** 'Shukman skilfully blends his genres: political intrigue, drug lords and South American militia edge this novel towards a contemporary Boy's Own adventure in the style of Buchan or Rider Haggard, while the poetic prose harks back to Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS ... A powerful debut' DAILY MAIL ** 'A gripping story of adventure, casual treachery and intrigue' GUARDIAN ** 'The adventure is matched by the beauty of the descriptive writing' INDEPENDENT ** 'Shukman skilfully blends his genres: political intrigue, drug lords and South American militia edge this novel towards a contemporary Boy's Own adventure in the style of Buchan or Rider Haggard, while the poetic prose harks back to Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS ... A powerful debut' DAILY MAIL ** 'A gripping story of adventure, casual treachery and intrigue ... We want to pray for Jackson's safe passage as he pursues a penitent's journey across a forbidding landscape that is not only brilliantly evoked, but is also a moral and philosophical entity in itself' GUARDIAN ** 'Exquisite ... A big, hearty work that is both gripping and intensely moving. Shukman's breathtaking, lyrical prose propels a pacy plot which, at its most visceral, becomes cinematic in its scope. On the strength of the writing alone, this is a contender for book of the year ... The echoes of a Conradian geographical and psychological journey into the heart of darkness are obvious but Shukman is adept at blending genres and this is a also a tale of political intrigue, espionage and, ultimately, a love story' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY ** 'The protagonist, Jackson Small, is the archetypal adventure hero: handsome and strapping, artistic, noble-natured and possessed of an uncanny knack for surviving unaided in the jungle' NEW STATESMAN ** 'Shukman proves himself a master of driven narrative and psychological drama ... At times the prose has the terse muscularity of a Hemingway adventure, at others an almost biblical thunder, underscored by touches of Graham Greene ... Jackson's trials in the jungle present one of fiction's most gripping descriptions of human distress. The physical landscape is omnipresent, the inner dreamscape haunting and dire. This is Shukman pushing his talent to the edge' SCOTSMAN ** 'With enough gunfights and explosions to spark a bidding war for film rights, this might seem like Boy's Own stuff. But Shukman is also a fine poet and travel writer, and the adventure is matched by the beauty of the descriptive writing' INDEPENDENT ** '[A] gripping tale of adventure and passion set against an evocative Latin American backdrop' WANDERLUST ** 'Breathtaking prose' TATLER ** 'Shukman has a poet's eye for detail' TLS ** 'His skill in rendering detail vibrantly alive is apparent; it's the closest you'll get to the sensation of a rainforest jungle adventure without buying a ticket to Chachapoyas' TIME OUT ** 'Paints the steamy jungle as a territory beyond the borders of human knowledge' METRO ** 'Haunting ... After reading this, though I have never been within a thousand miles of a rainforest, I feel certain that this is exactly what it must be like' INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY ** 'Reinforces Shukman's reputation as a writer known for superb evocations of place ... The characters are redolent of Graham Green's creations ... Jackson's journey towards the light, both physical and emotional, invests Shukman's story with dignified resonance' THE TIMES ** 'A gripping story of adventure, casual treachery and intrigue ... brilliantly evoked' GUARDIAN

Henry Shukman is British and lives in the US. He is the highly acclaimed author of two previous collections of stories and a book of poetry.