"With the passing of each day, he felt further away from his family and the world he knew. It was as if the plane they boarded in Toronto two weeks ago had touched down on another planet altogether. Perhaps even a different galaxy."
The Discarded is the debut crime thriller by Louis van Schalkwyk, riveting and compulsive. One chiller of a thriller.
The Blurb:
Ellis Neill wakes up next to his family one morning, just as he had done for the last ten years, unaware that it would be his last taste of freedom.
His life soon spirals out of control and he is cast into a remote prison in the Arctic wilderness where nothing is as it seems, the inmates rule and a sinister figure wants him and his family dead.
Resulting from carefully laid plans he is plunged into a fight for survival, sanity and saving those he loves.
Since returning home from the war, Ellis Neill is trying to rebuild his life and come to terms with the devastating events of the past. He loves his wife and daughter, who are the driving force of his life.
One day he arrives to work at the garage, to find himself surrounded by the police and arrested on murder charges.
"The victims in this double homidice are Stephen Thatcher and his wife Stella. Stephen was a highly decorated Justice of the Crown and almost exclusively dealt with high-profile crimes... He was straight as an arrow and absolutely incorruptible".
Ellis knows he is innocent, but all the evidence is pointing at him.
"Ellis Neill was found guilty on all counts and twenty minutes later judge Reiner sentenced him to life imprisonment without any possibility of parole".
In shock, Ellis is taken to the remote jail in the North. His transfer is done swiftly and in secret, mysterious circumstaces, and he doesn't have a chance to even say Good bye to his wife Cynthia and daughter.
His family has no knowledge of what's happened to him. All the queries fail. "Somehow, all the doors had been slammed in their faces and bolted down... To Cynthia it began to feel like her husband had simply been erased off the face of the earth and in the authorities' version of events, his family was just expected to let go and get on with it".
On the flight to the destination, Ellis meets an older man, Bobby, who appears quite upbeat and friendly. Bobby describes the prison,"It's pretty much the Arctic. The jail is about thirty miles from the town. Long-timers call it the Ice Box".
The area they arrive to looks wild and inhospitable.
"Ellis surveyed the world outside - not much apart from wilderness, trees and the white blanket of snow that was getting thicker by the minute."
He has to adapt quickly to the rules of the jail in order to survive.
"There were two rampant gangs at Stone Hill and between them nothing happened inside the prison walls without their knowledge and approval".
The situation Ellis finds himself in, is full of danger at every step.
"Deep down, contrary to all the rationalizations that his mind could come up with, Ellis knew he was going to die if he remained inside these walls, and soon too. There was only one solution - he had to get out of here. But how?... He was trapped like a rat in a cage, waiting to be discovered and disposed of."
His only way to stay alive is getting out of the confines of the prison.
Someone is out to get his family as well. Ellis has to overcome the impossible.
"He ascertained that, as his family had been his driving force in everday life, they had now become his motivation to keep going. Solving this puzzle and all attempts at proving his innocence would be secondary endeavours because without them he would have no desire or drive to perform the latter... he knew that, up againts these nameless and faceless people, he would have to pull out all the stops to get the job done, regardless of how wrong it would seem ot how much his morals and values kicked against it".
Who is behind the murder plot? Who's framed Ellis and is after his family? Someone would go to any lengths to protect the truth.
Ellis is the victim of the flawed justice system.
If you enjoy books about the corrupt justuce system, organised crime gangs and their internal wars and conflicts, you will find this book gripping. The themes of the lure of the ultimate power, the hazards of being at the top of the game, allegiance to the family, greed and corruption make this book a compelling tale. This book will make a great Netflix series.
The ruthless mafia boss Vito Lombardi is one of the villains of the story. He "had assumed the throne as the new boss of the Camorra clan's Toronto wing, receiving with it all the power and prestige that he had worked for his entire life". He's not the romanticised conflicted hero of The Godfather. Vito is pure evil, sadist without any redeeming qualities.
"Since Vito took over the reins following his father's demise he had tried almost everything to prove his loyalty, and that he was the only obvious choice to lead. Acts of ruthlessness in the name of justice and vengeance for the family were rife".
The story is dark, nail-biting and unsettling, with a perfectly structured sequence of actions.
I enjoyed the descriptions of the desolate scenery. The landscapes are so atmospheric, you can almost smell the snow and fill the chill. The snow covered forest on the cover of the book gives you a chilling taste of the harsh and unforgiving terrain. The escape from prison through the wilderness of the Arctic Canada is daring and dramatic.
The Discarded is a tense and action-packed thriller. Suspenseful, gritty and utterly engrossing.
Potential triggers: murders, sadistic torture, child abduction.
This post is part of the blog tour for The Discarded.
Many thanks to Louis van Schalkwyk, Kinglsey Publishers and Rachel's Random Resources for my e-copy of the book!
Purchase Link - http://mybook.to/thediscarded
Author Bio – Louis van Schalkwyk was born in South Africa and currently resides in Hong Kong. “The Discarded” is his debut novel, inspired by years honing his writing skills and drawing influence from his favorite authors. When Louis isn’t writing he enjoys reading and sampling various cuisines with his wife, Courtney.
Social Media Links –
Author
https://www.facebook.com/louisvsauthor
https://www.instagram.com/louisvsauthor/
https://mobile.twitter.com/louisvanschalk3
Publisher
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/kingsleypublishers/?hl=en-gb
Twitter - https://twitter.com/kingsleypublis1
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