East Wind (ePub)

From the cold rainforests of Western Canada to the searing heat of the Namib . . . A man marked by a bitter war; A woman lost between love and duty; A youth, arrogant, indulged, unable to understand that great wealth is no substitute for skill and courage; An ex-mercenary pilot trying to bury memories of a time when life was cheap. . . All caught in the maelstrom of the East Wind.

The East Wind deals with the effect of a dysfunctional family relationship and a brutal war on one man's journey through life. Alienated and disinherited by a cruel and abusive father, the eldest son of the wealthy and powerful head of a Canadian timber dynasty has survived three tours of duty as a Marine Combat Engineer in Vietnam. This man, after his service in Vietnam, is a self-contained and lonely individual who, as an international construction engineer, has made a life devoid of close human contact. While working on a Uranium mine project in the Namibian desert is visited by his nephew from Canada. The nephew, an unpleasant, undisciplined youth, causes a serious crisis and is ordered home by his uncle. The courage, loyalties and family ties of both men are savagely tested when the nephew is lost in the desert during the scorching annual phenomenon known locally as the "East Wind". When the uncle unexpectedly becomes involved with the wife of a colleague, he finds his own carefully-structured emotional defense mechanics are no longer adequate and he must deal with the death of a close friend, his nephew's criminal behaviour, and the conflict of loving someone he cannot have.

Excerpt:
. . . As yet he didn't feel thirsty, though his body had begun to give up precious fluid to keep his vital organs cool; dehydration had started and despite the heat he shivered. He tried to remember all that Kresfeld had said but only the frightening statistics came to mind.
. . . This was the Namib, the oldest desert on earth, known to the Bushmen, those tough hardy survivors from the Stone age, as the land God made in anger. Here time meant nothing. Here the incredible Welwitschia plant drawing water from the night mist had been dated to centuries before the birth of Christ. In the empty silence he could hear his own heartbeat. To hide the welling fear from himself he began to scream curses against the father who had placed him in this position and the uncle who had done nothing to prevent it happening. Not even an echo came back to mock him, for the desert didn't care. Men had died here before and if imprudent or unlucky would do so in future. Finally he fell silent, exhausted, and the tears came spilling over sunburnt cheeks to evaporate in the hot dry air. More precious liquid was lost and his body died a little more . . .