The Devil’s Magistrate

 The Devil’s Magistrate

Author: Alex Gardiner

If you hide your past, it will surely come back to haunt you.

Living a respectable life in Cheltenham as a magistrate and property landlord, former agent and terrorist Tariq Al Hashmi falls into such a trap.

With Libya’s Colonel Gadaffi no longer a moving part of the Axis of Evil and the Irish Troubles on the back boiler, what could go wrong?

His days as an embedded sleeper agent with a hidden fuse ready to be lit are surely over. But complacency proves an unreliable companion. Those in the secret world he once occupied have long memories and other ideas. Unexpectedly his world starts to fall apart and Hashmi’s former spymasters try to manipulate him in ways he could not have imagined and for purposes, he can only guess at.

Author Alex Gardiner’s remarkable debut thriller is written with inside knowledge. The plot’s twists and turns are spiced with intrigue and complexity that will keep the reader guessing until the very end.

“Alex knows what he is writing about. He’s been there and done it. I’m proud to have soldiered with him.”

Andy McNab CBE DCM MM DArts.

“A vivid portrayal of a man whose past obliges him to find a way through the private terrors and shifting loyalties of the secret world. The author clearly knows his subject.”

Aimen Deen, MI6’s former top spy inside Al Qaeda

“This is an enthralling read. Alex weaves a high octane story about redemption, and physical and moral courage set in a landscape where menace lurks a few steps behind and no one is coming to help you. There are no rules and the consequences of failure are stark.” Colonel Tim Collins OBE

Paperback

Size: 198 x 129mm

Extent: 312 pp

Publication: 20 June 2022

ISBN: 978-1-910533-65-9

E-Book: 978-1-910533-66-6