Lorne Gifford’s The Andaman Express

---

Local author’s fictional tale on how close politics and the energy business can become

'Finn focused again on the problems of the seven men sitting around the table rather than the chaos that would envelop a country of sixty million when the lights suddenly went out.' writes Lorne Gifford in his first novel titled The Andaman Express.

Called in to investigate an unusual insurance claim, the book’s main character Finlay Nichols discovers something is seriously wrong with Thailand's offshore gas fields. He is propelled into an ultimate stakes game, in which he realises that if he can't solve the problem and stop the coming catastrophe then the 21st century's second energy war will ignite within days.

“I wrote the book for a couple of reasons.” explains Gifford “Firstly it was a way of not going mad during a period when I spent six months offshore with hardly a break. Imagine living in a dirty and noisy factory hundreds of miles from civilisation with nothing but other men for 6 months.

“Secondly I've been getting really bored reading novels about crime and detectives, or adventure novels in which the hero is an ex-SAS type working for a secret service who overcomes all the odds by being brave and heroic, and killing everyone.

“My novel is a new genre; the adventure novel in which the hero is an absolutely true to life character who would rather just make a few quid and forget about what he saw. Instead, though, he is drawn into a conspiracy by one rather nasty country (Burma) to royally screw its neighbour (Thailand) and in so doing trigger an energy crisis in which it will reap enormous rewards. The hero realises that the only way he is going to walk away with his skin intact is by stopping it.”

He continues “I picked the topic because the international oil and gas industry is something I know like the back of my hand, so I could work out a story and plot line that is totally realistic and hence totally believable.”

Lorne has just moved from Chiswick to Brentford’s Butts “Because my wife found a house that was four times the size for only twice the price! Believe me when I say The Butts is a small piece of heaven for Chiswick families that need a bigger house but don't have enough money to compete with the city boys and their bonuses!”

March 27, 2008