The Blurb:
THE NEW NIALL BURNET THRILLER!
Superstar Paralympian Fiona Mackintosh Green retires from the track to set up Forward Roll, a charity helping disabled people achieve self-respect through sport. But is she all she seems? How is her charity spending its money?
Niall Burnet, visually impaired journalist, is sent in undercover to find out. What he discovers is a trail of illegal performance-enhancing drugs that leads from the charity to its major backer, global pharmaceutical giant Prince Rajkumar.
All too soon, Niall finds himself surrounded by key players who will stop at nothing to protect their interests. When a former athlete is found dead, he knows that one wrong move could be his last...
Book Info:
Publication Day: 5th July 2018
Publisher: Urbane Publications ISBN: 978-1911331117 Pages: 336
Category: Fiction,
Genre: Conspiracy Thriller | Political Thriller | Action Thriller
My Review:
After previously exposing wrongdoing in the charity sector, visually impaired Niall Burnet is asked to go undercover into the charity Forward Roll to try to expose financial irregularities. As his journalistic career has stagnated, he accepts and takes a marketing job within the organisation. He begins his investigation and soon finds it going off in an unexpected direction. Also unexpected is the new found loyalty he feels for the company which employs him.
This is Alex's second book featuring Niall Burnet. I haven't read the first one, Eyes of the Blind (although I will now be seeking it out) but I didn't feel at all disadvantaged by this. Any necessary back story was covered and it worked perfectly as a standalone.
I've not seen many crime novels featuring disabled characters, so this makes a refreshing change. And I was particularly attracted to this book because the protagonist is blind, and I have had visually impaired friends in the past. In fact, my first serious boyfriend was blind. From my limited experience with this community, these elements in the book are realistic.
It was also a different kind of crime book for me, as I haven't read many books looking at corruption in a business environment, so I very much welcomed the opportunity to read this.
I was concerned it would feel slow and without tension, but I needn't have worried at all. It keeps up a good pace throughout, and kept me wanting to turn the page to find out more. It's quite long, and fairly complex, with a reasonably large cast of characters, but this kept my interest. It's an intelligently written novel, and very current.
I really liked Niall. When we first meet him he's a bit lost and feeling sorry for himself but this assignment gives him purpose and drive. And he also comes to enjoy his job in the charity. What was particularly interesting for me was the different relationships he builds with others working for the organisation, particularly it's founder and director, Fiona Mackintosh Green. Their growing closeness casts shade on his investigation.
But for me, the stand out character is Niall's girlfriend, Miranda. She had been blind, but had received the world's first eye transplant a year earlier and can now see. But the sighted world overwhelms her. Her vulnerability and despair at not knowing her place in the world is shown beautifully. Her relationship with Niall is altered by events in the book, and there is a point of realisation for both of them. But she proves to be helpful to Niall's investigation, especially with the help of her new friend Zoltan.
Niall, Miranda, Zoltan, Fiona and Nate (Fiona's husband) are all brilliantly described - I could imagine them as real people. But the minor characters are also roundly drawn.
So yes, this is a story about crime, corruption and conspiracy. But it's also about relationships, loyalty, trust and hope, and I really enjoyed it. Thoroughly engaging.
My thanks to Alex Tresillian, Urbane Publications and Kelly at Love Books Group for the opportunity to read this book as part of the blog tour.
You can purchase Blind Justice at Amazon UK and US, Foyles and Waterstones.
The Author:
Alex grew up in rural England with a dream to write for a living which never quite came true. He has enjoyed incarnations as a theatre publicity officer, restaurant manager, teacher, teacher trainer, and curriculum developer. Along the way Alex wrote five plays that were performed by students including one, Never Mind the Rain Forests, that was enthusiastically reviewed (3 stars) at the Edinburgh Fringe. Another, Gavin's Kingdom, received a professional workshop production at the Birmingham Rep. Plays Into Shakespeare, a book for English and Drama teachers that introduced students to the characters in Shakespeare's plays through short modern-English 'additional' scenes, was published by First and Best in Education in 2007.
Alex moved to Abu Dhabi in 2008 with a Lebanese international education company that had a contract to train English teachers and develop curriculum materials. Latterly moved to their Academic Development office in Beirut and wrote two series of books for students from ages eight to sixteen - one on grammar and one on the art of writing. He is now living with his wife of many years in Worcestershire, his children pursuing careers in education, fashion, charity fundraising and web development in places as disparate as Beijing, London and Chesterfield. Alex also enjoys writing stories for his young grandchildren.
You can visit Alex's website here, or follow him on Twitter.
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