The Sleeping Truth : A Romantic Thriller (Omnibus Edition containing both Book One and Book Two)
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The Sleeping Truth
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A Romantic Medical Thriller
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By
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IAN C.P. IRVINE
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Published by Lilyhill Press
Copyright 2005 IAN C.P.IRVINE
(Note: This novel was first published as 'Marrying Slovakia')
THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING THIS EBOOK!
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Reviews from Amazon from the Omnibus Edition containing Book One and Book Two:
"Awesome Read!:"I just finished the book and loved it. It had me laughing, crying and wondering what would happen next. Well worth a read. Thank you!" Amazon UK Review.
"Sensitive writing : Beautifully written, exploring many interesting and pertinent issues in a sensitive way. Makes you feel emotionally involved with the characters, their problems and their solutions. Hard to put down and sorry it had to end!" Amazon UK Review.
"Trust: After sampling several e-books lately, I finally have found one that is not only well written but the main character is complex and very well drawn. Andrew Jardine, fresh out of a relationship where his girlfriend was disloyal, heads for London and the life every young person finds exciting. Yet this question of trust and loyalty comes up again and again in different guises. Andrew finds himself acknowledging the complexity of different circumstances, the impact of his past on his present behaviour and how he can change himself so any new relationship can evolve into something long lasting and full of trust. A very good read." Amazon UK Review.
"A fabulous read: This was the second novel of Ian C P Irvine that I have read and they have both made me really "think" about the issues raised. An interesting, informative and good novel. I am now looking forward to reading another of his books." Amazon UK Review.
"An enjoyable look at what an alternative life and history might look like; and asks questions on past and current life options. Loved the story and the characters involved." Amazon UK Review.
"Fab! Fab! Fab: This is the first book I've read of Ian C.P. Irvine's and I can honestly say I loved it. It's not what I would normally choose but it was recommended to me on a train journey!!! :-) I think I went through every emotion possible and wished the story could just go on and on and on." Amazon UK Review.
"Loved it. Easy reading but it keeps you on your toes as well. I love how he manages to present the characters without a great long spiel, one of the things I hate about starting a new book. Good read for male or female I'd say. I loved it but had difficulty reading the last couple of paragraphs, Why? My eyes were brimming with tears and my heart was jumping about all over the place. Delighted to say they were happy tears!!!!!!!!!!" Amazon UK Review.
('The Sleeping Truth' was first published under the name 'Marrying Slovakia'. The above reviews are from 'Marrying Slovakia'.).
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright observed above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the copyright owner.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Cover Design by Ray Luck
raymondoluck@hotmail.com
This book is sincerely dedicated to every single person that was affected by the terrible events that occurred in London in 2005. So many years later the memory is still so fresh.
Please note that this book was first published as 'Marrying Slovakia'.
Other Books by Ian C.P. Irvine
The Orlando File
Haunted From Within
Haunted From Without
Say You're Sorry
The Assassin’s Gift
Time Ship
London 2012 : What If?
The Sleeping Truth : A Romantic Medical Thriller
The Messiah Conspiracy
Alexis Meets Wiziwam the Wizard
Table Of Contents
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Part One
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
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Part Two
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
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Part Three
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
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Part Four
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Reviewing 'The Sleeping Truth'
Other Books by Ian C.P.Irvine
Part One
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Prologue
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I sit alone in the cubicle, surrounded by the green curtain that shuts us off from the outside world, and I look at the woman in front of me, lying motionless in a coma on the hospital bed.
She looks so peaceful, her features still as beautiful as the first time I saw her, and it’s hard to believe that she is on the edge of life.
The anger I felt towards her is now strangely quiet, and instead I am wrac
ked with guilt. Is she here now because of me? If she dies, will her death be my fault, because of something I wished for in a moment of desperation when I could see no other way out?
Have I killed her?
A tear comes to my eye. Not just for her, but for us both, and I wonder, how did we both come to this?
Chapter One
..
THANK YOU FOR CHOOSING THIS EBOOK!
AS A REWARD I WOULD LIKE TO OFFER YOU
A FREE BESTSELLING EBOOK!
You can choose between
One of Kindle's Top Thrillers with over
1500 Five Star Reviews on Amazon
or a
A FREE CHILDREN'S EBOOK
TO READ TO YOUR GRANDCHILDREN OR LITTLE ONES!
TO GET THIS FREE OFFER
BEFORE IT STOPS PLEASE
CLICK ON THIS LINK!
OR VISIT
http://eepurl.com/dE-3pf
-----------------------------
June 2005
One month before
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Putting down the phone is proving to be the hardest thing I have ever done. I know that this will be our last conversation, and I know that the moment I hang up, four years of my life will finally be over.
All the love, hope, and dreams which once filled us both with such happiness will have been swept away. Gone forever.
Yet, there is no going back now. I am not the bad guy here. It was her that slept with someone else. It was her that crossed the line and stepped outside of our trust. And it’s too late now for her to show regret. Far too late.
When she told me a week ago exactly what she had done, a switch was thrown in my mind, and somewhere inside me the caring just stopped, all my positive emotions immediately being replaced by disbelief and anger. More anger than I have ever felt before at any point in my life.
I listen to her voice now, pleading with me not to do this, begging for me to come back home, … “We need to talk…,”.
For a second, I hesitate, the phone handset only centimetres away from the receiver, but the hesitation is just that. A final pause in which I ask myself one more time to check if all this is real.
With the answer still ‘yes’, I slam the handset back on its cradle, pick up my rucksack, and walk from the platform onto the train. It’s five hours to London. A new job. And a new life.
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Chapter Two
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The journey down to London is almost relaxing. As the train speeds south along the cliff edges past North Berwick, my mind is blissfully blank. I stare out across the water, watching the seagulls riding the thermals, soaring and diving above the bright blue, sunlit sea. Careless. Unburdened. Free.
