What's the book about?
The Prole Soldier is set in a dystopian near future
Theo lives and works in the Blue Zone of Rainbow City.
He is almost sixteen at which age he will begin four years conscription – military or mines. He wants neither. He hates his life and despises the cruelty, injustice and inequality that prevails.
When the opportunity arises for Theo to be involved in the fight for change he grabs it, knowing that failure will cost him everything.
My review -
I came to know this author as the writer of crime/mystery/thriller stories. This isn’t so much a change of genre as a widening of the horizons, as there are crimes, thrills and mysteries enough for anyone in here.
This rather grim, futuristic story shows how people can be inured to injustice and feel unable to question their lot in life. If they have no rights, and have never had them, they have no belief in their own ability to take their futures in hand and make their own decisions. If they’ve been threatened by external forces and told that their needs are catered for and the authorities are protecting them, they come to believe it. All it takes is one boy with a belief in justice and a hard-won knowledge of the unfairness of the system and things can be changed. Theo is a catalyst for change and the story is totally gripping and has a few heart-stopping moments that I thought he could never come back from. The story ends in a satisfying way, but I’m so glad that this is the first part of a trilogy. I’ll certainly be reading more.
Who is Oliver Tidy?
Crime writing author Oliver Tidy has had a life-long love affair with books. He dreams of one day writing something that he could find in a beautifully-jacketed hard-cover or paperback copy on a shelf in a book shop. He’d even be happy with something taking up space in the remainder bin, on a pavement, in the rain, outside The Works.
He found the time and opportunity to finally indulge his writing ambition after moving abroad to teach English as a foreign language to young learners eight years ago. Impatient for success and an income that would enable him to stay at home all day in his pyjamas he discovered self-publishing. He gave it go. By and large readers have been kind to him. Very kind. Kind enough that two years ago he was able to give up the day job and write full-time. Mostly in his pyjamas.
Oliver Tidy has fourteen books in three series, a couple of stand-alone novels and a couple of short story collections. All available through Amazon (clickable link to Am Author Page). Among his books are The Romney and Marsh Files (British police procedurals set in Dover) and the Booker & Cash novels, a series of private detective tales set in the south of England and published by Bloodhound Books. Oliver is back living on Romney Marsh in the UK. His home. He still wakes in the night from time to time shouting about seeing his books on a shelf in Waterstones.
You can buy The Prole Soldier from Amazon UK here or from Amazon US here.
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