'That was it. A coup de foudre. I'd heard of it, but never believed in it. I had to get out of there. That wasn't in the plan...' Nothing is what it seems in Tom Conti's passionate and exciting story of love, duplicity and retribution. Haunted by his past as a Secret Operations Pilot with the Intelligence Services, and in an attempt to shake off the ever-present shadow of his Controller, Hal flees England and the bed of the tempestuous Francesca for a new life in Africa. But there, as a pilot with the flying doctor service working in the wild, love and death precipitate him once again into a life of deception and danger. Adopting a new identity and returning home, he quickly discovers that the past is not easily shed, that fear and the unexpected lurk at every turn. Then a moral gun is put to his head, and he is forced to choose between his freedom and the death of another man. 'The Doctor' is actor Tom Conti's debut novel. Sexy, thrilling, often intensely moving, the detail and imaginative twists of his plot are handled with masterly skill. It is compelling.