A new departure for the author of Firebird and Eye of Ra, this novel is a dramatic, contemporary thriller: a David and Goliath story featuring western might against desert tribes, and the man who becomes their champion. The book opens with the discovery of a clearly modern corpse in a desert archaelogical site, with a heavy pack laden with packets of strange soils. Truman, the leader of the expedition, returns the pack in a container he was sending home – to be forwarded to the dead man’s business address. So begins an extraordinary adventure. Truman – the man with a mysterious past – is persuaded to go back to Sudan, to get the remote and hostile tribe to allow mining of the incredibly valuable minerals now discovered on their lands. But he, and his bakcers, are not the only people to be after the platinum – nor does his backer turn out to be what he expected. And what are the various elements of the SIS, the South African conglomerate, renegade Russians and Serbians doing out there? And prepared to use far more violent methods than Truman’s plans… Rescued by the tribe themselves from a brutal attack and now kept captive by them, Truman- unsure who his greatest enemies are – becomes fascinated by the tribe’s way of life, by the woman who is their prophetess and by his gradually returning memories of his previous life. The action is fast and furious, from helicopter crashed to desert storms, from camel charges to business skulduggery, and the desert scenes are powerful and lyrical, visually brilliant. There is a wonderful range of characters, wily Russians, tribal warriors, displaced SIS officers – and most of all the reader shares in Truman’s initiation into the ways of such a different society.
Author
Michael Asher is an author, historian, deep ecologist, and notable desert explorer who has covered more than 30,000 miles on foot and camel. He spent three years living with a traditional nomadic tribe in Sudan. Michael Asher was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in 1953, and attended Stamford School. At 18 he enlisted in the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, and saw active service in Northern Ireland during The Troubles there in the 1970s. He studied English Language & Linguistics at the University of Leeds. at the same time serving in B Squadron, 23rd SAS Regiment. He also studied at Carnegie College, Leeds, where he qualified as a teacher of physical education and English. In 1978-9, he worked for the RUC Special Patrol Group anti-terrorist patrols, but left after less than a year. He took a job as a volunteer English teacher in the Sudan in 1979. The author of twenty-one published books, and presenter/director of six TV documentaries, Asher has lived in Africa for much of his life, and speaks Arabic and Swahili. He is married to Arabist and photographer Mariantonietta Peru, with whom he has a son and a daughter, Burton and Jade. He currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
