Getaway by Rod Humphries BLOG TOUR @Rod_Humphries @Rats_Tales @RandomTTours #Getaway #SimonEllice #Extract

 

"First you save my life, then you bring me here..." Suzana Chesterfield, recently rescued from a gang of slave-traders by Simon Ellice, has come sailing with him to try to work out what to do with her life. And perhaps to find out whether the handsome, selfish, bastard should be part of it. 

They drop anchor in a perfect bay of pink granite rocks, glittering sand and azure water on the island of Cavello, in the Lavezzi Archipellago between Corsica and Sardinia, and are welcomed into to the warm southern hospitality of Andria Acquaviv and his family, who have the villa in the next bay. Susie's heart is touched by Lesia, the little girl who plays with her dog in the sand and Lucia, her unhappy, widowed mother, who without a husband or a son, is reduced to serving the family. 

She wants to help them, help the little girl to find a wider world and Lucia to break free from family bonds and find independence. Can she? Dare she interfere? And if she does, will the deceptively relaxed and easy-going man she's with, back her? Si, who knows exactly what kind of 'businessman' Andria is, is enjoying the company of the men and watching the holiday-makers come and go, and one boat in particular... ... and wondering if what he sees, which no one else sees, means what he thinks it means; that death is coming as swiftly and surely as the sun nears the sea.

Getaway by Rod Humphries is part of the Simon Ellice series and was published by Rat's Tales on 17 June 2021. As part of this #RandomThingsTours Blog Tour, I am happy to share an extract from the book with you here today. 

Extract from Getaway by Rod Humphries

We’d got to the point where we both knew it was time to get back to our lives, but we didn’t want to, so instead of hardening up and heading north, we eased the sheets and let the libeccio take us to Cavallo. Just for a few days; a few days of sunshine and blue water, and each other.

I’d long since learnt to trust Susie on the helm, so I stood at the bow and guided us in. As we entered the tiny bay, the ripple abated and I could see straight down through the glass-clear water to the bottom. I dropped my hand over a patch of sand and Susie put us into neutral and let go. The plough and its length of heavy chain crashed down with its usual clatter and rattle. The last of our way carried us over it, taking up the slack and digging the flukes of the heavy galvanised metal into the sea bed. I gave Susie the thumbs up and she killed the engine.

I was going to go to her, but she came to me. I was going to carry her back to the saloon, or more probably the big double bed, but she pushed past me, climbed onto the railings and sat on the small teak platform with her legs dangling and her arms resting on the top rail. I put my arms around her and rested my chin on her head, and we looked at where we were.

“Will it do?” I said.

“Bloody hell, Si,” she said.
“Hm?”
“First you save my life and then you bring me here.” “That’s good?”
“The rocks are sort of pink and look so soft.”
“They aren’t; it’s...”
“Granite. I know. Yes, it will do. I could stay here forever.” “You realise that the only thing here is rocks and water?” “And there’s some sand and some maquis. But they are

very beautiful rocks and water. Very beautiful indeed.” “I suppose they are.”
“You know the Russians have a word which means the

feeling of already missing someone who hasn’t yet left?” “Yes, I did know that.”
“Well done.” She patted my hand. “Well, there ought

to be a word for the feeling of arriving in a place which is so beautiful that it makes you so sad that you will have to leave it one day, that you want to leave it immediately before you can get used to its beautiful sadness, so that you will have it forever.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“You wouldn’t. And did you know that... Oh, look. There’s a boy over there.”

“Where?”

SERIES

Charismatic, bold and a ruthless, Simon Ellice slinks through the world like a shark in a limpid pool. Known simply as Si to friends and enemies, he doesn’t dwell on past traumas, passing through life with a dry sense of humour and a death wish.

“A bit of a psychopath, he lives by his own moral compass” Amazon UK

AUTHOR

Rod Humphris is the author of a number of acclaimed thrillers. He is the happiest and most productive when travelling about in his battered old truck with a canoe in top and a dog in the back. He currently lives in Bath.


Rod Humphris is the winner of N. N. Light Best Fiction Award 2016

Twitter @Rod_Humphries