The number of deaths attributed to "conflict" or "blood diamonds" diamond mining is in the millions. Slave labor has always been used to mine those diamonds, the working conditions left the workers dead and maimed. Whole indigenous cultures were destroyed around the places that were unlucky to have the diamond mines.
The amount of research that went into writing this book must have been staggering. Starting with the mining of the diamonds, it traces them all the way until they become the jewelry you could have bought and worn. Every place the reader visits, has its background history outlined in much detail. Yet it is a fictional novel, be it rooted in reality.
This fast paced and thought provoking thriller is about the reality of Blood Diamonds and their place in the lives of greedy and corrupt men.
Fomenting global conflict is child's play to them and anyone who gets in their way is simply collateral damage, as they pay off politicians and destablize countries in their lust for power and wealth.
So why is Colette, a successful author in New York, interested in these glittering gems; and why is her ex-husband Basil Mortimer, an investment banker, determined to harm her.
Is it because Basil is part of a Cartel that is involved in this depraved trade? Or is it because Colette is trying to build a life with Emile, an architect she has met.
As Basil unravels and Colette's life is threatened, she and Emile stay one step ahead of him and the Cartel which moves to protect their interest in this lucrative trade. The story takes the reader from New York to Tel Aviv, Russia, Monte Carlo, Africa and Europe highlighting the enormous contrast between those who exist in untold misery to provide these tiny stones for those who can afford them.
Will Colette's friend who is an ex-CIA agent; and Emile's mysterious influential Uncle; be able to save her from Basil and the Cartel?
"I thoroughly enjoyed the read and recommend it to anyone wanting to read a book of real substance and quality. Here is your chance to catch a rising star." - Dennis Waller, the successful author of Reflections.
Blood Diamonds Conspiracy is definitely for fans of Matthew Reilly and Barry Eisler.
http:www.yvonnecrowe.com
Excerpt
Prologue – Sierra Leone 2001
Night time stole across the land like a thief, robbing it of the light, bringing with it fear. No less fear than in the daylight hours, no less fear of reprisals, fear of life, fear of death, fear for her children, fear of fear.
Little more than a child herself, Mardea looks with sorrow upon her four children. All were starving and ill. The eldest boy and girl suffered from AIDS, passed on to them from herself and the soldier who had raped her. The dead lay where they fell as most of the villagers were too ill to remove them. Water, which had to be carried for miles, was polluted with the dead.
The middle son was racked with fever that made him sweat and had turned yellow, as the village lacked even the very basic tenets of hygiene. They all had dysentery, as did she herself. The baby was starving, as was the entire village. She has no milk for the child and there were no clinics to treat them for any of their ills.
“Quiet, quiet,” she anxiously hushes the children. “Quiet or Mwabe will hear you and steal away your souls.”
Their souls have been stolen by the greed of an elite network of political, military and commercial interests seeking to maintain its grip on the main mineral resources, diamonds, cobalt, copper, germanium found in the Government-controlled area. This network has transferred ownership of billions of dollars of assets from the State mining sector to private companies under its control, with no compensation or benefit for the State treasury.
Mardea and her four children are doomed. They are at death’s door and no-one cares. There is a lack of political will governing the situation in Sierra Leone. No-one hears their pitiful cries and Mardea wonders why she was born into this life of misery and pain. It is beyond her comprehension that the destabilisation of her country is essential to the elite network’s goals and is helped by great powers from the strong white countries far away.
Mardea is only seventeen years old.
Her crime was to be born in an area surrounding lucrative diamond mines. To be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mardea's husband Tomah had been kidnapped and taken to the diamond mines twenty miles from the shanty town they live in. The rebel army had driven everyone away from the village, but she had been too ill to take her children and leave. By some miracle, they had left her alone, probably because they knew soon she and her children would be dead. She could not gather crops for them to eat, and even if she had been able to, the rebels had burned most of the villagers” homes and crops.
Without Tomah she was helpless.
Mardea is very lonely and very frightened. Her parents are dead of starvation, malaria and dysentery. No-one cares. Her brothers and sisters are dead or ill. Mardea is one of the living ghosts existing in the ghost town. She has never known security, laughter, a full belly, the life of a normal child. These are irrelevant to the greedy.
What had she done to offend the Gods, or even the Christian God she had tried her best to embrace and understand. The missionaries had told her he was far kinder than Mwabe and that he loved her” So far, she had not seen much evidence of that. Her tired soul could find no rationalisation for her miserable life. “Suffer the little children to come unto me,” she had been told. Well she had tried to get to him, but he did not seem to listen or care and she had endured more suffering than one human being should have to. What kind of God could design such a world?
Although it is dangerous outside and she is very ill, Mardea drags her disease ridden and aching body outside the stinking mud hut in which they exist. She is too ill to clean it anymore. Just a little peace from the crying and misery of her children is all she craves. A little peace for herself. The silvery moon shines across the land and she can hear the weak howling of starving dogs. High above a carpet of stars glitters in the firmament shone brightly when the clouds parted for one minute and she wonders at such beauty, recalling stories told about the diamonds Tomah now mined. Tales were told that the diamonds were taken far away to white man’s lands, glittering like those stars.
“What are these diamonds? Why would they want them?” she wondered. “They are just dull pieces of glass. Stories tell of how the white man, cuts and polishes them and they shine brighter than the stars in the heavens above. If you could hold one of those stars in your hand, could you eat it, could it keep you cool or warm, could it cure you from your pain and suffering? Why were there so many deaths because of them?”
