Exculpation: New Fiction: A hunt for the truth contrasts South Africa's new veil of secrecy.
Bristol UK: As South Africa’s 2012 Secrecy Bill is poised to put whistle-blowing journalists behind bars, EXCULPATION, a political thriller by Ray Wilson, and published today (27th July 2012) spotlights the sharp change in attitude in South Africa’s political elite since the country’s post-apartheid foundation.
In a fast-moving plot that powerfully exposes the consequences of suppression and secrecy, it reminds us that it was truth and openness that first enabled post-apartheid South Africa to move forward in the world. EXCULPATION reflects the author’s passion for South Africa. Ray Wilson is a regular visitor to the country, exploring it over thirty years, gathering insight and inspiration for the compassion, humour and political intrigue he captures in this book, his debut novel.
NOVELIST PATRICK MCGRATH SAYS, “Ray Wilson’s talent for the political thriller is terrific; his handle on this large fascinating account of skulduggery at high levels is sophisticated and informed. It’s all entirely plausible, the dialogue is crisp and the action scenes are wonderful, very filmic.”
In a tale of death and deliverance, EXCULPATION weaves two-and-a-half weeks of fiction with two-and-a-half decades of fact, credibly connecting the abolition of apartheid with the political and economic collapse of the former Soviet Union.
SYNOPSIS
Cape Town, 1998: a city licking its wounds after years of bitter conflict, as the very public process of admission and forgiveness sets the scene for Mandela’s new South Africa. Although the mood is one of reconciliation, not everyone is ready to tell the truth. The murder of General Daniel Jackson precipitates a hunt for the secrets he didn’t take to the grave, a dossier outlining the covert activities of an elite force, one prepared to go to any lengths to keep them hidden. Journalist Nate McFadden trades in political truths. His former girlfriend Geri Lennox deals in money, and Moses Kimbo, he’s after the murderer of cousin Nancy. The three are sucked together though a labyrinth of chance and criminality towards their goals, on a trail that weaves from Johannesburg via London to Baghdad’s Muthanna gasworks and on to Washington DC. It leads the losers to their ends and the victors to the largest proceeds-of-crime fortune ever recycled.
EXCULPATION is published on 27th July 2012 by OutRight Fiction. OutRight Fiction will donate a part of its EXCULPATION revenues to Wola Nani, a non-profit organisation working to bring relief to South African communities hardest hit by HIV.
Read more at www.exculpation.co.uk
Bibliographic information: ISBN:9780957154520; Format: Paperback; Category: General Fiction; Pages:250; Price:£7.99. Also available on Kindle.
ENDS 27th July 2012
Issued by OutRight Fiction. Further press information or images (cover and author) from jofoster@outrightfiction.co.uk or tel 07973 960133.
Exculpation is a novel by Ray Wilson published inJuly 2012 by OutRight Fiction, an independent UK publisher. Ray Wilson lives in Bristol, UK.
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