Sharkman: A True Story
by Tom Vater
Black Coffee Book Tours
June 11-14
In 1992, mechanic Peter Hauser and two friends bought three old cars and set off from southern Germany to cross the Sahara and drive to Togo, where they planned to sell their vehicles.
They never reached their destination. The young, free-wheeling adventurers were ambushed by Tuareg bandits on the Algeria-Mali border, kidnapped and disappeared into the vast nothingness of the desert.
Thirty years later, Peter Hauser lives in a tent between jungle and ocean on a remote archipelago in Southern Thailand. Every day, Peter heads out into the deep blue to swim with tiger sharks, apex predators and masters over life and death, to find out what fear means to all of us.
Universal link for the book on Amazon
About the Author
Tom Vater is a writer and editor working mostly in Asia.
Tom has published six crime novels. In 2022, he sold the film rights to his debut novel, The Devil's Road to Kathmandu, to 108 Media.
Tom has written some twenty non-fiction books, including the bestsellers Sacred Skin with Aroon Thaewchatturat, and Cambodia: A Journey through the Land of the Khmer with Kraig Lieb.
Tom's work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Times, The Guardian, Nikkei Asia, CNN, Marie Claire, Geographical, Eco-Business, The Mekong Review and many others. He is the Thailand Daily Telegraph destination expert and has authored guidebooks on Thailand and Cambodia.
He is the co-author of three documentary screenplays, including the highly praised The Most Secret Place On Earth, a feature on the CIA’s secret war in Laos.
From 2012 to 2021, Tom was co-owner of Crime Wave Press, a Hong Kong based crime fiction imprint which published 36 novels.
Review
This very brief account of three men’s adventure in Africa just shows again what human persistence can do when you stay positive. Trails can test our strength and send us into a tailspin, but these three men really stood together, showing determination and hope.Africa can be very harsh; its elements alone can be a very intimidating to foreigners. Add some human elements with guns into the equation can break your spirit. In Sharkman, we see how the three kept it together.I found the writing very simplistic and to the point, with no real emphasis on the emotional element of it all, and I struggled to really get involved in the characters’ lives. Nevertheless, an interesting story of adventure while getting to know the most beautiful destinations.
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