LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
Shortlisted for the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger Award 2015.
A Maxim Jakubowski selected title.
Extremely topical, what with its principal protagonist, oil engineer Claymore Straker, in flight from a dodgy past, being kidnapped by Islamic terrorists and soon finding himself caught between opposing forces intent on discovering why the village of Al Urush is affected by a deadly, unidentifiable sickness. This debut thriller by a Canadian author with a wealth of experience in the Middle East and the oil industry has a ring of truth, but the author's deep knowledge of the settings never slows down the non-stop action, with distant echoes of a more-moral minded Jack Reacher or Jason Bourne. A forceful first novel by a writer not afraid of weighty issues and visibly in love with the beauty of the Yemen and desert landscapes his protagonists travel through.
Maxim Jakubowski
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The Abrupt Physics of Dying Synopsis
Claymore Straker is trying to forget a violent past. Working as an oil company engineer in the wilds of Yemen, he is 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. 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.
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Press Reviews
Paul E. Hardisty Press Reviews
'Paul Hardisty has delivered a thriller of the highest quality - a must read novel for fans of the genre and already Claymore Straker has shown the potential to one day stand in the company of such luminaries as Bond and Bourne. This is intelligent writing that both entertains and challenges'
Live Many Lives
'An exceptional debut, beautifully written, blisteringly authentic, heartstoppingly tense and unusually moving. Definite award material'
Paul Johnston
'A big, powerful sophisticated and page-turning thriller. Thought-provoking and prescient'
Eve Seymour
'a novel that reeks authenticity - a page-turning adventure story that grabs you from the first page and won't let go'
Edward Wilson
Author
About Paul E. Hardisty
Canadian Paul E Hardisty has spent 25 years working all over the world as an engineer, hydrologist and environmental scientist. He has roughnecked on oil rigs in Texas, explored for gold in the Arctic, mapped geology in Eastern Turkey (where he was befriended by PKK rebels), and rehabilitated water wells in the wilds of Africa. He was in Ethiopia in 1991 as the Mengistu regime fell, and was bumped from one of the last flights out of Addis Ababa by bureaucrats and their families fleeing the rebels. In 1993 he survived a bomb blast in a café in Sana’a. Paul is a university professor, visiting professor at Imperial College, London, and Director of Australia’s national land, water, ecosystems and climate adaptation research programmes. His debut thriller was shortlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger and Telegraph thriller of the year. He lives in Western Australia.
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