Rare Earth - Hardcover

Asher, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007136455 ISBN 13: 9780007136452

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2002

Synopsis

A new departure for the author of Firebird and Eye of Ra, this novel is a dramatic, contemporary thriller: a David and Goliath story featuring western might against desert tribes, and the man who becomes their champion.

The book opens with the discovery of a clearly modern corpse in a desert archaelogical site, with a heavy pack laden with packets of strange soils. Dan Truman, the leader of the expedition, returns the pack in a container he was sending home – to be forwarded to the dead man’s business address.

So begins an extraordinary adventure. Truman – the man with a mysterious past – is persuaded to go back to Sudan, to get a remote and hostile tribe to allow mining of the incredibly valuable minerals discovered on their lands. But he, and his backers, are not the only people to be after the rare earth – nor does his backer turn out to be what he expected. And what are the various elements of the SIS, the South African conglomerate, renegade Russians and Serbians doing out there? And prepared to use far more violent methods than Truman’s plans...

Rescued by the tribe themselves from a brutal attack and now kept captive by them, Truman – unsure who his greatest enemies are – becomes fascinated by the tribe’s way of life, by the woman who is their prophetess and by his gradually returning memories of his previous life.

The action is fast and furious, from helicopter crashes to desert storms, from camel charges to business skulduggery, and the desert scenes are powerful and lyrical, visually brilliant. There is a wonderful range of characters, wily Russians, tribal warriors, displaced SIS officers – and most of all the reader shares in Truman’s initiation into the ways of such a different society.

About this title

Review:

‘The best novel of African adventure since King Solomon’s Mines.’ JACK HIGGINS

From the Back Cover:

'From the author of 'Firebird and' 'Eye of Ra', comes a David and Goliath story featuring western might against desert tribes, and the man who becomes their champion.'

Michael Asher is known for his highly atmospheric thrillers and 'Rare Earth' brings the sights and feel of the desert, camel hunts and the struggle for primitive lifestyles against global business pressures brilliantly to life.

Sudan: an archaeologist uncovers a modern corpse, his pack laden with samples of strange soils. This discovery plunges Dan Truman into a world unlike any he has ever known. The samples come from a mineral resource so extraordinary that rival mining interests and government agencies enter a fierce competition for them. Truman is hired to bribe the rare earth from the land owners. But the land is thousands of miles of harsh, barren desert – and the owners a remote tribe unchanged for centuries and hostile to outsiders.

Double crossed by his backers, Truman is rescued from a brutal attack by warriors from the tribe he has come to coerce. With his loyalties changed, he must defend the unworldly tribe from invaders who will stop at nothing to seize the precious rare earth. But can David beat Goliath a second time.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0007136455
• ISBN 13: 9780007136452
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384