Lane Cove Local Guy Hallowes Releases His Eighth Book – What A Tangled Web

Guy Hallowes is a long time Lane Cove local.  He is also an established author and his latest book is called What A Tangled Web.  Six of Guy’s books are set in Africa and two in Australia.

We asked Guy a few questions about his latest book.

What is What a Tangled Web About?

The main character is David Phillips. He has had a chequered career. His upbringing has provided him with an unjustified sense of privilege and entitlement, yet an inability to manage his life better.

Privileged and entitled, David Phillips, realised he had to mend his ways when he faced, not one, not two, but three, crossroad moments in his life. First, he suffered under the guilt of shouldering the blame for losing a crucial rugby game. Second he has to deal with the shame of a drunken episode with a woman who steals him blind during the night, and third, when he is confronted with the very real possibility of losing his place at Oxford university because of poor results.

Determined to reclaim himself and concentrate on his studies, David joins the SAS reserves. Initially treated with disdain by the hierarchy; he redeems himself by leading the team that rescues an SAS Sergeant – one of their own – from a group of terrorists.

With his appetite for risky enterprises whetted and possessing a unique ability to innovate solutions to difficult situations, David finds himself involved in a series of adventures, including a brief affair with the estranged wife of his commanding officer. He also leads a team of commandos to rescue a British ‘businessman’ from a group of Jihadis in Kenya..

Now married with two children, David finds himself at Webster’s, a large and successful financial advisory firm. He concocts a scheme to flush out the perpetrator of an attempt to steal highly confidential information. His subterfuge, in the guise of an apparently spontaneous office affair, has far-ranging implications that put his marriage, his career and even his life in jeopardy.

What a Tangled Web is an exciting contemporary adventure story dealing with a misguided sense of entitlement and the understanding of women’s need for recognition and fulfilment.

Why is the Book Set In Kenya?

I was born and brought up in Kenya.  My father had a farm in Keny in the so called ‘White Highlands’. For a while, our family fortunes prospered but the advent of Kenyan fight for independence in the nineteen fifties destroyed our family’s dream.

The family farm was lost when it was taken over by the British Government, as part of the 1963 independence settlement.

I was required to undertake National Service with a Kenyan Regiment.  After I finished national service, I celebrated my nineteenth birthday on the boat to England where I qualified as a Chartered Accountant five years later.

Returning to Africa, I then spent the next twenty years in South Africa and Botswana, working firstly in finance, and then in various general management roles with a major corporation. I travelled extensively in these countries, gaining a particularly intimate knowledge of the ‘non-white’ areas surrounding Johannesburg, whilst engaged in charity work.

Seeking a brighter future for our family, Guy, and my wife Diana and our four children we migrated to Australia in 1986. Following a management role in a major international FMCG company, I joined Harlequin, the publishers of Mills&Boon Romance fiction. After a restructure, I headed up the Asia Pacific team and ran the very successful Japanese operation, as well as introducing Mills&Boon into China.

I spent twenty years in publishing, including a stint as the Managing Director of Harlequin’s UK operations and four years in Toronto overseeing all Harlequin operations outside of North America.

Where Can You Buy Your Book?

The Book is available for Kindle and hard copy on AMAZON here.

It is also available at GoodReads here.