The Iron Hotel.
first edition
1996 · London
by Llewellyn, Sam.
London: Michael Joseph, (1996). First Edition. Octavo, black boards (hardcover), gilt letters, 344 pp. Fine, in a Near-Fine dust jacket. From dust jacket: Ship’s Captain David Jenkins lives the affluent expatriate life in Hong Kong. His Master’s salary supports his expensive wife Diana, his intelligent daughter Rachel, a BMW, all the trimmings. But he is still an honest man, and when his employter’s corporate rules run counter to his conscience, Jenkins follows his conscience. and when that means blowing up a China Sea pirate with a bazooka, bang goes not only the pirate but Jenkens’ career. Diana’s vocabulary consists largely of words useful when shopping, and conscience is not one of them. To keep her in the style to which she is accustomed, Jenkins, unemployed, is forced into the jaws of Tommy Wong the lan shark. When he is unable to pay back what he owes, Wong’s backers find him working on a ship. The kind of work he is used to... Not quite the kind of work he is used to. The ship is the ancient Glory of Saipan, crewed by the sweepings of the Pacific, crammed to the gunwales with a cargo of illegal immigrants. As she swelters her way across the ocean, Jenkins discovers that even on a rustbucket like the Glory there ware rules. Like women and children last. Like steal before you are stolen from. Like don’t fall in love with the cargo. More rules that Jenkins cannot obey . So once again Jekins substitutes his own -- rules that set him at odds with his family and his employers, and involve him in a spiral of savagery that threatens to overwhelm the Glory and her desperate cargo. The Iron Hotel combines breathtaking adventure with a powerful examination of a man’s attempt to impose some rightness on a world that is wrong from bottom to top. It will confirm Sam Llewellyn’s reputation as a master storyteller. (Inventory #: 6581fd)