It had only taken five minutes to walk into my boss’s office and ask about the vacancy advertised in the London branch. Then after a fifteen minute telephone interview and a reference from my boss, the deal was done. After all, it had only taken Kate fifteen minutes to destroy my old life, so it seemed rather fitting that in a comparable amount of time, I had managed to set up a whole new future for myself.
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My head falls forward and I awake with a jump. I look at my watch to discover that I have been asleep for over an hour.
On the table diagonally opposite me a book lies closed, a blue woollen coat lying on the seat beside it.
I casually reach out with my right hand and spin the book around so that I can read the title: ‘Marrying Slovakia.’ The name of the book automatically raises a number of questions, not the least being, ‘Where is Slovakia?’ Then another silly question: ‘How can you marry a country?’ quickly followed by, ‘Or is Slovakia the name of a girl?’
Looking up and down the aisle, the book’s owner is nowhere to be seen, so I pick it up, flick through a couple of chapters, then start to read the first few pages.
“It’s a good book,” a woman’s voice says, catching me by surprise.
I look up. “I’m sorry,” I say, replacing it on the table.
“Don’t worry, I’ve just finished it. You can keep it if you want.”
I look across at the woman, now sitting opposite me. She is about fifty years old, quite round, rosy cheeks with big brown eyes that smile at me as she speaks.
“Are you sure?” I ask, pleased with the offer.
“Absolutely. I loved it, and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it too.”
“Why? What’s the book about?” I ask.
“Aha. Now that would be telling, wouldn’t it? But a little voice tells me that the book could have been written just for you...Why not read it and find out for yourself?”
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Chapter Three
Clapham Junction, London.
Thursday Night.
Day One.
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“I’m sorry to hear about Kate. I still can’t believe what she did to you,” Guy says as he shows me into the bedroom I’m going to be renting for the next few months. “But I’m glad you’re here. It’ll be like old times again. Plus, the rent will come in handy.”
I drop my rucksack on the floor and follow Guy through to the living room of his two bedroom flat on the third floor of an old Victorian house on Battersea Rise. I flop into one of two brown leather chairs, and Guy tosses me a cold beer from the fridge.
“So what happened?” he asks, taking a pew on the chair opposite me.
“You mean with Kate? Who knows? I haven’t figured it all out myself yet. To be honest, I don’t want to talk about it for a while. London’s going to be my new start, and she belongs to my old life.”
Guy looks at me for a moment, as if about to say something, but decides against it and opens his can of beer instead. “No problem. Been there, got the T-shirt. So…tell me about your new job. When do you start?”
“Monday. Straight away. I figure there’s no need to waste money by taking any time off. Cheers!” I reply, leaning forward and banging my can against his in salute to my new life.
It’s been almost six months since I last saw Guy, when he, I, and another friend Mark had completed a ten day trek through the mountains of Nepal to raise money for the Royal Society for the Blind, one of Guy’s favourite charities.
Mark, Guy and I had shared a flat for four years when we were at university in Edinburgh. Guy had studied History of Art, and I did Physics while Mark did German: ‘The Three Amigos’, or at least that’s what our friends called us. For four years life had been one great big party, spending almost every Saturday night together in the Student Union, drinking, dancing, playing pool and chasing women, so much so that it was a wonder we ever passed our exams. After graduating, Guy moved first to Manchester, then to London, and Mark now lives somewhere in Cologne, teaching English at a Gymnasium, which I am reliably informed is some sort of school and not a German gym.
We spend a while catching up, chatting for a while about Guy’s work and the latest Kasier Chief’s gig he went to see last week, until almost unavoidably the subject of women creeps back into the conversation.
“So where’s Sal, then?” I ask, enquiring after Guy’s girlfriend.
“She’ll be round later probably. She’s working late.”
“How long’s it been now? It must be almost three years. That’s even longer than you went out with Laura. Wow…It must be pretty serious…?”
“One month longer…It’s not that much…but you’re right, it’s now officially the longest relationship I’ve ever had.”
“You’re a lucky man, Guy. Sal’s great.”
“Yep. I know,” Guy replies, then falls silent for a moment. “Listen, if you want, I could introduce you to some of her friends? She knows lots of pretty women, and they’re always complaining that they can’t find any decent blokes down here…”
“Guy,” I interrupt him, “…finding another girlfriend is the last thing that’s on
my mind just now. I’ve just been dumped in the most painful way possible and there’s no way that I’ll be able to trust a woman for a long, long time. And I don’t want to meet anyone while I’m on the rebound, especially one of your friends, because I’d probably end up just hurting them, and that’s the last thing I want to do. No, given my incredible track-record of success in relationships, all I’m good for right now is some completely meaningless sex with someone who doesn’t want anything from me and never expects me to take them out to dinner or buy them flowers, or even remember their name in a month’s time.” I reply.
“Well, if that’s all you want, then I know just the place…”
Which is how the next night I end-up in the Road House in Covent Garden, kissing my first girl in London. We were both very drunk. She said her name was Louisa. She was twenty-five years old with brown hair, and some sort of job in IT. And a mobile phone number, which I foolishly try to call the next day only to be given a dead tone. A false number. My first contact with a woman in London and she lies to me.
Great.
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Chapter Four
Sunday afternoon
Day Four.
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As I sit on the number 42 bus heading south from Tooting Broadway towards Mitcham Common, I begin to feel very nauseous. I take my jacket off and lay it on the seat beside me, taking several deep breathes and closing my eyes, letting the air into my lungs slowly, holding it for a while, and then letting it back out again. My heart is beating fast, and I can feel beads of sweat building up on my face and forehead.