The Chakrata Incident, by Neville Sarony

The Chakrata Incident, by Neville Sarony

£9.95

Major Max Devlin, poised for a commanding post in the Royal Gurkha Rifles, is seconded to the SIS for a joint assignment with the CIA at Chakrata, the headquarters of India’s All-Tibetan Special Frontier Force, aka the 22s.

Together with his American counterpart, Devlin is tasked with training and preparing a newly formed elite unit of the 22s for covert cross-border ops inside Tibet, as part of a tripartite project funded by the US to monitor China’s ever-expanding presence in the disputed areas. What begins as a welcome escape for the desk-bound Gurkha officer at the MoD quickly becomes deadly toxic – and politically explosive.

A shamanic curse on the misogynist US Ranger risks torpedoing the mission. An Indian cabinet headed by a Sinophile premier and peopled by self-serving ministers is bitterly split on where national (read personal) interests lie. Into the mix come a ruthlessly ambitious Indian intelligence officer whose allegiance is unto himself and a bunch of local politicians bent on avenging the death of their salacious sons at the hands of Devlin and Deepraj.

Once across the Sino-Indian border, the SFF soldiers will be alone – unattributable and expendable if captured by the PLA or worse ‘the Filth’. Deep into and high on the Himalayas, they come face-to-face with death and torture. Caught in the spinning geopolitical web are three remarkable women – two Tibetan officers and a Moslem combat surgeon – whose courage, faith and skill will be tested to the limits in circumstances beyond their wildest imagination.

As for Devlin, faced with a call on his principles as a professional soldier and the realisation of his cherished ambition in the RGR, he must decide how the die is cast.

A prequel to The Dharma Expedient and Devlin’s Chakra, The Chakrata Incident is Max Devlin’s swansong as a British soldier, setting the scene for his and the trusted Deepraj’s intrepid adventures in the unforgiving terrain that is at the very heart of Asia.

About the author:

Neville Sarony is an Anglo-Irish barrister who served in the 7th Gurkha Rifles, graduated LLB (Hons) at the London School of Economics and was called to the English Bar. He spent two years in the UK’s Foreign Office before establishing the first foreign law practice in Nepal. He practised in London until 2000. From 1986 to 1998 he was chairman of a group of travel companies in Kathmandu. He is now a practising silk in Hong Kong and also has a home in Spain.

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