Out Of The Line Of Fire

Winner, 1988 Barbara Ramsden Award Winner, 1989 NBC Qantas New Writers Award Winner, 1994 ACT Literary Award When Wolfi, a brilliant young philosophy student, begins recounting his life - from his inquisitorial father and passionate mother, to his eccentric grandmother who paid for his sexual initiation with the beautiful Andrea - we are lured into a mysterious and erotic maze. But what in fact is fact, and what in fiction is fiction? Brilliantly seductive, Out of the Line of Fire was the literary sensation of the year when it was first published, in 1988. Mark Henshaw has lived in France, Germany, Yugoslavia and the USA. He currently lives in Canberra. His first novel, Out of the Line of Fire (1988), won the FAW Barbara Ramsden Award and the NBC New Writers Award. It was one of the biggest selling Australian literary novels of the decade and has been re-released as a Text Classic. The Snow Kimono won the 2014 NSW Premier’s Award for Fiction and Mark Henshaw was the 2015 winner of the Copyright Agency’s Author Fellowship. 'A dazzling debut. A tour de force. This book is imaginative, virtuosic, and awesomely assured. It is compulsive reading.' Don Anderson 'Experimental, extraordinary...Out of the Line of Fire, published in 1988, remains one of my favourite Australian novels.' Stephen Romei, Australian ‘An Australian writer heads to Germany, where he gets strong doses of philosophy, violence, taboo sex, and unreliable narration...The novel feels like an id laid bare, and Henshaw keeps the story in line while constantly pointing out the limitations of words to capture reality. A remarkable and brainy work of metafiction.’ STARRED Review, Kirkus ‘A clever and playful text, offering both a decent story that includes quite a few sordid episodes and behaviour as well as lofty (but accessible) literary and philosophical speculation, and more than a few mysteries...It’s an interesting take on the literary-philosophical novel, with a deceptively light writing touch that differentiates it from most continental novels playing with similar tricks. The scenes, the asides, and the speculation are, both separately and together, good (if sometimes somewhat creepy) fun, and Out of the Line of Fire is a smart and smartly twisted novel.’ Complete Review

Andy McNab's action-packed series featuring ex-deniable operator Nick Stone returns with Line of Fire. Nick is back in London, but if he thought he was home for a break, he’s very, very wrong. Backed into a corner by a man he knows he cannot trust, Stone strikes a devil's bargain. In exchange for his own safety – a life for a life – Stone is charged with locating someone who doesn’t want to be found, currently hiding out in one of the remotest corners of the UK. And for the first time in a long time, he’s not operating alone. But Stone and his team don’t find just anyone. They find a world-class hacker, so good that her work might threaten the stability of the western world as we know it. These are dangerous waters and Stone is quickly in over his head. Before he finally knows which way to turn, the choice is ripped out of his hands. Most people might think of home as safety but Nick Stone isn’t most people. For him and his team, it’s just another place to get caught in the line of fire...

It is almost unprecedented for a head of state to publish a memoir while still in office. But Pervez Musharraf is no ordinary head of state. As President of Pakistan since 1999, his is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, and he continues to play a crucial role in the global war on terror. A one-time supporter of the Taliban, a general who fought in several wars, President Musharraf took a decisive turn against militant Islam in 2001. Since then he has survived two assassination attempts; rooted out militants in his own government; helped direct countless raids against al-Qaeda both in his cities and in the mountains; and tracked Osama bin Laden with technical and human intelligence. IN THE LINE OF FIRE is astonishingly revealing and honest about dozens of topics of intense interest to the world. Among its many revelations: exactly how Pakistani authorities tracked down and smashed three major al-Qaeda control centres in the mountains; how al-Qaeda's many-layered structure was revealed after the assassination attempts; Bin Laden's current position within the al-Qaeda hierarchy; what it has been like to deal with Bush and Blair; how Pakistan and India have avoided nuclear confrontation; and much more. The terrible earthquake of 2005, killing nearly 40,000 Pakistanis, is just one chapter in a life and career that has been filled with danger and drama. The worldwide launch of President Musharraf's memoir promises to be a sensation.

