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Birdkill
Robyn’s recent past is missing. And she’s not sure she wants it back.
Robyn Shaw has amnesia, a recent trauma so great her mind has veiled her memory. When she starts a new life teaching at a research institute devoted to exceptionally gifted children, the last thing she expects is for those blocked events to be lying in wait for her.
Plagued by dreams of death and blood that threaten to overwhelm her, Robyn is fragile and vulnerable. When she meets student Martin Oakley plucking sparrows from the air and breaking their necks, she is pitched into a vicious battle that threatens her grasp of her own mind.
Attacked from without and within, Robyn struggles to maintain her increasingly tenuous hold on reality as journalist Mariam Shadid races to discover the dreadful secret buried in Robyn’s past before her friend is consumed by insanity.
Robyn Shaw has amnesia, a recent trauma so great her mind has veiled her memory. When she starts a new life teaching at a research institute devoted to exceptionally gifted children, the last thing she expects is for those blocked events to be lying in wait for her.
Plagued by dreams of death and blood that threaten to overwhelm her, Robyn is fragile and vulnerable. When she meets student Martin Oakley plucking sparrows from the air and breaking their necks, she is pitched into a vicious battle that threatens her grasp of her own mind.
Attacked from without and within, Robyn struggles to maintain her increasingly tenuous hold on reality as journalist Mariam Shadid races to discover the dreadful secret buried in Robyn’s past before her friend is consumed by insanity.
ebook
Published March 1, 2016
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About the author
Alexander McNabb
19 books53 followersALEXANDER MCNABB
Alexander McNabb has been working as a journalist, editor and magazine publisher in the Middle East for some 38 years. Today he consults on media, publishing and digital communications.
Alexander's first serious novel was the critically acclaimed Olives - A Violent Romance, a work exploring the attitudes, perceptions and conflicts of the Middle East, exposing a European sensibility to the multi-layered world of life on the borders of Palestine. Published in 2011, the book triggered widespread controversy, finding a receptive audience in the Middle East and beyond.
Olives was followed in 2012 by testosterone-soaked international spy thriller Beirut - An Explosive Thriller. His third Middle East-based novel, Shemlan - A Deadly Tragedy, about a man dying of cancer unearthing a deadly past, published in 2013. Together, the three form the 'Levant Cycle'.
A Decent Bomber, set in Ireland, published in 2015. It tells the story of a retired IRA bomb-maker forced to resume his old trade, pitching 'old terror' against 'new terror' in a battle of wits between an Irish farmer with a violent past and Somali extortionists with a questionable future.
His next novel, Birdkill, is a psychological thriller about a teacher who has lost her recent past to 'The Void', a terrible incident she can't recall and nobody seems to be in a hurry to tell her about. Her friend Mariam embarks on a race to uncover the truth before Robyn is driven over the edge into insanity.
His latest, The Dead Sea Hotel, is part spy thriller, part morality tale, part ghost story. Krikor Manoukian is the proprietor of the run-down Dead Sea Hotel. His beloved wife Lucine has passed away, his daughter Araksi is mooning around in love with an unsuitable boy and Manoukian is in debt up to his eyeballs. The last thing he needs is a dead Englishman in one of his rooms, but that's just what he's got. Little does Manoukian know it but he's got the Englishman's ghost to deal with, to boot.
You can find Alexander and his books at www.alexandermcnabb.com.
Alexander McNabb has been working as a journalist, editor and magazine publisher in the Middle East for some 38 years. Today he consults on media, publishing and digital communications.
Alexander's first serious novel was the critically acclaimed Olives - A Violent Romance, a work exploring the attitudes, perceptions and conflicts of the Middle East, exposing a European sensibility to the multi-layered world of life on the borders of Palestine. Published in 2011, the book triggered widespread controversy, finding a receptive audience in the Middle East and beyond.
Olives was followed in 2012 by testosterone-soaked international spy thriller Beirut - An Explosive Thriller. His third Middle East-based novel, Shemlan - A Deadly Tragedy, about a man dying of cancer unearthing a deadly past, published in 2013. Together, the three form the 'Levant Cycle'.
A Decent Bomber, set in Ireland, published in 2015. It tells the story of a retired IRA bomb-maker forced to resume his old trade, pitching 'old terror' against 'new terror' in a battle of wits between an Irish farmer with a violent past and Somali extortionists with a questionable future.
His next novel, Birdkill, is a psychological thriller about a teacher who has lost her recent past to 'The Void', a terrible incident she can't recall and nobody seems to be in a hurry to tell her about. Her friend Mariam embarks on a race to uncover the truth before Robyn is driven over the edge into insanity.
His latest, The Dead Sea Hotel, is part spy thriller, part morality tale, part ghost story. Krikor Manoukian is the proprietor of the run-down Dead Sea Hotel. His beloved wife Lucine has passed away, his daughter Araksi is mooning around in love with an unsuitable boy and Manoukian is in debt up to his eyeballs. The last thing he needs is a dead Englishman in one of his rooms, but that's just what he's got. Little does Manoukian know it but he's got the Englishman's ghost to deal with, to boot.
You can find Alexander and his books at www.alexandermcnabb.com.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 7, 2016
Exceptionally mind boggling ending (that is all I am saying). Fabulous book, quite scary and definitely unputdownable (yep I made that up)
March 1, 2016
Departing somewhat from his usual Middle East mileu, McNabb delivers a tight and propulsive thriller with shades of the Boys from Brazil and the Midwich Cuckoos. Pairing his evocative descriptions of the leafy English countryside with a deftly drawn cast of believable characters, this is a tale with a catch in the throat and a sting in the tail, sliced through with an enjoyably nasty edge. It's missing the affable brogue of regular character Lynch, but more than makes up for it with his mutually supporting female protagonists. Should be bought and devoured quickly.
March 14, 2024
Mind Bending, Yet ‘could’ he be onto something?
Look, a book’s a book, story-nory! Sometimes truth can be stranger than fiction. I’m not hypothesising the story is based upon ‘actual’ real stuff; I’m saying: it’d be mighty strange if this sorta thing ‘ain’t’ happening!
To be succinct: once again, the author has written an absolute epic book. The plot, characters, tension, architecture & fabric are all gold lined. The book is an outstanding read that’ll attract readers from many genres.
Look, a book’s a book, story-nory! Sometimes truth can be stranger than fiction. I’m not hypothesising the story is based upon ‘actual’ real stuff; I’m saying: it’d be mighty strange if this sorta thing ‘ain’t’ happening!
To be succinct: once again, the author has written an absolute epic book. The plot, characters, tension, architecture & fabric are all gold lined. The book is an outstanding read that’ll attract readers from many genres.
April 14, 2016
Not Alex's normal environment - but good all the same. A good range of characters, and nicely built and then twisted story. Nice idea for the hook of this story - children, school, etc.
The lead two women tough it out, works well at a number of levels.
Has government, press and other players nicely packed into the story.
Delivers the story and the closing punch well
The lead two women tough it out, works well at a number of levels.
Has government, press and other players nicely packed into the story.
Delivers the story and the closing punch well
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews