ALEX SHAW B.A. (Hons), P.G.C.E. was head of Drama at Pechersk School International, Kyiv, Ukraine, in the late 1990's before leaving to start his own Kyiv based 'consultancy' dealing specifically with the markets of the former USSR. He was subsequently head hunted for a division of Siemens where he was tasked with business development in the former USSR, the Middle East and Africa. Hetman was Alex's first novel and took twelve years to complete. Published in 2009 it gained critical acclaim in the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) and later became a #1 UK Kindle bestseller. Cold Black was published a year later. It followed the success of Hetman, gaining critical acclaim in ABNA 2011 and rose to #6 in the Kindle UK bestseller list. Both books have also now become top 10 Kindle Bestsellers in the USA. In July 2012 Cold Black became a #1 German Kindle bestseller; Hetman reached #4 in April. The third Aidan Snow thriller will be released later this year. When not writing Alex works as a freelance consultant (clients include the UN), dividing his time between his two homes in Kyiv, Ukraine and West Sussex, England. He is married to his beautiful wife Galia and has two fantastic sons, Alexander and Jonathan. Alex welcomes feedback and comments from readers and can be contacted via his website http: //www.alexwshaw.com/ or his Facebook fan page: https: //www.facebook.com/pages/Alex-Shaw/383476491724127 you can also follow Alex on twitter: https: //twitter.com/@alexshawhetm