Eclipse [Hardcover]

Richard North Patterson (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 6, 2009

The spellbinding story of an American lawyer who takes on a nearly impossible case—the defense of an African freedom fighter against his corrupt government’s charge of murder

Damon Pierce’s life has just reached a defining moment: a gifted California lawyer, he’s being divorced by his wife and his work often seems soulless. Then he receives a frantic e-mail from Marissa Brand Okari—a woman he loved years ago—and decides to risk everything to respond to her plea for help.

Marissa’s husband, Bobby Okari, is the charismatic leader of a freedom movement in the volatile west African nation of Luandia, which is being torn apart by the world’s craving for its vast supply of oil. Bobby’s outspoken opposition to the exploitation of his homeland by PetroGlobal—a giant American oil company with close ties to Luandia’s brutal government—has enraged General Savior Karama, the country’s autocratic ruler. After Bobby leads a protest rally during a full eclipse of the sun, everyone in his home village is massacred by government troops. And now Bobby has been arrested and charged with the murder of three PetroGlobal workers. Still drawn to Marissa, Pierce agrees to defend Bobby, hoping to save both Bobby and Marissa from almost certain death.  But the lethal politics of Luandia may cost Pierce his life instead.

Culminating in a dramatic show trial and a desperate race against time, Eclipse combines a thrilling narrative with a vivid look at the human cost of the global lust for oil. Here is Richard North Patterson at his compelling best, confirming his place as our most provocative author of popular fiction.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. This stellar legal thriller from bestseller Patterson (Exile) both informs and entertains. On the eve of getting a divorce, Damon Pierce, a 40-year-old partner in a huge San Francisco, Calif., law firm, who specializes in international litigation, e-mails Marissa Brand, a woman he was once in love with in college, to update her on his life. Marissa is married to Bobby Okari, a firebrand reformer whose Nigeria-like country, Luandia, is awash in oil. With these riches come the usual scenarios: ecological disasters, a brutal dictator with murderous henchmen, a rapacious foreign oil company and an oppressed populace. After everyone in Okari's village is slaughtered, Bobby is arrested for the lynching of three oil workers. Damon, because he's a good man and because he's still in love with Marissa, signs on to defend Bobby from the bogus charge. Patterson has exerted all his considerable skill in creating a nightmare atmosphere that will cling to readers long after the last page is turned. Author tour. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Richard North Patterson is an anomaly in the whiz-bang world of political thrillers. A meticulous stylist with a keen understanding of human nature—in that sense, at least, his novels recall those of spymasters Robert Littell and John le Carre—Patterson constructs taut, gripping plots without sacrificing his characters' humanity. In Eclipse, he handles complex relationships with a "jeweler's eye" (San Francisco Chronicle) and his ripped-from-the-headlines story with the sangfroid of an old pro. As the Washington Postnotes, the novel succeeds on many levels. An endnote gives the book added historical weight, describing its inspiration—the death some 15 years ago of Ken Saro-Wiwa, an environmental and human rights activist hanged by a Nigerian general.
Copyright 2009 Bookmarks Publishing LLC

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.; 1 edition (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805087729
• ISBN-13: 978-0805087727
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (107 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #207,040 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

RICHARD NORTH PATTERSON is the author of The Spire, Eclipse and fourteen other bestselling and critically acclaimed novels. Formerly a trial lawyer, he was the SEC liaison to the Watergate special prosecutor and has served on the boards of several Washington advocacy groups. He lives in San Francisco and on Martha's Vineyard with his wife, Dr. Nancy Clair.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars On the Edge December 17, 2008

By Eileen Granfors TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Richard North Patterson is an expert in providing courtroom drama that teaches the reader about the justice system, the corporate world, and the human heart.

In his new novel, "Eclipse," Patterson places his protagonist Damon Pierce in the midst of a power struggle between environmentalists, tribal groups in Luandia, and the conglomerate of petro-dollars and corruption symbolized by Luandia's corrupt, sadistic leadership.

Into this toxic political mix, Patterson throws Damon Pierce's abiding friendship and love for Marissa, a beautiful American he met at the University where Marissa's activist husband was speaking.

Years pass; Marissa continues to correspond with Pierce. Husband Bobby is in mortal danger from his activism. Only Pierce can rescue them.

