Author Description

There is abundant 'edge of your seat' action from aircraft cockpits to boardrooms to bedrooms in this follow-on to the James Hacking trilogy, with female characters as tough and feisty as the males. James Hacking and his partner Loretta began their new life in the UK as a team driving heavy-goods articulated trucks around Europe, founded a successful transport company and re-opened Burscough's wartime airfield. Loretta was furious that James then took a risk too far and won a fuel transport contract in Iraq. When he went ahead anyway she left him to shack up with their Senior Flight Instructor, creating a prickly situation. With their emotional and financial arrangements ultimately settled into a reasonably comfortable accommodation they are established, popular in the local community and James has befriended a group of climbers from the local Burscough climbing club. The men are all competent hard-drinking mountaineers though their female partners tend to view the gung-ho activities of the men with indulgent derision, and unattached women members of the club with suspicion. Henry is an ex-army officer who learnt his trade as a fire-control technician supporting British tank regiments in Germany and now works as an IT engineer. He views life, including his own, with a cynical amused eye. His wife Veronica is an insecure Company Director in her moderately-rich parents' holiday park business. Their apparently perfect marriage has disturbing unaddressed undercurrents of discontent. Edward Broomhead is also an ex-military officer with a thriving InfoTech Company, fast cars, a company aircraft and a reputation for general recklessness. He has the same cavalier approach to life as Henry and is keen to poach him for his IT skills. Fergus is a somewhat dreamy laid-back long distance lorry driver who is shy about his aspirations to become an author. His girlfriend Brigit is a driven marketing consultant, on the schizophrenia spectrum though medically co