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No Sanctuary But Hell

by Peter W. Desjardins

348 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #04-1873; ISBN 1-4120-4066-3; US$27.50, C$31.46, EUR22.50, £16.00

Death is stalking Cesar Aguinaldo... The demons that plague Rashid Ali can only be exorcised by the annihilation of the man who gave them birth. Both men lurch towards certain confrontation - with devastating consequences.

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About the Book      About the Author      Excerpts      Catalogue Information

About the Book

Set in the unstable political climate of the Philippines, and based on a number of true events, No Sanctuary But Hell is a tense powerful story of brutality and betrayal that opens the door into the hidden depths of third-world terrorism and political intrigue.

Rashid Ali, is a Muslim terrorist, malevolent and ruthless, a cold-blooded killer. General Cesar Aguinaldo, his nemesis, is ambitious and powerful, but with a murky past. A dark incident years earlier which saw Ali's parents murdered in cold blood by Aguinaldo, is the trigger linking the two men and which sends their lives spiralling towards certain conflict - and tragedy.

Ali and his beautiful sister Sarimah plot the downfall and destruction of the man, because twelve years on Ali's lust for revenge is as entrenched as ever. He lives and breathes to see the ultimate demise of the object of his hate. He discriminates between no-one, prepared to destroy all whom he sees as a barrier in his single minded crusade. In the interim, to his chagrin, the same man has risen through the ranks to become the country's top soldier. General Cesar Aguinaldo, Chief of the Armed Forces, is knocking at the door of ultimate power, Ferdinand Marcos's personal favourite to succeed him as the next President of the Philippines.

Unknowingly Ali has a perverse ally in his quest for retribution: Defence Secretary Fernandez, who sees Aguinaldo as a political rival as well as an aspirant for his wife's attentions, hates the man with a passion approaching that of Ali.

Inevitable conflict looms and the ensuing maelstrom of violence wrought determines not only the destiny of Ali and Aguinaldo but also that of co-conspirators linked to the two central characters, who weave their own blend of treachery to satisfy personal agendas of greed and revenge.

Dark and gritty, No Sanctuary But Hell is a tautly plotted on-the-edge thriller, by a new British writing talent, of atypical hostility and duplicity portrayed by men - and a woman - with determined but warped ambitions.

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About the Author

The author was born in South Wales and grew up in South Africa and UK. He worked as an instrument technician in heavy industry before branching into technical writing, then sidetracked into logistics engineering. His career took him to various countries in Southeast Asia where in this, his first work of fiction he draws on his experiences of living in the Philippines to capture the distinctive flavour of life unique to that country. Peter W. Desjardins lives and works in Germany.

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Excerpts

"...the grubby faced children stared vacantly, open mouthed, too young to comprehend. Yet Ali could read in their blank looks an understanding that this was their lot, their destiny, a future with no future. They would grow up as their parents had, impoverished, uneducated, undernourished, to live and die in the squalor of these muddy alleyways. Most consigned to lives as beggars, they'd risk their lives dodging traffic at road junctions, thrusting outstretched hands begging a few centavos each day from irritable drivers who sat sweating and cursing in their cars in the motionless Manila traffic..."

"...all she had was her own body to hold as she huddled herself into a foetal position, her knees up to her chin, holding her head in her hands. She'd laid awake for hours, scared to fall asleep in fear of the vermin. She could hear them scratching nearby, gnawing on the remains of the chicken bones. She put her hands to her ears to block the patter of their tiny claws on the wooden floor, but her fear always brought back the threat. She expected any moment one of the creatures would crawl over her..."

"...he pressed his huge hand hard into her face, pushing her head down into the bedding. His palm blocked off the airway to her mouth and nose while his index and middle fingers pressed against each eyelid. She felt the pain of her eyeballs being pushed back into their sockets. Tiny thread-like worms raced past in the darkness in front of her eyes. She flailed at his head to no effect. She was about to suffocate and dug her nails into his powerful arm in desperation, trying to wrestle his hand away, but it was like steel..."

"...at first Lim saw nothing. Then, as his eyes got accustomed to the cool darkness within, he saw her...cowering in the corner, her arms wrapped round knees that were pulled tightly to her chest. She looked up in hesitation towards the light. Lim saw a blank expressionless gaze, the face of the lovely girl he remembered, hardly recognizable. Her mouth gawped open as she crouched, unkempt in a torn t-shirt and stained jeans, her once beautiful hair matted, falling untidily over her dirty tear streaked face..."

"...she'd wondered when this conflict between her brother and Cesar would end. She remembered once asking Rashid that question. His answer had been, "It will end, and I'll end it." As she walked away from the smouldering skeletal ruins of the camp and hailed a tricycle to the Aguinaldo home, she told herself he was wrong. It would end, yes, but she'd be the one to end it..."

"...beg for mercy, I want to hear it. Ask me not to kill you...just as my mother did, as she grovelled, screaming for mercy. Do you remember her words as she pleaded with you for her life? They've haunted me every day for the past twelve years 'Please no, let me live.' That's what she said...her last words before you executed her. Say it now...say it!"

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Catalogue Information

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