Customer Reviews

Disputed Territory

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With the global oil industry finally and deservedly becoming a fashionable topic in media and entertainment circles, Disputed Territory is well worth a read.

Steering away from current popular cliches about the Middle East and insurgent Muslim fundamentalists, Disputed Territory is set in the less well known but equally enthralling location of the South China Sea, where a small entrepreneur is using less than legitimate methods to increase the value of his company, irrespective of both the political situation and the real results of his company's offshore exploration well. Drawn into all this, the hero of the tale is a disillusioned British geologist, whose troubled personal life and budding romance with a local bar girl form a credible and effective counter-plot to the main tale of derring-do on the high seas and in the jungles of Burma............

This ability to switch focus from high adventure and knockabout drama to a sensitive portrayal of personal dilemmas is really Disputed Territory's big strength, and lends the book a humanity that it might otherwise have lacked. Mr Santez's skill in setting a scene sparingly and effectively provides evocative images of offshore rig life, beachside tropical languor, hard-edged nightlife, and the primitive power of the South East Asian rainforest. The finale has shades of Apocalypse Now, but brought up to date in a very gritty, internationally flavoured manner.

The writing is also pervaded by a distinctive earthy humour that makes you think that despite all the cliches of greed, dirt and political shenanigans, the oil industry is really rather a fun place to be.