A Game That Must be Lost

A Game That Must be Lost is a novel set in the world of international diplomacy, written by a former high ranking British diplomat and now a leading academic Alan Hunt.

A Game That Must be Lost takes the reader back to the year 2005.

On the eve of the Chinese New Year in Singapore, all is not quite what it appears to be.

Marina Singleton, the daughter of the British High Commissioner, has -somehow- become involved in the world of international drug smuggling and has vanished with a high value consignment of illegally smuggled heroin.

But that's not all she has done. For she has left an innocent man to face the death penalty for a crime he had no knowledge of.

A little while later, Marina's father, Andrew Singleton, also vanishes.

The repercussions of these events are potentially catastrophic for the British government, so it is decided that a high power investigation will be launched into the case, under the watchful eye of Adam White, Head of Chancery at the High Commission.

It is Adam White's task to try to establish the exact sequence of events and to discover the truth as to what actually had happened.

For example, was Marina Singleton really involved in the smuggling? Has she vanished of her own volition, or was she kidnapped? And if so, what could be the motives of the kidnappers?

And what of the equally problematic disappearance of her father? Is it linked to the mysterious disappearance of his daughter? Has he gone to ground? Or was he, also, kidnapped?

And why would anyone want to kidnap the Singletons?

But as Adam White commences on his somewhat tricky and potentially dangerous mission he discovers that, in the world of international diplomacy things are never quite what they appear to be and that there is a very dangerous plot that aims to bring the world to the brink of disaster with a nuclear holocaust as the eventual aim.

But is all that it seems? And how many would die before the case could be considered as closed? But how can Adam White, a man with troubles of his own, work to prevent this from happening? In fact, can he? Or is it beyond his abilities?

The book is a compelling read and is published by Matador at £7.99 in paperback and is available from the that's Books and Entertainment book shop, which you will find to the right of this review.