Afghanistan has been abandoned by the international community and left to the ravages of warlords and mercenaries who vie for dominance over the vast resources that flow along the new Silk Road. For Callum King, a former army officer who was discharged from the military after a failed operation, his past remains very much tied to that forsaken place. When he receives an offer from one of his former soldiers to work for a private security company in Kandahar, the contract represents an opportunity to make amends for his failures as a soldier and a leader. But the cost would mean walking away from a family that he's tried so hard to put back together.

An Idle King is a modern retelling of an ancient story about lost soldiers who can never go home.

Andrew Paterson is a former infantry officer who served with the Canadian Army and deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 as a Platoon Commander. He now lives in Ottawa with his wife and two boys.