eintönig, tiefsinnig, Superhelden-Aktion, Manipulation, Machtlosigkeit, Verzweiflungstaten, Schuldzuweisungen, Ängste.

    Story und Fazit:
    Wir haben zwei Zeitlinien. Eine spielt in den fernen 1990er Jahren, als unser Held noch ein richtiger Superheld war - Roadblock sein Name. Die andere Zeitlinie spielt im Jahr 2012, Roadblock ist nun ein gebrochener Mann, schämt sich für seine Vergangenheit und arbeitet bei einem Sicherheitsdienst und freut sich auf sein Schläfchen auf dem Sofa. Mit der Zeit wird dem Leser immer klarer, was in den 1990ern passierte und Parallelen zu aktuellen Ereignissen werden ersichtlich.
    Vor allem die erste Hälfte des Buches zu lesen, war sehr schwer. Sowohl die Actionszenen, als auch die Dialoge fühlten sich sehr konstruiert an. Es passierte anfangs sehr wenig und vor allem nichts Unerwartetes. Die Passivität des gealterten Roadblocks, warf ab der Mitte des Buches immer wieder Fragen auf, denn durch seine Inaktivität und halbherzigen Untersuchungen gerieten viele andere Figuren in Gefahr. Wer Bücher mit einem Who-done-it Plot feiert, dem könnte dieses Buch gut gefallen. Ansonsten ist es jedoch sehr schwerfällig und gewinnt erst im letzten Drittel an Tempo. In meinen Augen ist Powerless nicht unbedingt das Buch, was man gelesen haben muss. Es ist aber ganz okay, wenn man ernste Themen wertschätzt.
    Report
  • squidbeak
    5.0 out of 5 stars More super hero stuff!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 13, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Superb sequel, but way too short!! Another super book from Tony Cooper. This story and characters are amazing, and there are some great plot twists. Also very accurately shows how ineffective social care services are in real life....
    Really looking forward to vol 3 of this brilliant series.
    Report
  • paul traynor
    4.0 out of 5 stars Decent read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 4, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Just finished this book and most enjoyable it was too. Engaging characters and a good story. Will look out for the sequels as and when they become available.
    Report
  • Daniel
    5.0 out of 5 stars An interesting read.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 29, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    The story follows a retired super hero called Martin (roadblock) who is set upon revenge due to a series of events.

    The book is a good length to delve into the the story, the characters you care about enough to continue reading. Up to the point I spent a lot of time finishing reading a few chapters at 2Am.

    Tony Cooper also has a good talent for describing the setting. Not once did I feel confused at the surroundings and this only complemented the fast pace you find in the 3rd part of the book.

    The storyline while may seem generic, certainly isn't, and only gets bigger and better. I guessed part of the twist towards the end, and while I was right. I couldn't have guessed the bigger twist to hit me in the face.

    A really well written book
    Report
  • heron
    3.0 out of 5 stars easy read
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 7, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Kept my attention but could have been far better than it was. Well painted characters and different story line but not enough to it.
    Report

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report