New Political Thriller, The Disappeared By David Stephens, Is Centred In Peru’s Harrowing Recent Past

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On The Table Read Magazine, “the best book magazine in the UK“, thriller book, The Disappeared by David Stephens, depicts the tragic events that occurred in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s, and Hugh’s efforts to find his son Adam, who, like thousands of others, has vanished.

The Disappeared

Benefitting from David Stephens’ knowledge of Peru and the estimated 69,000 people that died or vanished from 1980 to 2000, new political thriller, The Disappeared, is a fascinating story that has the upsetting realties of the two-decade rule of the Maoist Shining Path guerrillas at its center.

People disappear, or they are disappeared. Hugh is looking for his child, Adam, a journalist lost in the valleys of central Peru. A strange call from Adam’s girlfriend lets him know that his son is on the trail of corrupt ex-military officers and rebel Shining Path guerrillas, battling for control of the cocaine trade.

As Hugh ventures further into the world of the disappeared, he is sure of just two things: that he will get his son back alive – and that there’s no time to spare.

Engaging and illuminating in equal measure, how Stephens called Peru home for six years is clear through the story, as is his imagination and respect for the bravery of the Peruvian grandmothers searching for their friends and family, and looking for justice for the crimes that were committed.

The Disappeared is a fastidiously researched work of fiction which draws upon direct testimonies from the grandmothers of the vanished, and officials working to combat the drug trade, explores the complexities of the father and son relationship, and shines a necessary light on a period in Peru’s history that needs to be remembered.

David Stephens

David Stephens worked as a researcher and development worker in Afghanistan under the Taliban, the Laos-Vietnam border, and the Boko Haram-infested northern Nigerian lands before settling in Peru.

At the University of Brighton, he was a Professor of International Education for many years, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, has produced BBC World Service programs for Africa, and has written successful academic books.

He entered two novel awards, the Headline Publishers and the Exeter Novel Prize, after finishing The Disappeared, and was shortlisted in both. He has contributed travel articles to the Living & Travelling in Peru website on a regular basis and has contributed a number of short stories to anthologies.

He s currently working on The Cottage at the Edge of the Saltmarsh, a novel set on the North Norfolk coast.

Find more from David Stephens now:

Listen to the Publisher’s Interview with the author:
https://thinkwellbooks.org/2023/03/05/100-minute-interview-with-david-stephens-author-of-the-disappeared/

Kindle: https://amzn.to/3D7zWMm

Paperback: https://amzn.to/46Y8Fdd

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