John Somerset is the best-selling author of Lasseter’s Truth, The Excalibur File and Benito's Truth. He was born in Melbourne, Australia and educated at Geelong Grammar and Melbourne Universi
He spent his working life in international marketing and latterly advertising, is a winner of the Hoover Award for Marketing, Australia’s premier marketing award of its time and is a qualified PADI scuba diver.
He lives and writes at Anglesea, Victoria with his wife and one-eyed kelpie.
Jack Johnson is both lucky and unlucky. He survives the Vietnam war as a decorated helicopter pilot, marries the girl he left behind, and lands on his feet at Australia’s leading advertising agency, as a launch pad to spectacular success in the industry. Lucky, you might say.
But luck can change. Jack is hit with a bogus criminal charge that chases him into the Great Australian Desert, in a quest for Lasseter’s fabled gold reef.
But Jack is not the only one looking. A mysterious Chinese company called Triple Eight is buying up leases in the desert, and people are dying.
Back home, he leaves not only a heartbroken wife but a beautiful and very determined daughter who has had her own problems. Expelled from Australia’s most prestigious public school, Tess Johnson vows to clear her father’s name.
Lasseter’s Truth follows them both as they take on the odds. A story that ranges from the greed of the nineties, into a famous legend of Australia’s outback, with a compelling climax for our own time.
By the year 2024 world debt has skyrocketed to over $300 Trillion, and with the US dollar in free fall a desperate G20 votes a return to the gold standard.
The gold price skyrockets overnight, fortunate for Australia which has plenty of gold in the ground – hugely boosted by the discovery of the legendary Lasseter’s Reef.
But there is a problem.
Now boasting the world’s largest navy and a modern air force, China has been expanding its military bases south and resolves to use them in a ‘military solution’ in its quest for gold and territory.
Fortunately, US intelligence has penetrated the PLA State Security Centre and supplies ASIO with China’s complete invasion plan of PNG and northern Australia.
Aware that under the ANZUS treaty an isolationist America will supply weapons and technology but no ‘boots on the ground,’ Australia has five years to shore up its defences and find a way to stop the juggernaut.
They may have found it in a most unlikely place.
A weapon that becomes known as Excalibur.
Amidst Peru’s rebellion against Spanish rule and an impending blockade by the Chilean fleet, the Viceroy of Lima and its priests devise a plan to safeguard the fabled Treasure of Lima. Captain Bennett Grahame, commanding the HMS Devonshire, is entrusted with this crucial task and instructed to return once the coast is clear. However, fate intervenes as Bennett falls deeply in love with Teresa, the enchanting daughter of the Viceroy. Their passionate affair leads to unforeseen consequences – Teresa loses her virginity, thwarting her father’s carefully arranged marriage plans and resulting in her exile to Spain on the galleon Santa Katerina Isabella, destined for a life in a distant monastery.
Driven by his unwavering love, Bennett embarks on a daring pursuit of the Isabella, defying all odds to rescue his beloved Teresa and confronting the Spanish Captain in a fateful showdown that forever alters his path. Cast into the realm of piracy, Bennett embraces his new persona as Benito ‘Bloody Sword’ Bonito, a fearsome figure renowned throughout the Spanish Main.
Compelled by both love and ambition, Benito sets sail from the Caribbean, in possession of the legendary treasure said to be hidden in a Queenscliff cave in colonial Australia. A tale of love, piracy, and insatiable greed unfolds, spanning from the shores of the Iberian Peninsula to the distant reaches of Australia’s colonial past. Revealed through the perspectives of Benito, Teresa, and their son Benjamin, Benito’s Truth offers a breathtaking account of the events that truly transpired—a narrative so incredible, it defies the boundaries of fiction. Prepare to discover that truth can be more astounding than any tale ever told.
The exciting sequel to The Excalibur File.
Named after her father’s favourite beer, Cascade Smith is born beautiful, which will shape her life.
She grows up an ‘all Australian girl,’ progressing from her High-Country home through school, university, first love and sporting success – given her stunning looks, the perfect formula for ‘happily ever after.’ But that is not to be.
The year 2024 sees the tragic death of her soul mate. Bad enough, but 2024 also heralds a worldwide financial crash, a return to the gold standard and the rise of a China intent on gold and territorial expansion. America’s NSA obtains the PLA plan for ‘Oceania Gold’ – a strategic blueprint to conquer the islands of the South Pacific and ultimately invade northern Australia on Christmas Day, 2030.
Cascade is recruited into Wedgetail, ASIO’s clandestine black ops group, tasked to counter China’s MSS agents inserted into Australia to destabilise the defence effort and open the way for invasion. She and her fellow agents take on the MSS as an undermanned ADF prepares for the greatest naval battle since the Second World War – a battle Australia can never hope to win.
Or can it?
Some great feedback from Australian readers of LASSETER’S TRUTH includes rave reviews from no less than 9 teachers from my old school Geelong Grammar. This is surprising as I am pretty certain a coupl ........
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