Mission to find inspiration
By Adam LeBor |
March 17, 2013, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THIS is the seventh outing for Alex Berenson's central character, John Wells, and the mileage is starting to show. Although "The Night Ranger" is skillfully engineered, its action hero feels distinctly weary.
The opening could come straight from the evening news. Four young Americans working at a refugee camp for Somalis in Dadaab, Kenya, decide to head to Lamu, an island off the coast, for a holiday. They never arrive: kidnapped by bandits, they're taken to Somalia. Their best hope for rescue will be John Wells, the only US spy to infiltrate the high reaches of al-Qaida.
Berenson, a former New York Times reporter, won the 2007 Edgar Award for best first novel by an American author for "The Faithful Spy," his first book featuring Wells. In subsequent volumes, Wells grew into a complex and satisfying protagonist, tackling bad guys across the world.
Berenson's strength is his deep understanding of geopolitics and of the shoddy compromises it demands. Here he deftly portrays the contradictions of the international aid industry, which is just as prone to waste, corruption and egotistic empire-building as its profit-oriented rivals.
The self-aggrandizing director of WorldCares/ChildrenFirst, the novel's fictional aid agency, is especially well drawn. The details of the CIA's operations and its bureaucratic infighting are also convincing, as is Wells' planning and execution of his mission. Berenson clearly has excellent contacts in the world of shadows.
But the human factor is far less successful, at least where Wells is concerned. The hero of a good thriller should have a personal stake in the mission's success, but Wells' heart never seems to be in it. Like his attachment to Islam, the faith he has adopted, his connection to the mission - a request by his son, who is friendly with the sister of a captive - feels cursory.
Gwen Murphy, the kidnapped American in question, is sexy, blonde and not especially smart, enjoying casual hookups with a buff, confident colleague. In Somalia, Gwen soon becomes addicted to miraa, the local stimulant of choice, and forms a bond with Wizard, the warlord holding her hostage.
Wizard becomes the most interesting character as he struggles with a Somali warlord's version of worries familiar to any chief executive: how to keep the loyalty of personnel; how to gain the maximum financial advantage without compromising his principles; how to keep control of his territory.
Annoyingly, the most significant plot twist is revealed less than halfway through. And the climax comes with a queasy gore-fest. Like a hangover from the age of Kipling, Wells dispatches inconvenient natives with swift and manly blows.
Yet John Wells is very much a man of his time, for the age of "collateral damage."
The opening could come straight from the evening news. Four young Americans working at a refugee camp for Somalis in Dadaab, Kenya, decide to head to Lamu, an island off the coast, for a holiday. They never arrive: kidnapped by bandits, they're taken to Somalia. Their best hope for rescue will be John Wells, the only US spy to infiltrate the high reaches of al-Qaida.
Berenson, a former New York Times reporter, won the 2007 Edgar Award for best first novel by an American author for "The Faithful Spy," his first book featuring Wells. In subsequent volumes, Wells grew into a complex and satisfying protagonist, tackling bad guys across the world.
Berenson's strength is his deep understanding of geopolitics and of the shoddy compromises it demands. Here he deftly portrays the contradictions of the international aid industry, which is just as prone to waste, corruption and egotistic empire-building as its profit-oriented rivals.
The self-aggrandizing director of WorldCares/ChildrenFirst, the novel's fictional aid agency, is especially well drawn. The details of the CIA's operations and its bureaucratic infighting are also convincing, as is Wells' planning and execution of his mission. Berenson clearly has excellent contacts in the world of shadows.
But the human factor is far less successful, at least where Wells is concerned. The hero of a good thriller should have a personal stake in the mission's success, but Wells' heart never seems to be in it. Like his attachment to Islam, the faith he has adopted, his connection to the mission - a request by his son, who is friendly with the sister of a captive - feels cursory.
Gwen Murphy, the kidnapped American in question, is sexy, blonde and not especially smart, enjoying casual hookups with a buff, confident colleague. In Somalia, Gwen soon becomes addicted to miraa, the local stimulant of choice, and forms a bond with Wizard, the warlord holding her hostage.
Wizard becomes the most interesting character as he struggles with a Somali warlord's version of worries familiar to any chief executive: how to keep the loyalty of personnel; how to gain the maximum financial advantage without compromising his principles; how to keep control of his territory.
Annoyingly, the most significant plot twist is revealed less than halfway through. And the climax comes with a queasy gore-fest. Like a hangover from the age of Kipling, Wells dispatches inconvenient natives with swift and manly blows.
Yet John Wells is very much a man of his time, for the age of "collateral damage."
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