Sweet Thorn - David Pickup - Bog

Erik Magnussen is a wealthy refugee with an untenable martial arts skills living in the Western United States. He is travelling to the wilds of South Africa to start a new life but becomes embroiled in a political plot to murder two very important men who own vast diamond fields in Kimberley. He refuses to become involved and as a consequence is attacked a number of times but survives the attacks through his knowledge of martial arts and unarmed combat. His prowess with firearms is also vital to his survival. He befriends a street girl urchin who escaped from an English penal ship transporting convicts and orphans to Australia. He also meets and fall in love with a widow woman who is waiting for her late husband's estate to be finalised. Then, the widow is kidnapped by the plotters in an attempt to force Erik to comply with their demands for him to be the sniper that kills the two wealthy men.