We are very pleased to be giving away three copies of Neil A White’s book ‘Shadow Lives’, to our GrownUps members.
All you need to do to enter the draw is be a GrownUps member, make sure you’re signed up to our newsletter and fill in your details near the bottom of the page!
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About Shadow Lives
A nail-biting thrill ride from Australia’s newest master of espionage.
One sister murdered. The other missing. Can a flawed man find the answers buried within a web of intrigue?
Kharkiv, Ukraine, 2019: Ongoing clashes between Ukrainian nationalists and pro-Russian activists make this city a deadly destination.
However, Matt Latham – Australian foreign correspondent and reluctant spy for ASIS (Australia’s secret service) – isn’t too picky with the work he accepts, as long as the money is right. When offered a lucrative assignment to interview a reclusive Russian billionaire in Kharkiv, he jumps at the chance. But an explosion at the club where they were to meet leaves Matt hospitalised and his interpreter, Katya Fomina, dead.
Was it just another random act of violence in this strife-torn region?
Released from hospital, Latham travels to Katya’s Ukrainian village to meet her parents and pay his last respects. There, he learns of his interpreter’s fruitless search for her missing younger sister, Nadiya, and discovers that Katya led a double life.
Picking up the threads of Katya’s investigation, Latham becomes a man on a mission. And his search for Nadiya will propel him across Europe and ever deeper into a murky world of double agents, illegal arms shipments, drug running and human trafficking.
Shadow Lives tells a tale of loss, betrayal, and revenge. Of a flawed man’s attempt to help a broken family and, in the process, set a small corner of the world to rights … Will it also help him break free of the shadows shrouding his own life?
Author Note:
‘The Matt Latham character sprung from inspiration from several authors I’ve admired over the years. Specifically, John le Carré, and a predecessor of his, Eric Ambler. I love how their novels often thrust an unlikely protagonist into deadly situations with no special skills to speak of. They’re no Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt but they find a will and way to survive, and a dogged persistence to prevail.
Based on the above-named authors, it’s easy to guess my reading preferences and why I’ve dropped Matt into the political/espionage genre. Sprinkle into the mix a pinch of Philip Kerr’s Bernie Gunther, a dash of Ian Rankin’s John Rebus, a dollop of Peter Temple’s Jack Irish, and a healthy dose of Adrian McKinty’s Sean Duffy, and you can see Matt’s relationship-challenged, smart-mouthed, throwing-caution-to-the-wind, persona take shape.
Making Matt a foreign correspondent (though he rarely files a story) allows me to plonk him down anywhere in the world. This fits neatly into the broader trajectory of the series. Shadow Lives is set against the background of the Ukrainian conflict (circa 2019) and the tragedy of modern-day slavery – human trafficking.
Which brings me to research … a lot of research. Being a bit of a history and travel nut, I try to keep locales, historical events and other details as accurate as possible. For example, in Shadow Lives, the Mitrokhin Archive – a collection of notes from a KGB agent that defected to Great Britain in 1992 – plays a large role in helping Matt unmask the killer.
My goal was to create a series – Shadow Lives being book 1 – that takes the reader around the globe, covering a wide swath of hotspots, to places where an event in near-history holds the answers Matt seeks. But Matt isn’t built to save the world. The battles he fights are ultimately of a deeply personal nature.
And being the flawed man he is, he hopes that counts for something, right?
About the author:
Neil A White was born in Melbourne and educated in his native Australia and the United States. He is the author of the novels Closure, Turn a Blind Eye and Something for Bebe, and the occasional short story. He is also the creator of the ‘Songs Reimagined’ series – Minds Went Walking: Paul Kelly’s Songs Reimagined and Into Your Arms: Nick Cave’s Songs Reimagined.
Terms and conditions
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- You must be a GrownUps member and receive our newsletter to be eligible to win.
- Competition closes on the 28th August 2024, winners will be notified via email by 29th August 2024.
- It is your responsibility to ensure you correctly enter a New Zealand postal address where the prize can be sent. GrownUps will not take responsibility for prizes sent to incorrect addresses.
- Winners are drawn at random by the GrownUps administration team.
- GrownUps employees and family are not eligible to enter.
- By entering the giveaway, you approve for GrownUps to use your name on social media as winner of the competition.
- One entry per household.
- Prize in non transferrable.
- You must reside in New Zealand – the prize can only be redeemed within New Zealand.
- You must be over 50 years of age to enter, please check your details are correct in your membership dashboard.