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Al Samak

by Brian Nicholson

347 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #06-3026; ISBN 1-4251-1267-6; US$23.22, C$26.70, EUR18.10, £12.00

Is this conspiracy fact or fiction? So plausible is this techno-thriller involving John Gunn of the British Intelligence Directorate that you will be left guessing even on the last page.

About the Book

AL SAMAK - THE WMD CONSPIRACY is about intrigue, treachery, conspiracy, revenge and violence. It's a story of the flawed and bungled political manoeuvring in the UN before the invasion of Iraq by coalition forces in March 2003. It's the story of Russia's fight to protect its embryo democracy against plotting by die-hard communists. It's the story of Saddam Hussein's desperate struggle to achieve a WMD capability to prevent the invasion. It's the story of the drastic measures taken by the intelligence agencies of the coalition to prevent a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East.

It's John Gunn's second assignment with the British Intelligence Directorate, but above all, it's a story… a story of 21st Century political intrigue, revenge and weapons of mass destruction, but this story started as long ago as the 7th Century, as a storm-lashed papyrus raft broke up in the Arabian Sea…but is it a story?…you decide.

About the Author

Brian Nicholson's life has been almost as exciting and eventful as that of John Gunn. Apart from flying, sailing, scuba-diving, skiing, renovating classic cars and being a talented artist and writer, he has led an unusually exciting life as a soldier. This has varied from active service to negotiator extraordinary in Beijing to rescue the 1984 Anglo/Sino Joint Declaration on the future of Hong Kong. As the personal Military Adviser to Ghana's Flt Lt Jerry Rawlings, he assisted in the planning of the military intervention in Liberia in 1991. As the Defence Attaché in Jakarta, his highly successful expedition to unlock the mystery of what happened to the ill-fated 'Operation Rimau', the WW2 Australian commando raid on Japanese shipping in Singapore, received wide press coverage at the time.

His first book, 'THE GWEILO' was published in paperback in 1993 under the title '1997' as it focused on the return of Hong Kong to China. His second book, 'AL SAMAK' is about Sadam Hussein's efforts to get a WMD to prevent the invasion of Iraq by the coalition forces in 2003. The third book 'ASHANTI GOLD' uses his exciting exploits in West Africa as a colourful background to a novel that focuses on the famine, chaos and corruption in the African Continent. The author's latest novel 'FIRE DRAGON' uses material from his experience as a Defence Attaché in Jakarta, where he travelled extensively from the remote areas of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Irian Jaya to the troubled Island of East Timor. This provided an ideal backdrop for a plot around North Korea's single-minded determination to develop a nuclear weapon and the means of delivering it.

Brian Nicholson continues to sail, ski, write, paint, play golf, restore classic sports cars and has just completed 'CALYPSO', John Gunn's fifth assignment for the British Intelligence Directorate.