White Crocodile

March 2, 2015
In British author Medina’s absorbing but flawed debut thriller, mine-clearer Tess Hardy, newly arrived in Cambodia, quickly comes to understand why the villagers outside Battambang believe in the White Crocodile—a traditional Cambodian symbol of death. A veteran of five years with the British Army’s Royal Engineers in Afghanistan, Tess can’t ignore the almost palpable sense of menace as, under the cover of a new job with a humanitarian organization, she surreptitiously tries to investigate the death of her estranged husband, Luke, in a mine-clearing accident six months earlier. The author, like her powerful protagonist a former troop commander in the Royal Engineers, convincingly evokes a heartbreaking place that seems to bring out the worst in people ostensibly there to do good. She’s less successful integrating the secondary story line of a murder investigation in Manchester, England, or resolving the suspenseful but overly complicated plot. Still, this is a grim tale with grisly details you won’t soon forget—even though you might prefer to. Agent: Will Francis, Janklow & Nesbit (U.K.).

April 15, 2015
Mysterious disappearances, danger, and death converge against the exotic backdrop of post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia in Medina's debut effort.Medina, a former member of the British armed forces, takes her alter ego, Tess Hardy, to the jungles of Cambodia, where impoverished villagers live in fear of a killer they call the White Crocodile. Tess has enlisted with the MCT, a charitable mine-clearing agency that rids the fields of some of the thousands of mines left behind by the Khmer Rouge, who slaughtered countless Cambodians. But Tess didn't really go to Cambodia to clear mines: she came to find out what happened to her former husband, Luke. Cruel and abusive during their marriage, Luke left a cryptic message for Tess before his death, and although she was relieved to be out of the marriage, she still wants to know the truth about him. When Johnny, another mine cleaner, is badly injured in an explosion, Tess goes back to the field and finds a second, more deadly mine had also been planted. Even though it failed to explode, she realizes that someone or something is murdering both villagers and mine clearners. Meanwhile, in Manchester, England, two detectives-Wessex and Viles-are probing the death of a young woman whose body was found in the woods. The book takes place over eight consecutive days, and Medina weaves together the two different, but interconnected, stories. The book's real plus is the peek it allows into a world few Westerners see: the ravaged society the Khmer Rouge left behind in Cambodia, with rampant poverty and hunger, as well as the dangerous, deadly job assigned to mine cleaners. Medina struggles the most in the book's beginning and end. The story's early pages are confusing, as if it took time for the author to gain traction, while the final pages suffer from the opposite problem and come off a bit rushed. A heart-rending look at a culture decimated by the cruelty of the Khmer Rouge.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 15, 2015

British army veteran Tess Hardy lands in Cambodia to work with a mine-clearing organization, but she has another agenda. Her violent ex-husband called her shortly before his death in a minefield in the same area, and he sounded terrified. Shortly after her arrival, there's another accident. The locals are increasingly convinced that the minefields have been cursed by the mythical White Crocodile and death awaits anyone who ventures into the uncleared fields. At the same time young, single mothers are being murdered and others are vanishing altogether. Hardy continues her covert investigation and her lethally dangerous duties as she tries to determine which colleagues she can trust. Back in England, a police inspector discovers the body of a young woman who just may have ties to the very region in Cambodia where Hardy's job is taking place. VERDICT Fans of thrillers set in exotic locations will enjoy the lush, tropical setting of this debut. The twin dangers of deadly mines and a killer who moves among them will appeal to readers who prefer tension and humidity thick enough to cut with a knife.--Dan Forrest, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2015
After three tours clearing mines in Afghanistan, Tess Hardy easily secured a troop commander position with Mine Clearance Trust (MCT) in Battambang, Cambodia. But she hasn't told her new team that she's really there to investigate the suspicious death of her violent ex-husband, Luke, who was killed while disabling a mine for MCT. Tess finds that the field the team has been clearing is marked with a white crocodile, a harbinger of death in Khmer culture. Luke was killed in that field, and teenage mothers from surrounding villages have gone missing, mysteriously abandoning their babies. When the white crocodile again targets MCT engineers, Tess is determined to connect the attacks to Luke's death, but the secrets she's unearthed about her coworkers have assured her she's surrounded by plausible killers. Medina, a former Royal Engineer, successfully weights the suspense with disturbing glimpses of civilian mine casualties and a dose of Armaments 101 in this tense debut. Readers will want to see outspoken survivor Tess again, especially those who like Zoe Sharp and Dana Haynes.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)