Product Description

What lies ahead is already here...America is a difficult place to live below the surface. But Gabriel and Michael Corrigan are trying to do just that. Since childhood, the brothers have been shaped by the stories that their father has told them about the world in which they live. After his mysterious disappearance, they have been living 'off the grid' - that is, invisible to the intrusive surveillance networks that monitor our modern lives. But no-one is as invisible as they would like to believe. Nathan Boone, a mercenary, has been tasked to hunt down the brothers. The only person who stands between them and certain death is Maya, a tough young woman playing at leading a normal life. But her background is anything but normal. She has been trained to fight and survive at whatever cost. When she is summoned to protect the brothers, she must leave everything behind if she is to succeed...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48340 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Sometimes--not very often--a debut novel comes along which marks out a new writer as a consummate craftsman, seemingly fully formed with that first book. The Traveller is such a book; the mysterious John Twelve Hawks is such a writer (his publishers give no information about him, except that he ‘lives off the grid’).

The first thing that strikes the reader about this unusual novel is its ambitious panoply, which is as exuberantly international as one could wish, moving through a vividly realised Prague, London and Los Angeles. His characters are disparate but characterised with great individuality, such as the brothers Gabriel and Michael Corrigan, who have been brought up in Los Angeles under the mesmerising spell of their fey father; he appears to possess certain unnatural powers. After he dies a violent death, the brothers vanish off the grid of society, living in a clandestine underworld. Meanwhile, in London, Maya is a self-possessed young woman whose everyday life conceals a strange secret: she is the last of a dynasty whose responsibility is to protect those in the human race who are differently gifted. She is called to Prague by her sick father, and learns about Gabriel and Michael, whose lives are now in serious danger. In California, a desperate race against time begins: who will track down the brothers first--the protective Maya or the murderous Boone?

Readers tired of the parochial thriller that has held sway in Britain for so long will embrace this intoxicating (if outrageously unlikely) novel with open arms. True, a certain suspension of disbelief is required, but Twelve Hawks is the kind of writer who is able to persuade even the most sceptical among us. A remarkable debut.
--Barry Forshaw

New York Times
‘Page-turningly swift with a cliff-hanger ending…A cyber 1984’

From the Inside Flap
In the shadows of our modern society, an ancient conflict between good and evil is being fought. A life-and-death battle we will never see, between those who wish to control history and those who will risk their lives for freedom and enlightenment…

Los Angeles: A city where you have to work hard to live beneath the surface. Gabriel and Michael Corrigan are trying to do just that. Since childhood, the brothers have been shaped by the stories that their mystical father, a man of strange powers and intuition, has told them about the world in which they live. After his violent death, they have been living ‘off the grid’ – that is, invisible to the intricate surveillance networks that monitor our modern lives.

London: Maya, a tough and feisty young woman, is playing at being a citizen, is playing at leading a normal life. But her background is anything but. Trained to fight since she was a young girl, she is the last in a long line whose duty is to protect the gifted among us. When she is summoned to Prague by her ailing father, she learns that Gabriel and Michael’s lives are in danger and are in desperate need of protection.

Prague: Nathan Boone, a disciplined and amoral mercenary, watches Maya leave the meeting with her father before brutally killing him. Tasked to hunt down the Corrigan brothers, he tracks Maya as she seeks to fulfil what turns out to be her father’s last command. When Maya flies to California to find them, an extraordinary chase begins, the final running battle in the war which will reveal the secret history of our time…

Customer Reviews

Fast paced entertainer.
I liked the premise of someone able to live 'off the grid' and was surprised that not only does the main character achieve this but so does the author. I hope he writes a book on this too.
A riveting read that did grip me as a genuine page turner despite one or two characters not warranting the attention they got. Didn't realise as I was reading The Traveller that sequels are planned, but am already looking forward to these.
If these sequels cover in greater details the worlds secret history and the organisations behind the veil then I would imagine I will be gripped by these too.

Fascinating and potentially a good series.
Welcome to the Grid. We live in the grid as normal members of civilisation. The Tabula (amongst themselves called The Brethren) oversee activities in the Grid (think Big Brother and 1984) and their ambition is to have complete control of the whole world via the Grid. Active Harlequins and Travellers live off grid to stay alive. There is a lot of history to learn during the book and it is well explained without spoling what is happening.

At the start of the book we are introduced to a Harlequin who has not yet crossed the line (read the book to work this bit out) and thus has been left alive by the Tabula. Unfortunately a call by a relative (also a Harlequin) leads the harlequin into active attention from the Tabula pushing her across the line and onto a quest to find and save some possible potential travellers. The Tabula, due to new plans, want a live traveller and the end of the harlequins at all costs. This puts the head mercenary onto the job and we are involved in the trials and tribulations which result.

This book is apparently Book One of the Fourth Realm. The great thing about this book is based on surveillance systems already in place or close to being implemented in western countries. For a first book it is ambitious and very much in-depth. I look forward to the next one.

10 out of 10
Easily got hooked on this book, the descriptions and story lines are just incredible. Each chapter even manages to draw you in even more, and I found it hard to put the book down. A book worth making into a movie trilogy. Already purchased 3 copies for my close friends.

The story line enables the reader to question the world we live in, and how easily we are led by the powers in charge, and also how easily we are quick to believe certain things we are told.

John Twelve Hawks has a hard job ahead of him with the trilogy. Very eager for the trilogy and I will be the first in line to buy them, a must for my collection.