The Heart of Danger - Hardcover

Seymour, Gerald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0002250098 ISBN 13: 9780002250092

Publisher: Harpercollins, 1995

Synopsis

In the wrecked Croat village of Rosenovici, a mass grave is uncovered and the mutilated body of a young Englishwoman, Dorrie Mowat, is exhumed.
Her mother, who loathed Dorrie in life, becomes the driven victim of an obsession to discover the truth of her daughter s death. But with civil war tearing apart the former Yugoslavia, none of the authorities there or in England are interested in a minor war crime.
Under the leadership of Milan Stankovic, clerk turned warlord, the Serb villagers of Salika - which had lived for half a century at peace with Rosenovici across the valley - will seek to keep the shaming story of Dorrie s murder as a bloodily guarded secret.
Dorrie s mother hires Bill Penn, private investigator, MI5 reject. For Penn this should be a chance to pick up a good fee in return for a trip to safe Zagreb, and the writing of a useless report. Once he is over there, however, Penn begins to learn of the last hours of Dorrie s life. The image of the young woman draws him inexorably towards the killing ground behind the lines, to find the truth of her death and, perhaps, the truth of himself.
Penn s search for evidence that could, one day, convict a war criminal in a court of law, becomes an epic journey into a merciless war where the odds are stacked high against him.
Gerald Seymour has written bestselling novels about many of the communities and individuals caught up in the world s conflicts. Never has his ability to evoke the terror of war, its personal ferocity and political ambiguity, been so well displayed. Never has his ability to draw the reader into a nerve-breaking drama of courage and evil, principle and betrayal, been so supremely evident as in The Heart Of Danger.

About this title

About the Author

Gerald Seymour exploded onto the literary scene in 1975 with the massive bestseller HARRY'S GAME. The first major thriller to tackle the modern troubles in Northern Ireland, it was described by Frederick Forsyth as 'like nothing else I have ever read' and it changed the landscape of the British thriller forever. Gerald Seymour was a reporter at ITN for fifteen years. He covered events in Vietnam, Borneo, Aden, the Munich Olympics, Israel and Northern Ireland. He has been a full-time writer since 1978. Gerald was interviewed recently on Andrew Marr's Sleuths, Spies and Sorcerers on BBC TV.

Review

Unmissable The Times It's impossible to find fault with this book, which builds relentlessly to its climax Spectator If you think modern popular fiction should address serious issues as well as entertain, then The Heart of Danger is unmissable The Times Vivid stuff. I write a fortnight after finishing the book and the scenes of pursuit and mindless cruelty still return to me Douglas Hurd, Daily Telegraph

Edition details

• Publisher: Harpercollins
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0002250098
• ISBN 13: 9780002250092
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 396