PAUL WATKINS

Paul Watkins spent six years as a crewman on a deep-sea fishing boat. This novel tells his story. The coast of New England: beautiful but savage, where storms can whip up out of nowhere, and the wrecks wash up on the beach. James Pfeiffer, a young college dropout, is initiated into the gruelling world of the trawler boats, where he discovers the thrill and terror of life at sea. Paul Watkinss gripping novel tells the brutal story of life on the trawlers, the danger, the comradeship and the secrets buried deep beneath the surface. Few contemporary novelists have the ability to grab readers by the throat with such intense storytelling power and not release them until the final page has been turned. - Sunday TimesWatkins combines the open-eyed wonder of a boy being baptised into a mans maritime world . . . with the sea-hunters mysticism of Moby Dick. - ObserverReminiscent of Hemingway, he explores the clash of the masculine virtues of courage, loyalty, and endurance with treachery and fear. - Daily TelegraphThere is a horror sleeping in Calm at Sunset, Calm at Dawn which becomes restless as the book progresses until it explodes into spectacular life. - Time Out

A young man, struck by lightning, is believed to be a keeper of the Norse religion''s greatest secret. When war breaks out against the rising tide of Christianity, he must embark on a journey where he must confront his own gods, and the gods of a people yet more savage. ''''The action sweeps across oceans and continents... As with all Watkins'' work, the writing is terse and physical, the themes big and resonant.'' Tatler; ''A Viking Odyssey... Thunder God vividly charts the voyages of Hakon, a fisherman''s son who is struck by lightning, kidnapped by raiders, taken to Miklagard (Constantinople), where he becomes part of the Emperor''s personal guard, caught up in a raid on the Welsh coast, storm-driven across the Atlantic...'' The Times; ''The rich physical descriptions are matched by an equally sure understanding of the ways of religious belief... This unusual, fluent novel suggests that Watkins remains a force to be reckoned with.'' Sunday Telegraph; ''A thundering good read... Watkins is a master of suspense, and his action sequences have a visceral power'' Sunday Times''

A gripping, acclaimed action-packed Viking epic.Set in the 10th century, when Viking raids were at their peak, Paul Watkins spins a tale that covers three continents. After centuries of ranging unchecked across the northern world, the fortunes of the Vikings have begun to turn. In this time of violent change, a young man, struck by lightning, is believed to be marked by the gods as a keeper of the Norse religions greatest secret. To save the Norse faith and himself, he embarks upon a journey that takes him far beyond the boundaries of the known world, where he must confront not only his own gods but the gods of a people yet more savage.Few contemporary novelists have the ability to grab readers by the throat with such intense story-telling power and not release them until the final page has been turned.Sunday Times

While the eyes of the world are focused upon attempts to scale Mount Everest, two young men - once members of the worlds climbing elite, subsequently forced into premature retirement after the failure of a secret military operation in the Alps during World War II - have become outcasts of mountaineering society. Until, that is, a peculiar and dangerous request is made of them, drawing them back to the mountains on an exploit that will prove treacherous in more ways than one, as they confront not only the pitiless cruelty of nature but also the ghosts of their former selves.

Paris, 1939. Europe is on the brink of a second World War. David Halifax, a young American art student, is arrested for forgery. Unbeknownst to Halifax, an unscrupulous art dealer has put some of his paintings on the market, attempting to pass them off as Old Masters. When the ruse is uncovered, it is Halifax who is arrested, and charged with forgery. Then, as the Nazis converge upon Paris, Halifax is press-ganged into service by the Resistance: he must forge a number of great paintings, so that the originals dont fall into the hands of the invaders. Halifax is painfully aware that this unwanted commission could cost him his life.