Jon and Charlie are childhood friends who have been through divorces and decide to meet for an overdue vacation in Spain. Jon is British, they met as kids when Jon's family was living and working in the US. They meet in El Morro, an out-of -the way but idyllic seaside town on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. As they lie on the beach their first day there enjoying a cold beer, they knew this was going to be a magnificent few weeks of rest and relaxation. The opportunity they had been looking for to recharge and turn the corner in their lives. To leave some miserable and unhappy times behind and move on. Seeing boats on the horizon, Charlie suggested that they start this pause in life with a fishing excursion. The following morning at daybreak they were headed out to sea. Charlie had experienced the thrill of big game fishing and he wanted to introduce his friend to the adrenaline-charged rush of that unique battle of wills. Like Santiago in Hemingway's epic the Old Man and the Sea. As Charlie hooked the first fish they witnessed that remarkable and majestic dance of nature when a big marlin explodes through the surface to dance that wild but graceful choreography. As Charlie struggled against the powerful fish the engines stalled. The deck hand opens the engine compartment to investigate and Charlie immediately sees the problem, a bomb. Moments later they were diving into the sea as the boat explodes behind them. Not everyone survives. They spend a few harrowing days clinging to flotsam and fighting sharks and desperation in an attempt to stay alive. As they drifted in that state existence somewhere between life and death, they are assaulted yet again. Only this time it was an unintentional accident. A hapless couple on a weekend sailing excursion soaking up sun au natural, collides with them as they cling to life, ultimately rescuing them from certain death. Once safely back onshore, Jon is ready to forget the ordeal and maybe even leave. Charlie, with his inimitable curiosity honed from years of traveling to obscure places in the world wants to find out why someone would want to kill them. Or if it wasn't them that were the target, then who was? And why? The story crosses their path with a former French mercenary who is living a quiet, unobtrusive life in El Morro. While he fences money for a ruthless African dictator whose country has recently been discovered to hold oil deposits that exceed Saudi Arabia's. The dictator is pilfering his country's money while his subjects remain mired in abject poverty. But a sizeable sum of the money is going somewhere else in the world, to finance a cause. A vile and formidable cause led by none other than one of the world's most infamous radical purveyors of terror. The FBI, Scotland Yard, MI6, the Secret Service all become involved. Two old friends decide to go fishing while on vacation setting them on a course of events that ultimately lead to a profound change in the geopolitics of the entire world. So, where do you want to vacation next year...
About the Author: In the last thirty-five years I have traveled a lot. I've been all over the world and to a lot of very interesting places. And some not so interesting. I work in the energy industry and we all know there's oil and gas almost everywhere. I started keeping a journal several years ago and I write about whatever's going on in these places at the time, whether it's politics, crime, corruption, anything and everything. I read their newspapers (when they're in English or Spanish). This is where the ideas come from. Of course, by the time I get through with them they don't resemble reality anymore. The places I go to and the things going on there can be very exciting but I'm not a journalist, I'm a novelist. I take it and twist it, stretch it, distort it and mangle it till it's a story that draws you in and won't let you go. I try to get you into the characters, so you can feel what they're feeling, like you're there with them. In El Morro, the name of the town where most of the story takes place is made up, but it's a real place. It's a small seaside town on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. I've been there and I have some very good friends that live there. It's every bit as beautiful and idyllic as it's described in the book. I was there with my wife a couple of summers ago visiting on vacation. The tempranillo in Spain is outstanding! We actually drove with them from their home in England to "this town" in Spain. We crossed the Channel, drove through France and saw and experienced some of the most beautiful and legendary regions of France, such as Bordeaux, Cognac and the Pyrenees. We even drove along some of the route that the Tour de France follows. We stopped at local sidewalk cafes and restaurants and ate local cuisine and drank wines that were made only a few miles from where we sat. Then we drove through the vineyards where the grapes came from. If something like that doesn't inspire you to write, then nothing will...