Strangled Silence

Another brilliant story from the bestselling Oisin McGann, author of the critically acclaimed Small-Minded Giants and Ancient Appetites.When pretty, talented and very ambitious Amina Mir manages to land a newspaper work experience placement she thinks it might just be making coffee and following-up tame stories. But then, when by chance she's sent to interview Ivor MacMorris, a veteran of the war in Sinnostan who's just won millions on the lottery, but bizarrely hasn't spent a penny, things start to get interesting . . . and dangerous. Ivor thinks he's been made to forget what happened in Sinnostan. He believes false memories of how and why he lost an eye have been planted in his brain and that he's being followed by threatening faceless people. At first Amina thinks Ivor's suffering from some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder, but soon Ivor, conspiracy theorist Chi Sandwith and events persuade Amina that she could have stumbled into one of the biggest and most terrifying cover-ups ever. "Beyond the huge domed roof of Ash Harbour, deadly storms and Arctic temperatures have stripped the Earth bare. Resources are limited and access to power is all-important for the aggressive industry giants." "When sixteen-year-old Solomon Wheat's father goes missing and is accused of murder, he's desperate to uncover the truth. Searching through the under-city's skeletal maze, Sol's every move is watched by the menacing Clockworkers and the mysterious Dark-Day Fatalists as he tries desperately to find his father." "Even more sinister secrets are exposed when it becomes clear that the Machine which keeps the fragile city alive is running out of power. All of a sudden, the future of Ash Harbour rests on the shoulders of one young man and his unlikely accomplices. Can Sol take on the city's underworld and survive?"--Back cover While working as a newspaper intern, Amina Mir interviews a veteran of the war in Sinnostan who is convinced that someone has tampered with his memories. Amina is skeptical, but when she meets a conspiracy investigator who has interviewed dozens of soldiers, all telling the same story, she realized she may have stumbled into a terrifying government cover-up. After two years, eighteen-year-old Nate returns home to the family empire ruled by his father, the ruthless Wildenstern Patriarch. But Nate's life is soon shattered by his brother's death, and the Rules of Ascension, allowing the assassination of one male family member by another, means he's being blamed. He knows that he is not the murderer, but who is? Beyond the huge domed roof of Ash Harbour, a city built inside a hollowed-out mountain, deadly storms and Arctic temperatures have stripped the Earth bare. When sixteen-year-old Sol Wheat's father goes missing and is accused of murder, Sol sets out to find out why, and in doing so uncovers the harsh reality behind Ash Harbour. A student works with a former soldier who believes that someone has interfered with his memories while her brother's school is using a computer game that is teaching him fighting skills