Dugald Bruce-Lockhart

Desperate to learn more, he travels to Athens, but his pursuit is intercepted when MI6 intervenes, coercing him into a high-stakes espionage mission – to infiltrate a suspected mafia operation intent on abducting his son. As the chase unravels across the Mediterranean, Alistair has a chilling revelation, could the spectre of his past be returning to taunt him? Could the answer lie in that fateful, deadly summer on Paros five years ago?

Obsessed with his ex-girlfriend, Alistair Haston heads off to Greece, where she is on holiday. Mugged on the harbourside in Paros, he is robbed of everything. So when Ricky a charming Aussie, shows up and offers Alistair a job recruiting tourists to pose for his wealthy boss, Heinrich, a charismatic, German artist, Alistair accepts. He soon realises that it is more than just painting that Heinrich has in mind. Swept away on a tide of wild parties, wild sex, fine food and drugs Haston sheds his reserve and throws himself headlong into the pursuit of pleasure. Until, the body of a missing tourist is found and the finger of blame points to Haston. His world collapses. Arrested but allowed to escape, the body count piles up and Haston finds himself on the run by land and sea on a journey more breathtaking and more frightening than his wildest dreams.

Five years after witnessing murder on the Aegean island of Paros, Alistair Haston receives a call from Greece, from a man claiming to be his son's grandfather, but Alistair has no knowledge of a son....until now. Desperate to find out more, Alistair heads to Athens to track down Amara, an ex-girlfriend. On arrival he is ambushed by MI6, who confirm the existence of his son Max, and reveal that he is the target of a kidnap plot by Greek mafia with their eyes on Amara's substantial inheritance. Shaken and determined to find Amara and Max, Alistair reluctantly agrees to help the British and Greek authorities. But there are so many questions to be answered. Is Max really his son? What is the role of Xander, Amara's playboy husband? How involved is Amara's seedy half-brother? Who ultimately can Alistair trust? As the chase to find the kidnappers moves from Athens to Zakynthos, and on to Cyprus, in the searing heat, it dawns on Alistair, that this abduction could well be related to that deadly summer on Paros five years previously...

'Bruce-Lockhart ramps up the tension and the result is a read-at-a-sitting page-turner. - Best Recent Crime Thrillers, Guardian. You ll be swept up in the hedonistic pursuits and the sun-drenched world of sex and drugs, compelling you to finish this book in one go. - Marie Claire. An impressive debut . this riotous chase through the glories of the Greek Islands is entertaining . - The Observer. The Lizard has been optioned for a six part television series. Obsessed with his ex-girlfriend, Alistair Haston heads off to Greece, where she is on holiday. Mugged on arrival in Paros, he loses everything. So when a charming Aussie, shows up and offers Alistair a job recruiting tourists to pose for his wealthy boss, Alistair accepts. It doesn't take long to discover that it is not just painting the boss has in mind. Swept along on hedonistic tide of wild parties, wild sex and plentiful drugs, he revels in the pursuit of pleasure. But when the body of a missing tourist is found, all evidence points to Haston. Arrested but allowed to escape, the body count piles up and Halston finds himself on the run by land and sea on a journey more breathtaking and more frightening than he could ever imagine.

Heavy Pencil is an actor's handbook, now in its second edition, offering fresh insight into the world of storytelling along with concise, practical advice on rehearsal and performance technique, focusing in particular on Shakespeare and exploring the notion that the route to good acting and story telling lies above all else in the actor's ability to play the text - that the actor need look no further than the text to 'find his character' because the text itself is the 'character'.It is not only useful for the drama school graduate about to enter the professional world of acting but also for the seasoned professional actor who wishes to have a concise reminder of the key points that make for effective storytelling. The first part of the book is in part a philosophical approach to what it means to be an actor and the strange and fickle world we enter as professional story tellers. In particular it addresses the whole notion of what it means to be a 'successful' actor in a world where work is scarce and recognition of 'good acting' by the rest of the world is reserved to a few fortunate individuals picking up prizes at televised award ceremonies. It makes the point that success - as in all walks of life - is about a state of mind and an approach to one's work. The second half of the book concentrates on practical advice for rehearsal and performance and includes a series of exercises at the end of the book for the actor to explore what has been written and discussed throughout.The key thrust of the argument is that in a text-based play, the text is the most important factor in the room. The acting IS the text. Without the text there are no actors and there is no story to tell. All one's actions, motivations and objectives are bound up in the text and all the actor has to do is to excavate the text - like a geological dig - and the blueprint, the performance 'map' will be revealed.Actors over-complicate matters with their 'acting' - the truth of the matter is that effective storytelling is easier than we think. The key lies in our ability to deliver the text.