Welcome to the latest leg of the Claymore Straker journey – as brought to us by Paul Hardisty. We began our trip with Liz Loves Books before moving to Off The Shelf Books then to Espresso Coco. All those names link to you the journey and I’d highly recommend lingering on each blog once you have caught up with Straker and exploring the other content shared by Liz, Victoria and Dave.
Today we are concentrating on book three – Reconciliation for the Dead and I pass you to Mr Hardisty:
In the third instalment, Reconciliation for the Dead, I wanted to tell the story of how Clay comes to be the deeply disturbed man we meet in the first two books. Essentially a prequel, it opens in 1997, in the aftermath of events in Cyprus. Determined to somehow atone for the sins of his past, Clay has returned to South Africa to testify to Desmond Tutu’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Rania has returned to Paris, married, and is again working as a journalist. As Clay testifies, we are drawn back to 1980. Clay is a twenty-year old paratrooper in the South African Army, fighting in the Border War in Angola. All his illusions are shattered when he comes face-to-face with the real reasons for the war, and finds himself complicit in the most unspeakable atrocities. As with the other books, I was going for realism and historical accuracy.
Reconciliation for the Dead is published by Orenda Books and is available in digital and paperback format. Here is the overview…
Fresh from events in Yemen and Cyprus, vigilante justice-seeker Claymore Straker returns to South Africa, seeking absolution for the sins of his past. Over four days, he testifies to Desmond Tutu’s newly established Truth and Reconciliation Commission, recounting the shattering events that led to his dishonourable discharge and exile, fifteen years earlier. It was 1980. The height of the Cold War. Clay is a young paratrooper in the South African Army, fighting in Angola against the Communist insurgency that threatens to topple the White Apartheid regime. On a patrol deep inside Angola, Clay, and his best friend, Eben Barstow, find themselves enmeshed in a tangled conspiracy that threatens everything they have been taught to believe about war, and the sacrifices that they, and their brothers in arms, are expected to make. Witness and unwitting accomplice to an act of shocking brutality, Clay changes allegiance and finds himself labelled a deserter and accused of high treason, setting him on a journey into the dark, twisted heart of institutionalised hatred, from which no one will emerge unscathed.
Claymore Straker is a fugitive with a price on his head. Wanted by the CIA for acts of terrorism he did not commit, his best friend has just been murdered and Rania, the woman he loves, has disappeared. Betrayed by those closest to him, he must flee the sanctuary of his safe house in Cornwall and track her down.
As his pursuers close in, Clay follows Rania to Istanbul and then to Cyprus, where he is drawn into a violent struggle between the Russian mafia, Greek Cypriot extremists, and Turkish developers cashing in on the tourism boom. As the island of love descends into chaos, and the horrific truth is unveiled, Clay must call on every ounce of skill and endurance to save Rania and put an end to the unimaginable destruction being wrought in the name of profit.
Gripping, exhilarating and, above all, frighteningly realistic, The Evolution of Fear is a startling, eye-opening read that demands the question: How much is truth, and how much is fiction?
My thanks to Karen at Orenda Books for my review copy and for allowing me the chance to join the blog tour.
Claymore Straker, star of The Abrupt Physics of Dying, returns in a second outing from Paul Hardisty. My recollections of the first book was of an action packed environmental thriller which took the reader to exotic locations. So when The Evolution of Fear opened in the South of England I was slightly surprised! No need for worry though as the action seemed to kick in from the first page and soon Mr Straker was off on his travels once again.
I always do the housekeeping when I cover a returning character…The Evolution of Fear can be read as a stand-alone thriller but there are several elements to the story which will be a little easier to follow if you have read The Abrupt Physics of Dying first (and in doing so you get to enjoy that great story too).
What I love about Paul Hardisty’s books is that you know you are in for an adventure. Straker is an action hero and is thrown from one confrontation to the next, he travels to exotic locations and has the beautiful Rania to keep safe from the various forces of evil. Not that Rania is not capable of looking after herself, a resourceful journalist who will stop at nothing to uncover corruption and feed the story to the media.
Straker has his work cut out this time out – there seem to be numerous factions keen to see the back of him. At times he cannot even be sure that he can trust his friends and this keeps the tension high as the story unfolds. At no point did I feel the story was slow paced, however, as I read deeper into the book I could feel momentum building. The action came thick and fast with everything building up towards a breathless finale.
I tend not to follow the ‘if you like x then you will love y’ recommendations. What I will suggest is that fans of high octane thrillers (Matthew Reilly and Scott Mariani sprang to mind) would be well advised to check out Paul Hardisty’s books.
Claymore Straker is trying to forget a violent past. Working as an oil company engineer in the wilds of Yemen, he is
The Abrupt Physics of Dying
hijacked at gunpoint by Islamic terrorists. Clay has a choice: help uncover the cause of a mysterious sickness afflicting the village of Al Urush, close to the company’s oil-processing facility, or watch Abdulkader, his driver and close friend, die.
