See the dots, boy. Can you see them? They're not even towns, most of them. They're settlements, handfuls of human beings huddled together in the sand. Know this about your brother: he went out into that desert and he did not come back.

There has never been a deserter in Bas Adams' family – from the Somme to Vietnam. So when his brother, Jack, is reported missing from his peacekeeping contingent in Western Sahara, Bas knows he must be found. Their father demands it.

From Queensland's Lockyer Valley to the mountains of southern Algeria, Bas follows Jack's trail deep into the Sahara Desert, and into a world apart.

Nothing could prepare him for what he finds.

PRAISE FOR SIMON CLEARY

'A brave and impressive debut' David Malouf

'Assured and unsettling' Canberra Times

'A poignant tale' Age