Dead Water

Description

Off the coast of Sri Lanka, a tramp steamer is seized by pirates. The captain has his wife and son aboard and knows that their survival depends on giving the pirates exactly what they want. But what can they possibly want with his worn-out ship and its cargo of junk? On the island of Bali a tsunami washes up a rusting container. Inside, the mummified remains of a shipping magnate missing for 30 years and a hand-written journal of his last days locked within his aluminium tomb. Through the dusty industrial towns of India's Great Trunk Road, a disgraced female detective tracks a criminal syndicate. Her life has been ruined, but she will have her revenge. In a backstreet Mayfair office, an automated distress signal is picked up on a private satellite network. A ship is missing. A Dead Water ship. Dead Water is the key to everything. A code name for a covert operation initiated during World War Two. But why is it unravelling now, and what will the consequences be?

Simon Ings is a novelist (The Weight of Numbers) and science writer (The Eye). He lives in South London.

"A virtuoso display of imaginative plotting' Financial Times "It is unlikely there will be finer fiction written this year" Guardian "Ings writes engagingly well, balancing pacy plotting with textured characters and opaque loyalties to tease the reader and making for a thoroughly enjoyable, intelligent yarn." - Independent on Sunday "Dead Water displays a subtle and persistent power that confirms Ings as one of the very few British writers to be both contemporary and genuinely challenging." - Guardian "...modern science fiction in full pomp: it has a multitude of ideas, a wide-ranging narrative, an almost unbelievably ambitious casting of its net, taking one narrative chance after another. It is also a beautifully written novel, full of colour and inventive image. - Christopher Priest, author of The Prestige "Beautifully written... There are scenes and unexpected twists that rival the most propulsive page-turner." - Time Out