Novel no matter what | Wairarapa News | Local News in Wairarapa

Stephen Davies refuses to let anything get in the way of his dreams - and he has written a novel to prove it.

The retired Masterton man has had two strokes but has spent the past 10 years perfecting his novel, The Dolphin Enigma, a chilling tale of what could happen if the old Soviet Union wanted to take over part of the world.

"I've had two strokes, so I wanted to prove that there is life after a stroke. You can still live your life, it doesn't have to hold you back," he said.

The Dolphin Enigma is set in New Zealand, partly in Wairarapa, and begins in 1981 with the prime minister holding secret talks with his Australian counterpart to create a political Australasian Federation.

A group wanting to restore a more democratic government and remove the prime minister is unknowingly infiltrated by a Soviet KGB sleeper agent named Dolphin. Unknown to the KGB, the Soviet government wants to establish a base in New Zealand, adopting a plan also given the name Dolphin.

Things start to go wrong when the KGB decides to eliminate all those in New Zealand who were involved in the first Operation Dolphin, including the sleeper agent. The KGB killer sent to carry out the assassinations defects but no one believes his tale, except one young SIS field officer.

Mr Davies drew inspiration for the novel from his time in the New Zealand Army and the SIS.

"I got the original scenario from back in the time of Muldoon. I was in the army at the time and I had to go and give a lecture to the heads of departments, so I literally had the whole of government together, and I thought if those 10 people put their heads together they could take over the country."

Mr Davies has been honing his writing skills, which were ignited after taking a class run by Dame Fiona Kidman.

"I was in the army and the SIS for years, so I didn't really have the time to write a novel, and I'm not the kind of writer who can sit at a desk for five hours writing away, so it's taken me a long time to get this story together.

The book has only just been published but Mr Davies is wasting no time in sinking his teeth into his next novel. "I have another book in the pipeline," he said.

The Dolphin Enigma is available at www.amazon.com or www.barnesandnoble.com.