Those Who Leave

Angelo Vargas was an enigma, a man from nowhere who had followed a perilous path through a restless and eventful life. Time had come to leave his diplomatic activities behind, settle in England and search for his shrine. His partner - the unrestrained and incorrigible Japanese Tadashi Ishihara - shared Vargas' dream, but there was one more assignment looming over the horizon, the most challenging and financially rewarding machination that he had ever contemplated.
Igor Parkhurst, a writer ruing over the glory of former days, becomes a pawn in Ishihara's plan to achieve his two targets: gaining access to the higher echelons of the British society - and to use Parkhurst as the link to the forces threatening the future of the newly elected American President. But Ishihara makes a slip - he does not take into account the presence of Jennifer Moran, Parkhurst' goddaughter.
Vargas sees her as the goddess of his shrine. Ishihara considers her a nuisance and an obstacle. Vargas - having made his living in the abyss of human existence - refuses to give up the woman who can give him a new lease of life. Ishihara is equally determined to reach his goals. Yasmin - Ishihara' wife - has her own reasons to persuade Vargas to take on one final assignment, but, as is usually the case when trying to foresee the future, nobody can predict the implications and the consequences in a drama where Life plays against Death.
Those Who Leave is written to entertain the reader who appreciates a page-turning blend of humour, love, action and suspense. It is a multi-faceted, multi-layered novel where thriller entwines the philosophical, each enhancing the mystery of the other to provide a rare literary satisfaction. Ivar Rivenaes was born in Norway and grew up during the WWII occupation 1940-1945. His two novels in Norwegian The Man Who Walked Backwards (1968) and The Story Of Richard Kahn (1973) got rave reviews and became bestsellers.
Instead of pursuing a career as a writer he continued travelling during the decades before he settled in Hampshire in 1995. Those Who Leave is his first novel in English.