Codename Sentinel

About the Book

WINNER –NEWSPAPER HOUSE LITERARY AWARD – 2012 Security arrangements for a visit to Australia by the US Secretary of State are made under the watchful eye of a beautiful Australian diplomat, stationed in Washington.

As the jet carrying the US officials enters Australian air space, intelligence services intercept a coded message, setting alarm bells ringing and prompting a national security operation. All the signs point towards Islamic terrorists.

Tom Grant, a rugged, highly decorated Australian SAS Commander just back from Afghanistan, leads a frantic mission to hunt down the suspects.

As the gap between the fugitives and their hunters closes, a cruel twist emerges, challenging credulity and threatening a highly explosive international incident.

““Nowhere in the Qur’an is there an exhortation to kill. That is just the Mantra of xenophobic westerners wanting to discredit Islam. Indeed, Chapter 17: Verse 70 of the Q’uran makes interesting reading. It states: ‘Respect and honour all human beings irrespective of their religion, colour, race, sex, language, status, property, birth or profession’”. “In that instant, Sentinel’s eyes assumed a puzzled look … then a look of surprise and finally … of horror, as he realised he was going to die. The bullet had punched through Sentinel’s soft tissue, entering his cranial cavity and exploding out of the side of his face ….” A masterful narrative, by a master story-teller. “Riveting realism. Riveting suspense-from a master story-teller”

About the Author

Bruce Nicholls was posted as Assistant Trade Commissioner to India at just 24 years of age. From India, he went on to serve in Germany, Switzerland, China and Hong Kong. He shares intrigues of State and lets us participate in the dynamic world he observed as it evolved over the course of his postings. His book traverses the cut and thrust of trade diplomacy, with anecdotes about dignitaries and other folk who touched his life. It offers insights into life in the Foreign Service, evoking a good belly laugh whenever it can. His observations attack the senses in a delightfully readable way, bringing to life the pungency of India, the guttural, ordered society of Germany, the Maosuited throngs and ringing cycle bells of China as it opened its doors to the West, and the frenetic business climate of Hong Kong. He also explores deeper issues, like the demands a Foreign Service career can make upon marriages, the ever lurking danger of trade protectionism and the challenge of building new trade alliances and winning new markets.