I am thrilled to welcome Jenny Morton Potts to Books, Life and Everything today to introduce us to Scott Langbrook, the central character in her latest thriller, Just. There is also an International Giveaway for you to enter, where you can win one of 5 e-copies of Just. Details on how to enter are at the foot of this post. First, a little about the book:
How far would you go to save a life?
On golden Mediterranean sands, maverick doctor Scott
Langbrook falls recklessly in love with his team leader, Fiyori Maziq. If only
that was the extent of his falling, but Scott descends into the hellish
clutches of someone much more sinister.
‘Just’ is a story of love and loss, of terror and triumph.
Set in idyllic Cambridge and on the shores of the Med and Cornwall, our
characters fight for their very lives on land and at sea.
An unforgettable novel which goes to the heart of our
catastrophic times, and seeks salvation.
Welcome to Books, Life & Everything, Jenny. Over to you!
‘Scott Langbrook’ from the thriller ‘Just’
I’m Scott. I’m a newly qualified doctor and I grew up in
Grantchester. You probably know it from the tv show about the vicar. James
Norton, that’s him. I don’t look like James Norton. I’m slighter and blond and
considerably better looking. And I’m funny. He’s not funny at all.
I went to school at Fettes College. That’s where Tony Blair
went apparently. And James Bond. My dad was really excited about the Bond
connection. He’s dead now. My dad, I mean. He ran his car into a sleeping
elephant on a road in Botswana. The elephants do that a lot there, sleep on the
roads, because the air temperature drops so much at night and the tarmac stays
nice and toasty. The elephant that killed my dad was a whopper, the Chief of
Police said. When the car struck, Jumbo probably just rolled over and carried
on sleeping. But my dad never woke up.
So yeah, I’m Scott, but I’ve started to think of myself as
‘Langbrook’ because that’s what Fiyori calls me. That is Dr Fiyori Maziq, my
team leader at Reach which is a health organisation, a bit like Doctors Without
Borders. Everyone in my team is a doctor and my colleagues come from around the
world. They’re mostly a good bunch, except for Linnea from deepest Finland, who
jumps in front of the news cameras at the drop of a hat and thinks she’s going
to be the world’s greatest cardio thoracic surgeon one day.
We’re based in the Mediterranean and right now, we’re doing
Dead Body Management. Never was the phrase, Hey, it’s a dirty job but someone’s
got to do it, more applicable. This work is not for the faint-hearted. But in
fact, there’s a lot of heart in the task. A lot of reverence for the deceased
and a lot of goodwill between us doctors, when we’re not biting each other’s
heads off. When you see this stuff in the news, well, it’s just faces isn’t it,
silent mouths, bodies jammed into boats. But it’s not like that when you’re
here. These people, they’re just you and me, in a shitload of trouble. We have
to take care of them; fix them, hold them, bury them.
But my boss, Fiyori Maziq, oh dear God, where do I start.
Well, she’s a general surgeon, from Libya, but she studied in England. There’s
really nothing surgical she won’t tackle, in an emergency. Think I fell in love
the instant I laid eyes on her. I had a physical reaction, like a punch in the
chest, stardust in the eyes and yes, an overwhelming response in the groin. If
you’ve never been struck like that, with a coup de foudre, you won’t know what
I mean. I don’t mean that to be condescending (people sometimes think I am, but
that’s only my boarding school accent, it misleads folk) just… well, it’s like
asking someone to imagine how a strawberry tastes if they’ve only ever eaten
potatoes. Ok, I’m not great at analogies but I’d never had such a feeling of
love. Something inside me though, something very strong, told me to be scared.
Of course, we were all scared, all of the time; of the death, and worse of the
dying as it happened, and of the smugglers, of random snipers, of masked knife
wielders. The soldiers and police were no comfort. I could trust no-one. No,
not even Fiyori. It was all going on every day. Mayhem and violence. I never
told my mother. I said it was all safe and guarded where we worked. I guess I
got used to lying to my mum and then I told her the biggest lie possible. I
broke her heart and I can never forgive myself.
I think the reason I was so scared of the love I felt for Dr
Maziq though, was the instant realisation that I would never manage if the love
was not returned. And, it was not returned. And, I did not manage. But then an
opportunity came to prove my love for her, if I would just make the ultimate
sacrifice. So that’s what I did. And I got myself into the most terrifying
situation of my life. It took everything I ever thought I had and more, much
more, to survive.
Thanks, Jenny. It is great to meet Scott!
About the Author
Jenny is a novelist, screenplay writer, and playwright. After a series of ‘proper jobs’, she realized she was living someone else’s life and escaped to Gascony to make gîtes. Knee deep in cement and pregnant, Jenny was happy. Then autism and a distracted spine surgeon wiped out the order. Returned to wonderful England, to write her socks off.
Jenny would like to see the Northern Lights but worries that’s the best bit and should be saved till last. Very happily, and gratefully, settled with the family. She tries not to take herself too seriously.
Check out the rest of the tour!
Giveaway (International)
To be in with a chance of winning one of 5 x e-copies of Just by Jenny Morton Potts (Open Internationally) follow the link below and good luck!
*Terms and Conditions –Worldwide entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box
below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right
to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
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