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Gone Without Trace |
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Ex-army captain Jay McCaulay can look after herself, or so she thinks.
She works for TRACE, an international aid agency that helps to track and unite families separated by conflict,
and her old job with the Royal Signals seems far away.
Until she spots someone from her past.
It is a past that involves Zamira, a beautiful young girl whose life Jay saved in Kosovo -
a past that clashes with the present when Milot Dumani, an organised crime bass from Albania,
appears on the streets of Bristol.
Jay's specialist knowledge as a soldier and translater means she is the perfect candidate for an M16 mission to trail Milot,
but Detetive Inspector Tom Sutton isn't happy. He's just asked Jay to marry him and doesn't
like the fact she is teaming up with the enigmatic Max Blake from SOCA.
Max has a dangerous reputation and Tom doesn't trust him an inch.
When Jay hears Zamira has vanished from her home in Macedonia - possibly trafficked into the UK - Jay's mission becomes personal.
Thrown into a world that inspires paranoia, where brutal Mafia thugs give no quarter,
and where her family and loved ones are threatened, Jay is forced to confront a trail of murder,
corruption and evil that has entwined itself from Eastern Europe into the heart of her home country,
or risk losing everything she has ever held dear.
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Extract |
Jay put her head on one side and looked at them each in turn.
‘Oh dear,’ she said. ‘It looks as though we have a stalemate, because until I know who you are and why
you’ve brought me here, conversation is out.’
More silence.
She gave them another thirty seconds or so and then she picked up a chair and took it to the window.
Sitting down, she concentrated on her breathing to try and bring her blood pressure under control.
Breathe in and hold, breathe out. And repeat. As she breathed, she came to a decision.
For as long as it took, she would sit here in silence and let them fester. She refused to be intimidated.
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The minutes ticked past.
Behind her she heard the older man clear his throat. ‘I’m Patrick Kingsman.’
She glanced across at him.
‘I’m with the foreign office.’
He gestured at the sandy-haired man on his left. ‘This is Alistair Ingram. And this –‘ to the woman ‘-
is Laura Sharpe. Both are on detachment to the foreign office.’
Her spirits promptly plummeted. For foreign office, she thought glumly, read M16.
She’d been kidnapped by spooks.
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Background |
I chose to set my book in the UK because not only did I want to get to know my home country better,
but I wanted to understand organised crime and the huge impact it has on our society.
Also, human trafficking has been in the news a lot lately, and I didn’t fully understand how anyone promised a fantastic job in
London could end up as a sex slave. Surely they could run away? Go to the police? But when I went to Macedonia
I realised it wasn’t that easy.
The girls are lied to about everything, and fed stories that the British police will beat them and throw them into
jail if they’re found without the right papers. Not being able to speak English, and terrified of the authorities,
they’re immediately trapped into a life of degradation and fear.
When I left Macedonia I saw an advertising campaign trying to alert women that the ads for ice-cream
vendors during the summer months in London were scams. How many impressionable young girls will get the message
remains to be seen, but the more we talk about this issue, and write about it, then the more chance we have that
they’ll hear what really happens when they come to the supposed land of plenty.
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Audio Clip |
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Reviews |
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'Loved it. Hard, fast and real - a solid gold A-grade thriller with a tremendous story and a great lead character . . .
Capt. Jay McCaulay is going to be one of the best.'
Lee Child |
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'Well-researched, shocking, moving and exciting, Gone Without Trace shows that a British writer can take on the most vigorous of the Americans.'
Times Literary Supplement |
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'The story moves along at a terrific pace. Carver’s best book to date, and as the first four were terrific, it makes this a “must read”.'
Mystery Women |
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'Jay McCaulay is gutsy, resourceful, and a little short of bionic – something like a female James Bond, but none the less likeable for that. A former captain in the Sigs, she works for the aid agency TRACE, which helps to track and re-unite families separated by conflict. In Gone Without Trace, she tracks down Zamira, a young Macedonian girl who has been wooed away from home with false promises and ended up as a sex-slave in London.
Carver doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the terrible, soul-destroying fate that awaits trafficked women; her descriptions of Mafia thugs and the lengths to which they will go to protect their business interests are brutally realistic. The setting is convincingly international – the plot moves between Eastern Europe and the UK, and Carver, unusually, is equally at home in both locations – and the action sequences are second to none.
Some readers may feel that the book is wrapped up a little too neatly at the end, but that never stopped James Bond. Let’s hope it doesn’t stop Jay McCaulay, either – she is a splendid addition to the gallery of robust Action Women.'
Laura Wilson |
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'A terrific page-turner. Heart-stopping action and a heroine with guile as well as guts.'
Harlan Coben |
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'CJ Carver’s fifth novel is unquestionably one of the most thrilling rides any reader is likely to experience.
Taut, sharp and deeply disturbing at times, here is a novel guaranteed to keep the midnight oils burning through until dawn . . .
Not only does CJ know how to entertain and thrill with her writing, she also informs in a way that is never dull or lecturing.
All of the events – and circumstances – held within the pages are true and the power of her descriptive prose makes readers want to find out more and to try and prevent the horrifying trade that is human trafficking.
This is a truly wonderful read.'
Chris High, freelance journalist |
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