Take a journey of smart, page-turning intrigue...
"Jake Needham is Michael Connelly with steamed rice.”
- THE BANGKOK POST
Jack Shepherd was sick of Washington politics, sick of corporate law, and even a little sick of himself. So he hit the road looking for a new start, made a couple of wrong turns, and somehow wound up in Hong Kong. Now he needs a job, and being General Chalerm Kitnarock's lawyer is a job, so he takes it.
Shepherd could certainly have done a lot worse for himself. Charlie Kitnarok is the world's ninety-eighth richest man. But he's also a former prime minister of Thailand now living in exile in Dubai. When he's not making money, he's plotting his return to political power.
For Shepherd, that could be a real problem. Thailand already has a prime minister, and she's a woman with whom Shepherd once had a brief relationship. It will get particularly messy if, as Shepherd suspects, Charlie is smuggling arms to his supporters and intends to use the Thai army to seize control of the country. Can Shepherd keep his two friends from destroying each other and prevent Thailand from sliding into chaos?
Thailand is hurtling closer and closer to a bloody civil war. And as unlikely as it may sound, Jack Shepherd is probably the only person on earth who can stop it.
3 GOOD QUESTIONS W/ JAKE NEEDHAM
NFE: What books kept you up all night reading?
JAKE NEEDHAM: As a rule, I don't stay up all night reading, but I just finished an advance copy of Lee Child's new Jack Reacher novel, A WANTED MAN, and it came about as close to keeping up as any book has in a long time. I don't know of any other author who has the feel for keeping a series character fresh and engaging that Lee Child has. And he's done it essentially by violating the rule that most people will tell you is fundamental to developing a strong series: allow your character to grow and change. Jack Reacher doesn't grow. He doesn't change. He's always the same guy and he ends up in a series of adventures that are remarkably similar book after book. And yet he never gets old and you never get bored with him. Damn that Lee Child. How come he's so good?
NFE: Would this book keep you up all night reading if you hadn't written it? Why?
JAKE NEEDHAM: I know a lot of my reviews call my books 'page turners,' or something along those lines, but I've never really looked at them that way. I write the same kind of books I generally chose as a reader: novels which take you away to a place you would never otherwise be, and then lead you on a journey through that place that expands the sum total of your own experiences and understandings. So I don't stay up all night reading anybody's books, certainly not my own. Here's my advice. Get some sleep. Come back to see me tomorrow. We'll have more fun on our trip if we're both rested.
NFE: Give us a link to your website or blog so we can find out more about you.
NFE NOTE: Do check out "Letters form Asia" - fascinating stuff!
