Review: Powerful, dramatic story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 15, 2012
Roy Stolworthy has a powerful and evocative style of writing.His story of Tom Gillet who returns from the war in Afghanistan is riveting. Tom has lost a lot, his foot, his mental health and his wife, Amy. He also stands to lose his son Luke, if he cannot get his life back together.A young boy Shafiq helped Tom when he was serving in Afghanistan, and on hearing that the boy has been taken to be trained as a Dancing Boy, as a prelude to becoming a sex slave, Tom returns to Afghanistan in a brave attempt to save his young friend. In a desperate race against time, and the evil, despicable men who ply this heinous trade, not to mention Al-Qaeda operatives, Tom truly has an almost insurmountable battle on his hands. Karim, Omar, Jawad, just to name a few of Tom's brutal adversaries are depicted so well, no decent person could feel anything but disgust for them.Discarded by the army, ignored by self serving politicians, Tom is an honourable man driven to do dishonourable deeds.This book is not for the faint-hearted. It is truly gut-wrenching in many places, but in my opinion, a must read book that will stick in your mind for a long time after the last page has been turned.Margaret Tanner