It is my pleasure to host the BlogTour for Absolution by Paul E. Hardisty today. Absolution is the fourth book in the Claymore Straker series by Hardisty, and by Jove it does not disappoint. Looks to me like Hardisty is just getting warmed up!
About the Author
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 café 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 CEO of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). He is a sailor, a private pilot, keen outdoorsman, conservation volunteer, and lives in Western Australia.
To connect with Paul E. Hardisty follow @Hardisty_Paul or @Orendabooks on Twitter
Follow Hardisty on facebook.com/paul.hardisty.9
Buy Absolution
About the book
It is 1997, eight months since vigilante justice-seeker Claymore Straker fled South Africa after his explosive testimony to Desmond Tutu’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In Paris, Rania LaTour, journalist, comes home to find that her son and her husband, a celebrated human rights lawyer, have disappeared. On an isolated island off the coast of East Africa, the family that Clay has befriended is murdered as he watches.
So begins the fourth instalment in the Claymore Straker series, a breakneck journey through the darkest reaches of the human soul, as Clay and Rania fight to uncover the mystery behind the disappearances and murders, and find those responsible. Events lead them both inexorably to Egypt, where an act of the most shocking terrorist brutality will reveal not only why those they loved were sacrificed, but how they were both, indirectly, responsible. Relentlessly pursued by those who want them dead, they must work together to uncover the truth, and to find a way to survive in a world gone crazy. At times brutal, often lyrical, but always gripping, Absolution is a thriller that will leave you breathless and questioning the very basis of how we live and why we love.
Review
Hardisty has stepped up his game since Reconciliation for the Dead (Claymore Straker #3). The flow of the story, dialogue, plot and interactions between characters - everything has been taken up a notch to create a read par excellence in this fourth book of the Straker series.
The story switches between two characters throughout the duration of the book. We follow Claymore as he is tracked and hunted for speaking out against heinous crimes, and Rania who feels compelled to track and hunt those who have taken her loved ones from her. Rania's account is written as if she were writing a letter to Clay or having a constant inner dialogue with herself, with Clay and often even with God. Clay's part of the story is written in the here and now, as a story would evolve naturally.
It gives the reader a feeling of being in the midst of intense action scenes one minute, and then switching to this nostalgic, almost apologetic intimate dialogue in the next minute. If you have ever read or seen The English Patient, you will understand what I mean. The only difference is The EP wanders from past to present, whereas this takes place simultaneously in the same time period, but in different countries at first.
Hardisty is without a doubt honing his skills as a writer and a storyteller. Absolution is an extraordinary venture into the action genre. It brims with political intrigue, sins of the past and betrayal, and the tension is as taut as a wire strung with the deadly intention of a hidden assassin.
The beginning lures the reader in with the mellow warmth of the beautiful setting, which is quickly interrupted by persistent enemies and ruthless collaborators. The pace goes from that of a hesitant uncertain gazelle to a lion stalking its prey with a dogged stride, until the characters collide with unexpected violence and irreparable consequences.
Hardisty can take his place up there with the best of them with Absolution, it is an exceptional read.
Buy Absolution (Claymore Straker #4) at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.
Published by Orenda Books. Visit orendabooks.co.uk
Kindle released 30th March 2018 Paperback release 30th May 2018
Read my review of Reconciliation for the Dead
The Claymore Straker series:
Buy The Abrupt Physics of Dying (Claymore Straker #1),
Buy The Evolution of Fear (Claymore Straker #2)
Buy Reconciliation for the Dead (Claymore Straker #3)
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