A stand alone book by PeterMay well written tense.A story that drew me in with well written characters Iam a fan of his writing and veryuch enjoyed his latest.#The Noblepath#netgalley

This is good, not great, with an OK not great ending. I haven't read his other books, but he's obviously prolific and talented, and I suspect this is one of his weaker works. This is compelling at times and worth a read with some caution.

I really appreciate the copy for review!!

4 Stars

In 1975, a mother and her two children flees a city in Cambodia. Their husband and father has taken the one of the last US helicopters to flee the country. Jack Elliott is now looking for this missing family in a country torn by the Khmer Rouge.

Eighteen-year old Lisa Robinson has just buried her thirty-seven year old mother who died of breast cancer. Her mind returns to an old box in the attic of her mother's home. She got into serious trouble for looking in the old box of papers and photographs when she was a child. She retrieves it now.

Meanwhile Jack has gone to Thailand, the starting point for his and two comrades' journey into Kampuchea (Cambodia).

Following a disastrous encounter with her “boyfriend,” Lisa gets it into her head that she will find her father. She has been informed by an old friend of Jack's that he has gone to Thailand. She heads to Thailand.

This is a reprint of one of Mr. May's first novels. I found it to be very good, although perhaps not as good as his later works, such as “The Lewis Trilogy.” ( I gave those five stars.) But as an early work, it was very well written and plotted. I truly enjoyed (? hmm) reading about Kampuchea under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. Perhaps enjoyed is the wrong word, more like I was totally fascinated. I saw the movie “The Killing Fields” when it first came out in the theaters and again later, many times. It is a real eye-opener and so very sad. As a lover of history and a teenager during the VietNam police action (cough...), I was thrilled to be chosen by the publisher and NetGalley to read this early Peter May work.

Mr. May's description of the poverty and hopelessness of the local citizenry in Kampuchea was spot on. He painted colorful and very observant pictures of the people and countryside. He described the cruelty of the guards and the corruption of the whole ruling class/politicians very well.

I thought that the Lisa character was a little young and naive to be set free on her own in Thailand, especially given the recent ending of the VietNam War.

I want to thank NetGalley and Quercus (US)/riverrun for forwarding to me a copy of this very interesting book for me to read, enjoy and review.