{"product_id":"the-spectral-island-9781800463868","title":"The Spectral Island","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cblockquote\u003eThe mountains and waters of Ivundé, in the Indian Ocean, contain something of immense value. To gain control of the Island, a shadowy Middle East group uses the cover of a madrassas-building project to arrange what at first sight is a local extremist takeover. \u003c\/blockquote\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe mountains and waters of Ivundé, in the Indian Ocean, contain something of immense value. To gain control of the Island, a shadowy Middle East group uses the cover of a madrassas-building project to arrange what at first sight is a local extremist takeover. The UK\/US, with the help of local sources, and a retired academic and a professional intelligence officer – who discover the truth – use their Special Forces, re-gain control of the Island.\u003cbr\u003eThis is a story of deception. Power deceives as it manipulates reality. Those who wield it – the diplomats and politicians – can only behave as their experience and allegiances allow them to, and the Island looks certain to be dragged from its idyllic existence, where time is of little essence, into a hectic Nauruesque future.\u003cbr\u003eSome of those who live on the Island will see only clouds, others, silver linings. They include: Rosalie, a smart, if unsophisticated semi-local, and her US cowboy husband; ‘free-thinkers’, Valli and Meera, who, with their ‘daughters’, dispense wisdom and Darjeeling from their Emporium in the town; and Madame Lemesurier, owner of the Mirabile, who seeks guidance from her husband, at rest under a marble slab below a baobab in the Hotel gardens.\u003cbr\u003eAt the centre of the conspiracy, and under the control of the shadowy Middle East group, is a Chinese scientist. From enforced exile in North Korea, he has been ‘lent’ to the group and compelled to carry out ‘disturbing’ research from his prison on a madrassa site.\u003cbr\u003eThe wild landscape of the Island, its madrassas’ construction sites and its hotel, the run-down Mirabilé, provide much of the setting for the story, though the exercise of deception also pushes the action from place-to-place: a faceless office in London, GCHQ, the military bases of Djibouti and Diego Garcia, and the Presidential Palace in the mainland capital.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeight\u003c\/strong\u003e: 408g\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDimension\u003c\/strong\u003e: 130 x 200 x 46 (mm)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN-13\u003c\/strong\u003e: 9781800463868\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Stephen de Burges","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":44105454551290,"sku":"9781800463868","price":6.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0522\/4297\/2845\/products\/noImage_1_e7c3bd54-de86-4b2a-b75b-bc4047e2a448.jpg?v=1646905904","url":"https:\/\/shulphink.com\/products\/the-spectral-island-9781800463868","provider":"Shulph Ink","version":"1.0","type":"link"}