Normally the Book Circle doesn’t meet during the summer. However, part-time Javea resident Neville Sarony, who has just published a new novel in his military thriller series, is in town next month. Neville will be addressing us live at the Centro Social on Tuesday, 16 August, at the usual time (6:30 for 7 pm). Please join us! And stay on for drinks and tapas afterwards.

In Neville’s latest novel, The Chakrata Incident, Major Max Devlin is seconded to MI6 to train an elite new Indian force for covert cross-border ops inside Tibet as part of a US-funded project to monitor China’s ever-expanding presence. Devlin, previously a desk-bound Gurkha officer at the MoD, now has to contend with dangerous militia groups and unscrupulous politicians, along with three remarkable women. In the process he must choose between his principles as a professional soldier and his ambitions in the Royal Gurkha Rifles, where he is poised for a commanding post.  

The book, which promises an insight into geopolitics “on an Asian game board”, is a prequel to two other Max Devlin books. Neville was himself a member of the Gurkha Rifles, and also worked in the UK Foreign Office. An Anglo-Irish barrister and LSE graduate (Hons), he has practised law in Nepal, London and Hong Kong.

For those who can't make it in person, we will attempt to stream the meeting on Zoom. We've had good and bad experiences in the past with this, so fingers crossed. If Zoom doesn't work we'll at least try to record and post the audio.