Amazon Announces Douglas Stewart's Latest Book 'Hard Place' As A Best Book Of The Year

Amazon has just announced ‘Hard Place’ as A Best Book of the Year, so far, which puts author, Douglas Stewart up there with the ‘crème de la crème’ of thriller writers. It has also been pronounced a Best Book of the Month on Amazon USA.

Reviews on the site proclaim the book to be ‘a great read with a fast paced story line’, ‘a well-researched novel that provides fascinating insight into the world of drugs and international gangs’, and says readers are ‘looking for more of this author’s titles’.

Stewart has written over a dozen books in the crime/thriller genre. “They reflect my love of travel, political intrigue, my fascination with fraud and white-collar crime, wine, casinos, sport and Formula One racing,” he says. Stewart is obviously comfortable in this sphere and was in his previous career a solicitor involved in cross-border commercial issues. It is this experience that gives him unique insight into the dark underbelly of high finance and has enabled him to paint such a realistic portrait.

Stewart told foreign correspondent for the BBC and best-selling author, Humphrey Hawksley, “A reviewer of one of my previous books wrote, ‘he makes us think, but still entertains us.’ I aim to strike a happy balance between escapism and reality with my writing.”

“I first thought of becoming a writer when I was at Cranbrook School in Kent. The renowned international thriller writer, Hammond Innes, came to speak to us - I was hooked!” It was several years before Stewart followed his dream and was first published as an author but now he is working on an Anthology, featuring his protagonist, Detective Inspector Todd ‘Ratso’ Holtom.

Detective Holtom is a serial character, sleuthing in the gumshoe footsteps of Hercule Poirot or Jack Reacher and is set to become a household name as well. Watch out for the Prequel which can be downloaded on Amazon and the soon to be published full length story.

Detective Inspector Ratso continually finds himself in ‘hard places’ or tight spots and the reader is always eager to see just how he will get out of these jams and where he’ll turn up next. The truth behind how he got his nickname is as colourful as his adventures. “I was into the little darlings like a rat up a drainpipe…and there was some truth in that. But that wasn’t where the nickname came from. No way!  Some cheeky sods say I look like a bleedin’ rodent an’ all but truth is, it involved a derelict building, a sick bastard with a sawn-off and years of playing cricket. Nuff said, eh?”

To find out how Ratso really got his nickname go to http://www.douglasstewartbooks.com .