Reconciliation For The Dead by Paul E Hardisty #BlogTour @Hardisty_Paul @OrendaBooks

Sequel to the critically acclaimed The Abrupt Physics of Dying and The Evolution of Fear.

Fresh from events in Yemen and Cyprus, vigilante justice-seeker Claymore Straker returns to South Africa, seeking absolution for the sins of his past. Over four days, he testifies to Desmond Tutu s newly established Truth and Reconciliation Commission, recounting the shattering events that led to his dishonourable discharge and exile, fifteen years earlier.

It was 1980. The height of the Cold War. Clay is a young paratrooper in the South African Army, fighting in Angola against the Communist insurgency that threatens to topple the White Apartheid regime. On a patrol deep inside Angola, Clay, and his best friend, Eben Barstow, find themselves enmeshed in a tangled conspiracy that threatens everything they have been taught to believe about war, and the sacrifices that they, and their brothers in arms, are expected to make. Witness and unwitting accomplice to an act of shocking brutality, Clay changes allegiance and finds himself labelled a deserter and accused of high treason, setting him on a journey into the dark, twisted heart of institutionalised hatred, from which no one will emerge unscathed.

Exploring true events from one of the most hateful chapters in South African history, Reconciliation for the Dead is a shocking, explosive and gripping thriller from one finest writers in contemporary crime fiction.

Reconciliation For The Dead by Paul E Hardisty is published in paperback by Orenda Books on 30 May 2017 and is the third in the series, following The Abrupt Physics of Dying (March 2015), and The Evolution of Fear (March 2016.   I'm thrilled to host the BLOG TOUR here on Random Things today.

Two years ago I picked up the first of this series with some trepidation. I wasn't really sure that this was going to be my thing and admit that I probably wouldn't have picked it from a shelf if it was published by any other publisher. However, Orenda Books continue to seek out the best in crime fiction and bring it to the masses, and sure enough, once again, I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed the story and the depth of the writing. Paul Hardisty is extremely talented, his writing flows effortlessly, consuming the reader and placing us slap bang in the middle of the action.

Reconciliation for the Dead takes the reader back to before the events of the first book as Claymore returns to his native South Africa to speak before the Commission who are investigating events that happened during the years of Apartheid. This is both and interesting and clever way of giving the reader an insight into what has formed Claymore's character.

This story deals with the brutal and violent truth that is the South Africa of the 1980s. Claymore's ideals as a young white South African, embarking on a career as a paratrooper and wanting to help to right the wrongs in his country are vividly described, and the author uses real historical facts which give this story real depth and meaning.

Events that emerge are shocking and horrifying, and even more so because although Claymore is a fictional character, the whole story is based on the truth. It is an eye-opening and at times difficult read, it is a tale that exposes greed and inhumanity and how the desire for wealth and for power can destroy a whole nation.

There's some stunning prose and an evocative sense of place that adds layers to the story. Paul Hardisty has written a dark, brutal and very engaging story, so well plotted. This is first-class writing.

Canadian 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 rebels), 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 cafe 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. His debut thriller The Abrupt Physics of Dying was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger.

Follow him on Twitter @Hardisty_Paul