Uneducated as she is, she has no idea what diamonds mean to the rest of the world. Her parched, fever ridden body felt the cool night air and for the merest fraction of a second she found relief. Suddenly she doubles over and her body heaves. There is nothing to come up, just more racking pain and fever.
Dimly through her pain, she hears whispering and footfalls, but they pass her by as she is no threat. Dimly, through her fear, she hears the rumble of vehicles and is afraid. They pass through the village and in the day light hours, one runs and hides from them for they bring danger. Now she can no longer run, so she keeps the children and herself indoors in the vile stink of the hut. She can no longer venture out to forage for any scraps of food or water and so they await the peace of death. Life is too painful to want to grasp and hold on to.
Professional Reviews
Diamonds Are a Warlord's Best Friend
This book, "Blood Diamonds Conspiracy," is an extensive research into the blood diamond trade wrapped in the fictional confines of a novel.
Blood, or conflict diamonds, are defined as those that are mined and sold in order to fund armed conflict - civil wars, rebellions and putsches. Profits from the trade in conflict diamonds have reached billions of dollars and those profits have been used by both warlords and rebels to buy weapons for their armies. This trade in blood diamonds fueled wars in Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone.
Some wars are over, like those in Siera Leone and Angola, some have quieted down, like in Congo. In their place, new conflicts spring up. Diamonds from rebel-held areas in Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) took their place.
The number of deaths attributed to "conflict" or "blood diamonds" diamond mining is in the millions. Slave labor has always been used to mine those diamonds, the working conditions left the workers dead and maimed. Whole indigenous cultures were destroyed around the places that were unlucky to have the diamond mines.
The amount of research that went into writing this book must have been staggering. Starting with the mining of the diamonds, it traces them all the way until they become the jewelry you could have bought and worn. Every place the reader visits, has its background history outlined in much detail. Yet it is a fictional novel, be it rooted in reality.
Colette, a successful New York writer, is having marriage issues. Her husband, Basil Mortimer, a British banker, has become more dismissive and possessive than Colette can put up with. What Colette does not know, is that Basil is a member of Cabal, a mysterious organization that pulls the strings of the blood diamond trade. Colette's story seems, while compared to the rest of the narrative, pretty minor. However, her storyline does bring the novel's other plotlines to a logical conclusion. There is a bit of romance in the book as well, and some adventure.
Still, I think the biggest pull of this book, its main selling point, is the history of the blood diamonds. I was left with one thought after I finished reading this novel - as long as there are wars in the lands rich with diamonds, there are going to be diamonds covered in blood. The book is a good, informative read.
A Very Stimulating and Intelligent Read
I think I have read everything Yvonne Crowe has written and even now, I am still amazed, entertained, and impressed at her depth of ability as an author to bring us such wonderful work. The first thing I noticed about this ebook is the fact that it is a "real" book. It is nice to see "real novels" on Amazon Kindle by great authors like Yvonne Crowe at a great price and Yvonne delivers the value with this book.
Another point to the book that is impressive is the amount of exhaustive research that must have gone into it. It is obvious while reading that Yvonne wrote with unbridled passion and a burning desire to leave no stone unturned. I found several chapters to be eye-opening as I was unaware of such things and enjoyed learning about these things. This book has a very diverse plot that covers the globe and touches all aspects of life.
The paradox of this book of fiction is while it serves as an escape from the trials and tribulations of life by providing an excellent read, it also at the same time, informs the reader to real issues affecting real people today. I love the way Yvonne brings together fiction while adding a sense of awareness to these profound issues, that in itself is a true art form.
Rather than go into the plot, since that is covered by other reviews and in the book description, I would like to impart my impressions; this is a stimulating read that is done in a very intelligent manner that did well in holding my attention while satisfying my need to be entertained.
For someone not familiar with the works of Yvonne Crowe, this is an excellent place to start. While her book, The Magdalene Conspiracy, is considered her cornerstone book, this book might make a run at that title. I thoroughly enjoyed the read and recommend it to anyone wanting to read a book of real substance and quality. Here is your chance to catch a rising star.
Great Stuff
A good strong political thriller
I was pleased to see another book released by this author, as I am enjoying her works. I particularly like suspense thrillers and found Blood Diamonds Conspiracy a story that moved at a good fast pace and held my interest to the very end.
The characters are believable and what makes it more interesting is that it is a book of our times which is obviously meant to make us think about the world we live in.
This is a story of a jealous and possessive man who has a need for revenge and in doing so endangers not only his ex wife's life but that of a group of unsavory characters with whom he is involved in the illegal trafficking of blood diamonds.
The story rockets across continents and the devastation left in the wake of this illicit practice which touches many lives. It makes you think about our own lives over which we have control and those in other countries who have none at all.
What interests me about Yvonne Crowe is her ability to write in different genres.
I'll certainly be looking out for her next book which according to her website is due out shortly.
A touching, loving and spirtual insight of the dying process, filled with peace, smiles and starting on their journey, taking me with them as far as I could go, returning back with something I didn't have before. Will be out early in 2010..on Kindle
There is no mystery on this journey to hell. You are witness to the crimes dealing out the death sentences... each justified by one of the seven deadly sins.
Enter a glamorous world controlled by one of San Francisco's ultra-wealthy socialites an
Raised on Black and White TV is Carol Denise Mitchell’s intimate, unflinching memoir of growing up in a world where television became both a refuge and a mirror. Through the glow of classic black‑and‑white programs, she learned about fami
