The Magician of Lhasa

When novice monk Tenzin Dorje is told by his lama that the Red Army is invading Tibet, his country's darkest moment paradoxically gives him a sense of purpose like no other: he accepts a mission to carry two ancient, secret texts across the Himalayas to safety. Half a century later, in troubling and similarly paradoxical circumstances, Matt Lester is called upon to convey his own particular wisdom as a scientist, from London to a research incubator in Los Angeles.

Tenzin and Matt embark on parallel adventures which have spine-chilling connections. Tenzin's perilous journey through the Himalayas, amid increasing physical hardship and the ever-present horror of Red Army capture, is patterned by Matt's contemporary, but no less traumatic challenges, as his passionate relationship with Isabella and high flying career undergo escalating crises. It is at the moment when both Tenzin and Matt face catastrophe that their stories converge spectacularly, transforming our understanding of all that has gone before.

The Magician of Lhasa is a spellbinding tour de force, sparkling with the wisdom and magic of Tibetan Buddhism. A fast-paced drama based on historical events, it also offers a thrilling and profoundly life-changing perspective of our extraordinary potential as human beings to grow, to love, and to find enlightenment.

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Conflict of Interest

It's the job offer of a lifetime: £120,000 a year, a top-of-the-range BMW, and the chance to work with charismatic sportswear billionaire Nathan Strauss. But on the very day that Chris Treiger celebrates his new job, Nathan Strauss sends shock waves through the corporate world by falling off the balcony on his ninth-floor hotel suite.

Unable to back out of his job with Lombard, Britain's most powerful PR firm, Chris now finds himself reporting to Nathan's brother, Jacob, and his sinister spin doctor - a man whose loyalty borders on the obsessive.

Meanwhile, Chris's former lover, journalist Judith Laing, is investigating the bizarre death of a leading financial analyst whose body has been found after an apparent auto-erotic experiment gone wrong. Discovery that he was on the point of revealing damaging evidence about Chris's new bosses, she tries to warn him, but Chris refuses to believe her - until another death occurs.

Torn between disbelief and outrage that he might unwittingly have become part of a multi-national cover-up, Chris sets out to prove things one way or the other, immediately putting both his own life and Judith's in jeopardy.

Powering to an adrenalin-pumping climax, David Michie's fictional debut is a thrilling ride through the dark underworld of corporate PR, with more dazzling twists and turns than a spin doctor avoiding the truth.

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Pure Deception

From London to Los Angeles, in the high-stakes game of global celebrity, spin doctors reign supreme - and pure deception is par for the course …

No one is more surprised than Mark Watson, an amateur singer from South London, when he is talent-spotted by celebrity super-agent Hilton Gallo. The offer to record an album with rock icon Isis seems like an impossible fantasy. It's only after arriving in Los Angeles that Mark learns how in the world of celebrity PR, illusion and reality are dangerously entwined. Too late he discovers that his real purpose is to protect Isis from the devastating story of her past.

Meantime, animal liberation paramilitaries, One Commando, are ruthlessly campaigning against cosmetics firm Berkeley Square. The company's chief executive has been subjected to an attack of unspeakable savagery. No sooner is a Berkeley Square endorsement deal with Isis and Mark announced than the two stars find themselves in the terrorist group's sights.

Mark's dreams of fame and fortune quickly turn to surreal nightmare as he realises that only he holds the key to One Commando's end game. Can he second-guess the perverse plans of One Commando's enigmatic leaders? Will he succeed in his race against the clock? And what is Isis's terrible secret?

David Michie's second novel combines his insider knowledge of celebrity spin doctoring with another dazzling display of inch-perfect plotting and heart-stopping suspense.

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Expiry Date

'It would have been just another suburban tragedy - except for one thing.'

Weybridge, England: When Matt Norton's body is discovered washed up on a riverbank, it is the shocking end to a short and tragic life. Matt suffered from a rare ageing disorder caller progeria; still at primary school, he had the body of a seventy-five year old. His father Andrew can't believe it - especially when he learns that his son's death might not have been accidental ...

Washington, DC: Gene-therapy is as much as about spin as it is about research, especially on a project as exciting as NP3. For Dr Lorna Reid has discovered nothing less than the elusive elixir vitae: a miracle anti-ageing drug that puts back by decades the expiry date genetically written into our DNA. Lorna's work is a constant struggle between supplying good news stories to the company spin doctor and finding children with progeria willing to test her drug - a search not helped by the inexplicable death of one of her best patients . . .

Because not everyone is as thrilled as the media are by Lorna's scientific breakthroughs. Health insurers are all too aware of the devastating impact her work could have on their multi-billion dollar industry - an industry that some are prepared to go to any length to protect. And then there are the horrifying secrets she unwittingly uncovers in America's Deep South.

Unless she is extremely careful, the world's foremost anti-ageing guru is about to find her own life-expectancy drastically reduced . . .

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