A former Customs and Police Officer, Andrew Hill’s first book in a crime series set in the New Forest, where he lived for 30 years, will be published in Spring 2022. An avid reader across the crime genre and regular at crime writing festivals, he now lives in West Sussex and works in property.
Finn is just out of prison following a seven year stretch for an attempted hijack of a train load of Molybdenite. He has no intention of going straight as he’s an old school thief; a career criminal who enjoys the thrill of big scores, big jobs and big challenges.
Three of his gang of four, Jake, Asher and Corman have all done time for the same job, but the forth, commodities broker Wes Schiller was free and doing his thing on Wall Street. Schiller has a line on a new job for Finn and his team, sending his Personal Assistant Emily to act as intermediary.
The target is $50 million in Rhodium which is held in the most secure and high-tech private vault in the U.S. The problem is that some of the Rhodium is fake and this may become public knowledge in the near future, which means the price will tank so Schiller (who has a significant amount of Rhodium himself) could be left holding the baby.
The plan is to break into the vault, swap Schillers fake Rhodium with real Rhodium held by a rival investment firm. The plan is not theft per se, but substitution. Schiller plans to take a ‘short-position’ on Rhodium, and so will make their money that way as opposed to theft.
Finn recruits Nicola, a computer hacker to the team as the gang has to manage a way of getting in (and out) of the facility undetected which requires overcoming the vault’s state-of-the-art electronic surveillance. The team have to also deploy heavy lifting drilling equipment and guile.
The author delivers a pacey, well-researched and thoroughly enjoyable blue-collar take on the classic heist story, complete with well-fleshed out characters, double crosses, hidden agendas and a delightful dénouement.
