Books with author Richard Mantel

Only months after escaping from Frenchy Duval's band of cut throat pirates (McAlister's Way), Danny McAlister and Angela Holyman are once again thrown into a thrilling, helter-skelter adventure in their tropical, South-Sea paradise. Following only the flimsiest clues they embark on a perilous treasure hunt in a desperate struggle against old enemies in order to save the lives of new friends. WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE MCALISTER SERIES: "Waiting for the sequel" "McAlister's Spark is a fast paced, action riddled, amazing read you will struggle to put down" "A great action read for teenagers and great graphics......a great literary effort".

In an instant the developed world is destroyed and plunged into anarchy. Can Zach McAlister, Karen Davenport and Mike Farrow survive as they're thrust into a feral and deadly new order? Not only must they come to terms with their Stone Age environment and the use of only Medieval technology, but also face the terror of marauding tribal gangs, whose only method of survival is violence and conquest. Will they be able to forge a future themselves and their descendants? The question can only be answered through their courage, determination and friendship. But, is that enough? --------------------- Set in Australia, this is the second in the McAlister series and has "On the Beach" meeting "Mad Max". A thrilling and entertaining read for especially teenagers and young adults. Action and adventure abounds which keeps you turning the pages.

The 4th book in the McAlister Line: After recovering from injuries suffered at Dien Bien Phu, Danny is straight back into action in Saigon via Taipei.The 17th Parallel has just been created with the communists to the North. But South Vietnam is awash spies and agents from the CIA, MI6 and other secret service types from the West, but especially Russian, Chinese and with North Vietnamese infiltrators, all vying to fill the, soon to be, power vacuum currently being created by the French who are starting to pull out of Indochina.Still flying for CAT airlines, commonly referred to as the most shot-at airline in the world, Monty and Angela join him as they plunge headlong into another non-stop, breathtaking odyssey which spreads across five continents, landing in one desperate scrape after another. Finally all three make heart-breaking decisions which ultimately define their true allegiance.

For lovers of the Action and Adventure genre but equally for young adults (YA) - the 5th book in the McAlister Line takes us back in time and explores the American branch of the McAlister line.Set against the panoramic backdrop of New Mexico, Sonora, Arizona and California in 1867, Jubal Quinn is desperate. He is a black trooper in the newly formed 10th Cavalry accused of murdering a white man. Behind bars and doomed to hang, his only chance is to escape from the stockade with the help of Billy Songbird, a wayward, half-breed, Kiowa teenager. Hot on their heels is Lieutenant Sam McAlister, a man whose devotion to duty has turned to obsession. Blasting a trail of blood headlong through the Southwest, not even the love of a beautiful Mexican girl can deter Sam. The chase can only end when either he or Jubal Quinn is dead.

The Wealth — SynopsisFrom the pen of Richard Marmam, an exceptional Viking Coming of Age YA novel…….While hunting close to his home of Hollowford, fifteen-year-old Henry discovers a pair of mysterious talismans on the bodies of two warriors who’ve been killed by a wolf pack. Accompanying his mentor Archer, the town reeve, Henry travels throughout his peninsula homeland, investigating the secret amulets.During their adventures Henry and Archer discover the amulets belong to a band of marauders know as Starkmen who plan to attack Hollowford. The Starkmen consider the talismans their wealth which they use as currency. The Starkmen form an alliance with Hollowford’s arch enemy Olag Blackaxe and his thugs from Velma.After a stiff battle the Hollowford militia defeat Velma’s horde, but fail to stop the Starkmen kidnapping Ayla and Macayle, wife and daughter of Hollowford chief, Gareth. Macayle escapes, but Ayla is carried off to sea in one of the Starkmen’s wolf-ships.Without sea-going vessels, Gareth takes five warriors and gives chase overland. Meanwhile Henry and Macayle are joined by mariners Edrid and Anshelm and forge a plan for a seaborne route to track down the Starkmen and save Ayla.A rip-roaring chase ensues with Gartheth’s veteran warriors meeting enemies aplenty, pitting their wits and strength against all odds. Henry’s party face an equally dangerous path in their quest to rescue Ayla and thwart the Starkmen. Yet even greater perils lurk at every corner, with each challenge proving more insurmountable that the last.Ultimately our heroes face a seemingly unconquerable foe at the gates of a hostile alien city.With no magic or special skills, Henry must prove his right-of-passage with only his wits, courage and determination. With the friendship of his companions and pet wolf, will Henry survive in a cruel realm which makes no concessions for youth or innocence? Vicious villains are everywhere and Henry seems doomed, but help may be at hand in some surprising places.The Wealth is feast of high adventure, including graphics masterfully illustrated by the author.

On his seventeenth birthday, New South Wales farm boy, Callan McAlister joins the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and is swept away to war.His first taste of blood comes from an unexpected enemy in the Sinai Desert, before being shipped to Gallipoli. Callan receives a shock while convalescing in peaceful, idyllic Ireland during the Easter of 1916. But the Western Front awaits all before his nineteenth birthday.Callan falls in love with a lovely English beauty, Ivy Brown, but their path to happiness is neither easy nor pre-ordained. A lowly Australian private soldier is viewed with doubt and disapproval by Ivys aristocratic family not to mention Callans chances of surviving the brutality of the Great War.An offer to join the fledgling Royal Flying Corps (RFC) may be Callans chance to escape the endless mud-filled trenches, infested with rats, lice, trench fever and foot-rot, and tormented by German machine-gunners and artillery bombardments.But, with minimal training, an RFC pilots life expectancy is tenuous at best. Ivy also experiences her baptism of fire as an ambulance driver for the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY).Callan and Ivys struggle reaches its startling climax in an air race to the far reaches of the British Empire where law and justice are the domain of the most powerful and those ruthless enough to go to any lengths to achieve their desires.If you read only one book set against WWI during its centenary anniversary, make it McAlister and the Great War. This novel, ranging across a truly global canvas, explores many fascinating and thrilling historical incidents that occurred during the tragic conflict.

While trolling through the family’s past, Zach and Angela uncover the story of how the first McAlisters came to Australia. It all started in the quite Dorset town of Cerne Abbas during the Napoleonic Wars. Vicar’s daughter, Christina Proud marries smithy, and sometime smuggler, Will Jenkins, who soon falls foul of the law. Will is given a choice — take the King’s shilling or the noose. So, Will joins the army and Christina’s begins her odyssey as a camp follower. The battalion is quickly deployed to Spain to join General Arthur Wellesley’s Peninsula Army, fighting against the French. Threatened by platoon Sergeant Jack Newell and with her husband powerless to help, Christina is befriended by Lieutenant Jonathan McAlister who offers her projection. With the French Army massing at Talavera, the battalion marches into battle. Under the blistering Spanish sun, Christina must now fight for her life and those she loves. Beset on all sides by bandits, partisans, deserters, French cavalry and the squalor of a military campaign gone wrong. Living by her wits and managing to get by with broken Spanish. she tries to make her escape to a safe haven and hopefully a ship back to Blighty. But does she make it?