Tell me about your latest book and why we should read it?
The Burden of Truth is a suspense thriller, which I hope to take the reader on a bit of an adventure. It follows the thoughts and actions of two men. The first an egocentric young man named Brent Sandler who after nearly losing his life on the Herald of Free Enterprise decides to change his life for the better.
Years later he’s still far from happy, but not for the want of trying. Now he’s hit rock bottom, penniless, and to make matters worse he has just discovered an awful tragedy unfolding. The problem is, this tragedy is all down to him. The thing is, he is determined to put it right, and somehow make good the things he has done in the past.
Meanwhile in Bodhgaya India, Peter Cannon makes a discovery, which will change his life forever. Now he must come to terms with his guilty secret of his past. And as he does, he too can see a tragedy unfolding. However, putting this one right is also not so easy, as the woman he loves is hunting him down.
A stolen Buddha, a low life thief, a crazed Italian mobster as well as two completely different, but equally enigmatic young ladies all play their part in trying to turn Brent’s as well as Peter’s life around. But, as one man is unconsciously moving towards a spiritual life, the other is loosing his. The story is about how these two men, not only look at their own lives, but also the lies of others.
This, leads onto the next part of the question. Why do I think you should read it?
Really, the first thing I should say about this question is, it is very difficult for me to answer. The reason being; we all know that every person who loves to read, have their own personal preferences when it comes to picking a book. Each and every reader has different likes and dislikes, and not just genre. Some readers love getting to grips with a good plot, whilst others fall in love with certain characters. The point is; all readers look for, and get different things out of a book. Any book, not just this one.
So, if I can’t answer why I think you should read this book, the best I can do is re-phrase the question to; What can I hope, The Burden of Truth will give to a reader.
First thing I would hope for, of course would be that the reader would receive many hours of entertainment and enjoy the book. Now I’m not trying to be boastful, but others have told me, my novel is, well paced with interesting characters. I have also been told it has an interesting, and intelligent plot, with more than its fair share of twists and turns. It’s also dramatic and full of suspense. As I said this is what has been said to me in the past, and of course I’m pleased with what people have said. So to sum up, what I hope readers will get out of this book, would be something like; enjoyable entertainment.
However, that’s not all; not by a long chalk. When I first set out to write, The Burden of Truth, I wanted more than just a story. I wanted more than the readers to read it and say, ‘Hey, good book, interesting plot.’ Then leave it at that.
What I wanted was the reader to think about this book for a long time after reading it. I wanted this novel to get under their skin so much they think about its contents for a long, long time afterwards.
So to answer the question further; what else do I hope the reader will get out of my novel? Well, really I want the reader to delve right into the book and really understand what I’m trying to say. I want the reader to get the messages I’m trying to send. Let me explain.
There are many messages within the book, which are plain to see when you start getting into the nitty-gritty of it. However, some are hidden between the lines. Okay, I admit they’re not very well hidden, as really I don’t want the reader to work that hard. Remember I want the reader to enjoy the book too, and if he or she, simply wants to read it for sheer enjoyment of the story, then so be it. However, if the reader does wish to delve into the book, and discovers the hidden messages, as well as understands them, and to a certain degree acts on them; possibly he or she may gain something just that little extra out of the story. It could be that this little extra understanding may be that the reader might just get a little more out of life itself. Perhaps; perhaps not, only time will tell on this one.
So possibly this is the answer to the question, what do I hope readers will gain from reading The Burden of Truth? A few lessons about life!
If someone was to write your life story what would the title be?
During my life I have made many mistakes. Not bad ones, and I hope nobody got hurt through them apart from me. So I think a title could be something like
The Man Who Made Mistakes.
However, a little subtitle somewhere should say, And put them right.
What’s the strangest fan question or request you’ve received?
Okay, this is not book related so I don’t know if it counts, but years and years ago, I was asked to come up on stage and sing. Apparently someone thought I was Jim Kerr out of Simple Minds. How they thought that is beyond me, as I look nothing like him I’m sure.
If you could co-write with anyone in the world (alive or dead) who would it be?
I would like to work with Dan Brown. Not so much for the commercial success, more for the amount of research he does into his books. Wouldn’t that be a great thing to do, just looking up and learning about the meanings of art, symbols and other things he delves into?
Tell me something nobody else knows (yet!).
Okay, secret time, let’s think! Right, if you don’t tell anybody, the title of my latest work in progress is called. Screen Shot.
Finally please recommend 3 books that you have recently read and tell me why you’ve chosen these.
Three books I’ve really enjoyed recently
The Abattoir of Dreams, by Mark Tilbury.
Loved this book because of two things really. The first being the author’s style of writing. To me he just gets the flow and speed just right.
The second is how he writes into the story his characters. They really are great, very believable, but also very interesting. Just how a great character should be.
The Murder Game, by M J Lee.
The reason why I loved this book, was first of all the setting of Shanghai in the twenties. I just loved how he captured the style of the time and place in his writing. I thought it was really great how the author combined a fantastic plot into this era. All in all a great book, but I must say to enjoy the plot fully you should read his other books in the series first.
All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr.
One of the things I look for in a good book is the characters. This book has an abundance of them. However, it’s not just the characters, which make this novel one of my all time favourites. It’s also the plot line. Set during the Second World War, it covers the lives of many young people thrown into the war at this terrible time. There are two main strands to this story and when they come together, it’s just mind blowing. Great book.
Who is Peter Best?
Peter Best was born in North Shields, in the North East of England at the start of the sixties. Albeit the son of a shipyard worker, Peter was brought up in a small mining town until the age of eight, when for some reason or another, somebody made the decision that the community should be uprooted and moved to a place called Cramlington, on the outskirts of Newcastle.
After his time in school, he served an apprenticeship, working mainly on building sites as an electrician, which he hated by the way. However, as Peter always looks on the positive side of things, he was pleased he did.
It was on these building sites where he came across many different characters, strong characters from many walks of life with stories to tell. Many of these men he was pleased, and proud to call his friends. “Real people,” he called them. It turned out that many of these so called real people featured quite strongly in his novels.
Of course, it’s not just the people he met on the sites, Peter, over the years has come across many different characters on his travels. Many, have played their part in working their way into his mind. Not just because of the way look or act, it was more on how they think about life and their thoughts in general. Over the years he has listened and talked to them all, he has drank with them, laughed with them and even cried with them. He loves people and loves life too.
In 1996, he married for the second time to a young German girl. Soon after, they moved to the south of England. After that, he upped sticks again, and moved to Wiesbaden in Germany to help support his wife as she pushed at her career as a doctor. Peter fell in love with the culture of his new surroundings, especially the culture of one of his neighbouring counties, Bavaria. However, as they say, all good things come to an end, and he moved back to England. It was at this time his writing started to come together. Over the next few years Peter started to string together his thoughts and ideas for The Burden of Truth and it’s sequel. (The name remains a secret for now.) He now lives with his wife and daughter in a small seaside town in Essex called Frinton on Sea. Frinton, along with its neighbouring town, Walton on the Naze, both feature in his novel, The Burden of Truth.
