The thrillers of Andrew Garve are quickly becoming my favourites - good writing with a twist, and each distinctly different. A Hero For Leanda is set at sea, an incredible journey that will appeal especially to those who like to sail.
Mike Conway lost everything when his yacht was wrecked off the coast of Ghana, victim of a freak windstorm. Tara had been is only home, his only companion across ten thousand miles of ocean. A practical man, his only choice was to find work, and he accepts a proposition from a stranger in a bar, too good to be true - a new yacht in exchange for a dangerous adventure.
Metaxas is a wealthy French businessman, a native of Spyros, a country in political disarray. The political leader of their liberation movement, Alexander Kastella, has been held by the British on the island of Heureuse, deep in the Indian Ocean. Along with all expenses, Metaxas will give Conway the yacht Thalia and twenty thousand pounds, in exchange for bringing Kastella back, to change the future of Spyros.
Challenge accepted, and along with a skilled crew member, the beautiful Leandra Sophoulis, they sail out of Mombasa to Heureuse, 1,000 miles from nearest land. Against the odds, they capture and return with Kastella, but the danger has just begun.
Leanda is dedicated to the liberation, but she is shocked by Kastella's true nature. The trip turns harrowing when storms break out as they sail around the clock, without a compass or fresh water, and tensions run high as Kastella places them under continual gunpoint.
Things look dire, and they are only at the halfway mark with 500 miles to go.
This is a tense and gripping thriller, based on the three central characters trapped in a boat, weeks from help or land. I have only skimmed the surface of the story, which is filled with inventive twists - none so great as the conclusion, which shocked and satisfied me. There is an abundance of terminology that will appeal to those who sail, adding a great deal of realism. Each Andrew Garve novel I have read has been different, but always the characters have been well drawn and the action solid.
Highly recommended for adventure.
My other reviews for Andrew Garve thrillers:
1958 / Hardcover / 190 pages
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