The Heart of Danger - 1995

Summary
In a wrecked Croat village, a mass grave is uncovered and the mutilated body of a young Englishwoman, Dorrie Mowat, is exhumed.

Her mother, who loathed Dorrie in life, becomes obsessed by the need to find out about her death. But the civil war tearing apart the former Yugoslavia, none of the authorities there or in Britain are interested in a 'minor' war crime.

So she turns to Bill Penn, private investigator, MI5 reject. For him this looks like a quick trip to safe Zagreb, the writing of a useless report and a good fee at the end of it. But once there he finds himself drawn inexorably towards the killing ground behind the lines, to find the truth of the young woman's death and, perhaps, the truth of himself.

Penn's search for evidence that could, one day, convict a war criminal in a court of law becomes an epic journey into a merciless war where the odds are stacked high against him.

Extract
"What do you want?"
She said, brutally, "I want those empty words thrown back down their bloody throats. I want them to choke on those empty words. I want that man before a court, I want to hear your evidence against him..."
She looked into his eyes, pitilessly. "Go back. Take him. Bring him. Bring him to where they cannot hide behind their empty words."

Reviews
"It's impossible to find fault with this book, which builds relentlessly to its climax. It has an intense feeling of authenticity and it's well written" SPECTATOR

"If you think modern popular fiction should address serious issues as well as entertain, then The Heart of Danger is unmissable" THE TIMES

"Vivid stuff. I write a fortnight after finishing the book and some of the scenes of pursuit and mindless cruelty still return to me" DAILY TELEGRAPH

"The prose is as spare and brutal as the action. What gives Seymour's novels another dimension is the sense of moral outrage" DAILY EXPRESS

Customer Review
"Topical (Croatia, former Yugoslavia) and very enjoyable....Seymour at his best...good suspense and excellent research, highlighting the atrocities committed by the Serbs and Croats..unfortunately let down by a predictable ending...I sussed it 2/3 way through the book...But nevertheless...I loved it."