You Don't Like the Sea

Book Description: This remorseless collection of short stories and two novellas comes up against a background of arbitrary arrests and summary executions carried out at the behest of the strongman. but rather than being a profile on the abuses of power it is the individuals who are caught in the despoiling tyranny that enliven these stories. Thus we have the old pensioner in 'You May Hang Me Now'who in seeking to impress a starry-eyed cub reporter finds himself the target of a survivalist group and deadly agents of state. While 'The temptation to forgive Jacob' examines a boy's reaction to a doting father implicated in mass murder. 'Roach's demise captures a boy's grief and transformation following the death of his only surviving sibling, the ruthless leader of a street gang. Though set in a failing state, these stories where the emotions and arbitrariness of the human character play a much larger part than one would ordinarily imagine, might well have been framed in any urban jungle of the 21st century.