RARE EARTH

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 in Sudan, with the discovery of a modern corpse in a remote archaelogical site, its heavy pack laden with samples of strange soils. 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 -- a man with a mysterious past -- is persuaded to go back to Sudan and bribe a hostile tribe to allow mining of the incredibly valuable minerals now discovered on their land. But he and his backers are not the only people to be after the rare earth - Truman also encounters various elements of the SIS, renegade Russians and Serbians, all of whom are prepared to use far more violent methods to seize what they want. Rescued by the tribe themselves from a brutal attack, 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. Double-crossed by his backers, he finds his loyalties changing fast. 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 the reader becomes immersed in Truman''s initiation into the ways of such a different society.