A Matter of Loyalty

by Sandra Howard

When a bomb goes off in London's West End, Home Secretary Victoria Osborne has a desperate sense of having failed in her duty to protect the public. A young Muslim reporter, Ahmed Khan - on the staff of a national newspaper edited by Victoria's husband - also has a deep-seated sense of anger and responsibility. He persuades his editor to let him go back amongst childhood friends in Leeds to try to glean anything - any lead, any clue - that might help prevent further bombs.

When Ahmed meets Victoria's daughter, Nattie, at a party, he cannot get her out of his mind. They begin seeing each other. As he turns over stones in his hometown and finds out uncomfortable facts, his involvement with Nattie has everyone alarmed. He continues to see her andkeep in touch with a group of potential terrorists. Knowing something catastrophic is being planned, Ahmed fears for Nattie's safety and becomes obsessively determined to thwart it...

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Sandra Howard (nee Paul) was one of the leading fashion models of the 1960s, appearing on the cover of American Vogue two months running. She worked as a freelance journalist alongside modelling, before turning to novel writing. She continues to write regularly for the press.

Her four novels, Glass Houses, Ursula's Story, A Matter of Loyalty and Ex-Wives are available in paperback and ebook. Her latest novel, Tell the Girl, is available from Amazon and at bookshops from 3rd July 2014.

Sandra has just begun work on her next novel, which has the working title of "Absence".

Sandra is actively involved with two national charities as a trustee of Addaction, a charity helping people to fight drug and alcohol addiction, and as Vice President of Youth Epilepsy. Sandra also supports First Story, a charity that provides funds to enable well-known writers to hold creative writing classes in inner city schools.

She has three adult children: Sholto, Nick and Larissa, and is married to the former British Conservative Party Leader Michael Howard. They live in London and Kent.

Reviews

[Hilda Reilly · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started out as a fairly promising escapist read, ideal for the end-of-year holiday period which was when I was reading it: topical subject and an author who, by virtue of her husband (a former leader of the Conservative Party), was surely in the know about the political setting. However it quickly degenerated. A thin plot served merely as a sketchy backdrop to the romance element which was played out in a gushing Mills and Boon manner with mawkish and unnatural dialogue. The young 'heroine' was portrayed as so immature it almost felt as if the sexual relationship was one of paedophilia. Disappointing.

[Gordon Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review

This is a good book. It heads gradually and steadily towards what suddenly becomes rather a frightening crisis. It is a sudden and unexpected crisis, short, sharpe and frightening before the man in the white hat wins. The main thing, as with all her books, is that it is believable. I have a Police background and was impressed that the police and the Security Service were correctly portrayed. Roll on Sandra's next book.

[Simone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started off well and had me intrigued. I was waiting for it to sag in the middle, due to reviews I'd read but it stayed much the same and didn't sag until the last 70 pages (which I skimmed). I also waited for a bang that never came. Easy reading but if you're expecting a thriller/romance you'll be disappointed. Read much like a midday movie.

[Simone Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alot more political than I expected, classic example of not judging a book by the cover

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Initially this appealed to me, as it focused on a female Home Secretary, Victoria. So, given Sandra Howard's role as the wife of a former Tory leader, I was expecting to get an insight into the realms of government. The background is one of threats of terrorism which are disturbingly conveyed. However when Victoria's daughter Natalie falls in love with a Pakistani journalist Ahmed (whose boss happens to be Victoria's husband), loyalties become strained. I liked Ahmed and the scenes where he all too easily infiltrates a terrorist are frightening in their implications, but then I got bored with it all and the book failed to hold my attention. The final scenes were too drawn out for me, though presumably meant to rack up tension.

[Cath Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had the potential to be really good and ended up being quite good. The story and the characters didn't develop as deeply as I thought they might. Having said that, it was an enjoyable read with some tense parts to it.

[Brendan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Started out reasonably promising but quickly turned into clichéd middle class drivel. Full hackneyed stereotypical views of "grim up north" Yorkshire with every white male being an overt racist and every Asian being a terrorist. I'd give it a miss if I was you.

[Jeanius · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading this for the Book Club. Nothing special so far.