Dangerous Cargo

by Pauline Rowson

Overview

In his second mission for the National Intelligence Marine Squad, former marine commando Art Marvik finds himself on the trail of a 50-year-old mystery.

For his second mission, Marvik is detailed to attend the funeral of Bradley Pulford, whose body was washed up on an Isle of Wight beach in January – only he’d officially been declared dead 55 years earlier. So who is the imposter and why did he assume the name of a dead man? What’s more, why did he suddenly show up in the Dorset coastal town of Swanage in 1989, hook up with a local fishing family, the Killbecks, and after fathering a child with Stacey Killbeck, disappear in 1990?

When an innocent woman is killed during the course of the investigation, Marvik realizes that the stakes are much higher than he’d previously thought. As he begins to uncover a trail of deceit, corruption and murder that spans over half a century, Marvik must confront a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to make sure that the sins of the past stay in the past.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780727886262
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	09/01/2016
Series:	An Art Marvik Thriller , #2
Edition description:	First World Publication
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.75(h) x (d)

About the Author

Pauline Rowson is the author of the critically-acclaimed marine mystery series featuring DI Andy Horton, as well as several stand-alone thrillers. Pauline’s novels are set in the area in which she lives, Hayling Island and Portsmouth. Before becoming a full-time writer she ran a Marketing and Training company.

Read an Excerpt

It was dark and drizzling by the time Marvik left the restaurant and made his way through the almost deserted streets. As he turned into the road that led parallel to the bay and eventually to the lifeboat station, he considered the image of Bradley Pulford that Matthew Killbeck had drawn for him earlier that day and the emotions he’d exhibited when speaking of Pulford: resentment, anger, hatred even. Maybe Shaun was right and the Killbecks had killed him, if not in 1990 then more recently, in January.
 Through his thoughts he caught the sound of a motorbike and one whose engine he instantly recognized. He dashed a glance over his shoulder and his heart quickened. Yes, there it was cruising slowly some distance behind him, and he was certain it was the same one that had stalked him yesterday. Astride it was a darkly clad figure, the face hidden by the visor, but Marvik could swear it was the same rider. He picked up his pace. The road was deserted both ahead and behind. He swiftly calculated that he had another three hundred yards before the entrance to the lifeboat station and the shore. Glancing back, the motorbike was keeping pace with him but still holding back. Marvik knew why. The rider was judging it perfectly – there would be a moment when no one would witness what he was about to do and that moment would soon be here. It would come when he turned down towards the lifeboat and he’d be alone in the dark close to the shore.
 Adrenaline surged through his veins but instead of instinctively breaking into a run he forced himself to maintain the same walking pace. Although he was fast and fit, he wasn’t as fast as that motorbike and he calculated that it was better to preserve as much energy as he could in case he needed it on the shore. One hundred, two hundred – he mentally counted down until . . . He sprinted. The roar of the motorbike burst through the night. It was deafening. In a few seconds it would be on top of him. If he glanced back he’d be a dead man. He still might be, he thought, running hard, his feet striking the tarmac, his heart pounding, his blood pumping. To acknowledge the wound in his leg would be death. To think of anything other than reaching the shore, darkness and safety would be fatal. He had a second – maybe two if he was lucky. Two seconds between life and death. It wasn’t much but it was all he had.

Editorial Reviews

More than enough action to keep adrenaline junkies reading

Booklist

2016-06-19
Ex-commando Art Marvik (Silent Running, 2015) tracks down the killer of a man who died twice.DNA evidence shows that the body washed up on the Isle of Wight belonged to Bradley Pulford, who had worked for fishermen Adam and Matthew Killbeck before vanishing in 1990 . But according to Detective Superintendent Philip Crowder of the National Intelligence Marine Squad, Pulford died in Singapore in 1959 in an accident aboard the freighter Leonora. So Crowder sends Marvik, along with fellow former Marine Shaun Strathen, to investigate the connection between the Killbecks, a Dorset fishing family, and a seaman killed in Asia. The trail is immediately complicated by Sarah Redburn, who's looking for her father, Oscar, a marine archaeologist who disappeared from the Dorset coast in 1979 while looking for fossils. A picture shows Oscar with a group of students rallying in support of a local dockworkers' strike—a group that includes Bradley Pulford. When Sarah is killed the morning after meeting Marvik, his antennae begin to quiver. And when Sarah's roommate, actress Bryony Darrow, is burned out of her house on London's Eel Pie Island, the ex-Marine goes full-throttle against a gang of villains as ruthless as they are deadly. The investigator's second outing is even more muscular than his debut, as Rowson edges her detective puzzles ever closer to thriller territory.

Kirkus Reviews

More than enough action to keep adrenaline junkies reading

Booklist