Today I am kicking off the blog tour for “Steel and Shadows”, a new thriller by Stuart Field. It’s a tough book, interspersed with observations from a trained eye. Details of luxurious living contrast sharply with the brutal acts of terror – terror that will not go unavenged.

Here is an extract:

A taxi pulled up to the long driveway. Inside, a soldier sat, only vaguely listening to the driver chatter on about his opinions on the state of affairs in far-off lands. His passenger, weary from the long journey, gazed out of the window upon the green fields of his home. He was still dressed in his uniform battledress, the creases on the sleeves standing up like blade edges. He had been away for a long time, and now he was content to come home. He did not want any fuss, just a quiet time with his wife and the rest of the family, but he was afraid that his father was bound to come up with some sort of homecoming event.

It all seemed quite surreal to him, being home after spending so long in a land that was barren of luxuries, or even trees and grass as he knew it, so he had to readjust his thinking. Was this all a dream?  Would he suddenly wake up and find himself back in the hell he thought he had left? He slowly touched the car’s window glass, hoping it would actually be there and it wouldn’t fade away as soon as he laid fingers on it. He smiled as the feel of the cold glass sent a tingling sensation down his spine.

He rested his warm cheek against the window and closed his eyes. ‘Oh, that feels good,’ he said, and the cab driver looked at him through the rearview mirror and shook his head. As they neared the house, loud pops could be heard. The soldier opened his eyes with a start and shot upright. ‘Stop the car!’ he ordered, but the cab driver paid no attention.  ‘Stop this car now, God damn it!’

The cab came to a screeching halt.

‘Why shout at me, you crazy man?’ said the driver, as the soldier got out of the cab and listened. Loud cracks echoed through the trees followed by screams: something was terribly wrong.

‘Get the hell out of here and call the police, tell them, get this, there have been shots fired on this estate, and they weren’t sporting guns, they were military weapons, have you got that?’

The driver nodded, ‘military weapons, not sporting guns.’ He dropped the clutch and sped away, leaving the soldier to dart into the cover of the trees.

Making his way slowly through the woods he knew so well, towards the rear of the house, the soldier had not gone far when he saw a figure all in black holding an automatic rifle. He took him to be a sentry, put there to ensure that nobody got away. This was not a robbery, this was an invasion, an execution.

 

This writing is just a small sample of what to expect – a whirlwind of taut, suspenseful writing….

 

Stuart Field was born in the UK, in the West Midlands. He
spent his early years in the army, seeing service in all the
known (and some unknown) hotspots around the world. He
now lives in Germany with his wife Ani. When not engaged in
highly confidential security work, he writes thrillers which
perhaps mimic his life-experience more than the reader would
like to believe.