Corrigan’’s Wars

An idyllic vacation at a beach resort in Thailand turns into a nightmare for a group of tourists when they are kidnapped by local insurgents and carried off to captivity on a remote island. Their captors, under the leadership of a Palestinian militant, demand millions for their release. An aging and cynical U.S. embassy staffer in Bangkok struggles to provide a solution to the situation, but finds himself thwarted by political indifference, diplomatic policy and departmental turf wars. He has to turn to his own resources and experience to follow the vague clues pointing to the hostages' possible whereabouts. As the situation in the remote island prison deteriorates, and execution by their captors becomes imminent, the hostages turn to a battle-scarred Iraq war veteran amongst them to lead them through the crisis.

Stan Hirst was born in South Africa and received graduate education in ecological science. He worked for governments and aid agencies in Thailand and other developing countries in south-east Asia and Africa for more than thirty years. He lives in Vancouver, Canada. This is his first work of fiction.