“DTU spy Ryan Kerrek finds himself caught up in a marauding jihadist attack in London’s Oxford Street and has to use his own deadly skills to hasten the end of the carnage. DTU investigates the terror plot, and Kerrek is forced to take brutal steps to uncover the name of the instigator.
Kerrek and sniper Chris Loner follow conflicting leads to the Red Sea as the threat of an even more murderous assault upon the British citizenry looms. Immediately put under surveillance by an Israeli assassin, they attempt to locate and interrogate the effusive Egyptian philanthropist, Ramy Hassan. As the threat of another terrorist atrocity draws closer, Kerrek races to find the target and save hundreds of lives.”
When I was devising the story arc for the RYAN KERREK books, one place I knew he would visit was Hurghada on the Egyptian Red Sea coast. Although it’s been a while since I last went scuba diving, Hurghada is a place I’ve been to many times. It’s a very special town to me.
Elements of BLACK SCARAB are therefore partly autobiographical. The reefs and the wreck described in the book are dive sites I’ve visited many times. Even the fish I’ve mentioned are to be found where Kerrek and Loner see them. The friendliness of the Egyptian boat crews is as I experienced as a divemaster.
But there’s a brutality to some of the incidents in this book which reflect the reality of terror threats, and Kerrek doesn’t play nicely himself. As a huge fan of the television series 24, I’m intrigued by characters who are prepared to inflict pain in order to protect others.
In this book I wanted to show that protecting citizens can be a dirty business. The theme of acting for the greater good is one I’ve been fascinated by since watching SPOOKS. From my first novel I’ve loved writing about grey morality; I’ve often wondered if the bravest among us are actually amoral by necessity.
Similarly, the Pericles quotation Kerrek reads on the Bomber Command Memorial in London’s Green Park – ‘Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it’ – is a sometimes ugly but necessary truth. The final book in the series is HUNTING CARACAL.
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