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Title: Instruments of Darkness (Harvest Original) by Robert Wilson ISBN: 0-15-601113-1 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: (4.5) The dark side of the Dark Continent
Comment: "This is Africa, where everybody has mastered the art of waiting." Wilson's first African mystery/suspense novel, introduces Bruce Medway, a fixer, negotiator, and manager who lives on the coast of West Africa and does the odd service for his expatriate clients.
Completing a shipping deal at the docks, one that involves transporting rice across state borders illegally, Medway incurs the wrath of the infamous Madame Severnou when he unknowingly conducts the transaction contrary to her wishes. The well-connected woman sends her armed goons on a midnight visit to teach Medway a lesson. Luckily, he is one step ahead of the game and anticipates the attack.
The next morning, Medway is hired to find a missing person, Stephen Kershaw, perhaps to draw his attention from the real implications of the Severnou deal. Kershaw has disappeared, leaving a dead woman behind. In the course of his investigation, and tangentially the murder, Medway meets one of the series' most endearing characters, the noble Inspector Bogado. A wily and subtle police detective, Bogado proves indispensable to Medway, in this novel and future works. His solemn physiognomy a familiar presence, Bogado offers his intelligent perspective and enduring friendship, often appearing just in the nick of time. Medway and Bagado sift through clues and half-truths, searching for answers to complex and intertwining mysteries with improbable solutions.
Medway is involved with some hard-drinking expats who walk the thin edge of the law. In the murky business affairs of West Africa, expediency is the bottom line. From Medway's first deal, moving rice into Nigeria, to the second, searching for a man who turns up dead, the situations become more convoluted and dangerous, involving illegal drug shipments, murder and police corruption. The cast ranges from wealthy entrepreneurs to hustlers, muscle men and beautiful women posing as art exporters, party girls and/or spies. To further complicate things, there is increasing political unrest, as the age of the dictator passes and the people anticipate a democracy, not anticipating the ensuing chaos and violence that comes with the changing of the guards.
In this first endeavor, establishing the Medway series and the characters that will populate the other suspense/mysteries, Wilson carefully lays the groundwork for an interesting character, a man who finds himself embroiled in a variety of schemes with nefarious characters that take all his skills to survive. With the help of the intrepid Inspector Bogado, Medway not only emerges in one piece, but the author paints a fascinating portrait of life in a part of the world filled with violence, imminent danger and political uncertainty. The next Medway adventure, The Big Killing, ratchets up the action even more, offering another series of adventures to test Medway's mettle. Wilson pens a mystery/adventure novel that is virtually impossible to put down, a great read. This is a quality of writing that leaves the reader begging for more. Luan Gaines/2004.
Rating: 3
Summary: Read it for the setting and imagery, not the story itself
Comment: I hesistated between 3 and 4 stars. The author has a deep knowledge of the region and people. Delving into the protagonist's mindset was thoroughly enjoyable.
Wilson has enough analogies in this book to fill several novels. They're great, but there's just too much. The book is a murder mystery at some level. The premise and the high level plot is pretty good, but the story ties together at the end messily. Very James Bond / Desmond Bagley-like. You know -- tidy it all up with the bad guys volunteering all the missing pieces to the good guy.
I recommend this book for the West African setting and its substantial, grey characters. This is my first Wilson book; I would read another.
Rating: 4
Summary: All the Way Back
Comment: Most readers will be familiar with Robert Wilson from his newer works including, "A Small Death in Lisbon", "The Company of Strangers" and, "The Blind Man of Seville". Happily his publishers are releasing this series of four early works that begin with, "Instruments of Darkness". The adjective of darkness is appropriate for this quartet of books. I have read all four and there are many manners that may be used to describe the works however dark is easily the most fitting. These books are very violent, liberal with gore and extremely graphic, so for readers who prefer that more detail is left to their imaginations this book and its counterparts may not be for you.
This series is set in West Africa on the Gulf Of Guinea and in countries stretching from Ivory Coast to New Guinea. Mr. Wilson writes both with authority and with great authenticity as he has traveled and worked in this region just as he has in the countries that populate his newer works. Here there are common characters and while it is not critical I would recommend reading the works in the order they were issued. They all can stand alone but benefit from being read as a cycle.
It took some time for me to get comfortable with the prose and cadence of these books as they are written in a very different style from the others I have read. They may remind you too of those movies where a woman wanders in to the office of a private eye and tells her sad tale while a voice narrates the story you are watching. The prose is saturated with elaborate and lush metaphor that initially seems a bit strident but eventually becomes comfortable to read once a bit of time has been invested.
These are very different from Mr. Wilson's other novels but if you are interested in the early work of this very talented author, I recommend these books without reservation with the exceptions I noted at the beginning of these comments.
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Title: The Big Killing by Robert Wilson ISBN: 0156011190 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 03 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Company of Strangers by Robert Wilson ISBN: 0156027100 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Blind Man of Seville by Robert Wilson ISBN: 0156028808 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 19 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson ISBN: 0425184234 Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group Pub. Date: 01 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Blood Is Dirt by Robert Wilson ISBN: 0156011255 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: 05 July, 2004 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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