The Contractor [Hardcover]

Charles Holdefer (Author), Judith Shepard (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2007

The Contractor is the first novel to address the issue of American secret prisons in the war on terrorism. George Young, its narrator is a devoted family man and Gulf War veteran, who, when a hometown business venture flops, accepts work as a contracted civilian interrogator for the U.S. government. Soon he's overseas at a secret holding facility for suspected terrorists, a place called Omega.

The work pays well, but his personal life is crumbling. His wife with whom he is forbidden to talk about the work he does is becoming more and more enamoured of gin and tonic. Worse, a detainee dies in George's hands during a "routine" interrogation. Frightened and confused, the detainee repeatedly asks, "Who are you?" just before dying of an apparent heart attack. These words echo throughout the novel and send George on a painful journey of self-interrogation and discovery. In order to defend his country and his family, must George betray his humanity?

Weaving George's personal life into his professional work deepens this exploration of both mind and soul; of alienations that are startling, maddening, and saddening. Its power lies in the inevitable ways reasonable people can be led to do unreasonable things.

The denouement is both chilling and unforgettable. It puts a human face on depravity and the consequences felt by inquisitors as well as those they interrogate.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though billed as a critical examination of the interrogation camps run by the U.S. military, this dramatic thriller is more a finely tuned character study of a man in personal crisis. George Young, a private contractor, interrogates prisoners in a remote island fortress known as Omega. Young appreciates the challenge of his job, but dislikes the many uncomfortable strategies he must employ and is haunted by his role in the death of prisoner #4141. The professional anxieties only aggravate his personal troubles: a vanished libido, a wife who drinks too much, a young son whom he fears may be homosexual. Holdefer (Nice) shows a polished touch with detail and dialogue. The rare humorous moment is dry and often tragic, and the interrogations are so vivid as to make the reader squeamish. A valuable entry in the Gitmo field, all that's missing in this well-wrought novel—or simply lost in the intricacies of Young's story—is the promised critique of state-sanctioned torture. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* George Young is a freelance interrogator working for the U.S. government at a top-secret island prison. His assignment: question suspected terrorists and find out whatever he can. It's not the most cheerful of jobs, but George is very good at it, and the money is great. Not so great is the reaction of his family—wife, son, daughter—who came with George to the island prison (code-named Omega) as part of a morale-boosting experiment. But it's plain to see that George's personal life is collapsing under him. And when a prisoner dies during interrogation, after repeatedly asking the question, "Who are you?" George realizes that, somewhere along the way, he has indeed lost sight of who he is and what sort of person he is supposed to be. Self-discovery stories are a dime a dozen, but this one is different than most of them. By placing this familiar theme in a new (and very timely) setting, Holdefer gives us additional layers of emotional depth: George isn't just trying to figure out who he is; he is trying to figure out what his country is, and whether he is a good guy or just another terrorist wearing a different suit of clothes. A compelling mix of thriller, pyschodrama, and, yes, political commentary. Pitt, David

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: The Permanent Press (September 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579621732
• ISBN-13: 978-1579621735
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,283,084 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charles Holdefer grew up in Iowa and attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and then later the Sorbonne. "The Contractor" was an American Booksellers' Association "Book Sense Pick". His short fiction has appeared in The New England Review, The North American Review and other magazines. He also publishes nonfiction and reviews. Find out more about Charles at www.charlesholdefer.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars DISTURBING, PAINFUL, FOOD FOR THOUGHT, September 9, 2007

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Contractor (Hardcover)

Disturbing, painful, The Contractor is a difficult book to read. It focuses on American secret prisons in the war on terrorism, which is not a pretty picture.

Protagonist George Young is no more than an ordinary, run-of-the mill man. He's married and a veteran of the Gulf War. When a shared family business flounders he takes a job with the government as a civilian interrogator . He's soon sent overseas to a place known simply as Omega; it is a holding facility for suspected terrorists.

While few are allowed to bring their families with them, George is granted this privilege. Thus, he's accompanied by his wife, Bethany, and their two children.

Little did George know when he took the job what a toll it would take. It's not long before Bethany finds frequent enjoyment in toddies, and his beliefs are compromised while his heart and psyche are scarred. He is not allowed to talk about his work with Bethany, hence their personal relationship slides. The wages are good but at what price when the hostages or prisoners are known not as humans but as "oranges" and a group of them as a "crate"?

Holdefer opens his story with the death of a terrorist (#4141)that George and his team are questioning. Fearing reprimand they hide the body. Throughout the narrative there are all too vivid descriptions of tactics used during questioning, such as dunking in a pool laced with salt. This isn't against any rules for interrogation methods in the army manual, and is quite effective. We read, "Most people have the sense to close their eyes in seawater. But most people, when they come out of the pool, open their eyes too soon, while it's still streaming over their brows. Nobody forces them to open their eyes. They do it of their own volition."

After several dunkings and much stinging many become more compliant.

While The Contractor is indeed a first hand look at American interrogation camps it is also an in-depth study of a man in peril, emotionally and physically. Not a pleasant story nor one for the squeamish.

- Gail Cooke

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harrowing, but not in ways you'd expect..., August 22, 2007

By 

E. B. Anderson (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Contractor (Hardcover)

Don't go into this book thinking you're going to get a wall-to-wall violent reenactment of what goes on in the secret detainment centers run by the U.S. "The Contractor" is much smarter and less sensationalistic than that. What "The Contractor" gives you is a portrait of a real human being who follows an indirect and unplanned path to working as a contractor for the U.S. goverment in a black ops interrogation facility in an undisclosed location. By allowing us to get to know and like the book's protagonist and his family, the author delivers a deeply unsettling read by the time the story takes its last, dark turn. I arrived at the conclusion far more shaken than I'd expected to be, and the story has continued to haunt me. Once you pick it up, "The Contractor" is not a book you're likely to forget.

Eric Anderson, author
Alena & the Favorite Thing

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Inner life of a private interrogator, July 7, 2008

By 

Nicole (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Contractor (Hardcover)

"The Contractor," while about a private contractor performing interrogations for the US government, is far from simply a novel about the current war. George Young, a veteran-turned-private-interrogator, narrates a fascinating story just as much about the inner life of a middle aged husband and father as about terrorists and secret detention facilities.

Young makes great money and his family can live with him on an unidentified tropical island, but that hardly makes life easy. His job has put a strain on his marriage—and stressed his wife enough to make her at least a borderline alcoholic. And he still has to deal with all the typical worries of a father: is his young son possibly gay; how can he navigate Christmas with super-religious in-laws; how should he deal with a brother who betrayed his trust? And on top of it all, he's got a pretty emotionally draining day job.

Young's first-person narration is excellent. Every thought, tangent, flashback, and chain of logic felt just right, and I was impressed by how comprehensible I found a person so superficially different from myself. I was fascinated by him and raced through the book. Those who would normally avoid fiction about current events, or violence, should not be put off by the subject matter. This is very much a novel of family life, introspection, and self-examination, and written in excellent prose, too.