As the country descends into civil war and village children start dying, Clay finds himself caught up in a ruthless struggle between opposing armies, controllers of the country’s oil wealth, Yemen’s shadowy secret service, and rival terrorist factions. As Clay scrambles to keep his friend alive, he meets Rania, a troubled journalist. Together, they try to uncover the truth about Al Urush. But nothing in this ancient, unforgiving place is as it seems. Accused of a murder he did not commit, put on the CIA’s most-wanted list, Clay must come to terms with his past and confront the powerful forces that want him dead.
A stunning debut eco-thriller, The Abrupt Physics of Dying is largely based on true events – the horrific destruction of fresh water and lives by oil giants. Gritty, gripping and shocking, this book will not only open your eyes but keep them glued to the page until the final, stunning denouement is reached.
Many thanks to Karen Sullivan of Orenda Books for my review copy.
The Abrupt Physics of Dying is a phenomenal debut from Paul Hardisty, an action packed thriller which highlights the corruption that comes with corporate greed. The characters are brilliantly realised too as we see some very human flaws come to the fore.
The Abrupt Physics of Dying is primarily set in Yemen and follows ‘Clay’ Straker, he is an Environmental Contractor working for Petro-Tex who have established an extremely profitable oil plant in a remote part of the country. It is Clay’s job to monitor potential contamination around the plant, keep the local authorities amenable and ensure Petro-Tex can continue to drill while they seek corporate support to expand their enterprise.
However, Yemen is a troubled country and in the opening chapters we see Clay kidnapped by a terrorist group who hold Clay and his driver, Abdulkader, hostage. The leader of the terrorist group wants Clay to prove that the Petro-Tex plant is poisoning the area around their plant and endangering the villages nearby. Clay is released from his captivity to expose Petro-Tex and highlight the danger their operations are causing, Abdulkader is kept as a prisoner. Clay has 8 days to prove the contamination and alert the relevant authorities to the danger. If he succeeds he will save his friend.
From this point on we are taken on a frantic race against time as Clay struggles to establish if his employers are complicit in endangering hundreds of lives. Clay can trust no-one in his quest for the truth as Petro-Tex will do all they can to block his investigations. The press are sympathetic but will need evidence before they go public with any allegations against Petro-Tex. Rania is the journalist on scene (and she provides a love interest too) but it is not clear if Rania is being honest with Clay or if she is working to her own agenda. Added to the mix is a psychotic Security Agent looking to silence Clay – permanently.
We quickly learn that Clay is no desk-jockey, he has military training and is more than adept at fighting his way out of a tight corner. A very useful trait as Clay finds himself in more than one tight spot as he battles to unravel a web of corruption. It can be a tricky balance between exposing your hero to a constant threat and making him an invincible fighting machine. Clay faces many tough scrapes and does not necessarily come through each incident unscathed. However, I wonder if the level of peril that he encounters may be slightly too much for some readers to accept given the serious tone of the rest of the book. Personally I love an action packed read so I had no concerns – this one kept me gripped.
It is not a full on action ride every step of the way. As the story develops we see Clay start to consider how his actions in the past may have aided corruption to go unchallenged. Following the paycheck he has smoothed diplomatic channels, paid officials and had favourable reports returned and generally turned a blind eye to areas out with his remit. Now, as he faces the potential catastrophe of Petro-Tex creating an environmental disaster, Clay considers his own involvement in the process and realises that he may personally have failed the people he is now trying to save. This self-realisation added an extra dimension to Clay, giving depth to the character and seemingly steeling his motivation to put an end to the damage that is occurring.
Environmental crime is not a theme I have encountered often. The technical knowledge to make it convincing may be a limiting factor for some or perhaps the scale of the impact too great to take on? However, no such concerns here as Paul Hardisty has constructed a relevant and very believable thriller. Sadly it is too easy to accept that a corporation may put business interests ahead of lives if they believed they could cover it up. The message I took from this was that the love of power and money will overrule any feelings of morality and that, for some, human life becomes meaningless in the face of profit.
The Abrupt Physics of Dying is not only the debut novel from Paul Hardisty, it is also the first novel published by Orenda Books. It is pleasing to see both author and publisher getting off to such a strong start. The Abrupt Physics of Dying is compelling reading and tackles subject matter not often encountered: I urge you to grab this book, it is both dynamic and different and I enjoyed it immensely.
The Abrupt Physics of Dying was published by Orenda Books and is available now from the Kindle Store. A physical copy of the book will be in shops from March 2015.
Category: From The Bookshelf |
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In the third instalment, Reconciliation for the Dead, I wanted to tell the story of how Clay comes to be the deeply disturbed man we meet in the first two books. Essentially a prequel, it opens in 1997, in the aftermath of events in Cyprus. Determined to somehow atone for the sins of his past, Clay has returned to South Africa to testify to Desmond Tutu’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Rania has returned to Paris, married, and is again working as a journalist. As Clay testifies, we are drawn back to 1980. Clay is a twenty-year old paratrooper in the South African Army, fighting in the Border War in Angola. All his illusions are shattered when he comes face-to-face with the real reasons for the war, and finds himself complicit in the most unspeakable atrocities. As with the other books, I was going for realism and historical accuracy.
