Appetite for Risk

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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It's 2004, Saddam Hussein is out of power and the focus is shifting to rebuilding Iraq (few have any idea of the insurgency just around the corner), which sounds great to John Pierce. He's a former Royal Marine trying to support his wife and two kids. He's done the typical security/investigations work, but that isn't really satisfying to him. He does have a few good contacts in or related to Iraq and decides to try to build a business there.

I intended to provide consultancy services to international companies, using local support and knowledge to help them win a share of the reconstruction contracts. Iraq needed everything after the West had sanctioned and bombed it to a ruin over the previous decade.

Despite the risks, there was never any real doubt I would go back. The siren call of adventure was drawing me inextricably to Baghdad. Now I'd started down this road, I remained determined to see where it would lead, hoping desperately that success would be quick to arrive.

My thanks to damppebbles blog tours for the invitation to participate in this book tour and the materials (including a copy of the novel) they provided.