LoveReading Says
July 2008 Debut of the Month.
An exciting new author in the mystery thriller market is EV Seymour. This debut novel is action packed page turning stuff. Each chapter wills you on to the next as you wonder where the plot will twist to next. Conspiracy theories abound to keep you guessing right until the final pages. Great stuff from a writer to definitely keep an eye on.
Paul Tallis also features in a number of other thrillers by E V Seymour:
The Last Exile
Land of Ghosts
The Mephisto Threat
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Resolution to Kill
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The Last Exile Synopsis
After acting on poor intelligence, officer Paul Tallis shoots a suspected terrorist in a Birmingham shopping centre. With his career over, Tallis leaves the elite firearms unit and is utterly disillusioned. A year later, Tallis is approached by a shadowy figure working for MI5. To view a video trailer for The Last Exile, click the screen below:-
About This Edition
ISBN: |
9780778302414 |
Publication date: |
18th July 2008 |
Author: |
E V Seymour |
Publisher: |
MIRA Books |
Format: |
Paperback |
Primary Genre |
Thriller and Suspense
|
Other Genres: |
|
Recommendations: |
|
About E V Seymour
E.V. Seymour was born in West Bromwich in the West Midlands
and spent much of her early years in the surrounding area. Through an
unhappy chain of events, she was sent away to school in Malvern then
Cheltenham, later fleeing institutional life for the bright lights of
the Edinburgh Festival. Captivated by the city, she decided to stay –
home being a grotty bed-sit next to a football ground – and paid the
rent by selling stationery supplies.
After a move to London, she
began an arts degree, which she dropped out of to join a public
relations consultancy – home moving up several gears to a flat in
Kensington, shared with a couple of old school-friends. During her P.R.
career, she was involved in a number of accounts, mainly medical and
nutritional, and included the Woman’s Own Children of Courage awards,
which she ran for two years.
After another move to a P.R.
consultancy in Birmingham, she married and moved to South Devon. Five
children later, she began writing in her spare time. Previous writing
credits include a number of short stories broadcast on BBC Radio Devon,
and articles in Devon Today magazine. She has since bent the ears of a
number of police officers in Devon, West Mercia and West Midlands,
including Scenes of Crime and firearms, in a ruthless bid to make her
writing career more enduring than previous attempts.
Below is a Q&A with this author.
How would you describe your novel ‘The Last Exile’?
It’s
easier to describe what ‘The Last Exile’ isn’t! The novel is broader
than a straight crime thriller and, although it combines typical
elements of the spy story, it doesn’t really fall into that genre
either. Cutting to the chase, I’d say it’s a distinctly British thriller
with political overtones. It’s also very character driven. Our main man
is Paul Tallis, former soldier and ex-firearms officer turned
off-the-books spook.
What gave you the inspiration for the story?
Tragically,
the inspiration for the story resulted from the shooting of Jean
Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station in July 2005.
Following
the incident, there was a radio discussion and phone-in programme
examining the actions of the firearms officers involved. Criticism was
strong and in some cases highly emotive. The officers were variously
accused of being ‘cowboys’ and ‘gunslingers,’ and this got me thinking.
What must it feel like to be in their shoes?
While the killing
of an innocent man was a tragedy, I wondered whether the blame was being
aimed at the wrong people. It seemed to me that the firearms officers
were following orders based on what they considered to be credible
intelligence. Catapulted into a situation where they believed their
target was a terrorist, the threat of losing their lives in a possible
retaliatory response was all too real. With that as my starting point,
the rest of the story developed reasonably easily.
Who do you base your characters on?
I’m
not sure I base my characters on anyone. They’re a composite of people
I’ve come across, but I also rely heavily on imagination. Tallis, my
main protagonist, is less easy to explain. As a woman writing as a man, I
can hardly say that he’s my alter ego! His physical appearance, his
values, and beliefs probably come close to what I find most desirable in
a bloke. Having said that, I recognise that some of his attributes are
mine, which is probably a bit odd! Safe to say, if Tallis were to walk
into the room, I’d recognise him immediately.
From where do you get your ideas?
I’m
a bit of a news junkie and my ideas are ripped straight from the
headlines – hence the focus on immigration in ‘The Last Exile.’ But I
also think you require an X-factor element, a way of stamping that idea
as your own and, therefore, making it unique. To try and do this, it
definitely helps to approach an existing idea or story from an oblique
angle. I always go back to the classic ‘What if?’
More About E V Seymour