The Angolan Clan (Book 1 in the African Diamonds trilogy)
I put this book in the same class as Barbara Kingsolver's "La Laguna" and Richard North Patterson's "Exile". The pulling together of the threads of the revolution of the carnations in Portugal with diamonds from Angola, to the murder of a millionaire business man in Marbella, ensures a thrilling story mixed with historical fact. Difficult to put down.
(Barry Nay)
About The Angolan Clan (Book 1 in the African Diamonds trilogy)
1974/5: After the Revolution of the Carnations, Portugal is transformed into a communist state. Capitalists are ruthlessly persecuted and the liberated Portuguese colony of Angola is thrust into one of the bloodiest civil wars in history. The fabled Angolan diamond mines are closed down, but not before a group of refugees escape with a hoard of the precious gems. Their lives promise wealth and success, but a legacy of revenge and greed will eventually find them all, with fatal consequences. 2008: A millionaire businessman drowns in the swimming pool of his mansion in Marbella; a wealthy Frenchman is killed while skiing in the Swiss Alps; and a Portuguese playboy and a prostitute are found murdered together in a seedy New York apartment.
The series of seemingly unconnected deaths sets two women Jenny Bishop, a young English widow, and Angolan born Leticia da Costa on a terrifying journey into the past to revisit the Portuguese revolution and the Angolan civil war. Together they begin to unlock a 30 year old mystery that promises to change their lives forever if they survive to reveal the truth.
The Angolan Clan takes the reader on a heart-stopping roller coaster ride, from past to present and back again. It is a deadly intercontinental treasure hunt laced with secrets, deceit and murder. The prize is a fortune in Angolan diamonds…or death at the hands of a pathological killer.
