Operation Hunter

In 1938 Malaya, a young English boy named Jason Rance rescues Siu Tse, a Chinese girl, from a vicious assault. Their paths diverge before she learns his name, leaving her to idolise the memory of her unknown saviour. Fast forward to 1953, and the height of the Malayan Emergency, where tensions and conflicts engulf the region. Siu Tse discovers she is pregnant by a British officer who is planning to join the Malayan Communist Party. In the process of defecting, he is tracked down and killed by British security forces. Misinformed and believing a 'Jason Rance', an officer in a Gurkha batallion, to be responsible, Siu Tse is consumed by a burning desire for vengeance. Unaware of their past connection, she is prepared to join the communist guerrillas to seek her revenge. In this complex tapestry of loyalty, betrayal and unresolved pasts, the paths of Jason Rance - saviour or foe - and Siu Tse - lover or avenger - are destined to cross again.

Operation Hunter is the ninth in a series of books involving Gurkha military units that may be read in any order. The author, JP Cross, a retired Gurkha colonel, old 'jungle hand' and counter-insurgency expert, draws on real events he witnessed during his time fighting in the Malayan Emergency.