Attorney Faith Lawton steps outside the courthouse. Shots ring out from a nearby rooftop. The concrete around Faith explodes with expended bullets as a pair of strong arms pulls her back into the building…. Faith Lawton welcomes the strong embrace of chief of detectives Adam Guthrie—for the moment. His fast actions save her life. But it's nothing personal. They're adversaries in the courtroom and out—in spite of their often sexually charged exchanges. Now Adam's convinced she was the target, and that the shooter may strike again. Despite her protests, he's out to find the gunman. And until he does, Adam isn't about to let her go….

Nothing bad ever happens in Raymonds River, Nova Scotia. Its a safe, small town, where everybody knowsand trustseverybody else. When a pillar of the community is found dead in his own barnyard, people get a little concerned. When they find a bullet in his head, people get scared; who would shoot an old farmer on his own land? Understandably, even quiet, small town folk are prone to hysteria now and again. Homicide Detective Sergeant Jim Mcdonald and Corporal Scott Bowen are called to the scene of the crime. Although they dont always work together, they make a great team when homicides the name of the game. The local law enforcement comes up with a likely suspect: a religious fanatic who claims he has God on his side. But theres no motive, which causes Mcdonald and Bowen to start asking questions. Their questions rile up the God-fearing suspect, and soon, he wants a deal. In exchange for what he knows regarding a so-called accidental hunting death in the area, a year prior, the suspect wants to go free. He claims there was nothing accidental about it. Is their religious fool playing the crazy card, or could he really know something that might just tear the safe, small town of Raymonds River apart?

Line of Fire brings to life a desperate mission of World War 2 that captures the drama and courage of the men who fought it. Two Marines, reporting on Japanese air activity, are trapped on a small Coastwatcher island. A special rescue team is assembled to save them—under enemy gunsight. It is an exciting and powerful story of real heroism that only W.E.B. Griffin could tell...

Across Canada peace officers put their lives on the line every day. From John Fisk in 1804, the first known Canadian policeman killed in the line of duty, to the four RCMP officers shot to death in Mayerthorpe, Alberta, in 2005, renowned true crime writer Edward Butts takes a hard-hitting, compassionate, probing look at some of the stories involving the hundreds of Canadian law-enforcement officers who have found themselves in harm’s way. Some, like the four RCMP officers who perished in the Northwest Territories on the "Lost Patrol" of 1910, died in horrible accidents while performing their duties. Others, such as the Mounties involved in the manhunts for Almighty Voice and the Mad Trapper of Rat River, found themselves in extremely dangerous, violent situations. One thing is certain about all of these peace officers: they displayed amazing courage and never hesitated to make the ultimate sacrifice for their fellow citizens.

The little known and intriguing WWII story of an eleven-year-old Australian schoolboy who was shot by the Japanese in Rabaul in 1942 as a suspected spy - a compelling story of spies, volcanoes, history and war. In May 1942, in the town of Rabaul in the Australian territory of New Guinea, five Australian civilians were taken by Japanese soldiers to a pit at the base of a volcano and executed as spies. A mother, her brother, her husband and her friend. And her 11-year-old son. Who were these people and what had led them to this terrible end, under the shadow of a volcano? Acclaimed 4th Estate author and award-winning science journalist Ian Townsend has uncovered a fascinating story that sheds new light on a largely forgotten but desperate battle fought on Australian territory. The Australian Government, unable to reinforce its small garrison, abandoned more than 1500 Australian soldiers and civilians as ‘hostages to fortune' in the face of the irresistible Japanese advance. Set against the romantic, dramatic and ultimately tragic backdrop of Rabaul in WWII, this is a wholly intriguing narrative of Australian history, military conflict and volcanology, woven together with the story of one ordinary but doomed Australian family.