The Levant Cycle is a series of three books, each fundamentally different in nature and each an independent and complete work in itself, but roughly contiguous, set in the same time and place and revolving around the fortunes of a shared cast of characters.
Olives - A Violent Romance
Olives is a novel set in Jordan that follows the rocky fortunes of British journalist Paul Stokes. Olives - A Violent Romance was published in December 2011 and has met with widespread acclaim from reviewers. The book's website contains links to many of these reviews and there's also an Olives blog which contains a great number of readers' notes for book clubs etc. Many reader reviews of Olives can also be found on amazon.com and goodreads.com.
Beirut - An Explosive Thriller
Beirut is an international spy thriller set in Beirut, Hamburg, Prague, Malta and Albania tracking the journey of 50 metre super-yacht the Arabian Princess as European Joint Intelligence tries to work out why the future president of Lebanon would want to smuggle two Soviet-era 100-kiloton warheads across the world to Beirut. Beirut - An Explosive Thriller published in October 2012 and the book's website is linked here.
Shemlan - A Deadly Tragedy
Shemlan is set in Beirut, Aleppo and Estonia. After a lifetime's service in the Middle East, diplomat Jason Hartmoor retires to avoid public disgrace. Dying of cancer, Hartmoor returns to the little village of Shemlan in the mountains above Beirut to revisit his past and find his lost love before it's too late. He's going to die, but the question is whether his past will kill him before the cancer does. Shemlan - A Deadly Tragedy will likely be published in spring 2013.
The fragile peace is holding. Behind the scenes, the Israelis are competing for access to ever more scant water resources as Jordan and Palestine begin to run dry. Daoud Dajani has the solution to Jordan’s water problems and is bidding against a UK-led consortium for the privatisation of the nation’s water distribution network. The British secret intelligence service has set out to stop Dajani at any cost.
Journalist Paul Stokes arrives in Jordan to work on a magazine for the Ministry of National Resources. When Paul starts to fall in love with Daoud’s sister, Aisha, British SIS operative Gerald Lynch realises Paul can gain access to Dajani. Blackmailed by Lynch into spying on Daoud Paul is pitched into a terrifying fight for survival that will force him to betray everyone around him.
Michel Freij is a powerful man. But he wants more. Two hundred kilotons more.
Ruthlessly ambitious Lebanese businessman and politician Michel Freij is slated to become the country’s next president. The son of a bloody Christian warlord, his calls for a new, strong Lebanon take on a sinister note when European intelligence reveals he’s bought two ageing Soviet nuclear warheads from a German arms dealer. Cynical SIS man Gerald Lynch battles to find the warheads before they reach Lebanon – and to discover what Freij plans for the deadly weapons.
After a lifetime of service around the Middle East, retired diplomat Jason Hartmoor is dying of cancer. He embarks on a last journey back to Lebanon where he studied Arabic as a young man at the Middle East Centre for Arabic Studies, the infamous ‘British spy school’ in the village of Shemlan far up in the hills overlooking Beirut.
Olives - A Violent Romance
Olives is a novel set in Jordan that follows the rocky fortunes of British journalist Paul Stokes. Olives - A Violent Romance was published in December 2011 and has met with widespread acclaim from reviewers. The book's website contains links to many of these reviews and there's also an Olives blog which contains a great number of readers' notes for book clubs etc. Many reader reviews of Olives can also be found on amazon.com and goodreads.com.
Beirut - An Explosive Thriller
Beirut is an international spy thriller set in Beirut, Hamburg, Prague, Malta and Albania tracking the journey of 50 metre super-yacht the Arabian Princess as European Joint Intelligence tries to work out why the future president of Lebanon would want to smuggle two Soviet-era 100-kiloton warheads across the world to Beirut. Beirut - An Explosive Thriller published in October 2012 and the book's website is linked here.
Shemlan - A Deadly Tragedy
Shemlan is set in Beirut, Aleppo and Estonia. After a lifetime's service in the Middle East, diplomat Jason Hartmoor retires to avoid public disgrace. Dying of cancer, Hartmoor returns to the little village of Shemlan in the mountains above Beirut to revisit his past and find his lost love before it's too late. He's going to die, but the question is whether his past will kill him before the cancer does. Shemlan - A Deadly Tragedy will likely be published in spring 2013.
OLIVES - A VIOLENT ROMANCE
The fragile peace is holding. Behind the scenes, the Israelis are competing for access to ever more scant water resources as Jordan and Palestine begin to run dry. Daoud Dajani has the solution to Jordan’s water problems and is bidding against a UK-led consortium for the privatisation of the nation’s water distribution network. The British secret intelligence service has set out to stop Dajani at any cost.
Journalist Paul Stokes arrives in Jordan to work on a magazine for the Ministry of National Resources. When Paul starts to fall in love with Daoud’s sister, Aisha, British SIS operative Gerald Lynch realises Paul can gain access to Dajani. Blackmailed by Lynch into spying on Daoud Paul is pitched into a terrifying fight for survival that will force him to betray everyone around him.
BEIRUT - AN EXPLOSIVE THRILLER
Michel Freij is a powerful man. But he wants more. Two hundred kilotons more.
Ruthlessly ambitious Lebanese businessman and politician Michel Freij is slated to become the country’s next president. The son of a bloody Christian warlord, his calls for a new, strong Lebanon take on a sinister note when European intelligence reveals he’s bought two ageing Soviet nuclear warheads from a German arms dealer. Cynical SIS man Gerald Lynch battles to find the warheads before they reach Lebanon – and to discover what Freij plans for the deadly weapons.
SHEMLAN - A DEADLY TRAGEDY
After a lifetime of service around the Middle East, retired diplomat Jason Hartmoor is dying of cancer. He embarks on a last journey back to Lebanon where he studied Arabic as a young man at the Middle East Centre for Arabic Studies, the infamous ‘British spy school’ in the village of Shemlan far up in the hills overlooking Beirut.
Jason wants to rediscover the love he lost when the civil war forced him to flee Lebanon. Instead his past catches up with him with such speed and violence, it threatens to kill him before the disease does. The only man who can keep him alive long enough to face that past is Gerald Lynch.
To be published 2013.
