Ashley Stokes, consultant, The Literary Consultancy
"It's a highly readable, affecting, dramatic, powerful and highly relevant story that's swollen with compassion and conviction..."
Russell James writing in Shots ezine
Ex-Reuters bureau chief in Beirut, Fullerton is excellently placed to deliver this bitterly splendid read, his best to date.
Nicole de Weirdt, Essex libraries
"I found it gripping, harrowing, moving and very disturbing."
John Pilger, postcard to author
"It's a powerful, original work and I look forward to seeing in the shops."
Philip Oakes, writing in the Literary Review, July 1, 2004
"The real stuff, as always, from Fullerton, with no easy solutions, no false heroics."
Book Of The Month, Choice Magazine (July 2004)
"With authentic settings and insights, this fast-paced thriller is a gripping read."
Morning Star, July 12
"Eschews both the unthinking, pro-establishment 'neutrality' of the mainstream thriller and the false, cool detachment of the noir trendies."
Product Description
Set in Beirut, this is an astonishing novel of drama and intrigue set against the backdrop of civil warfare in the Lebanon.
Book Description
Reem is twenty, bright and strikingly attractive. Nick is twenty-seven and determined to do what he can to make the world a better place. But when they meet in a fashionable bar it is certainly no accident. For Reem has completed her training as a so-called terrorist - under the tutelage of the mysterious Ustaz, or teacher, and Nicholas Lorimer is her first assignment. It is Nick's first posting abroad. The UN has sent him to Beirut to help trace thousands of Lebanese missing during the country's civil war and Nick has what Reem needs; access out of the city's besieged western sector into the mainly Christian east, and to a notorious rightwing warlord with his sights set on the country's presidency. The Ustaz wants El-Hami killed before he aligns the Arab country with the United States and Israel, plunging the entire region into turmoil. For Reem, the fight is personal. She has lost her family and home. She volunteers for the ultimate mission - an Operation of Quality. A suicide attack. Nick's love for Reem explodes the bubble of foreignness that has kept him unscathed by the war. Once he realises the truth, he must choose between Reem and what his contacts at the British embassy insist is his duty. Fullerton's third novel is a tough, fast-paced thriller. It is also a moving account of what happens to ordinary people in the face of overwhelming force. Praise for A HOSTILE PLACE: 'Harsh, cold-eyed thriller, absolutely the antithesis of a flag-waver . . . Fullerton puts the politics on hold and tells his story with heart, guts and go. A brilliant performance, with a fierce, uncosy intelligence setting off the fireworks'. Literary Review
From the Inside Flap
Critical acclaim for John Fullerton:
A HOSTILE PLACE:
"A brilliant performance, with a fierce, uncosy intelligence setting off the fireworks"
- Literary Review
"Fullerton's sour, clever postcolonial tale, permeated with double-crosses, puts the Westin a very bad light...His bounty-hunter tale moves swiftly, with a sharp eye for rugged landscape...impressive."
- The Guardian
THE MONKEY HOUSE
"Powerful and authentic."
- Mail on Sunday
"Highly accomplished. This is writing of the first rank, with insightful character development, an intricate plot, purposeful dialogue, and a skilled meshing of cause, effect and outcome."
- Irish Times
About the Author
John Fullerton worked for Reuters in the Middle East for several years. He was Beirut bureau chief during the Lebanon civil war, spent nearly three years in Cairo in the 1980s and was Middle East Diplomatic Correspondent, based in Nicosia.
