The Sea on Fire

Howard Cunnell

The Red Sea off Egypt is the main setting for a suspenseful novel containing drugs, sex and violence which contrasts sharply with the beautiful sights and sensations described in the world beneath the surface. You also get to know all you ever need about the technicalities of diving which gives it a great authenticity.

Extract

At the beach we seemed to live and move in an accompanying and permanent haze of golden light .... Aqueous light, of course, beach light, and the variegated colours and radiance of sunrise and sunset in the tropics. The sky and the shore transformed by an intense but evanescent blood-orange or crimson light that overwhelmed me then and overwhelms me now .... If I shut my eyes I can see it now, sweeping down and softening the beach and the palms and the stoned sunset watchers in a cushioning purple haze.

Parallels