It is early 1942 and South East Asia is in flames. The Japanese invaders are at Java's doorstep when a load of pure gold is found left behind in a bank. To fly the gold to safety in Australia, a damaged airliner is hurriedly repaired, and a scratch crew hastily assembled. But the flight is haunted by bad luck. The gold is lost, and the few surviving crew members have to hide from the outraged authorities. Once the war has ended, they try to retrieve the gold, but their efforts are marred by misfortune, violence, and death. Their quest takes them from the heart of Java to the Sumatra jungle and a confrontation with Aceh insurgents. They survive years of perilous wartime flying over the Himalayas. And when they try to retrieve the gold, a murderous confrontation with pirates teaches them the hard way that the price of greed is human life.
About the Author: Robert A. Kingsley is a Dutch - Canadian author who currently works and lives in Europe as an independent ICT consultant. Robert is married and has a son and a daughter, both talented professionals in their own right. In September 2014, after several years of intensive research, he has published "The Odyssey", the first volume of "The Java Gold". This multi-part historical fiction story will take the reader all over the world and through half a century of recent history. In this series Robert combines his life-long interest in aviation and military history (especially World War 2) with local, on-site knowledge he has gathered during his travels all over the world as an international ICT consultant. The first two volumes of "The Java Gold" are largely set in the former Dutch East Indies. Not many books have been written about the turbulent post war years in that area and especially Indonesia. The Japanese invasion, the post-war struggle for independence and the general unrest in South East Asia serve as a fascinating background to the story. The idea for the book was born during a "steak and beer" dinner in a California micro-brewery. Robert had just come across a number of highly intriguing facts and events that had happened in Indonesia during and after the 2nd world war. 'I could write a thriller around them' he said and one of his closest friends dared him to do so. And he did...