The environmental disaster in Luandia matches up with the melt-down of Pierce's control over both his emotions and his own safety as he travels to Africa to defend Bobby Okari.

A compelling, if sometimes preachy, look at the Luandian people in the hands of greedy leaders and corporations where nothing matters more than money in the pockets of those who have the power to bring about change.

Advice to reader: do not let the first 50 pages impel you to toss this book. It gets better and better to the final explosive chapters.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars "We demand an end to their tyranny." December 30, 2008

By E. Bukowsky HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Richard North Patterson's "Eclipse" takes place in the fictional West African nation of Luandia. One of the protagonists, Bobby Okari, is a Mandela-like figure who decides to organize his followers in protest against Luandia's dictatorial ruler, General Karama, and his henchmen, particularly the sadistic Colonel Okimbo. Although Okari espouses civil disobedience and non-violence, his adversaries do not hesitate to rape defenseless women, inflict torture, commit murder, burn villages, and despoil the land of its natural resources. Luandia is polluted, lawless, as well as economically, physically, and spiritually blighted. Karama has suspended the constitution, those who dare to speak out are incarcerated without trial by jury, and newspapers are shut down to prevent them from publicizing the outrages being perpetrated by Karama's corrupt government. Okari's goal is to foster regime change by rallying world opinion against the power brokers that are destroying the country for personal gain. Bobby demands that ordinary Luandians receive their fair share of "oil monies for schools, roads, clinics, [and] clean water to drink." His naiveté may cost him dearly.

Bobby's wife, Marissa, is a biracial woman who was born in America and followed her husband to Africa to support his crusade. She is terrified that Bobby's activism will cost him his life. Her close friend, Damon Pierce, is a California attorney who has carried a torch for Marissa since their college days. When Bobby is thrown in prison on trumped up charges, Damon offers his expertise to try to free him. However, what can one individual do to defeat an autocracy with strong ties to the oil-hungry United States?

Patterson is to be commended for his social conscience and for the considerable research that he conducted in order to produce this timely novel. Unfortunately, he falls into a common trap that tends to trip up writers who try to deliver a message in a work of fiction. The author lectures us repeatedly through his characters' stilted dialogue. He rails against the greed of nations that refuse to conserve energy and leaders who exploit their people in order to enrich themselves. Because the novel is so talky, any suspense that the courtroom scenes, Bobby's ordeal, and the budding romance between Damon and Marissa generate gradually drains away. What should have been an exciting and fast-paced thriller instead becomes a well-meaning but rather dull diatribe against the ways in which "oil blackens everything it touches."

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A thought-provoking, timely novel March 9, 2009

By Luke Waygood VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Truly, this is a novel of our time. Set in the fictional, oil-rich African nation of Luandia, we find Bobby Okari, a well-spoken leader of an ethnic group called the Asari, who is trying, in true Mandela-like fashion, to achieve change through dialogue and peaceful protest. Opposing him is Karama Savior, the sadistic, power-hungry dictator who runs the country. Greed has ravaged the country, corrupting every level of government, and pollution is rampant thanks to those wishing to siphon off oil to make their own profit. The main company drilling for oil is PetroGlobal (or PGL), an American company.

When 3 PGL workers are found lynched, Bobby finds himself arrested on charges of murder and sedition, after having watched the annihilation of his village, and the slaughter of every inhabitant, at the hands of the military, led by Karama's top general Okimbo.

Drawn into the trial is Damon Pierce, an American lawyer, who years ago fell in love with Bobby's wife. He now finds himself risking his very life for the Okaris in a country where no one can be trusted, bribes are a way of life, and those who disagree with the regime routinely disappear.

The novel highlights our greed for oil, and the effect that this resource has on the countries who have it. At what point do we draw the line and ignore human rights abuses, or even genocide, when to pursue them could threaten our oil supply, potentially posing a risk to national security? Do we have absolute morals or are they subject to negotiation?

These, then, are the principle questions the reader must ask himself as he finds himself inexorably drawn to the conclusion, desperately hoping for some way out for Bobby.

Using Nigeria as a model for his fictional country, and a similar situation that actually happened, I cannot think of a more timely novel, or a more disturbing concept than our morals being held ransom for the cost of cheap gas.

I highly recommend this book.