The Evolution of Fear (Claymore Straker #2) - Paul E. Hardisty Page 0,2

demonised nor romanticised, abundant grey areas where there are no simple choices, and peopled with the sorts of psychopaths addicted to adrenaline. The science reminds me of Patricia Cornwell’s Scarpetta novels. This is a modern treatment of a centuries-old conflict between indigenous peoples and usurpers bent on exploitation, us and them’ Texas Book Lover

‘The well-written almost-poetic vivid descriptions are unusual in a book of this genre, showing how the author Paul E. Hardisty has a gift for detailed but fast-paced writing’ Victoria Goldman, Off-the-Shelf Reviews

‘Civil war, terrorism, corporate ruthlessness and corruption, and harsh global realities are examined in a thrilling action fuelled style that has enough authenticity and atmosphere to sink the reader into the story’ Crime Thriller Hound

‘Think Jack Reacher and then some. This book is adventurous and fascinatingly topical. The author brings home to us the realities of the world today with themes of global exploitation and discomfort’ Tracey Book Lover

‘Hardisty writes with incredible passion and technical precision and the reader can never be quite sure who is good and who is bad, which keeps the reader gripped to the end … an epic reading experience that will have them yearning to know what happens next’ Segnalibro Blog

‘What I thought was going to be a forgettable page turner actually turned out to be something far more thoughtful, both on a wider scale and at a more personal level as the story examines the dehumanising effect of conflict on Straker. The writing is beautifully descriptive, Yemen is vividly and evocatively brought to life yet alongside this the action is often unflinchingly and brutally violent’ Karen Cole

‘Far from being your average page-turner, Hardisty has a superb command of language, creating evocative images of land which many will be unfamiliar with. The issues covered are very contemporary with seemingly impossible battles against overbearing figures and organisations. It’s an exciting, absorbing and provocative stormer’ Kevin Freeburn

‘Think Jack Reacher and then some … adventurous and fascinatingly topical’ Tracey Walsh

‘A brilliant thriller, with so many twists and turns it will make you dizzy’ Tracy Shephard

‘At 430 pages it is a longer read than many other books I have read lately but is so beautifully written that you won’t mind it’s length one bit. In fact by the end you’ll find yourself wishing it was a little longer’ Gunnar Davíðsson

‘Hardisty portrays the milieu (its rugged topography and, in judicious glimpses, its history) so well’ Detectives Beyond Borders

‘Just a superb debut from Paul Hardisty, and an inspired reconfiguration of the genre. With all this going on, perhaps the world needed a great eco-thriller in 2015 a little more than we needed another superhero infusion. We got one’ Yusuf Toropov

‘The story is gritty, action packed and topical … prepare to be wowed by a new kid on the block’ The Library Door

The Evolution of Fear

PAUL E. HARDISTY

For Gary Pulsifer

‘There exists no limit to the blindness of interest and selfish habit’

Charles Darwin

‘Our fears do make us traitors…’

Macbeth, Act IV, Scene ii, William Shakespeare

Contents

Title Page

Dedication

Epigraph

Map

Part I

1 No Difference the Instrument

2 2.7 Seconds of Nothing

3 A Talisman of Sorts

4 The Chasm between Now and Then

5 Their Glorious Youth

6 Three-Day Head Start

7 A Hundred Hours

8 Candaules’ Queen

9 The Difference between Living and Dying

10 Just a Deep Breath Away

11 Instruments of Darkness

12 Leave Me in the Sun for the Vultures

13 Purgatory

Part II

14 The World Can Go and Fuck Itself

15 Weapons Ready, Hearts Racing

16 Constantinople Electric

17 It Could Have Been Any of Them

18 Likelihood and Consequence

19 Maybe It Had Never Been There at All

20 Things You Do Not Know

21 It Can’t Hurt You

22 English as a Foreign Language

23 Wanted Dead

24 A Few Miles from Deep Water

Part III

25 F=GMm/r2

26 Dead Reckoning

27 Extinction

28 The Killing Gene

29 Looking Down Through Blood

30 Tears for Wool

31 This, You Were Given

32 Twelve Years of Silence

33 Honoris Crux

34 Altruism

35 Thirty Weeks and a Hundred Years

36 Backwards from Being

37 Everything They Shared

Part IV

38 Trust

39 Natural Selection

40 The Ladder of Divine Ascent

41 As Good as Anything Else

42 Playing House

43 The Illusion of Mercy

44 The Only Thing That Mattered

45 A Question of Faith

46 A Hell of a Thing

47 Hurt

48 Each Minute Has a Price

49 Dark Wells of Gravity

50 The Blind and Ruthless Levers

51 Violence Having Been Done

Part V

52 Should Have Been Twenty

53 The Future Spread out before Them

54 The Price You Paid

55 Death Comes Soon Enough

56 Life

57 Her Dark Insanity

58 What You Had To Forsake

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Part I

1

No Difference the Instrument

30th October 1994: North coast of Cornwall, United Kingdom

It was a good place to hide. From almost any vantage the cottage was invisible.