Tuesday, 3 July 2018

Claymore Straker's Journey - The Abrupt Physics of Dying

Claymore Straker is the main character in Paul Hardisty's Straker series, which is published by Orenda Books. These are action-packed, and also thought-provoking, environmental thrillers. With each book, I have followed Straker's emotional & ripping rollercoaster journey, and I have learnt so much about environmental issues and political climates around the world too.

There are four books in the Straker series so far - An Abrupt Physics of Dying, The Evolution of Fear, Reconciliation for the Dead and, recently published on 30 May 2018, Absolution. I am a huge fan of these books and recommend them highly!!



Today, Paul Hardisty talks about Claymore Straker's Journey through his first book, The Abrupt Physics of Dying.


Here's a little about the book first:
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 what 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.
Gritty, gripping and shocking, The Abrupt Physics of Dying will not only open your eyes, but keep them glued to the page until the final, stunning denouement is reached.

And now over to Paul:

"The first book of the series, The Abrupt Physics of Dying, is set in Yemen in 1994 as the civil war erupts. I was there at the time, and wanted to write something that would capture the time, the sheer chaos and terror of the place, and the really bad stuff I saw. I was working on it for ten years, on and off, but it wasn’t until I got to Australia that it really came together. 
Clay is in Yemen working as an engineer with the burgeoning oil industry, in the loneliest place he can find, trying to escape his brutal past - trying to escape himself.  There he meets Rania, a beguiling, troubled journalist who is researching the Islamic uprising in the country. She is Muslim, he atheist, a scarred veteran of South Africa’s war in Angola, haunted by the memories of what he saw and did. 
As Yemen descends into chaos, and kids start dying in the villages close to the oil company’s operations, the pair are thrown together in a search for the truth. Their journey begins."
The Abrupt Physics of Dying was one of the first books I reviewed on Off-the-Shelf Books. 
You can find my review here.  
About Paul Hardisty


Read about Paul Hardisty's life experiences and qualifications, and you'll understand why he writes his Straker books!
Canadian by birth, Paul 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 revels) 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 cafĂ© in Sana’a, and was one of the last Westerners out of Yemen before the outbreak of the 1994 civil war. Paul is a university professor and Director of Australia’s national land, water ecosystems and climate adaptation research programmes. He is a sailor, a private pilot, keen outdoorsman, conservation volunteer, and lives in Western Australia with his family.

Follow Claymore Straker's Journey

To learn more about all of the Claymore Straker books, visit:
Monday 2nd July - @Lizzy11268
Wednesday 4th July - @dakegra
Thursday 5th July - @grabthisbook
Friday 6th July - @sjroth21

You can find Paul Hardisty on Twitter here. Plus check out the Orenda Books website too!

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