It’s hot, unbearably hot, in a way that makes people wonder if the world isn’t changing fundamentally for the worse. Back in 1996 when this book was first started, that seemed an unusual idea. Today no-one would question it.

Solstice is a book about man’s neglect of his own planet and a group of people who decide to take matters into their own hands. A core of hardened eco-terrorists have taken control of a Cold War weapon developed in secret by the Reagan administration. It gives them the power to turn the focus of the sun’s radiation on any part of the world they choose.

Michael Lieberman, a renegade scientist who knows the leader of the gang from his academic work in the past, is reluctantly force to take on the role of their opponent, trying to stop their deliberate attempt to force an environmental disaster on some of the world’s major cities.

Solstice presaged the emergence of terrorists who were willing to sacrifice their own lives for no other end except to harm others. It also foresaw the use of the then new technology of the internet to foster havoc among agencies grounded in the practices of another era. This is a dystopian image of a damaged future, one that persuaded Time Warner to take me on as a future techno-thriller writer in the vein of Michael Crichton. But that just wasn’t me… though I still have fond memories of this book.

Independence Day reimagined for grown-ups. A smart synthesis of science fiction and planet-in-peril cliffhanger. Sunday Times

A remarkably well-written thriller… Hewson’s science is both complex and authentic. And-perhaps even more impressive for a techno-thriller-so are his characters. Kirkus Reviews

Richly imagined… as high-tech concepts go they don’t get much hotter than this. Michael Cordy, author of The Miracle Strain