Closer to Paradise - Leigh Scott

An explosive, compelling, searingly authentic thriller about the Iraq War. A stunning first novel by a former SAS officer. Good Friday 2004, and a US logistics convoy sets out to carry a precious cargo on the long journey from Baghdad to Kuwait. Several hundred kilometres to the south, a covert SAS patrol is on the lookout for weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile the Mahdi Army prepares to launch its ultra-violent insurgency against the Occupying Allies that very day. Convoy, patrol and insurgents all collide with terrifying consequences. With the veneer of civilisation stripped away, young men and women are forced to fight a brutal battle for survival, reliant only on themselves and their closest comrades. The only rule is there are no rules, and civilisation is stripped down to survival of the fittest. And in the ruthless reality of twenty-first century warfare, it's not just about who fights and who survives. It's about trust and betrayal... and some very tempting treasure...