But this man is no hero, and this ship was not meant to be saved. As Hammond Innes’ classic tale moves from desperate struggles on the sea to a nail-biting courtroom controversy, the murky truth about the last voyage of the Mary Deare finally comes to light.

He was a man without hope, until a lawyer and a crazy inheritance spurred him to one last desperate roll of the dice.

The old man was convinced, against all evidence, that there was oil in the Rocky mountains. So his grandson sets off to a godforsaken town of shattered hopes and bitter old men, and plunges into a perilous battle against hostile country, powerful enemies and a ticking clock.

High in the Italian Dolomites, the war is over but its ghosts are not. Beneath the snow, a fortune in stolen Nazi gold waits to be found. To the isolated ski hut at Val di Fassa come five strangers, each with a reason for being there: a disgraced film producer and his cameraman, a beautiful countess with secrets of her own, a petty criminal who knows too much, and Neil Blair, a struggling screenwriter hired to watch and report.

As blizzards close the passes and nerves begin to fray, the fragile alliances between them splinter. What began as an opportunity becomes a trap and the mountain itself turns executioner.

Hammond Innes delivers pure suspense against a backdrop of ice and isolation. The Lonely Skier is a classic thriller about trust, betrayal and survival when the past refuses to stay buried.

‘A superbly constructed and atmospheric thriller’ Independent