BBC reporter Peter Hanington’s second topical thriller, A Single Source, features veteran BBC reporter William Carver, bringing the type of verisimulitude to the story only someone who’s lived it can affect.

This realistic light fills the timely story, as Carver, who’s seen it all, teases out the angle others miss when reporting from the Middle East on the cusp of the Arab Spring.

With Patrick at this side, a young BBC producer determined to win Carver’s approval, the duo ferret out stories of ordinary people in a time of crisis. There’s a fresh look at how the decisions of a removed government affect everyday citizens, while a second storyline overlaps and illuminated the tortuous journey of two brother making their way from Eritrea to Europe.

Having Carver see evidence various government’s would rather he not report grounds the story in today’s world as Carver fights to tell his story, as he looks behind the obvious and isn’t always happy with what he finds.

Well-plotted, with snappy dialogue and at times a dry wit, Carver can carry this atmospheric story with authenticity and with a shift in the various things happening that will defy readers to put the book down.