Diving with sharks and mantas…

The Nadia Laksheva series contains a lot of diving, and as they say, write what you know… I’ve just been diving with sharks and mantas in Socorro Islands, off the western coast of Mexican Baja. These are remote uninhabited islands in the Pacific Ocean, famed for sightings of many large ocean-going fish (called pelagics), including sharks and giant mantas, as well as humpback whales and dolphins. 

 

On the menu in May were mainly sharks and mantas. For me, mantas are the most graceful creatures on the planet, and we had a LOT of contact time with them while diving, especially at a location called the Boiler.…

37 Hours until…

The first blog tour for 37 Hours starts tomorrow, and I thought I’d better say something about the title, since people always ask me, and I usually reply, well, you have to read it… So, enough of being coy, here’s a rough outline.

First, although this is a sequel to 66 Metres, you can start with 37 Hours. It is more of a hardcore thriller than 66, and dare I say it leaner, in Jack Reacher (Lee Child) style. 

The story hinges around a nuclear warhead stolen from a hijacked Russian submarine, which Nadia, the heroine, has to dive.…

Nadia heading North…

I’m sitting in a brasserie at the seaside on the French northern coast, fast approaching the 70000 word mark, and thought I’d give an update on Nadia’s progress. 

So far the book begins in Hong Kong (see earlier blogs for excerpts), where Nadia is trying to locate Salamander, and encounters Blue Fan, a deadly assassin from one of the five main triads. The first quarter stays in Hong Kong, and I have to admit that I love working on this section, because I adore Hong Kong, having gone there many times, mainly to practice tai chi, but also just to soak up the supercharged atmosphere of this workaholic city that never sleeps.…