NINE LIVES
From warzones to ganglands — violence, murder, and the creation of a man even hell turned its back on.
A novel by Paul Smith
DEDICATION
For every soldier who believed they were fighting for freedom,
only to learn it was profit they were dying for.
For the ones who came home in silence.
For the ones who never came home at all.
And for those who took their own lives — to stop the screams.
What they gave was real:
the courage, the sacrifice, the bone-deep loyalty.
What they were given in return was a lie.
History will honour their names,
even if their leaders never did.
This book is for the fallen — the pawns, the ghosts,
the good people used by bad leaders.
And for the girl who pulled me from the wreckage,
and reminded me what was worth fighting for.
AUTHORS NOTE
The author of Nine Lives isn’t a writer by trade. He never set out to tell stories — he lived them.
Or maybe he didn’t. Depends on who’s asking.
What he can say is this:
He’s seen violence dressed up as justice, and justice buried under silence. He’s stood on both sides of the line.
And after walking away from it all with more scars than savings, he started again.
Quietly. Honestly. A new life. One he had to earn.
He’s not here to be known.
He’s just a man who lived through the kind of shit most people only see in films — and survived it. Barely.
This is the story he had to write.
Because some ghosts won’t stay buried…
…until you drag them out of yourself.
This is his first novel. It might not be his last.
AVAILABLE FORMATS
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Before you step into the darkness. Download a free sample of Nine Lives and discover why readers are calling it one of the most gripping British psychological war novels they've ever read.
